by Alanea Alder
Slowly her features began to relax. "Just give me time. I lost my home today. I don't know if my brothers are alive. I met you and the whole world turned upside down. She's all I have," Rheia said gripping Penny tight.
"You have me now. Oh, and them." Colton jerked his thumb behind him where nearly thirty men began to look anywhere but at them, trying to appear busy.
"I feel better already," she joked. The men smiled.
"Come on, prickly pear, I'll introduce you to your housemates and then we can go to bed."
Rheia stumbled at his words and he caught her elbow to keep her upright and from dropping Penny.
"I'm not going to bed with you," she protested.
Colton rubbed his chin. "I bet you will. What do you think, Penny?"
Penny held out her hand and gave him a thumbs up.
"Oh Penny, you don't know what he's saying." Rheia walked past him into the house. Colton closed the door behind them.
"Maybe she does," Colton said and looked around. "I know it's early, but are Meryn and Beth up yet?"
Gavriel nodded and Aiden exhaled. "Meryn will be down in a few minutes. She said that it's too early to be alive, but she wanted to meet Lycaonia's newest citizen, I think she's been getting bored."
The men shuddered.
Ryuu walked in from the dining room and bowed to Rheia. "My lady. My name is Ryuu, I am the squire for this home. If you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to bring it to my attention." He turned to Penny, his face softening considerably. "And who is this treasure?"
Penny hid her face in Rheia's neck; she peeked out, staring at Ryuu with one bright green eye.
Rheia rubbed the girl's back. "My name is Rheia Bradley, this is my daughter Penny."
Ryuu placed a white gloved hand over his heart and bowed to the little girl. Penny wiggled her fingers at him. Colton was surprised to see Ryuu in Western style dress; he had come to associate the squire with the traditional Japanese style clothing he normally wore. It was a shock to see him looking like a turn of the century Victorian butler.
Behind them, Beth and Meryn walked down the stairs arm and arm. Beth looked immaculate as usual, her blonde hair in a braided up-do. Today she wore a charcoal grey business suit. Beside her Meryn couldn't look more like Beth's opposite if she tried. Her short brown hair was sticking up in every direction, in what she called her "wild" look. Colton thought it was perfect for her. As usual, she was in jeans and today's tee-shirt had a large blue box on it. Though awake, Meryn looked disgruntled and angry. Yawning, she stomped down each step, whereas Beth glided down gracefully. Beth stopped and eyed Ryuu's attire with a curious expression on her face before turning to Rheia.
"Rheia, we heard your introduction to Ryuu as we were walking down. Welcome to the Alpha estate. My name is Elizabeth Monroe and this is Meryn McKenzie," Beth greeted his mate cordially. "Your daughter is beautiful." Beth's smile was kind as she waved at Penny.
Penny however was staring at Meryn who was swaying slightly beside Beth and blinking drowsily. Meryn looked over, caught Penny staring and began to stare back. With their eyes locked neither one of them looked away. As the silence grew, everyone began to look around uncomfortably. Finally, Penny extended her arm. She pointed to Meryn's shirt and gave a thumbs up.
Meryn's eyebrows shot up and she smiled. It was rare to see Meryn smiling before coffee. Colton noticed Keelan was edging behind Darian nervously. It was no secret that Meryn before coffee scared the poor witch to death.
"Cool kid. Come here, brat." Meryn simply plucked Penny from Rheia's arms and started walking towards the dining room. "I'm hungry and I know my squire has food somewhere. Speaking of which..." She stopped, then turned to look behind her and tilted her head. "Yup, I was right. Ryuu, you do have a great ass." Without saying another word, she went into the dining room. Aiden was sputtering and growling like a bear with a thorn in its paw as he followed her.
"Who is that strange woman who has my child?" Rheia asked turning to Colton, her eyes a bit wild.
"That's Meryn, she's Aiden's mate," Colton explained.
"The one that set the car on fire?"
Everyone nodded.
Rheia turned and hurried into the dining room.
Colton looked around fighting to keep a grin off his face. "So. Who's hungry?" He threaded his fingers behind his head and walked into the dining room whistling.
