"If that's all it took for them to change their minds, then they might have done us a favor. Now we won't have to weed them out." She thumped her fingers on the polished wood of Byron's desk.
"That's a very positive way to look at it Meryn." Byron sounded proud.
"That also means less interviews and talking to people." Meryn looked up grinning. Adelaide laughed.
"Of course, you would look at it that way."
"You're getting to know me all too well Mom." Meryn went back to the notes that Elder Airgead had given her. A throat cleared.
"Ah Meryn, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Byron started. Meryn had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.
"Yeah, Dad?" The expression on his face was priceless. She had been right. He wanted to be called Dad. He swallowed hard.
"Um ... how is the computer working for you?" He changed directions quickly.
"Better than Aiden's, that's for sure. Hey, can I ask you something? Are paranormals allowed on Facebook? Or is there some super duper paranormal version?"
"No, we use the same version of Facebook as the rest of the world, we just have to be careful about what we share. All devices have Geo-tagging disabled." Byron explained.
"Hmm." She pulled up Facebook and went back to work.
"Well, as it stands, we have three interviews. A promising young man from London, one from Germany and another young man from Japan. I've never heard his family name before so he may be new to serving. Honestly, all of this back stabbing and pettiness because Daphane Bowers doesn't feel like everyone is paying enough attention to her future grandchild, is ridiculous. As if it weren't that time of the year for shifter birth announcements." Adelaide shook her head and Meryn froze.
"What did you say?" Meryn turned to Adelaide.
"About Daphane?"
"No, about shifter birth announcements."
"Didn't Aiden explain about our conception windows?" She asked.
Meryn nodded. "But why did you say what you did about birth announcements?"
"Meryn, shifters get pregnant around Summer Solstice. It's October, most couples wait until after the first trimester to announce anything, it's bad luck. That's why there are always shifter birth announcements this time of the year." Adelaide explained.
"Oh my God." Meryn felt the blood drain from her face.
"Please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong." She muttered to herself over and over again.
"Meryn?" Adelaide and Byron stood and walked over to her. Meryn quickly scanned the site she was on and sat back feeling sick.
"I know how they were linked, the two missing couples. They had both posted birth announcements on Facebook within a day of each other." She whispered. Adelaide gasped and grabbed Byron's arm.
"Byron!" He was already moving. He grabbed his jacket and was heading to the door.
"Good work Meryn, call Aiden and let him know. I'm convening an emergency council meeting. We need to send out a public warning to stop birth announcements." He ran through the door. Meryn was frozen in her chair.
"Meryn. Meryn. Call Aiden." Adelaide pushed the desk phone towards her. With a shaky hand, she dialed Aiden's cell.
"Father?" Aiden's voice sounded confused.
"No, it's me. Meryn I mean."
"Why are you on my father's desk phone?"
"He let me use his computer. Listen, I found the link between the two couples, they were both pregnant. They posted a birth announcement on Facebook within a day of each other." She explained. He began cursing a blue streak.
"Your father is calling a council meeting to stop birth announcements."
"I've got to go, I need to update the unit leaders. Meryn, stay with my parents today. Don't go out on your own."
"I won't. I promise. Aiden?" Meryn hesitated.
"What is it, sweetheart?"
"Be careful, okay? I've kinda gotten used to you."
"I will. I promise. Love you." He whispered.
"Love you too." She hung up the phone and stared at it. When she turned, she saw Adelaide standing near the doorway, staring out, a haunted look on her face. She went to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Adelaide gave a low cry and hugged Meryn back tightly.
"This is why I've always wanted a daughter." Adelaide pulled back and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. She smiled down at Meryn.
"Aiden would have promised to kill whatever was bothering me and then he would have left to go train to make sure he could. Sometimes you just need a hug." Meryn laid her head on Adelaide's shoulder. She breathed in the older woman's perfume and buried her face in her dress.
"Is this a mom hug?"
Adelaide laughed. "Yes, this is a mom hug you darling girl. How about we take over the kitchen while Marius isn't here to chastise us and make a huge mess making cookies?" Adelaide suggested. Meryn could definitely get used to having a mom.
"Only if I get to introduce you to the joys of eating cookie dough."
"Deal!"
They walked to the kitchen and Adelaide began pulling out ingredients.
"Adelaide, can I ask you something?" Meryn measured out the brown sugar, she poured some into the bowl and ate a teaspoon. A cup in the bowl, a teaspoon for her.
"Of course, dear." Adelaide was measuring the flour and chocolate chips.
"Was it hard living apart from Byron all those years?" Meryn sucked on her teaspoon. Adelaide paused for a moment and kept pouring.
"Yes. Yes, it was very hard. Some nights I would lie awake upstairs and wonder why we were so close but apart. I didn't like it, but, there were nights where Byron had to leave with his unit where they barely made it to the scene in time to save a life. Even the extra time to the barracks would have cost lives. I understood why we had to live that way, but no, I didn't like it."
"Why didn't you move into the barracks with him? From what I can remember the place is like a small mansion, there had to have been room." Meryn snuck another teaspoon of sugar.
Adelaide blinked at her. "It just isn't done."
