"No. She's too young," Colton protested when he could breathe.
Rheia eyed Colton. "Then you explain where our baby came from," she challenged.
"Challenge accepted," Colton growled. He turned to the small girl and lifted her into his lap. "Momma and Papa love each other very much. You know that right?"
Penny nodded.
"Well, one day, Papa couldn't hold in his love for Momma anymore, so he took her in his arms and kissed her so hard that his loved touched her heart and created a tiny seed. That seed floated down to Momma's tummy, and a baby started to grow in her belly."
Penny thought about it for a second. "So Papa loved Momma hard, gave her a seed, and made a baby?"
Beside Meryn, Gavriel choked on his coffee. Laughing, Meryn thumped him on the back.
Colton nodded. "Exactly."
"Oh Colton! You can't tell her that," Rheia said with a worried expression.
Penny turned to Colton. "Is that why you said you'd kill any boy who kisses me?"
"Yup. You're too little for kissing. You have to leave that to the grown-ups." Colton said nodding.
"When can I kiss boys?" she asked.
Colton thought about it for a long moment. He turned to Aiden, then Gavriel, then Darian. The men wore equally scary looking frowns. He looked down at his daughter. "When you find a boy who is stronger than your Athair." He pointed to Aiden. "Smarter than your Uncle Gavriel, more noble than your Uncle Darian, more loyal than your Papa, and kinder than your Uncle Keelan. When you find a boy like that, then you introduce him to us, and we'll let you know if it's okay to kiss him," Colton replied.
"Okay Papa. I think I know who." Penny kissed his cheek and hopped down. "I'm going to go color now before Grandma gets here." She skipped out of the room.
"Wait! Who?" Colton's eyes looked wild.
Rheia patted him on the arm. "She will grow up eventually."
Colton slumped backward. "No, she's not allowed. Ever."
Rheia rolled her eyes. "Cavemen, y'all are a bunch of cavemen."
Kendrick ignored Colton's brooding and smiled at the blonde next to Gavriel. "I don't think we've been introduced."
"I knew you'd get around to asking. My name is Elizabeth Monroe, I'm a lepus curpaeums..."
Kendrick smiled. "You're a bunny. There aren't too many bunny shifters left, I'd love to see you shift later."
Gavriel growled at him, his eyes turning red and Elizabeth laughed.
"What?" Kendrick asked.
"You will not see my mate naked."
"Who said anything about being naked? I just want to see the actual shift from human to bunny. Most shifters I meet weigh at least as much as their human selves in animal form. This is a rare situation where the human form weighs considerably more. I've been working on a hypothesis about where the extra mass goes," Kendrick explained.
Gavriel blinked, his eyes returning to their normal grey color. "You know, I never even thought about that."
"I don't mind shifting, but it will have to be much later. I'm in the middle of a nationwide multi-race census, so I don't have time to experiment," Beth offered.
Kendrick waved his hand. "Any time you have free."
Beth looked between him and Meryn. "Guess I'm Bunny for life." She sighed.
"What does she mean?" Kendrick asked.
Meryn grinned. "That's what I call her." She looked down at her phone. "On that note, I better head to the office. My minions await."
"Minions?"
"Jaxon Darrow and Noah Calloway. They're learning about programming languages and computer science to assist the units. We don't use nearly enough technology."
Kendrick held up a hand. "Before you go, I just have one question..." He took another sip of coffee. "How long has Lycaonia been covered with the stench of black magic?"
Everyone stared at him in shock. Aiden finally shook his head. "What do you mean, covered in black magic? The city is as it has always been. We don't deal in black magic in Lycaonia."
Kendrick sat back. "Someone has. There's a fine layer of black magic grime everywhere. I noticed it the second I entered the city's boundaries."
Aiden turned to Ryuu. "Is that true?"
Ryuu nodded slowly. "If Heika says that the city is coated in black magic, then it is coated in black magic. I am unable to tell the difference between white magic and black magic, so I can not see what he does."
