"It was the seventies, so I drifted, hitching rides and camping with friends. Eventually I met your father. Two years after mating with him, when Violet was seventeen, I kept my promise. Your father and I went back home to check on Violet and make preparations for her to move out on her eighteenth birthday. But to my surprise, she had already married and moved out with her husband.
"When we were saying goodbye, she made me promise that if anything happened to her and she had children, I would take care of them. I swore to her that I would, and no child of my baby sister's would ever live in that house." The venom in her mother's voice scared her; she had never heard her sound like that.
Aiden looked ill as he faced Meryn who'd buried her face in her hands. "Baby?"
Meryn didn't look up; she just continued to shake her head behind her hands. "It's just when I imagine how my life could have been different if I had been raised in Storm Keep, I get so angry. If Amelia's mom had known about me, I could have had a sister and brothers, a family that loved me. I wouldn't have gone hungry or worried that my one pair of shoes wouldn't last the winter. I would have been wanted." Meryn choked out the words between sobs. Aiden pulled Meryn into his lap and wrapped his large arms around her as if to protect her from her own memories. Ryuu ran a gentle hand over her hair in an effort to comfort her.
Amelia saw the shocked expressions around the table and realized that Meryn had never told anyone exactly how bad her childhood had been. She felt her own tears trickle down her cheeks.
"That's it! Marshall, I don't care about your magic rules! We're going to dig up my mother and you're going to bring her back to life so I can beat the everloving shit out of her!" Lily yelled.
Amelia felt her eyes widen. What her mother was talking about was black magic.
"Lily, honey, calm down. You know we can't do that." Even over the phone, she could feel her father's shock.
"Kyran! Tristan! Don't just stand there; get our bags from our room and take them back down to the car. Thank God, we haven't unpacked yet."
"Lily..." Her father was trying to get her mother's attention.
"Today boys! My niece is crying, and my baby is crying! We're going to Lycaonia after we make my mother a broken corpse!"
"Lily..."
"Marshall, don't just stand there, help the boys with the bags."
"Yes, love." After a few quiet moments, she heard her mother take a deep breath. In all her life, she had never once heard her mother raise her voice. She was normally very laid back, and went with the flow, always smiling. Amelia liked this new side of her mother.
"Girls, listen to me. There's so much I want to tell you, but I can't right now. Just know that you were brought together for a reason. Stay close to each other. We'll be there soon."
Meryn sniffled. "Are you really going to beat Estelle up?"
"I know that we can't use black magic to bring her back, but I will be getting in touch with the city back home to make arrangements to move her grave to our estate. That way we can desecrate it whenever we like," Lily promised.
Meryn smiled weakly. "I'd like that."
"Mother, maybe you should take this opportunity to change before Father brings the bags down," they heard Caiden suggest. "You spent the entire day in those clothes traveling already."
"You're such a good boy, Caiden. I think I'll do just that. See you soon, girls."
"Remind me to never piss that woman off," Caiden muttered.
"Well, we knew Meryn got her crazy from somewhere. Evidently, it's hereditary," Colton said, winking at Meryn, making her smile.
Amelia sat down in her chair with a plop. "I have a baby sister-cousin."
Meryn brightened. "I have another sister!"
"Commander, if you ever need tips on how to handle those two, let me know. I have over thirty years' experience raising Amelia," Caiden offered.
Aiden cleared his throat. "Actually, is there a way to know if they're lying?"
Caiden laughed. "Ask her a question."
Aiden turned Meryn in his lap until she was looking up at him. "Baby, are you playing with explosives?"
Meryn looked up at the ceiling in an exaggerated eye roll. "Where am I supposed to get explosives to play with?" Aiden smiled and relaxed.
"Sir, did she make eye contact?" Caiden asked.
"No." Aiden answered frowning.
"She didn't make eye contact and answered with a question," Caiden confirmed.
Aiden swallowed hard. "What does that mean?"
