It took a lot to make the giant oak desk shake and tremble but clearly Hamish liked to take up the challenge. He let out a grunt, one of her artifacts falling over and rolling to the ground. Luckily it wasn't that fragile. Hamish groaned again and crawled out from under her desk giving it a light tap. "That should fix it." Hamish grabbed it again and shook the desk a little seeing the leg on the desk wasn't wobbling anymore. "Can't have this thing coming lose and falling down on you." He added before picking up the downed artifact and placing it back in it's spot.
Vera rolled back in her chair and gave the desk her own wobble test, not because she didn't trust him but rather because she was Vera. "Good, now I can get back to work without the constant distraction." She rolled forward pulling out some papers from a folder and reading them over a moment. Her eyes slowly drifting from the pages over to Hamish who was still standing there just looking at her. She hated when he did that. Those big puppy dog eyes were dangerous. Clearing her throat she tried to turn her attention back to the paperwork. "You're still here?" Vera tried to sound a little annoyed but it was difficult when she actually enjoyed having him around.
"Yes actually, I was wondering if perhaps." Hamish paused a moment not wanting to startle Vera. Dealing with her was a little like handling a doe. Very stunning and breathtaking creature with elegance and grace but should you move too fast you'd startle her and she'd run off. "Would you like to come to dinner with me tonight?" He couldn't sound too wanting for her company or she would instantly turn him down.
"No." Vera responded without skipping a beat. Her attention went back to her work, it hurt to say that to Hamish but she couldn't be seen with him in public outside of the temple. It was difficult but the last thing she needed was for the council to feel she was getting too close to the wolves. Especially now without her powers, it was stressful trying to hide it behind Hamish's own abilities which was why the wolf followed her everywhere now. She couldn't let the others know or else the worst would be expected. She'd have to step down from Grand Magus, perhaps lose everything she'd worked towards for the better half of her life. No, she couldn't risk giving the council reason to look into her again.
As much as she tried to get back to her work she couldn't help but notice as Hamish seemed a little defeated as he turned to leave the reliquary. "My house, 8 o'clock sharp. I'll make you something." Vera looked up over the papers back at him. He might have been the master of cocktails but Vera was the cook between the two. Sure it wasn't a nice fancy dinner date like he'd wanted to take her on but it was something. She was trying to let him in little by little but only just enough. "Dress nice."
Hamish nodded his head and flicked his wrist making the large wooden double doors swing open. Still walking off past the ritual room he could hear Vera from the distance. "Hamish."
"Oh, sorry." He gave another flick of his wrist closing the doors behind him, adapting to Vera being more 'helpless' no, helpless was a poor choice of words, powerless. Adapting to her being powerless was difficult. She'd always been the strongest one as far as magic went. He knew it the day he fought side by side with her outside the den. He hadn't liked to admit it back then but that's when his crush had started. Until then Hamish hadn't known a woman that strong, self confident, who didn't want to beat him up outside of Cassie. Then came Vera, just as smart, as self confident, and as beautiful. Sure he had a type and Vera checked all of his requirements minus one. She wasn't good at showing affection.
He imagined as hard as it was to see her like this it must have been even harder for her. Hamish went about his day tutoring younger practitioners and helping them clean up a rather messy spell that had backfired on them. Vera would have made them clean up their own mess and her own but Hamish was a little too soft to leave a bunch of kids to deal with that much work. In his mind the Knights had always been his responsibility as the oldest, he'd always looked out for them and took care of them when they needed it. Now that same instinct followed onto the acolytes. Once 7:30 rolled around Hamish left the temple to get back to his apartment to get changed.
With everything happening to the wolves Hamish was trying to give Lilith some space until they could find a better way to help her. Randal had his hands full with Gabby, the newest wolf to the pack. She wasn't coming to terms with being a wolf as easily as the others, mostly because of the overwhelming guilt for Alyssa's death. Meanwhile nobody had seen Jack, they were falling apart, Hamish would have to step up eventually if he wanted to get the Knights through this but he needed Vera on side. He needed to let her see that he needed more free reign to hold the wolves together and keep them loyal to her. Perhaps that was something to discuss over dinner tonight. If the Order was her family then so were the Knights. She had to do what was best for those pups.