*****
Rheia's hands itched to take Penny away from the odd, short woman, but Penny looked perfectly content sitting on her lap looking at the woman's shirt. Trust her daughter to find another Whovian in the house. She had no one to blame but herself; she had indoctrinated Penny into the fascinating world of Doctor Who when she was desperate to find something the child liked. She stumbled across an old DVD one day and Penny was hooked.
She watched Meryn carefully. "So are the two of you shifters?" she asked pointing to Meryn and Beth.
Beth nodded. "I'm a lepus curpaeums..."
"Beth's a bunny," Meryn interrupted.
"Meryn, quit baiting Beth," Aiden chided then smiled at her. "I'm a bear shifter."
"Who is growly and stubborn, but my teddy bear," Meryn whispered loudly to Penny.
Rheia looked around the table. The dark haired man sitting next to Beth spoke up next. "Gavriel Ambrosis, vampire. I'm also Beth's mate."
"Uuber vampire. Dark Prince, even." Meryn continued with her commentary. Gavriel shook his head smiling at her antics.
The man with long golden hair looked around before continuing. "Guess I'll go next. I'm Darian Vi'Ailean, fae."
"Super tall. Doesn't say a lot, but very sweet. He's always willing to get the hidden boxes of snacks down from the higher shelves for you," Meryn smiled at Darian who winked back.
All eyes swung to the red headed man who was blushing furiously next to Darian.
"I'm Keelan Ashwood, witch," he said, then looked at Meryn anxiously.
"Keelan is very thoughtful and courteous. He always goes out of his way to make sure I have my coffee in the morning." Meryn beamed at Keelan, who laughed nervously.
Rheia turned to Meryn, "What are you?"
"We haven't figured out that out yet," Colton quipped.
Meryn glared daggers at him, but he just laughed. Ignoring him, she turned back to Rheia. "I'm human."
Rheia noticed that Meryn's mate watched Meryn interacting with Penny with a gentle smile on his face. For all his bluff and bluster, he was a softie just like Radek. Rheia gasped and dug for her phone. How could she forget?
"Sweetheart, what is it?" Colton asked, his face filled with concern.
"I need to call home; I need to know if my brothers are okay." She looked down and nearly cursed aloud. Her phone was dead. In all of the chaos, she had forgotten to plug it in while she was driving.
Aiden cleared his throat. "Rheia, Radek called me early this morning. He told me to tell you that everyone was fine. He said he also suspected your mate was here in Lycaonia." He shot a droll look at Colton who grinned back at him. "He said to tell her mate that if he ever hurt her, that his Vanguard squad would come and personally remove your skin one inch at a time. He sounded very serious." Aiden's mouth twitched.
Colton turned to her, a serious expression on his face. "How many brothers do you have?"
She smiled at him sweetly. Now that she knew her family was safe it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Five."
He exhaled loudly. "Perfect."
"So who's your favorite doctor?" she heard Meryn ask. Penny held up four fingers.
"Fourth Doctor, huh? Mine's a tie between Ten and Eleven. Ten because he was so painfully lonely and Eleven because he wasn't afraid to kick butt," Meryn explained.
"Congratulations on raising a well-rounded daughter. I personally love Classic Who, not many younger folk go back and watch the older seasons," Beth said turning from Meryn and Penny.
Rheia smiled. "Thank you, Beth, right?" Beth nodded. Rheia paused."Let me ask you someth
ing. Is this mating thing real?"
Rheia noticed Colton flinched at her question and ignored it. Love of first sight only happened in cheesy 80's power ballads and fairy tales.
Beth smiled. "It is. I know it must seem strange to you, being human, but I think you already knew the answer to that question before you asked it. For the record, Colton has to be one of the most selfless men I've ever met. I think he'll be a good match for you."
Rheia snorted. "You don't even know me."
Beth raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair to look her up and down. "Smell of professional grade antiseptic soap, Gods awful polyester scrubs, Naturalizer shoes and the willingness to adopt a child not even of your own species? RN?" she asked.