"Great, just great! What next?" Aiden dropped his fork on his plate.
Kendrick, Meryn, and Ryuu winced. Asking a question like that invited more bad things to happen. Sometimes, higher powers had a twisted sense of humor.
Kendrick raised his chopsticks and took a bite of rice, then fish. "By the way, I'm joining the Alpha Unit." The men were silent as they each took him his announcement.
"You can't do that! That's not the way it works!" Aiden protested.
Kendrick just stared at him and took another bite.
"We have trainees. There is an order to this!" Aiden continued.
Kendrick stared.
"It doesn't work like that," Aiden grumbled.
"Give it up, Commander. I'll break it to Basil, I'm sure he'll understand, especially since Keelan and Kendrick are brothers," Colton said in a congenial manner.
"Wonderful. Now that we have that settled, do you have any of the necklaces that the ferals have been using?" Kendrick asked, continuing his breakfast.
Aiden frowned. "We had two; we broke one, and the council has the one that was given to Adam for study. After the last battle, Meryn and Rheia gathered the necklaces off the dead ferals in the courtyard. We kept five, and the rest were divided up and sent to the three other pillar cities for study."
"They are people!" Amelia said loudly. "They aren't just necklaces, they are people!"
Aiden turned to her, a sympathetic look on his face. "Amelia, we need to understand how these things are created."
Amelia shook her head. "It's inhumane not to set them free." Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Taking a deep breath, Kendrick laid a hand on her forearm. He let his magic gently seek out hers. As he had guessed, her empathy and earth magic were completely free. The box he had created for her magic when she was a child was now too small to keep it in check. Slowly, he began to construct the mental image of a hallway. On one side, he visualized a door etched with the symbol of mind magic; across the hall, he created another door with the symbol of earth magic emblazoned on it.
"Do you see the doors Amelia?" he asked.
"Yes, Athair."
"Good. Now very, very carefully start pulling your magic into those two rooms. Let them know that they won't be locked away forever, that you will come visit. Tell your magic that doors were created to be opened."
He monitored her progress, and when the last of her magic had been put behind the doors, he closed them firmly. As soon as the doors closed, she slumped against Darian.
Her mate looked at him, concern on his face. "Is she okay?"
Kendrick patted her on the arm gently. "She is now. Her magic, especially her empathy, was running unchecked; it can be draining. Whatever broke her bindings also allowed her magic to grow. I'll keep checking to make sure that all her new magic stays under control. Hopefully, we'll have everything settled in a week or so."
"Thank you, Athair. I didn't realize how out of control it was until you started to reel it in. I thought that my supply of magic would be exhausted after the battle, but there was so much of it. It's as if the battle never took place." Amelia leaned against Darian and yawned.
Kendrick kept a smile on his face. She was right. Her magic should have been nearly depleted, especially since his own anger had inadvertently channeled his magic through her. Yet when he looked inside her core, it was growing out of control like an untended garden. "You probably didn't use as much as you thought you did," he suggested smiling. There was no reason to share his concerns, especially when she couldn't do anything about it anyway.
She nodded and ya
wned again. "Does anyone need me for anything today? I'd like to go back to bed if I can."
Meryn and Rheia shook their heads. Elizabeth answered, "The only thing we had planned for today was to contact Anne. We have to tell her not only about our world, but also about what has happened to Keelan. Since she's a nurse, it makes sense that she would be the one to take care of him."
Kendrick looked at Elizabeth. "Why does it make sense that she would take care of him?"
Beth looked at him, then the other men. Gavriel cleared his throat. "Because Anne is Keelan's mate."
Kendrick felt his chopsticks slip from between his fingers. A mate! His brother had a mate! Smiling wide, he turned to Elizabeth. "I have a sister! Tell me about her."
Looking relieved at his reaction, Elizabeth smiled back. "I wasn't sure if you'd be upset, since Keelan hadn't told you."
Kendrick picked up his chopsticks. "Keelan always played his cards close to the vest, the more important something was to him, the closer he kept it."