Caiden laughed. "It means you're fucked. She's building a bomb."
"Hey!" Meryn protested.
Amelia smiled. She didn't feel like such an oddball now; someone else thought like her. "What kind of bomb?" she asked.
Meryn just turned to her and grinned.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." Colton intoned dramatically.
Darian wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulders. Not wanting to waste a single moment of his affection, she leaned into his body and was rewarded when he pulled her closer. She didn't know what had changed with him, but she would take what she could get.
"I'm going to let you guys go. Father looked a little shell-shocked earlier. Kyran, Tristan, and I will help him adjust. We raised Amelia so we weren't really all that shocked at Mother's ideas, but I don't think Father has ever seen her so angry."
Amelia snorted. "I never threatened to raise the dead to pummel it."
"Yes, you did. Technically, you threatened to beat Morgan Fiero to the point of death and then beat him again while he was recovering, basically the same thing," Caiden reminded her.
She laughed out loud. She hadn't heard the name Morgan Fiero in years.
Beside her, Darian stiffened. "What did he do to her?"
"He kept snapping her bra, trying to get it to come off. Kyran was about to step in when Amelia turned and completely unloaded fourteen years of techniques she learned watching us train on him. It took Kyran and another unit warrior to pull her off him. From the time Amelia was eleven until she was eighteen, we hid every weapon in the house."
"I wasn't that bad," she countered.
"Keep telling yourself that, baby girl. There's a reason why grown men are afraid of you." Caiden teased.
"But she's so bubbly," Beth said, using Meryn's expression.
"Yeah, and that's what makes her so scary. She never stopped smiling her pleasant smile when she damn near beat little Morgan Fiero to a pulp. I swear she should have been born a redhead. It's like a universal warning label that the person you're talking to could lose their shit at a moment's notice," Caiden sighed.
"Two, there's two of them," Keelan whispered.
"About to be three. Her mother is on her way for a visit. Two generations of wackiness." Caiden laughed out loud. "Kyran, Tristan, and I were planning a visit to Lycaonia to threaten Darian about how to treat our baby girl, but having Lily head out there is a thousand times better."
"Almost three generations!" Meryn said brightly pointing to her belly.
"Sir, can I request a transfer to Storm Keep?" Colton looked worried.
"Denied," Aiden grumbled.
"On that note, have a great visit." Caiden laughed again and hung up.
"Sonofabitch!" Aiden growled. "He's enjoying this."
Meryn practically bounced in his lap. "I get to meet my aunt and uncle. I have family!"
Amelia looked at her and shared a wide grin. Even though she had brothers, Meryn was different--she was like her. She watched Doctor Who and ate expired pickles. Suddenly, she didn't feel alone or homesick, not when she had a baby sister-cousin who was just like her!
"Meryn, let's skip the movie and go to bed. You've had a lot thrown at you tonight," Aiden suggested.
Meryn immediately looked alarmed. "But..." She looked at Amelia.
Amelia smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, especially now that I have found my mate and my baby sister-cousin."
Colton frowned. "That's not a real term."
Amelia and Meryn turned at the same time to glare at him. He immediately capitulated and held his hands up in surrender. "I will write Webster myself to get it added to the dictionary."
Meryn's laughter was cut short by a yawn. Ryuu lifted her off Aiden's lap and placed her on her feet. "Come along, denka. Let your mate go upstairs to warm your side of the bed while I prepare a nice cup of heated milk for you."
Amelia realized that Ryuu only called her and Meryn by a Japanese term. "Ryuu, you call Meryn denka and me itoko-sama, why do we get special names?"
Ryuu's smile was mysterious. "I am bound to serve Meryn's house for as long as I live, this includes anyone who shares the bonds of blood, as you do. Denka is the title that Meryn was comfortable with me calling her, it means, Lady. Itoko-sama is a very formal and polite way of saying cousin."