Rheia shook her head. "Surgeon. I was working overnights in the ER when Penny came into my life. And scrubs are not God awful, they are comfortable and I never have to worry about what to wear," Rheia refuted.
"My mate is gorgeous and smart." Colton winked at her.
Rheia sighed dramatically. "Too bad I don't like blonds."
Colton's head whipped around to stare at slack jawed. She continued to look at him without cracking a smile. She could tell he didn't know if she was joking or not.
"Seriously?" he asked.
She shrugged indifferently and smiled up at Ryuu as he placed a plate of food in front of her. "You don't have to serve me, just let me know where the food is. I can make Penny's plate," she offered.
"See! It's not just me." Meryn pointed to Rheia.
Rheia looked around. "What?"
Beth answered. "Rheia, Ryuu is the house squire. In human terms, I think the closest thing that you have is a butler, but in the paranormal world, it goes beyond that. Here we treat squires with reverence. They command a great deal of respect as they are the ones who run the homes of the high ranking families."
"High ranking? Who here is high ranking? Wait, didn't she say that Ryuu was her squire?" she asked pointing to Meryn.
Beth fought a smile and nodded. "Aiden, when he takes over from his father as the Elder for all shifters, will be the highest ranking paranormal in the world, Meryn as his mate will also be highly regarded."
They all watched as Meryn turned her waffle into a cartoon face using whip cream and chocolate.
Rheia leaned back. "That just doesn't seem right to me."
Ryuu handed her a cup of coffee by the saucer. "Would it help you to understand if I told you Meryn is single handedly restructuring some of the oldest paranormal traditions for the better? She looks at the world with fresh eyes. The changes she has made, will save thousands of lives."
Meryn waved a waffle-laden fork around. "I know, I know. I look and sound like an immature teenager. It's not that I don't know the societal norms, I just don't give a flying fu..." She looked down at Penny. "Fig. Most of society are assholes, why would I care what they think?"
"I agree with you," Rheia said sipping her coffee. She paused and looked down at the cup. "Holy Mother of God," she said breathlessly. She turned and looked up at the handsome squire.
Meryn and Beth giggled. Beth winked at her. "I know exactly what you're thinking. Impeccable manners, gorgeous, can run a house, cook incredible food and brew the nectar of the Gods, is this man real?"
Rheia let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God, I thought it was just me."
Meryn shook her head. "No, we all have crushes on Ryuu. Plus he spoils us." Meryn blew kisses to her squire. Around the table, Aiden and Gavriel growled low. Rheia noticed her mate wasn't acting particularly possessive. She didn't know if she liked that he wasn't acting like a caveman, or was upset because he wasn't.
Colton caught her staring and winked. "One. You're my mate, once I claim you, no other man will even compare," he said oozing confidence. "Two. He feeds me too. I have a man crush on him, so I can't get mad." He shrugged.
Rheia began to laugh so hard she had to put her cup down. "Oh Lord, I think I'm punch drunk, because he's not that funny," she said wiping her eyes. Around the table, the men chuckled.
Colton stood, glaring at the men. "I am so that funny. But you're exhausted, come on honey. Time for bed."
Rheia stopped laughing and scowled up at him. "I told you, I'm not going to bed with you."
Colton walked over to Meryn and picked Penny up. "And I made a bet with my baby girl that you would. Let's go see who wins. Last one upstairs has to make the bed!" he shouted and sprinted from the room.
Rheia looked around. "Is he serious?"
Aiden nodded. "Yes. He never makes his bed."
Sighing Rheia walked out of the dining room. She found Colton and Penny waiting for her in the foyer. She raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were racing."
He shrugged. "I remembered you haven't been upstairs yet and I'd have an unfair advantage." He easily carried Penny on his right side. Her daughter was sitting comfortably on his muscular forearm. He offered her his left elbow and smiled. "Come on, honey."
"I'm not going to sleep with you," she said placing her hand on his elbow.
"Bet you a dollar," he countered.
"Deal," she accepted. No way in hell was she letting him sleep with her and Penny.