Darian nodded. "He didn't tell anyone about the contents of his nightmares, either. The only thing he told Amelia was that he was having them, no details."
"Sounds like my little Kee."
Colton chuckled. "I can't wait to call him that."
Kendrick smiled at the wolf shifter. "You tease him, I'll break your legs." Still smiling, he took another bite of fish. Rheia was laughing as she consoled her mate. Kendrick ignored the pup and smiled at Elizabeth. "Tell me about my new sister."
Elizabeth smiled. "We don't know much. Keelan as you know, was very tight lipped about her. We do know that she's a nurse and she's just graduated."
"She's very pretty, like a doll. She and Keelan looked perfect together," Colton said.
"I remember that she was kind and did not judge us when she thought we put the diaper on Keelan for fetish play." Gavriel added.
"That sounds...wait...what? What about a diaper?" Kendrick demanded.
The men looked around the table, guilty expressions on their faces. Rheia cleared her throat. "The guys had to go to the store to get pull ups for Penny. They didn't know the size, so they used Keelan for comparison."
Everyone was silent. Kendrick gently placed his chopsticks down and looked around the table. He could almost see the tension in the air.
"Did you get any pictures?" he asked grinning.
The men around the table exhaled, and Colton began to laugh. "No, but I never felt worse in my life. What a way to meet your mate for the first time."
"She sounds perfect for my brother. When will you be bringing her here?"
Elizabeth looked at Meryn and Rheia. "What do you think? Right after breakfast? I called the Duck In yesterday. She works the morning shift today, we know where she'll be."
Rheia nodded. "The sooner the better, that way she'll be here for any health-related spells Kendrick explains."
"Wonderful." Kendrick turned to Aiden. "I'll need as many of the necklaces for study as you can get me."
Amelia turned to him, a sad expression on her face.
"I'm sorry, Amelia, but the best thing we can do for those poor souls is to determine how they were trapped. Once we figure that out, we can track down the ones responsible and prevent this from happening to any more people."
Amelia nodded and buried her face against Darian's arm. He gently ran a hand over her hair. Kendrick grudgingly admitted that Darian was a good match for her. He was strong enough to protect her, but gentle enough to understand her kind heart.
"I'll contact the Council and see what I can do about getting the necklaces," Aiden promised. Then a sly smile crossed his face. "After that, we have drills. I'd love to see what you can teach us." He smiled at Kendrick.
"Yes, about drills... I won't be doing those." Kendrick sipped his coffee.
Aiden's mouth dropped. "That's not how this works! Why join Alpha if you won't be part of the unit?" he demanded.
"It's quite simple really; it's because my brother gave up his life so that you all would live. He insisted on saving you, and after having breakfast with you, I can see why. He viewed you as family, and out of love, he kept you safe." Kendrick dropped his smile and let his power come just to the surface. The men reacted, and the predators inside of them tensed. "And I'll be damned to the deepest pit in hell before I let his sacrifice go to waste and stand by while you get yourselves killed." He put his smile back in place. "Now, if you need me, I'll be in Keelan's room setting up a laboratory to study the necklaces you'll be procuring for me." He took one final sip of coffee and stood.
"Can I come see?" Meryn asked, completely unperturbed by his dual nature.
Kendrick nodded. "After I have everything set up. Some of the containment spells aren't safe to be cast around pregnant women."
"Okay Keelan-From-the-Future." Meryn chirped back happily.
Kendrick raised an eyebrow. "If you insist on calling me something other than Kendrick and wish to carry on this time travel facade, you can call me Time Lord." Kendrick hid his smile when her jaw dropped.
He turned to his friend. "Ryuu, a couple sandwiches later would be most appreciated."
Ryuu bowed. "Of course, Heika."
As he walked away, he heard Meryn whisper, "He is fucking awesome!"