Amelia's mouth dropped. "That means you knew almost from the beginning."
Ryuu nodded. "I would be a poor squire indeed if I could not identify the members of my charge's family. The bond I share with denka allows me to monitor her health and moods, but it also tells me when someone of her bloodline is nearby."
Meryn scowled at her squire. "We still need to work on your communication skills."
He bowed. "I think it was timed perfectly." He held out his arm. She sighed and placed her hand on his forearm, and let him lead her toward the kitchen. They were almost to the doors when she stopped suddenly and turned. "You won't forget about getting up early tomorrow, will you? I can't wait to introduce you to Adelaide. It will be the first time in my whole life I'll introduce family."
The joy on Meryn's face brought tears to Amelia's eyes. "I wouldn't miss it for anything," she promised.
"Yes!" Meryn threw a fist in the air and walked into the kitchen with Ryuu.
"This evening has been most enlightening," Gavriel remarked.
Darian stood and held out his arm to Amelia. "Will you allow me to escort you upstairs?"
She placed her hand on his arm and stood. "Yes, please."
"Thank the Gods for no movie night." Keelan exhaled and stood.
"We'll take our leave first." Darian said and led them toward the doorway.
"Goodnight, you two. Congratulations, Amelia on finding new family," Colton called after them.
"Thanks!" she yelled back.
She was still thinking of Meryn when they reached her room. When Darian opened the door and walked in with her, she realized where they were. He shut the door behind them, and her eyes widened. What on earth was her mate up to?
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Darian?" She looked at him questioningly. He hadn't said much during dinner, but he'd reached out to comfort her when she needed him during the startling revelations. The action spoke volumes to her, but she had to make sure they meant the same to him.
"You know how close I am?" he asked, leaning against the door.
"Yes, in fact, I'm shocked that you haven't turned yet. Your strength of will must be immeasurable."
"Hardly, I've just surrounded myself with things that help."
"Like your atrium? I noticed earlier today in the woods, your aura lightened when you touched the tree."
"You can see auras?"
"Not in the same way that the fae do. You can only see the auras and soul light of your mates. I can see different colors tied to emotions. It's tied into my empathy."
He nodded. "Interesting. To answer your question if my oasis helps, yes it does. I am fae, a child of the earth. Plants help bring us light."
She stepped forward. "Then why don't you go back to the fae garden, the one from my dream. That place has to have enough light to help."
His eyebrows came together in a frown. "You keep mentioning a dream from when you were a child, that we were evidently in the fae gardens, but I don't remember that dream. The only dreams I can remember having of you are the ones that happened recently. In them, you are an adult, and you're always laughing."
"I've had those, too, but the one that keeps coming back to me is the first one. I was six, and we were in a garden. You promised you wouldn't forget me." She stared at the floor. All her life, she had feared he would forget her. Maybe in her own way, she had known this would happen.
Darian moved away from the door and pulled her into his arms. "I would never hurt you intentionally. If I made such a promise, I am sorry more than you know that I don't remember such a beautiful dream." He kissed the top of her head.
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me? That you wanted me to 'find someone from my own planet'." She tilted her head back to stare into his beautiful face. He looked so conflicted.
"If I were half the man I used to be, I'd send you away. I would do anything to keep you safe, but I find myself drawn to you. The more I am with you, the more I want to live, to fight this insidious darkness in my heart. I just don't see how this is going to end well for either of us." He rested his forehead against hers, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"If being with me pushes back the darkness, then never leave my side. If you need a reason to live, do it for me, do it for our future children. Please don't assume I would be better off without you, not now.
"You fear that if we're tied together, you turning feral would drag my soul down with yours, but what you don't realize is that I would happily jump into the depths of hell to be with you. If I lost you, I wouldn't be able to live in this world alone. I would take my own life to be with you."
His arms pulled her closer, squeezing her tight. "Don't say such things," he said, his voice breaking.