CHAPTER THREE
Rheia walked into the room and was pleasantly surprised. Colton's bedroom was neat and tidy, with the exception of the bed, which looked like the blankets had been thrown on haphazardly. He had decorated using different shades of creams, whites and dark browns. The furniture looked expensive, but broken in and comfortable. Colton set Penny down on the bed and the girl immediately burrowed beneath the covers like a mole.
"Penny, honey, you have to change." Rheia started towards the bed.
Colton caught her around the waist. "Let her be. We'll be getting up in a few hours anyway; we don't want to be up all night." He leaned in and whispered against her ear. "Or do we?"
Shivering she pulled away and gave him a sour look. They watched as Penny's head popped out of the covers near the headboard. She was in the center of the king sized bed and looked even smaller because of it. She looked perfectly comfortable.
Rheia turned to Colton. "She's a bed hog; there won't be room for three of us." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh? I think they'll plenty of room." Colton stood back and stripped his shirt off over his head. Rheia nearly swallowed her tongue. She shot a nervous glance over to Penny who watched them with her normal, serious expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" she whispered. She ogled each defined muscle, there was a definite six-pack, or was that...
"Eight," Colton said, his eyes laughing.
"Excuse me?" she stuttered.
"Eight pack." Colton flexed shamelessly.
Rheia felt her heart rate pick up. When her breathing changed, Colton stopped flexing and turned to her his green eyes burning.
"I'll stop teasing, since baby girl is here." Taking a deep breath, he turned towards a closed door. "I'll change in the bathroom, be right out." The sight of his muscled back was no less dangerous than his washboard abs; Rheia was shocked when a slight whimper escaped.
When Colton turned back to face her, one hand on the doorknob, he had the biggest grin on his face. Seconds later, he disappeared into the bathroom and Rheia let out a shaky breath. The first thing she did was get out her phone charger and plug in her phone. She took her shoes off and debated on changing into pajamas for only a second. She quickly dismissed the idea, opting instead to stay prepared for any emergency. She lifted the covers and scooted in next to Penny.
"Don't tell him I actually like blonds," she whispered.
A look of concentration crossed Penny's face before she executed a perfect wink. Rheia laughed and pulled Penny into the circle of her body. Since adopting Penny, she lived for their cuddle times. She blinked a few times her eyelids growing heavy. Where was Colton? She heard the door creak and looked up. She didn't seem him anywhere. When a heavy weight jostled her feet at the bottom of the bed, she looked down and nearly screamed. A larg
e wolf sat at the foot of the bed, tongue hanging out like the family dog. Penny sat up and reached for the wolf with both hands. The wolf walked forward and lay down on the other side of Penny. The little girl wrapped her small arms around the wolf's neck and snuggled down with a sigh of contentment.
"Colton?" Rheia whispered.
The wolf raised its huge head and swung it over to her. It nuzzled her neck in the same fashion Colton had before he licked her from chin to hairline.
"Ewww! Colton, that's gross." Rheia wiped at her face with her sleeve.
The wolf made a chuffling noise and settled in next to Penny.
Damn. Looks like I'm out a dollar.
Rheia turned onto her side and watched the huge wolf with her tiny daughter, the contrast made the scene that much more unbelievable. Yawning, she wrapped her arm around Penny and buried her hand in Colton's fur. He sighed, sounding content. Rheia stopped fighting the need for sleep; she knew that if anyone came after them, they would at least have a huge wolf to contend with. It was enough to allow her to fall asleep without worry.
*****
When Rheia woke up, she experienced a momentary sense of panic. Where was Penny? She looked around to find the bed and room empty.
"Okay Rei, no reason to freak out, she's probably with the strange people you met a couple hours ago." Rheia tried to open her eyes and gave up; it felt like they were glued together with sand and Elmers. Grumbling to herself, she swung out of bed and fumbled with her shoes. She walked to the door Colton had gone into to change and opened it. The bathroom was clean and the bright white surfaces gleamed back at her mockingly. Everything about this man down to his bathroom was bright and cheery.