"Thank you. This has been the perfect date," I murmured as I held him, and he kissed my cheek.
"It's not over yet," he reminded me, a smile in his voice.
"Good." I stayed in his arms for a few minutes, just feeling him against me, before I pulled back enough to press my lips to his.
The kiss was soft and spicy, and I cherished every second of it, hoping there would be many more kisses just like this in our future.
Twelve
Zephyr
I stared at thecomputer screen without seeing much, my mind still on yesterday. My date with Keoni had been amazing, and it had lasted all the way till dinner.
After lunch, we'd watched another movie, then spent a few hours talking until it was time for dinner. We'd eaten with everyone in the Dining Room, and only parted ways in the hallway outside at the end of the night. Keoni had pulled me into a light kiss before disappearing inside Forest, and I had a feeling he'd only kept it chaste for my benefit.
While I had no problem with the others knowing we were together, I wasn't sure yet how much PDA I was comfortable with, and Keoni seemed to sense that. He was strangely good at that, as if I was one of the stars he read so easily.
A knock on my office door pulled me out of my thoughts, and I glanced up as Touya poked his head in. He eyed me for a moment, chestnut eyes thoughtful, then said, "Nolan's here to see you."
"Send him in," I said after a pause as I minimized the window on the screen. Even after all these years, I still hadn't quite gotten the hang of using computers. I still preferred the old pen-and-paper method for the most part, but Touya insisted I use the computer for things that we both needed to work on.
Touya disappeared, and a moment later, Nolan stepped into the room. Nolan had a certain presence. Even in his human form, it was hard for him to hide how powerful he was. No supe would be able to look at him without sensing his strength, even if they couldn't tell what he was.
"Hey, Zephyr. Everything good?" he asked as he took the chair across from my desk.
"No new problems," I said, and I couldn't quite hide the relief I felt.
"I'm glad. There's something I wanted to discuss with you."
The serious note in his voice made me sit up straight. "What is it?"
"It's nothing bad," he murmured in reassurance, and I realized I'd unconsciously curled my hands into fists, braced for whatever new trouble he was about to inform me of. I loosened my fingers with effort and exhaled deeply, then nodded for him to continue.
He watched me for a moment, then smiled softly. "I have a friend, Michelle. She's a witch, but she's also a doctor. An OB-GYN, to be precise. I thought it might be a good idea for herto see Dustin since he can't see his regular doctor now. She can help with the birth as well, when that happens."
"That's... that's a good idea." I'd been worried about Dustin having the child here with no doctor present. While Draven had worked as a birth assistant many times in his past, he'd never supported a human, and he wouldn't know if something was wrong. At the same time, Dustin couldn't have the child in a human hospital because there was a chance the baby wouldn't come out completely human. His last ultrasound had shown a human baby, but sometimes babies shifted before or during birth, and we couldn't take that risk.
But a doctor who was also a witch? Someone who could take care of the human complications without freaking out about a half-naga child? She would be a life-saver.
"I thought I'd invite her over today to meet Dustin, and if they click, do you think it would be better for her to stay at the Sanctuary until the baby arrives?"
"Do we have an empty cabin in the Forest?" If we didn't, I was sure Silas would be able to build one. He'd gotten pretty good and seemed to enjoy the work a lot more than his other chores.
"I don't think so, but they can stay in our guest room. Zamir and I don't mind."
"They?"
"She's mated to an employee of mine, a human named Sofia. They've only been together for around two weeks, so I don't think they'll be willing to live apart."
Two weeks and they were already living together?
Then again, it'd only been, what, three or four weeks since Nolan and Zamir met? Some bonds just developed fast, I imagined.
"If you're okay with housing them, I don't mind. Though if Sofia is human, you'll need to ask Silas to make some additions to your bathroom."
Nolan blinked, then nodded as he realized what I meant. Most supes didn't have bodily functions like humans, unless they were very weak, or magic users—like witches and mages—who refused to use magic. We could eat—except vampires, who only drank blood—but we didn't digest food the way humans did. Our magic burned through the food we ate, using it to restock our energy. None of the food turned into waste, so we didn't need to expel anything. While mating to a supe gave a human many benefits, this wasn't one of them.
"I'll talk to Silas," Nolan said with a nod, and I hummed. "I'll ask Michelle to come by this morning. Would you like me to introduce her to you first?"
