Page 11 of Five to Love Him
“That’s not unreasonable,” one of them finally said. Another one nodded. “We know singulars see the world differently. We look forward to learning more about that, but we understand.” The first one looked outside at that shimmering tentacle thing. “It’s said night anglers are beautiful, as beautiful as they are terrifying. We were always terrified to see our gleaming one, right until the moment we actually did.”
“Thanks. That’s really nice. I mean, nicest thing anyone said to me in a while. I’m still going to go home now.”
All of them looked up and as one, they said, “We should take you.”
“Cab. I’ll take a cab. And it’s not that far.”
The third one on the right pulled a phone from his pocket. “We’ll order one, and we’ll walk you outside. Would you let us invite you to breakfast? It would be our treat of course. And we can take you to the Moonlight Diner so that you feel safe.”
I scratched my head. Yeah, I remembered Instructor Arick’s lessons all too well, how fighting any type of mate bond was frowned upon because of all the friction and despair that led to. It had seemed like over the top, verging on propaganda, even at the time, and Tate and I had joked that the Cultural Awareness Program was probably the name of the thing because they couldn’t call it Mate Recruitment Program, but even so, I never thought anything like this would happen to me in a million years.
Then again, I was unemployed, and a free breakfast was a free breakfast.
I looked them in the eyes, at least two of them. “You can’t come like this, with this many people.”
I could tell that confused them. One of them gave a tentative nod. “You mean you don’t want all of us there.”
“Right. Also to draw less attention, you know.”
They nodded. “Yes. The Moonlight Diner is for mixed company. We know. It opens at six in the morning. Should we meet then?”
I snorted. “Dude. Beauty sleep. I can do maybe ten.”
Two of them said yes, and two nodded along. “We can do ten. We’ll be there. Should we pick you up while we wait?”
“While you…” My half-drunk brain needed a moment to realize there were several of them, and yeah, that meant they could wait and pick me up at the same time. A concept that needed getting used to. “I’m fine. I’ve been there once before.”
The third from the right looked at his phone when the device pinged. “Your cab is here.” Two of them looked around, and one of them said, “We’ve never been here, but let us walk you out. Through there?” Another one pointed at the glass doors that led to the main courtyard, the one primarily used by the students and boarders.
“Actually, it’s that way for the general and mostly human crowd. I can find my own way.”
All of them shook their heads. “We insist.” I saw some fidgeting. “But we will accompany you with one. Is that okay?”
“Fine. It’s only a five-minute walk through creepy hallways, and I’ve seen enough horror movies to know what not to do, but knock yourself out.”
“Show us those creepy hallways,” the one on my left said.
He and I turned toward the foyer while the other three remained standing there, doppelgängers waiting for their cue.
“How long have you been studying here?” the hive asked.
“Oh, about a year.”
He looked at me. “Other places have no classes like these. We’re really happy that St. Auguste exists.”
I looked around. The lights were dimmed, but there was enough illumination here for it not to feel too creepy. “What would you have done if I’d just been walking down the street and passing one of you?”
“Hmm. Chased after you. Maybe we would have followed you. Or asked you for your phone number.”
“And what if I’m straight? Did you ever consider that?” I felt somewhat like a hypocrite because I’d never really considered that. People of any gender could be kind of hot. Or not hot at all. I’d always felt like the odd one out because these things just didn’t matter as much to me as they did to everyone else.
The hive stared at me as if I’d grown a second demon head, just like Instructor Arick. “That would make no sense. Why would you gleam if you were not prepared to desire what we have to offer?”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s supernatural logic for you all over again.”
“Are we wrong?”
I scratched my head. “I don’t think so. I mean, I’m probably pan? I haven’t dated much. Or at all. I kissed someone in college, and I’ve considered having one-night stands. I was really busy until I found this world though, and I couldn’t fathom explaining my obsession to someone else. I mean… Let’s just say I didn’t want to deal with that.” There. I could describe myself with words that weren’t basement-dwelling college dropout who’d never lived in a place of his own. Easy.
