by Alanea Alder
She smiled. "Like my dress."
Kendrick tilted his head. "You're the new owner of the Gown of Éire Danu?"
She bopped her head yes and kept tilting the pouch side to side.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Elizabeth snorted. "You have no idea."
Meryn placed the bag in his hands and turned to Aiden. "I want one."
Aiden's mouth dropped. "Baby, I can't just go out and buy you one. Enchanted fae items are extremely rare."
Meryn walked back to her chair and sat down. "I need it in my life."
Aiden turned to Darian who was chuckling. Darian nodded at Aiden. "I'll see what I can do."
Meryn smiled brightly at Darian. "Thank you big brother-cousin."
Darian looked around the table. "We never really stood a chance, did we?"
The men all shook their heads. Kendrick laughed. "Never has a truer statement been spoken. Women always have the upper hand, always."
Meryn pumped her fist in the air. "Because we kick ass!"
Kendrick smiled slyly. "It's because you have the magic bean."
Meryn frowned as Aiden choked on his coffee. "What magic bean?"
Elizabeth blushed. "Oh, dear."
Anne had to suppress a giggle.
"I only know of two magic beans: the cocoa bean and the coffee bean," Meryn insisted.
Kendrick clucked his tongue. "Commander, you have been remiss in your duties."
Around the table, the other men were trying not to laugh and failing horribly.
Finally, Gavriel took pity on the confused Meryn and leaned in to whisper what the third magic bean was. Meryn's reaction caught Anne by surprise when she erupted into giggles.
"Ha, ha, ha, magic bean! Hey baby, want to swallow my magic bean later?" Meryn leered up at her mate.
Aiden smirked and shook his head before leaning down to nip Meryn on the neck. "Only if you're very, very good," he promised.
Meryn reached over her head and traced a halo before folding her hands in front of her as if in prayer. "I'm always good."
Colton chuckled. "Hey Meryn, did you have to get a custom-made halo to fit between those devil horns?" he teased.
Anne lifted her hand and tapped her lips. "What do you think Meryn? We could sew his lips shut in his sleep."
Meryn's eyes brightened, and she turned to Rheia. "You don't need to kiss him for a while do you?"
Rheia shrugged. "I could go without."
Colton's mouth dropped as he cuddled his mate. "Darlin', you wouldn't let them do that to me, would you?"
Rheia just winked at Meryn and Anne.
Meryn leaned back in her chair. "Face it gentlemen, you're no longer the baddest motherfuckers in the room anymore."
Aiden kissed the side of Meryn's head. "Don't let the other warriors find out."
Anne smiled. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with us," she promised, and the other women laughed. Anne finally felt like she belonged in this house with these people.
Kendrick cleared his throat. "Not to put a damper on things but..."
Colton smiled ruefully. "But we still have some pretty serious allegations against us."
Kendrick set his empty cup down. "Thanks to Anne's suggestion, I may have a plan for that. But that wasn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the perimeter."
Aiden blinked. "But the perimeter is the one good thing that came from this whole mess. The ferals haven't been able to breach it since it went up; we're safe."
Kendrick twisted the cup in his hands. "Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but when something looks too good to be true, it usually is."
Amelia turned to him. "How can the perimeter be a bad thing?"
Kendrick stopped turning the cup. "What if the perimeter wasn't designed to keep you safe by keeping the ferals out. What if it was designed to keep the ferals out to keep them safe?"
Aiden frowned. "I don't like where this is going."
Kendrick looked at the men. "Over the centuries, I've seen many different types of magic, but I've never seen anything like this perimeter. No one in the city is stepping forward to lay claim to it, and if any of the warriors had done it, they would have told you right away. So, if no one in the city cast the spell, who did?"
Colton swallowed, looking ill. "The enemy."
Kendrick nodded. "What if the perimeter is keeping the ferals out because when the perimeter goes down it will shrink into the center of the city, stripping people's souls as the magic collapses? If ferals are in the city when that happens, their precious necklaces could be destroyed."
Aiden thumped his fingers on the table. "Do you have any proof?"
