Sharing an office with Orion didn’t actually suck. Bellamy typically preferred not having to speak to anyone before he started groups, but Orion was… pretty quiet, honestly. Not in a shy way, really, just that he usually seemed occupied and comfortable in silence.

“Fun fact about me,” chatted Bellamy as he squeezed his gelatinous stress ball, “I assume ill intent when there’s silence.”

Orion looked up from his laptop, one thick eyebrow rising. Even though he was too big for the cheap little armchair in the corner, he somehow looked like he was luxuriating in the finest furniture built specifically for elk shifter gods. “How come? Aren’t we taught, like, utilize the silence?”

Bellamy put his hands on his hips. “Yeah, to pry more information from people.”

Orion chuckled, shaking his head slightly and returning his attention to his laptop. He poked at his keyboard while seemingly not caring that Bellamy was standing over him tapping his foot.

Without looking up, Orion asked nonchalantly, “Isn’t it your time for the desktop?”

“I finished my documentation.” Bellamy gestured with both hands and turned around to start organizing the sticky notes and legal pads in the tray on the desk. “I hate idle time. What am I supposed to do? Search for jobs and have a panic attack?”

Orion was silent for a moment. “Do you think you’re going to stay in Eldwick? There are a few other big cities in the state…”

Bellamy blinked. He turned back to the elk shifter and cocked his head. “You know, it never really crossed my mind to leave the city. Is this the only city you’ve ever practiced in?”

Orion shook his head. “I grew up in Little Rhone. After grad school, I worked in CPS there for a few months. Broke my heart, though, and most of the parents I was assessing were classmates from high school. I couldn’t last.” He looked a little thoughtful, mostly neutral.

Bellamy tried to imagine Little Rhone. He tried to imagine… anywhere besides Eldwick, honestly. But the cozy city had been a good home to him. Safe. “Gods,” sighed Bellamy, “the wide world scares the shit out of me. I don’t wanna deal with all that.”

“Really? You sort of seem like you’d be a little passenger princess doing road trip after road trip.”

Bellamy posed with his chin on his shoulder. He was in the perfect oversized white sweater vest and white sleeves combination to look positively celestial. And, he’d thought this morning, his ass looked good in these pleated trousers. “Oh, you noticed?” He made a kissy face. “I would be, if I had the time. I’ve had my nose to the grindstone for years now.”

“Good for you.” Orion smiled and closed the lid of his laptop. Bellamy wondered if all his yapping had officially side-tracked the shifter. “It’ll pay off. Promise.”

Bellamy grimaced. “You mean like it did for you?”

Orion flinched. If he’d been in elk form, Bellamy was sure he’d have sprang off into the woods immediately. Instead, he let out a wordless sigh.

“Oh, shit, I didn’t mean—” Bellamy’s face flushed bubblegum-pink. He groped the air in Orion’s direction. Then, frantic, he ran up to the shifter and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Not what I meant! Dick thing to say! Sorry! Dumb mouth!”

Orion’s antlers came a little too close to Bellamy’s face for comfort, so he quickly let go and straightened up. Orion was still quiet, absently untangling the two gold pendant necklaces he wore.

“I’m not defeated yet,” Orion finally said. 

Bellamy slapped his forehead. “You… You’re not gonna yell at me?”

“I know an impulsive foot-in-mouth question when I hear it.” Orion looked weary. Too gentle.

Bellamy fell silent for a moment, gripping his wrist behind his back and rocking on his heels.

Before Bellamy could do any further damage, a kerfuffle of voices and footsteps gathered outside in the hall. Their office door was cracked open, so Bellamy could see the crowd when he leaned forward and peered through.

Orion’s head snapped in that direction, the tips of his ears perking. He frowned, setting his computer aside on the coffee table, having to nudge Bellamy’s discarded winter gloves out of his way.

“Is there frequently a mob of valkyries in the Psychiatry reception room?” Orion asked, standing up. Bellamy felt his perception of his height shrink drastically next to Orion’s bulk. He envisioned himself out in the woods standing next to an oak tree.

Orion glanced down at him with his rectangular pupils wide and sharply observant. Bellamy felt a wave of vertigo as he met Orion’s eyes, brought on by Orion’s closeness, the urgency of their shared confusion, and… Orion was so close. He smelled like balsam and spruce, because of course he did. Elk shifters didn’t live in the woods… right? Was that racist to think so?