"Hmm." Meryn poured the brown sugar into the bowl.
"You'll get used to it after a while and you'll have your squire to keep you company." Meryn watched in fascination as Adelaide easily stirred the wooden spoon through the chunky mixture. This was the part that she always had problems with, her scrawny arms could barely move the spoon. She kept forgetting that Adelaide was a shifter too.
"Okay, it's mixed. Do you just eat it?" Adelaide looked down at the bowl.
"Nope. Let's put it in the fridge for a while. Then we should be able to eat it. Chilling the dough makes the cookies better too." Meryn covered the bowl with a towel and placed it in the fridge.
"Let's have some tea while we wait." Adelaide put the kettle on the stove to boil.
Meryn sat down at the table and stacked the sugar cubes on a napkin. Without her laptop she felt exposed. She was working on the third row of her wall when Adelaide came over with two cups of tea. She sat down across from Meryn and sipped her tea.
"What was Aiden like as a kid?" Meryn asked, seizing this opportunity to get to know about her mate more. Adelaide smiled, but it was somewhat sad.
"He was a very serious, conscientious child. He always defended Ben and took time to show him things. He always made sure that I was comfortable before leaving a room. And of course he idolized his father. When he left the house to move into the academy as a trainee I missed him terribly. Byron had already become an Elder when Aiden left for training and Adam and Adair had already declined to inherit after Byron. I think that Aiden saw it as his duty to become a warrior and follow in Byron's footsteps. There are some days where I wonder if this is what Aiden really wanted and if maybe deep down, he resents his brothers for choosing other paths and forcing him to become a warrior." Adelaide twisted her tea cup on its saucer. Meryn thought about it for a moment and shook her head.
"He's too damn stubborn. He may have felt obligated at first, but he wouldn't have stuck with it
unless it was something he wanted to do. When Adam and Adair introduced themselves I could see a hint of pride in Aiden's eyes. I don't think he resents them doing what they want with their lives."
"It's nice to be able to talk about this with someone." Adelaide admitted.
"Don't worry Adelaide I'll help you keep those boys on their toes." Meryn promised.
Adelaide's tinkling laughter lifted Meryn's spirits.
"I think you're doing that already. Let's go into the front drawing room and I'll teach you how to sew." Adelaide stood and Meryn moaned.
"Why? I thought you liked me?" Meryn finished her tea and stood.
"You don't want to give Daphane Bowers a chance to look down her nose at you, do you?" Adelaide lifted an elegant brow.
"No! I give her enough ammo as it is." Meryn admitted.
"Good. I'll start with something easy. First lesson; threading the needle." Adelaide walked with her to the front of the house.
Kill me now.
*****
For the rest of the afternoon Meryn discovered how Sisyphus must have felt pushing that bolder up the hill, almost reaching the top only to watch it roll back down again. After four hours she had yet to thread a needle. Every time she exhaled, she missed. Every time she inhaled she missed. So she tried holding her breath and almost fainted. By the time Marius returned with her packages Meryn was secretly planning to gather every needle in the house and melt them down in the backyard.
"I would think that you're playing a joke on me, but I can see how determined you are." Adelaide shook her head.
"I will thread this fucking needle if it kills me!" Meryn vowed shaking her fist.
"Why don't you take a break? I think Marius has something for you." Adelaide pointed to the doorway. Meryn saw a large box with the universally recognized Apple logo, and let out a loud shout. She jumped up and danced from foot to foot in front of Marius.
Marius, with great flourish opened the box and presented her with a brand-new laptop.
"Hello baby, I'm going to take such good care of you. Come here mama's boy." Meryn crooned at the small laptop and raced back over to her chair. In seconds it had booted up and was running her through the final set up. She installed a parallel Linux operating system and began installing her own programs from her flash drive. After a few minutes she had established the wireless connection and was back on the internet.
"You treat that thing more gently than most people treat their pets." Aiden's voice pulled her out of her gleeful exploration of her new machine.
"You're back!"
"I'll help Marius organize dinner." Adelaide kissed him on the cheek and headed towards the kitchen.
"Yup, I've been watching you fondle your new laptop. Should I be jealous?" He kidded.
"Absolutely." Meryn nodded and hugged her laptop close. She had opted for the 13inch Mac Book Pro. It was lighter than her old laptop and had more power. She had already gone online and located a new Doctor Who skin. She made a mental note to ask Marius about what address to use for shipping.
"What man can compete with a new laptop huh? We ordered pizza to give Marius the night off since he went shopping for us. After their showers the rest of the guys will be here. Hope you like green peppers." He stretched his arms over his head and rotated his neck. She admired the way his muscles shifted under his tight cotton tee. She sighed and he raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe I can compete after all?" He closed the door behind him and stalked over to her. Meryn felt her heart begin to race. He plucked her laptop from her hands and placed it on the table beside her. With a move made possible by his shifter speed and strength he pulled her from her chair and dipped her backward scorching her with a passionate kiss. As the kiss deepened they stood up straight. Meryn stepped into his body and felt the hard line of his erection against her stomach. She reached between their bodies and squeezed his bulge causing him to moan deep in his throat.