Kendrick shook his head. "No, but I thought it would be irresponsible if I didn't put the theory forward. You're included in more high-level meetings than I am. If you hear something that may explain a portion of my theory, at least you could make the connection."
Aiden stood and stretched his arms up over his head. "I'll keep an ear out. In the meantime, we have drills, gentlemen."
Kendrick stood beside her. "I may join you."
Aiden looked pleased. "I thought you didn't do drills."
"I don't, but I need to speak to a few of your men."
Aiden laughed. "I'll get you on the course eventually."
Amelia shook her head vehemently. "You really don't want that, Aiden."
Aiden's brows snapped together. "Why?"
Amelia squirmed in her chair. "Do you remember that time Caiden had to request that the council approve renovations to the Storm Keep obstacle course?"
Aiden nodded. "He said that the men had gotten used to the..." he looked over at Kendrick.
Kendrick smirked back at the commander.
Aiden turned toward the door. "Never mind. Come on men." He leaned down, kissed Meryn on the top of her head, and walked toward the door.
Anne watched as the other men around the table said goodbye to their mates. Kendrick stood and looked down at her. "When you check on Keelan, stay away from the table. If you see anything glowing bright red, evacuate the house and come get me."
"I heard that!" Aiden yelled from the foyer.
Kendrick winked at her then turned to Meryn. "Tell your little friend that he has access to Keelan's room. The warding doesn't apply to sprites."
Meryn reached up and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks Kendrick. Felix has been spending a lot of time with Keelan."
Anne looked at Meryn but didn't see anything. "Sprite?"
One second there was nothing, the next, a tiny fairy sat on Meryn's shoulder, fluttering his wings. He waved and she waved back. When she blinked, he was gone again.
She turned to Kendrick. He leaned down, and their eyes met. She was surprised at their intensity. She thought he was about to kiss her, but at the last moment, he moved his head so that he whispered in her ear, "Thank you for sticking up for me. No one has done such a thing in a very long time. I'll give you a treat later. Have fun with the girls." He ruffled her hair and walked out behind Darian.
Once the men were gone, the room was silent. Meryn gulped down the last of her orange juice. "So, I don't feel like adulting today. Let's watch anime and eat snacks."
Rheia, Elizabeth, and Amelia looked at each other and grinned.
Amelia nodded. "That sounds like a great idea." She turned and looked at Anne. "In this you'll be our Yoda."
Anne frowned. "He was the green one right?"
Across the table, Meryn began making sounds as if she was having an epileptic fit.
Amelia wrapped an arm around her. "Ignore her. Beth usually handles Meryn when she's like this. Let's hit the kitchen and get some post-breakfast snack foods."
Anne looked over her shoulder to cast a worried glance at Meryn. She figured if Rheia wasn't concerned, she wouldn't be either. Maybe she was getting used to the dynamics of this house.
*****
"Why am I here again?" the dark haired young man asked. After checking on Keelan, Anne was formally introduced to
Jaxon and Noah when the women invaded command central to take over the sixty-five inch television.
"Because I'd miss you if you weren't here," Meryn answered.
"You do realize this isn't in English right?" Jaxon asked.
"Yup, now hush. I think Tezuka is about to confess to Yuri." Meryn threw popcorn at Jaxon who laughed.
Noah sat on the couch with his legs drawn up, a look of enthrallment on his face. He had been immediately sucked into the story line and had teared up a time or two already at Yuri's plight. Anne had to admit, Noah had to be the prettiest boy she had ever met. If he was drawn to be in an anime, he would be a bishōnen, or beautiful boy.
Anne had already watched nearly half of this season with Kendrick so her attention was solely on the tiny sprite who had made himself visible after some coaxing from Meryn. He now sat on Anne's shoulder, watching the anime along with them. Anne thought Felix was absolutely adorable. When he saw that her hands were shaking as she went to hold him, he smiled up at her shyly, and she was lost.
Meryn laughed and kept tapping away on her phone. Anne had no clue how Meryn was keeping up with the subtitles while on her phone, but every comment she made about the story had been right, so she must be paying more attention than Anne realized.
Rheia pointed to the screen. "What are those?"