“Bellamy?”

“No,” Bellamy managed breathlessly, pointing toward the hall. “There’s not.”

Orion nodded faintly and pulled open the door. He stood very straight as he strode into the fray. Bellamy slipped into step beside him.

In the center of the flurry of feathers and agitated valkyries, Dr. Williams stood facing an older valkyrie wearing VADR reliefs decorated with many badges, stripes, and tassels. They spoke softly to each other despite the rumbling murmurs of the valkyries gathered around the pair. Bellamy felt like he’d died and gone to a very disappointing heaven being flooded by all the white uniforms, ivory wings, and gold and silver finishings.

On the opposite side of the room, jammed into the corner, Vere stood frozen and looking stricken. She didn’t notice Bellamy or Orion, her gaze glued to the heavily-brassed woman talking to Dr. Williams.

“What’s going on?” Orion said loudly. “Is this the best place for you two to talk?”

One of the valkyries closest to them spun around. Her glossy platinum hair rippled across her shoulders. “Don’t talk to the Colonel like that, shifter.” She set her palm on the pommel of her sword.

At the threatening gesture, Orion stiffened. His countenance seemed to darken. In that moment, he wasn’t prey-like at all.

Dr. Williams turned to Orion and Bellamy, her eyes getting wide with excitement. “Ah-ha!” She moved confidently through the crowd toward them. The valkyries begrudgingly got out of her way. Eyes of amber and sky-blue followed her like raptors tracking a hare.

A waft of peony and musk came with her. Bellamy recognized the fragrance as the very luxe Miss Dior and knew he would hate that scent forever. “I knew my answer would fall right into my lap.” Dr. Williams squished herself between them, turning back to the valkyries with her arms around their shoulders. Since she was suddenly so close to her team or something. “Colonel, here is my new therapist and our little trainee. They can conduct your interviews today.”

Bellamy didn’t need to be familiar with the valkyries to know that they were pissed about this. He felt the smolder of twenty-odd glares pointing toward him. Armor clinked and feathers rustled.

“What interviews?” Bellamy whispered. “What’s going on right now?”

“Colonel Agrippa needs to get some information from her valkyries,” explained Dr. Williams, except that she didn’t really explain anything at all. “These are your guys, Colonel.”

The Colonel’s eyes narrowed. “Fine.” She lifted her chin. “Girls. Barracks. Now.”

Her dismissal rippled through the room. A valkyrie who seemed to be her second or something thrust her arm toward the door. It was Vere who pulled it open, her gaze fixed on Bellamy and Orion any time she could see them through the heads of her sisters. Her wide amber eyes were imploring. Orion gave her a reassuring smile before she filed out after the last of the valkyries.

Without all those wings, armor, and big bodies, the reception room felt huge. Except it meant that all of the Colonel’s intimidating energy was focused on them.

Dr. Williams stepped away from them, pulling her phone out of her pocket and chuckling at the screen.

Orion tried for a friendly smile as he extended his hand toward the valkyrie leader. “Orion Pendleton, LICSW. Pleasure to meet you, Colonel.”

The Colonel remained statue-still, shoulders back. She didn’t even so much as glance at Orion’s offered hand. She was at least six-foot-five, her wingspan enormous, the hardness in her eagle eyes unrelenting. It was painfully obvious how much she considered them undeserving of her attention.

Awkwardly, Orion coughed and lowered his hand, slipping it into his pocket. He exchanged a quick, incredulous look with Bellamy.

Bellamy felt a flush of anger heat up his face and chest. Screw these valkyrie assholes. How come they were more important than the clients who were expecting support today? And anyway, where was he meant to log interrogating valkyries into his internship hours?

He gripped his wrist behind his back and looked at Dr. Williams. “Ma’am, what about all our appointments today? I have five intakes—”

“Cancelled,” replied the doctor without looking at him. “Cinder, get on that.”

The receptionist gave a terse nod and started typing.

“Ma’am,” Bellamy said with a rise of panic, “I hardly think that’s compassionate care…”

The colonel curled her lip. “This is your answer, Marjorie? Unprofessional and insubordinate trainees?”