She pulled back and raised her hands up to cup his face. "There is no other for me and no life without you, so make the decision. Are we to live or die?"
She saw a flash of fear in his eyes before it was replaced by resolve. "You're not going to ever back down are you?"
"Nope." She popped her lips on the letter 'p'.
He smiled gently. "Then I guess all I can do is stay by your side for eternity."
"It's good to have life goals." She was smiling so much her cheeks hurt.
Shaking his head, he swept her up in his arms. "I can't, in good conscience, claim you yet, I want to see if being around my mate is enough to pull me from the edge."
"Then make love to me." She laughed at his shocked expression. "If being around me helps, just think of what making love to me could do?"
He laughed out loud and her heart soared. When he looked down at her, he wore the same roguish expression she had fallen in love with as a child. "I came in here tonight to tell you to stay away, but I can't fight temptation anymore. I cannot refuse your offer of paradise; I'm not strong enough." He laid her down gently on the bed.
"I've been waiting my whole life for you," she said sitting up. She reached around and unzipped her dress. When she looked up, he was staring down at her, his eyes wide.
"What do you mean you waited? You can't be a..."
"A what? A virgin? Let me break it down for you: I have three extremely overprotective older brothers and three extremely overprotective half-brothers. Their moral compasses tend to break if they are pissed enough. I have six units of warriors who would happily destroy any guy I dated who made the mistake of hurting me. To top everything off, I have been dreaming of you since I was six. Dating has never really been an option for me.
"So yes, I am a virgin, but that doesn't mean I haven't been taking care of business myself, if you know what I mean."
Darian's mouth opened and closed, then open and closed again. He blinked once before a sexy smile appeared. "Does that mean you have toys?"
Amelia kicked her shoes off and dropped them over the side of the bed. "Maybe." She shimmied out of her dress and threw it on the floor. When she was down to her bra and panties, she lay back on her elbows and crossed her legs at her ankles, getting comfortable. "You going to keep me waiting much longer, princess?"
With a low growl, Darian slowly began to unbutton his dress robe. "Lie back and close your eyes."
> Amelia relaxed, lay flat on her back, and closed her eyes. She waited and listened carefully, trying to figure out what he was doing. She heard the rustle of fabric and assumed he had removed his robe. She wanted to open her eyes.
"Keep them closed." His deep voice came from her right. He'd walked around to that side of the bed. She shivered at his tone.
After a couple minutes, her mind had worked itself into a hectic mess. Where was he? What was he doing?
"Are you thinking about me?" His words now came from the foot of the bed.
"Darian, I don't understand, what are you doing?" She wanted to open her eyes and manhandle him onto the bed. Her body was coiled in anticipation of his touch, knowing that she was about to make love to her mate.
"Being with a lover is very different than 'taking care of business' on your own. The fact that I am the one to teach you the difference humbles me. I am going to take my time and introduce you to lovemaking."
She felt his fingers at her ankle. Casually, lazily he began to run his fingers up her leg to her knee and back down again. She felt completely out of control even though all he was doing was touching her leg.
"Darian..." Even to her own ears, her voice sounded strained.
"I bet you never took the time to explore every inch of your own body. How could you? Did you ever stop to appreciate the way your body changes as it prepares itself for loving?"
She shook her head. Her insides were shaking. All she wanted was for him to drive into her as fast and as hard as he could. She needed him desperately. She squirmed, squeezing her legs together.
"Are you imagining what I will do to you? You saw my cock when I was getting dressed. Are you wondering what it looks like hard and dripping for you?" His voice came from her left. He was circling the bed.
She swallowed hard, her throat dry. "Yes."
With the lightest of touches, she felt his fingers at her hips as he pulled down her panties.
"You wanted to give me a reason to live, and now I have one. Fate has given me my own piece of heaven, and I will guard it ferociously." He spread her legs and she nearly came unglued when she felt his tongue slip between her folds and nibble her gently.