Anne looked up and smiled. "Those are takoyaki. They are round, made from a flour-based batter filled with minced octopus, pickled ginger, green onions and sometimes tempura scraps. The takoyaki dressing is to die for; it's like a mix between Worcestershire sauce and mayo. I haven't had any since moving back to Madison."
"Ryuu!" The women yelled at the same time Meryn paused the anime.
A moment later, Ryuu appeared in the doorway. "Denka? Is everything okay?"
Meryn turned around on her knees to peer over the back of the sofa. "Can you make those?" She pointed behind her at the screen.
Ryuu looked up and a look of pleasant surprise crossed his face. "Of course."
"Oh, and ramen?" Rheia asked licking her lips.
"I would love to try the yakisoba." Amelia rubbed her stomach.
Ryuu's mouth twitched in a smile. "How about I plan a night where you can try multiple dishes from my homeland?"
Meryn threw her fist in the air. "Yes!"
Ryuu bowed. "I have a friend back home I can contact. He should be able to send the necessary supplies via a fae trade portal. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I will bring in mid-morning tea in just a moment." He closed the door behind him.
Amelia stared at the closed door for a second. "You know, I bet he gets homesick. Maybe we should have Japanese food once a week."
Meryn turned and sat back down. "That's a great idea. I want to try those octopus balls."
Anne and Amelia cringed. "Takoyaki." They both corrected Meryn at the same time.
Meryn shrugged and smiled at her phone. "This is great, I'm getting so many friend requests." She paused and looked at them. "Do octopi have balls?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Oh, Meryn."
Meryn grinned evilly and turned back to her phone.
Everyone's attention turned back to the anime. After a few minutes, Elizabeth's phone began to ring. She took it out of her pocket, looked down, and frowned. "Uncle? Hello, Uncle. What! No! No. Never mind. Stop laughing! Goodbye!" Elizabeth wheeled on Meryn. "Why did you put that you and I were in a relationship on Facebook? All of Noctem Falls is buzzing that I am in a lesbian relationship with the Unit Commander's mate!"
Meryn looked puzzled. "We are in a relationship, you're my sister."
Elizabeth simply fell over onto her side and buried her face in the pillows. Rheia, Jaxon, and Noah had their hands over their mouths trying not to laugh. Amelia was at Elizabeth's side rubbing her back. "There, there. It can't be that bad."
Elizabeth sat back up. "Take it down now."
Meryn shook her head. "I think it's too late. I have eight hundred and seven comments and three thousand shares."
"Give me that!" Elizabeth snatched Meryn's phone and began to scroll. Her face went pale for a moment and she looked up. "You cannot refer to your shifter friends as your 'furries'!"
"Man down! Man down!" Jaxon laughed, pointing at Rheia who was wheezing on the floor. Noah was beet-red and having trouble drawing breath.
Amelia swallowed hard and looked like she was fighting not to smile. "She did what?"
Meryn went to get her phone back, but Beth stood and held it over her head. Meryn put her hands on her hips. "Why is that wrong?"
Anne cleared her throat. "Meryn the term 'furry' refers to a subculture that is interested in anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities. It's also a type of sexual fetish where people take the interest into the bedroom."
Meryn blinked. "So, technically, I'm still right."
"I give up! I'm deleting your account." Elizabeth tapped on Meryn's phone.
Meryn shrugged. "I can always post on Aiden's account."
Amelia sighed. "I always wanted to be a shifter. Becoming an animal must be liberating."
Defeated, Elizabeth paused and handed the phone back to Meryn. "It gets old after a while." She sat down, looking a bit shell-shocked. "Let's resume our anime watching. I don't feel like adulting anymore, either; the rest of the paranormal world can just get along without me today."
"Sounds like I brought tea just in time," Ryuu said as he pushed his serving cart into the room.
Noah paused the anime and turned to them, his eyes bright. "I didn't know they had anime where two boys fall in love."
Elizabeth perked up. "It doesn't hurt that they are so pretty."
Noah blushed and turned to Anne. "Can you recommend some more?"
Anne nodded eagerly. "Of course."