Dr. Williams scoffed and lowered her phone. Bellamy saw her cheeks redden as she glared at him. “She’s right. I’m not impressed, Mr. Hirsch. What’s your institute again? Thricevale? Maybe I have to give them a call…”

Bellamy jolted. His veins turned to ice. If she and the commander of the valkyries really went to his program to complain about him, he’d be so fucked.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” exclaimed Orion, lifting his hands. “There’s no need to start making threats. I’d like to politely remind you both that we still haven’t been told what we’re doing or why.”

“One of my valkyries has deserted,” the colonel answered loudly. Cinder’s cup of VADR-issued pens vibrated with the contralto notes of her voice. “The others won’t tell me what happened. I need to find out if that’s because they truly don’t know, or if they’re trying to protect her.”

Orion cocked his head, hands folded. “I take it your valkyries aren’t allowed to leave?”

“My valkyries swore an oath to protect and serve!” the valkyrie exclaimed, her wings spreading with her indignation. Her massive ivory feathers were close enough that Bellamy could easily pluck out a reminge. If he had a death wish. It was widely-known how protective the valkyries were of their wings.

“So… no leaving, then,” surmised Orion.

Bellamy bit down on a snort of amusement, earning himself a glare from Dr. Williams. She was a piece of shit and everything, but he was a lot less overwhelmed now that the rest of the valkyries had left the room.

“They wouldn’t dare,” growled the colonel.

Orion and Bellamy exchanged a silent look with a shared sentiment. They wouldn’t dare, and yet… someone had.

Orion asked mildly, “So why would they give us information that they wouldn’t give you, ma’am?”

“I don’t know,” growled the colonel. “You do behavioral witchcraft.”

“Oh,” Orion hummed with interest. “That would go great on a T-shirt.” Orion couldn’t get the words out without a hiccup of laughter, which spread to Bellamy.

The colonel took a commanding step toward them, her voice rising and cutting through their giggling. “Persuade them. Wheedle them. Manipulate them. I need answers!”

Dr. Williams stepped between them with a titter. “My staff will get your answers, Colonel,” she said, her voice sounding a bit thin at the edges. “Don’t worry. Where should I send them?”

“I will have a valkyrie bring them up to Command in five minutes.”

Bellamy clenched his jaw and shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. He didn’t love the idea of having to cooperate in an activity he really didn’t want to do—in a part of VADR he didn’t think humans were supposed to even be in. Edie, of course, had lived up there for years, but aside from that, the valkyrie “eyrie” as it was called was a mystery to Bellamy and his downstairs coworkers.

Orion cleared his throat. “All due respect, Colonel, but if you’re wanting to shake down your valkyries for information—”

Colonel Agrippa scoffed.

Orion continued undaunted. “—You might want to consider letting us use our group room down here. If the valkyries are in their own space, they would easily be able to close rank and keep secrets.”

Her eyes narrowed. She thought in silence for a moment. “Fine. I will send them back and forth to you with an escort.” With that, she was done with them. She swept out of the room in a flurry of feathers, clinking armor, and winking metal.

The quiet that descended after she left was interrupted by Cinder’s cello-like voice arguing with a client on the phone. Bellamy assumed that postponing today’s appointments was not going well.

He thought of his ethics class and all of the ethical violations that VADR as an organization had performed since he began here six months ago. This was not new bullshit; it was the newest steaming turd on a massive pile of shitty conduct. Some of the folks who were meant to come here today would be facing down despair and risk of bodily harm without their VADR appointments. All so they could bail out the asshole valkyrie commander because her asshole behavior wasn’t enough to make her asshole valkyries rat on one of their own.

Bellamy took a petitioning step toward Dr. Williams. “Ma’am, I’m really uncomfortable participating in this. It feels wrong. I’m not sure it’s best for—”

“Enough,” snapped Dr. Williams. Her expression was dark with disapproval. She held Bellamy’s gaze with a slow shake of her head before she glanced to the side. “Cinder, send me the contact information for Bellamy Hirsch’s department chair at Thricevale.”

Bellamy jerked back as if struck. He opened his mouth to protest.

“Already have it pulled up,” Cinder answered silkily.

Dr. Williams stalked into her office and slammed the door. Cinder tapped on their keyboard, then began their next client call without even glancing Bellamy’s way.

Bellamy could feel his limbs shaking. Tears pricked at his eyes. He’d tried to stand up for his clients, and now… And now… And now…

“Un-fucking-believable,” Orion growled under his breath. He reached for Bellamy’s arm but didn’t touch him, thrusting his chin toward the Psychiatry door. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”