CHAPTER THREE
Anne Bennett followed the three women through the house to a closed door. Without knocking, the smaller woman opened it and breezed through the doorway. Anne hesitated before stepping in. When she looked in the room, she recognized the men she had seen with Keelan the night she met him at work. In her many visits with Keelan since then, she'd heard so many wonderful stories about the men he called brothers. She looked around the room. The tall one built like a linebacker was Aiden McKenzie. He was married to the tiny woman named Meryn. She remembered that Keelan called her Menace. Anne thought the small woman was adorable, and from the way the large man melted when Meryn walked over to him, she knew Keelan had been right in calling the man a giant marshmallow.
The woman who had introduced herself as Rheia Bradley sat beside the one she knew to be Colton. He was the fun-loving one who was always playing pranks. It was for their daughter that the men had been in the store that night buying pull ups.
The third woman was Elizabeth Monroe. She was married to Gavriel Ambrosios, the handsome, dark haired man. She, Rheia, Meryn, and Colton, plus an SUV full of men she didn't know had parked outside of her work this morning and turned her world upside down. She had run to her boss, Bart, and begged to leave early. Of course, the older man said yes; he hardly ever told her no. Like Aiden, he was a complete softie. Without a thought for her own safety, she had jumped into their SUV and returned with them to the place almost everyone in town knew existed but never dared to try and find.
Six small words had changed everything.
"Keelan is hurt and needs you."
Anne looked around the room. "Where is he? Where's Keelan? What's happened to him?"
Elizabeth, or as she liked to be called, Beth, pointed to the sofa. "It might be best if you sit down."
Anne looked around the room and saw their grave expressions. She sat down and folded her hands in her lap. "Well?"
Aiden began pacing. "You see, Anne, there are things in this world that not everyone knows about. Special things that can sometimes be scary but mostly aren't..." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck.
Meryn looked at her husband. "You suck at this," she said flatly.
Aiden turned and glared at her. "The last person I tried to explain all this to knocked me unconscious."
"Big baby." Meryn rolled her eyes.
Anne looked at Aiden. "Are you okay? Concussions can be tricky."
Aiden exhaled and pointed at his tiny wife. "She did it with the deck of my toilet about four months ago. I'm fine now."
Meryn held up both arms and acted like she was flexing. "KO'd, first try."
Anne looked at her confused. "Congratulations?"
Aiden turned to Beth. "Maybe you
should try."
Beth nodded and turned to her. "Anne, what do you know about the paranormal?"
"Do you mean like ghosts?"
Beth smiled gently. "Not exactly."
"Oh for crying out loud! Meryn two-point-oh will be here before you tell her." Meryn turned to her. "Shape shifters, witches, fae, and vampires are real."
Aiden buried his face in his hands, and the men groaned.
Anne looked around the room. "I know."
Everyone froze. Aiden looked up. "What?"
Anne smiled at him. "You don't remember me, do you?"
Meryn's eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked up at her husband. "What does she mean?"
Aiden, eyes wide, shook his head. "No idea."
Anne chuckled. "Not like that, Meryn. I was about six when I met Aiden the first time, though I didn't know his name then. I was in town riding the new bike my parents bought me, when a man tried to lure me into the alley with candy. Of course I knew better than to go with him. When he got desperate, he tried to pull me off the bike, pretending like he was my father." She smiled up at Aiden. "That's when you came along. You plucked me from his hands, and he tried to run. You simply picked up my bike and chucked it at him like a Frisbee. You made sure I was okay and left. The police came and arrested him. I remember my parents were mad at first about my bike being banged up, but when they found out what happened, you were in their prayers that night. A lot of people in town know something goes on out here."
"What do you mean, they know?" Gavriel asked, sitting forward.
Anne smiled around the room. "We're not dumb, you know. None of you age. The true locals, the ones who have been here for generations, know something is in these mountains, but we don't say anything, because you keep us safe."
"Wait. Bart knows?" Aiden asked.
She nodded. "I don't think he knows exactly what you are, just that you're something different. He was very disappointed today when he found out that the women wouldn't be staying for a chat. He wanted to talk to the 'feisty' one."