Noah sighed, a dreamy look on his face. "Too bad you don't see that sort of thing in real life."
Jaxon bumped shoulders with his friend. "What about Sydney and Justice?"
Noah thought about it for a moment. "They are the exception."
Meryn looked up at her squire, a mischievous look on her face. "What about Kendrick and Ryuu?"
Rheia spit out the tea she had just sipped. Amelia offered her a towel and looked at Meryn. "You can't keep doing this to Rheia," she said sternly.
Meryn looked over at her friend. "Sorry, Rheia." Instantly, her attention was back to her squire. "So?"
Ryuu didn't bat an eye. He continued to pour their tea. "A man or woman would be very lucky indeed to find themselves with Heika."
Meryn rubbed her hands together. "Sounds promising. Kendrick did offer sexual favors for coffee."
Noah was wide-eyed and stared up at the squire. "They would make an amazing couple."
Elizabeth sipped her tea. "You may be on to something, Meryn."
Anne accepted her cup of tea from Ryuu. His eyes met hers, and he winked. Anne turned away, her cheeks on fire. Was it evident to the others how she felt? That the mention of Kendrick with anyone else was enough to make her feel ill? Ryuu laid a hand on her shoulder briefly before turning back to the teacart to resume serving.
She thought of Kendrick and the dream she'd had the night before. Was that the reason why he joined the men today? So he could ask Darian about her dream? She sipped her unsweetened green tea and hoped Kendrick found an answer, one way or another.
*****
Kendrick felt a chill run down his spine. He stopped mid-step and shuddered.
Darian gave him a funny look from where he hung doing inverted sit-ups. "Are you well?"
Kendrick rubbed his arms. "Someone must be talking about me." He walked over to Darian and leaned against the workout station.
"Did I just see you talking to my brother?" Darian asked.
"Yes, I needed to ask a favor of him."
Darian sat up and hopped off the bench. "But that wasn't why you joined us today was it?"
Kendrick glanced back at the house. "No, I need to talk to you about something."
"Of course. What'
s on your mind?"
"Keelan," Kendrick said shortly.
Darian exhaled slowly. "What can I tell you?"
"Did he say anything about Anne?"
Darian's eyes narrowed. "How do you mean?"
Kendrick looked up at Darian, giving him the full weight of his stare. "Did Keelan say anything about them being mates?"
Darian ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe." He looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Right before he... it happened, Keelan confessed to me that he wasn't attracted to Anne at all."
Kendrick's heart began to pound against his breastbone. "What did you tell him?"
"I asked him if he had tried being attracted to her, he said, yes, of course, but there was nothing between them. He said they got along great, but he was not drawn to her at all."
Kendrick shook his head. "But he dreamt of her." It all came back to this. If Keelan had had a mating dream of Anne, then she wasn't his.
Darian nodded. "And a good thing he did, too; otherwise, she might be dead."
Kendrick grabbed Darian's upper arms and shook him. "What do you mean?"
Darian took a step back to dislodge himself from Kendrick's grasp. "Calm down; she's unharmed. Keelan dreamt that there was something wrong with her car and she died when it went off the road and slammed into a tree. When she took the car in at his insistence, they found that there was something wrong with her brakes."
Kendrick stared at the large fae. "Gods!" he whispered harshly. "It wasn't mating dreams at all; he was having premonitions to keep her safe."
Darian blinked, then blinked again. "You know, I think you may be right. The dream he had about her car wasn't the first premonition that he had about Anne."
"He had dreamt of her before?"
Darian nodded. "Though I don't think he remembered. The only reason I remembered is because of what Anne told us when we met her. She recalled the first time she met Aiden. He saved her from being kidnapped, but we wouldn't have been in town that day if not for Keelan's insistence that we had to be there." Darian frowned. "But why Anne? Why was Keelan getting so many premonitions about Anne if she wasn't his mate."
Darian's question had Kendrick reeling, because the answer was too unfair to be true. "Because he was protecting his brother's mate," he whispered, staring down at the ground. Around him, the day went as usual, but Kendrick was trapped in this moment of realization.