“I’m going upstairs to get a cup of coffee. Do you want anything?” Bridget asked.

Victor looked up from the chart he was working on. “I want a kiss.”

She pushed to her feet, rounded the desk, and sat in his lap. “Always.”

Her new office in the keep was a converted classroom a few doors down from the clinic, and she was sharing it with Victor who was now free to dedicate all of his time to their project. All of his other jobs were done, his crew was on vacation, and she had him all to herself.

They were waiting for a word from Kian regarding the induction ceremony, or rather Victor was. Bridget was very happy keeping things the way they were. Spending her days and nights with the man she loved and admired was good. She didn’t want it to end.

But time refused to stand still.

A week had passed since she and Victor had returned from Douglas’s wedding, during which Bridget had met with Kian multiple times, but he hadn’t broached the subject of Victor’s transition ceremony even once. In fact, she was quite certain he was avoiding being alone with her because he didn’t want her asking about it.

Had he changed his mind?

There was no reason for him to do so. If anything, his relationship with Victor was getting closer and less standoffish the more time the two were spending together, mostly in an official capacity but also socially.

On top of heading the new project, and partially because of it, Bridget had taken it upon herself to organize as many get-togethers as she could squeeze in. Some at the café, and others at their newly remodeled place. It was an excellent strategy to promote teamwork and at the same time to get Victor to socialize and warm up to people.

Naturally, Victor had managed to wiggle out of inviting Brian over, claiming that the analyst had an assignment on the West Coast, which Bridget suspected was a lie. Brian’s work was done online, and there was no reason for him to travel for a job. But it wasn’t as if she could accuse Victor of that. Besides, he didn’t need the added stress.

The waiting for Kian’s word was unnerving.

In the meantime, she was building the foundation for success.

Assume the win, was her strategy.

Perhaps it could work for life and death situations as well. Operating under the assumption that all would end well and he would transition successfully, she was preparing Victor for becoming part of the clan, and preparing the clan to accept Victor as one of them.

That didn’t mean, however, that she wanted to hasten the induction ceremony.

But maybe she should.

If she truly believed, if she truly assumed the win, she should. She needed to walk the walk and not only talk the talk.

When she let go of his mouth, Victor sucked in a breath. “You sure know how to kiss, my lady.”

“Now that you’ve gotten your kiss, what can I get you from upstairs?” Bridget rose to her feet.

“Just coffee. Black.”

“I know how you like your coffee. What about a pastry?”

Patting his washboard abs, he shook his head. “You don’t want this to become flabby, do you?”

“Fates forbid.” She leaned and kissed him again before walking out.

It still amused her that he watched his carb intake more than she did. Soon, hopefully, he would no longer need to worry about it. As an immortal, his metabolism would become faster. He could go back to eating the way he had in his twenties.

Assume the win.

As if having a mind of its own, her finger pressed the number for Kian’s level instead of the café’s. It was time to confront him about Victor.

“Come in,” he said as she knocked on his door.

“Can I have a moment of your time?”

“A moment. I’m extremely busy.”

Well, in that case she should get right to it. “Victor is done with all of his outstanding jobs. He is ready to attempt transition. Are you still planning on being his initiator, or did you change your mind and I should ask someone else?”

Putting his pen down, Kian raked his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t change my mind. I’m just very busy. It will have to wait.”

“How long?”

He pinned her with a hard stare. “Other than your impatience, is there a reason for rushing it? Has Victor’s health taken a turn for the worse?”

“Frankly, I don’t know. I could run some tests, or perhaps ask him to go see his regular doctor. But if it’s going to work at all, it has a better chance to do so while he is still relatively healthy. I say that sooner is better than later.”

“Would two weeks make a difference?”

“They shouldn’t. But why wait?”

For some reason, Kian looked at a point over her shoulder instead of her eyes. “I want to do it after Eva’s wedding. Amanda decided it was a good idea to have the wedding while Annani is here for the village’s opening ceremony.”

Aha, so that was the real reason behind Amanda’s sudden interest in pushing Eva and Bhathian’s wedding date. She wanted Annani to preside over it.

Kian grimaced. “You know how much of my time the goddess requires. I’m working overtime; let me rephrase it, I’m working nonstop to clear a bit of my schedule for her visit. After she leaves, I’ll have more time.”

What he’d said made sense. But then, why was he avoiding her eyes? What wasn’t he telling her?

The most likely explanation she could come up with was that Kian thought the whole thing was futile, and he didn’t want her to see it in his eyes.

It was really nice of him to go ahead with the plan anyway. She knew he was doing it for her sake more than Victor’s, and she was touched, especially since Kian wasn’t an empathetic guy. But he knew what it meant to love someone and hope for the impossible to happen.

Whatever his reasons were, the overt and the covert, it wasn’t as if she could argue with him about the timeline. She should be thankful he was doing this at all.

“Thank you. What should I tell Victor? Is the day after the wedding okay?”

He nodded. “Provided nothing unforeseen prevents it.”

“Of course. Thank you again for doing this. We both appreciate it tremendously.”

“You’re welcome. I just hope it works.”

“Yeah, me too.”

As she headed to the café, Bridget felt lighter, relieved.

Not because she had a date for the ceremony but because she had two more weeks with Victor. All her brave self-talk was just that, a way to shore up her courage and do right by her guy.

At her core, though, she was a selfish woman who harbored more than one insane hope.

What if she somehow, miraculously, managed to get pregnant in the next two weeks?

The chances of that happening were just as slim as Victor’s chances of a successful transition, and her hopes for it were just as irrational. Except, Bridget the logical scientist was gone, replaced by an idiot who hoped and prayed for the impossible.