"You can't do this to me Meryn. You're still on your cycle and my mother would kick my ass if I took you in her drawing room." His breathing became more ragged as she kept caressing him. Meryn let her hand fall away and Aiden's forehead dropped to her shoulder. She grinned evilly as she turned her lips to his ear.
"My cycle ended today." His breathing stopped. He jerked back and his eyes were completely black. Just as his hands tightened on her arms to pull her closer, his mother opened the door.
"Pizza is here. Come get it while it's hot." She walked away, leaving the door open.
"Yay! Pizza!" Meryn grabbed her laptop and turned back to Aiden with an innocent expression.
"Not hungry?" His growl had her giggling as she sprinted from the room. His answering laughter and pinching fingers chased her all the way to the dining room.
When they got there he kissed her quickly and then his attention was on the stacks of pizza laid out on the large dining room table. Watching him grab a whole box her heart felt light. She had to admit, even if it was just to herself, that she had missed him terribly today. Unlike Adelaide, she refused to be left behind while he lived at the barracks. With a new item on her 'To Do' list Meryn grabbed a plate and sat next to Aiden as the rest of the unit members joined them for dinner.
CHAPTER TEN
"What did the council decide?" Aiden asked as everyone got settled.
"Meryn, never, ever, feel bad for calling René a douche bag. That man almost exceeded the limits of my patience today. He had the gall to imply that these couples deserved whatever happened to them since they chose to live outside Lycaonia." Byron growled under his breath.
"Will they stop the birth announcements?" Adelaide asked.
"We will be sending out a general public announcement tomorrow. We have to keep it vague to avoid mass panic, but I'm afraid most will ignore it. It's a part of our culture to celebrate our children and I know new parents-to-be will want to let the world know." Byron bit into a slice of pizza.
"Oh, that reminds me," Meryn turned to Aiden, "before I lost my mind with your laptop this morning, I came across a report filed by the county sheriff. They located a female body approximately five miles outside of Madison today. They won't be releasing that information anytime soon though." Meryn folded her slice in half and took a bite. Everyone stared at her.
"And how did you 'come across' it?" Aiden asked.
"You own a laptop still running Windows 95, I will not waste a perfectly good explanation on you, but rest assured it was completely illegal."
"Meryn!"
"What?"
"Won't you get caught?"
"No way! If the federal government can't track me, there's no way these small time Sheriffs can." His face blanched.
"Federal government?"
"Yup, NSA is my bitch. They stopped trying to catch me years ago. They know that I don't cause trouble, don't sell secrets or steal. In the end they realized it was easier just to let me do what I want."
"So you just felt like hacking into the Sheriff's email?" Darian asked.
"Uh, yeah. They don't realize they are dealing with paranormals and don't know to report stuff to you, so I set up a tiny little program that forwards all of the Sheriffs email to my inbox."
Aiden's eyes narrowed. "What exactly can you do with that overpriced frisbee?"
"Take over the world." She took another bite of her pizza.
"No, seriously." He prodded.
She looked up at him and blinked. "No, seriously."
"Okay, I'm not thinking about this right now. Any other news?"
Meryn picked up the laptop from the floor and opened it up on her lap. She scanned her email before turning to Aiden.
"Did you want like a Cliff Notes version? It's kinda gory." She motioned to Adelaide.
"If those young women lived through it, I at least, owe it to them to listen. If I can help in any way I will." Adelaide insisted.
"Okay. A second body was found outside of Waynesburg, but because that is a different county they haven't put two and two together that it's t
he missing person from Madison. Both bodies had been completely mutilated. The coroners are still trying to determine if they have all of the pieces. Oh." Meryn paused to read.
"What?"
"They are having a hard time identifying the bodies because and I quote 'It looks like something ate their faces off'. I wonder if they have pictures?" Meryn was about to check when Aiden closed her laptop.
"Excuse me." Adelaide put a trembling hand to her mouth and left the room, Byron and Marius on her heels.
"Sorry." Meryn felt like she really put her foot in it this time.
"It's okay. I think it's the fact that she knew that the women had been pregnant that got to her. We've discussed worse at the dinner table before." Aiden rubbed Meryn's back.
Adelaide and Byron returned a few minutes later.
"I am so sorry." Meryn apologized.
"It's okay, dear. I hope no one minds if I skip the rest of dinner and go right to dessert. Cookies sound perfect right now." Adelaide pushed her pizza aside.
"Sounds perfect to me too!"
"First batch is out. Get them while they are hot. I have also taken the liberty of scooping out just the cookie dough." Marius set a plate in the middle of the table. On one side steaming fresh cookies, on the other dough balls. After Adelaide and Meryn got theirs, everyone else dug in. Meryn was just about to ask how their training went when the lights went out.
In the dark Meryn heard a half dozen chairs scraping the floor as the men stood.
"Gavriel, take Colton and Keelan and check the back. Father, you, Darian and I will check the front. Marius can you keep the staff calm?" Aiden immediately took charge.
"Of course, sir."
A hand appeared on her shoulder and she gasped.
"Just me." Aiden kissed her and moved away quickly.