Reagan
Once the trickle of guests arriving had started to slow, Reagan finally got a chance to check on things to make sure all of her guests were having a good time. While she knew they'd technically been invited by the hospital and not by her, she always wanted to make sure that everyone was having a good time, or else she hadn't done a good job as the planner.
"Reagan?"
She turned around to find a familiar dark-haired witch standing next to a man she vaguely recognised as her friend's mate.
"I'll go get drinks," the man said, leaving the two of them alone.
"Mia! What are you doing here?" She couldn't recall seeing her friend's name on the guestlist, but that didn't mean anything. She hadn't had as much time to look into all of that.
"I got a job in the hospital lab a few months ago, I got an invite through them. Are you here with Eustace, or..."
"I'm the organiser. Well, as of three days ago," she admitted. "Though I don't think I can say I'm not here with Eustace too."
"So you two finally did the deed?"
Reagan's face flushed at the memory of how things had gone earlier. Not because she held any embarrassment over it. What had happened was a natural expression of the way they felt about one another as mates.
Mia nodded knowingly. "I recognise the glow of new mating on you. I guess congratulations are in order."
"Thank you."
"And the party planning business is going well?"
"It keeps me busy," Reagan admitted. "Though I'm not sure if it's what I want to do for the rest of my life."
"I heard you there. Sometimes I think that about lab work. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to continue once I'm older. I should start thinking about a backup career," Mia said.
"Wouldn't that be the time when you moved on to doing research?" Reagan asked.
"I don't know. There's still plenty of time to think about it. I'm just seeing where life takes me."
Reagan glanced over her shoulder, hoping to find Eustace, but he was nowhere to be seen. "How is Bex getting on with the Witch Council?" she asked.
"You had a lucky escape," Mia said, checking around to make sure no one who shouldn't be was listening in. "Bex says they're a nightmare when it comes to getting anything done."
"Even after everything she did to rid the country of witch hunters?" Reagan didn't keep the surprise out of her voice. Bex had done an amazing job and should deserve the praise of the rest of the Witch Council, not them making her life harder.
"I think they're worse after that," Mia admitted. "They hate that she did it in so little time."
Reagan sighed. "I wish there was something we could do about it. I don't like that we're being represented by people that don't seem to actually care about the people they're supposed to be representing."
"We could go to the High Council about it, but from what Bex has said, they're aware of the situation."
"Then why aren't they doing anything about it?"
"I imagine they will in time," Mia assured her. "But with the Necromancer Council, and the Paranormal Criminal Investigations department, I think they've had their hands full."
Regan made a noncommittal noise. "I've heard rumours about them putting their attention into some kind of sporting event recently."
Mia nodded. "I've heard that too. I suspect there'll be an announcement soon."
"I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing," Reagan admitted.
Mia shrugged. "I think it's important if we ever want to properly assimilate into modern human society, then we need to get on board with these things."
"I'm going to reserve judgement until it happens. I suppose it'll be good for us to have sporting events where we don't have to hide our talents from the other people playing." She'd never been particularly into sports or anything like that, but she knew paranormals who had been and they were always told that they had to hold back rather than show up their human counterparts.
"Anyway, it was good to see you," Mia said. "We should put dinner for the four of us on the calendar."
Reagan nodded. "That would be lovely."
"But I'll message you about it. I imagine you need to do things for the party, and I should do my rounds. My boss wants me to make as many connections as possible so we can get some new funding for lab equipment."
"That sounds boring."
Mia sighed. "Very much so. But I do enjoy new lab equipment, so that's what I'm going to have to do."
"Good luck," Reagan said.
"Thanks, I'll need it. I'll see you in a bit."
They said their goodbyes and Mia disappeared into the crowd, leaving Reagan standing alone. She took a moment to compose herself, knowing that she'd have to be well put together for when she faced whoever she met next.
She scanned the room, looking for anything that needed to be dealt with. The last thing she needed was for a problem to happen and not sort it out quickly. There were a lot of influential people at the event, this could be a good thing for her career.
Her gaze landed on Eustace, who gestured somewhat frantically for her. A frown pulled at her features. Had he found something she needed to deal with, or did he just want to sneak away for a private moment?
She supposed it didn't matter too much. While she'd certainly enjoy one more than the other, both needed her attention.
She made her way through the crowd, keeping a close eye on what was going on around her in case anyone else needed her. But she not so secretly hoped they didn't so she'd get to spend some alone time with Eustace. Their mating had come far too close to having to be somewhere for her to be able to properly enjoy it.