Five to Love Him (Phoenix Immortal: Hive #1)

21. LEOPOLD

twenty-one

T he hive was a menace in the kitchen, but in a good way. They sliced and diced while filling a pot with water and finding my pan, and at the same time, they set the table. When I complained about not having anything to do, I was given napkins to fold, a stack I knew Gran had bought, one of those oversized packages you wouldn’t be able to use up in your lifetime.

I sat down at the kitchen table and dutifully folded away, turning the napkins into pale lotus flowers, just like Gran had taught me. One hiveling watched me from the chair next to mine, his chin resting on his hands.

“We won’t be able to use these. They are too pretty to use now.”

“Oh, come on. You don’t need to flatter me.”

“We’re not.” The twinkling in their eyes told me they were lying.

Over at the stove, one of the hivelings had taken charge of the pan while another dropped things in—garlic I thought, then pine nuts and the veggies they had harvested. The smell that soon filled the kitchen made my mouth water. Maybe pine nuts were good on noodles after all.

A hiveling I hadn’t seen leave the kitchen came back with a chair from the basement and wiped it down before putting it at the table and heading back to get one more.

“Multitasking.”

The one sitting next to me cocked his head. “What?”

I pointed at the chair. “That’s another one of your superpowers. How many of you typically sleep when you do need to sleep?”

They seemed to think about it, at least one pair of eyes looking into the distance while the one at the stove did one of those showy pan flips instead of just stirring everything with a spoon like a normal person.

“We are fine if one sleeps. When we were young, as a child, more of us would sleep, and when we’re very exhausted, that’s still the case.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay on the floor?”

I felt their eyes on me. “Can we have a look upstairs? At your bed?”

Heat rose to my face, and I focused on finishing the final lotus flower napkin before answering.

“Fine. I’ll show you around. Come on.”

Two of them followed me while the others remained to run the kitchen. The second floor of Gran’s house really wasn’t that exciting. There was a guest room that was empty apart from several of Gran’s things I’d kept, a bathroom, the master, and my room.

I showed them the first three, and they gaped at what had been Gran’s room, empty but for the curtains, the light brown carpet marked by the trace lines of the wardrobe and the bed, all those things that I had felt I needed to get rid of in order to move on.

“This is all you,” they said when I opened the door to my childhood room.

“I, erm. I moved to college, and there was no reason to change anything. Then I dropped out, and Gran got sick not that much later, so I never got around to, uhm, getting a different wallpaper or donate my dinos to charity.”

“Why would you do that?” “They are fierce. We like the T-Rex.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I really do need a bed I can sleep in without needing the vampire head-principal to give me socks. Which I forgot back at the office.”

“We have an idea.”

One of them went over to my bed—fuck. For some reason, it had the sheets with the planets on it, my childhood nerdiness showing. The other one put an arm around my middle.

“What idea?”

“Only if you’re fine with it,” the one holding me said. The other one tested the mattress with his hand. “We can move this to the floor, carry up your pillows. It would be like a nest.”

“Do you…do hives have nests?”

They chuckled. “No. We like beds just as much as the next person, but we can see that you can’t be comfortable in this one. Nor can he.”

The one examining the mattress had spotted Bruno and now picked him up.

I rushed into the room to grab the teddy bear from the hive’s hands. “This isn’t what you think. I mean, it probably is but, like, he’s fluffy.” I looked at Bruno. “He used to be fluffy when I first got him. I don’t need a teddy bear to fall asleep though.”

They didn’t look at me like I was out of my mind, which would have been appropriate, no. I felt arms come around me, and when I turned, I found that there were two behind me, one having snuck up here from the kitchen.

“Does he have a name?”

I considered lying, but they looked at me with curiosity and nothing else. “Bruno. His name’s Bruno.”

“Can we make Bruno comfortable? Would you be okay with us moving the mattress to the floor and trying?” the one in front of me asked.

What was I going to say? They were my mate after all, and they were making dinner for us. I nodded, and as I did, I heard the faint sound of footsteps on the stairs as well as the rustling of fabric. I was pretty sure that one of them had already grabbed a few floor pillows. My hive didn’t like wasting any time.

***

Dinner was both lively and quiet. The hive had indeed managed to fit six chairs and six place settings around the table. They’d found the pale pink plates and the pretty glasses Gran had only ever used for special occasions.

In a wooden bowl, they’d made a side salad out of bell peppers and cucumbers and some herbs from the garden. The noodles they had dumped in the biggest pan where they had prepared the sauce that now coated everything and filled the warm room with a delicious smell.

“This looks good,” I told them. They were sitting down and holding a chair for me.

“It’s really just something simple because it’s late. We are looking forward to cooking for you again. We saw you have an air fryer.”

“That was Gran’s, but yeah. Knock yourself out.”

I’d barely sat down when my plate was filled, one hiveling holding it while the other spooned on the noodles and veggies. I watched them as they did that but also poured water from a pitcher I hadn’t used in a long time, their movements coordinated while they sat close to each other and didn’t mind. Neither did I, a hiveling on either side of me, their fingers brushing me every now and then. I was reminded of how they’d been holding hands back at the Moonlight Diner.

“I’ll get used to this, and then I’ll not be able to function by myself ever again.”

Their eyes turned to me. “Why would you want to function by yourself? We’re going to be here for you.”

I blushed. We’re going to be here for you. It wasn’t an expression of love, but it was what I had wanted, what I had missed. I knew the feeling of being alone, especially after Gran’s death, but also before when I couldn’t explain how getting saved from drowning by someone unseen had made me feel, apart and out of touch.

My throat tightened, but I kept my face straight, my voice steady. “You might have to travel for work. Or maybe you’ll have things to do elsewhere. People don’t always get to have dinner together just because they’re mated.”

The two on either side of me leaned close. “But that’s the thing about being a hive’s gleaming one, Leo. We’ll make sure to be with you, if only with one, always.” Some of them frowned. “Unless you need ‘alone time.’ You have to tell us. Communication.”

“Communication,” I agreed and looked around the table. So many faces, but whenever one looked at me, it was the same eyes, the same mind. This was a dinner with many, but it was really just the two of us. “I think for now, I’m fine like this.” I pointed. “Although we can totally move the table to the other room, I’m telling you.”

“No,” all of them said.

I had a feeling that meant it was final.