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 large 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.
She washed her face and gazed at her reflection. She looked like an angry bitch. She sighed; she really did hate the process of waking up. She turned and left the room heading towards the open staircase. She was amazed at herself for not falling head first down the stairs. Vision and coordination weren’t quite online yet. She heard voices and followed them to the dining room. When she entered, everyone got quiet and looked up. Colton sat with Penny on his lap. He was peeling tangerines and handing the pieces to her one at a time. The men all stood as she entered.
‘Weren’t you all here when we left?’ she asked still blinking tiredly.
Meryn nodded. ‘Yup, but that was nearly six hours ago, it’s lunch time already.’
Rheia grunted and stumbled toward the only empty chair, which of course was next to Colton. The men sat when she did.
‘Good morning sunshine!’ Colton practically sang out.
She swung her head in his direction and glared out at him from half closed eyes. ‘Why are you being so loud?’
‘Oh Gods, not again,’ she heard Keelan whimper.
Colton visibly gulped. Penny held up an empty coffee cup and shook it in front of Colton’s face.
He grabbed the cup. ‘Ryuu!’ he yelled.
Rheia rested her head on her arms. ‘You do realize that I am medically trained to remove pieces of your body in such a way that you won’t die?’ she asked.
Ryuu entered the dining room walking quickly, carrying a tray with three steaming cups. He placed one down in front of Meryn, then Beth, before setting one down in front of her.
‘Considering your profession, I made yours extremely strong. Please let me know if it’s to your liking,’ he said and stepped back.
She raised the cup and took a sip. Her eyes opened wide and she looked down at the contents. She took another sip and sighed. It was hot, dark and bitter. She could almost feel the caffeine kicking in. She sat back, never releasing the cup. She looked to Ryuu. ‘What is it? It tastes like coffee, but it’s very strong, almost too strong, but amazing.’
Ryuu smiled and bowed at the compliment. ‘I have been studying the different types of beverages that can be made using coffee and espresso. What you’re drinking is called a Black Eye. A cup of strong coffee with two shots of espresso. I used a dark roast for the coffee, but used a milder roast for the espresso shots. It was my hope that the two would balance each other,’ he explained.
‘It’s wonderful. Could I have this every day?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Of course, it would be my pleasure.’
‘All Hail Coffee God,’ Colton whispered. Beside him, Keelan drew a symbol in the air and muttered. ‘So mote it be.’
Meryn held up her cup. ‘Ryuu, you gypped me! I’m missing an ounce of coffee.’
Ryuu’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I don’t even want to know how you knew I changed your coffee levels, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are restricting your caffeine intake. This will be your new blend.’
Rheia frowned. ‘Why are you restricting her coffee?’
Aiden beamed at her. ‘She’s pregnant, we’re going to have a baby,’ he said proudly.
Rheia smiled back. ‘Congratulations.’ She turned to Meryn. ‘They’re right; studies show that women who take in more than two hundred milligrams of caffeine per day double their risk of miscarriage.’
Aiden turned to Ryuu. ‘What is she down to?’ he demanded.
‘She’s just now getting under two hundred a day, but we’ve only been measuring coffee. I’ll have to restrict other forms as well such as teas and chocolate.’
Meryn turned to Aiden. ‘Don’t make me get stabby! I need caffeine! I need chocolate!’ Aiden paled.
Ryuu gently tapped her on the nose. ‘What you need is to go to your appointment with Adam later. His last report said you’re still anemic, so you’ll be getting more spinach and kale at dinner.’
Meryn glared at Ryuu. ‘I love you, Ryuu, don’t make me hurt you.’
Ryuu smiled. ‘Trust me, denka. You won’t even know you’re eating something healthy.’
‘Meryn? Baby? What do you mean stabby?’ Aiden asked turning Meryn to face him.
Meryn shrugged. ‘You took my gun, so I ‘found’ a knife.’
Aiden frowned. ‘Where is it?’
Meryn shook her head. ‘Not telling.’
‘Meryn!’
‘No! We have all kinds of fucking crazy shit happening around here, I want to be able to defend myself. Just because I accidentally shot you, isn’t a good enough excuse to take my only source of defense!’ Meryn shouted back.
Rheia looked over to make sure Penny wasn’t getting upset at all the yelling, but she should have known better. Penny and Colton both wore identical looks of fascination as they slowly ate their tangerines and watched the drama that was unfolding at the table.
‘Accident? Accident! How can you call that an accident when you said, ‘Don’t piss me off or I’ll shoot you.’ Then you shot me!’ Aiden demanded.
Meryn’s lower lip stuck out in a defiant manner. ‘I was kidding! I really wasn’t going to shoot you. But while we’re on the subject, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal, you healed in like a day.’ She sniffed dramatically. ‘I think you like upsetting me.’
Aiden’s mood changed dramatically. He reached for his mate’s hand and brought it to his lips. ‘I’m not trying to upset you baby, I’m just worried about you that’s all. I don’t ever want you in a position where you would have to stab someone… me especially.’
‘I’d feel better if I kept my knife. Please?’ she asked.
Aiden sighed. ‘If it makes you feel better, then okay.’
Rheia had to turn her head. Aiden was a bigger marshmallow than Radek. Maybe it was a trait for all bear-shifters to be softies when it came to the women in their lives. She pushed down a wave of homesickness that was threatening to overwhelm her.
Colton leaned in so he and Penny were close. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
Rheia looked at them as they looked at her. She looked at Penny then Colton. ‘You both have the same color eyes,’ she said.
Colton turned Penny in his lap so he could see her face. They stared at each other. He turned back to Rheia. ‘She does! She has my eyes. Just like her…’ Frowning, he turned to Penny. ‘What do you want to call me? You know that I am your mother’s mate, which makes me your father. But you’re old enough to decide what you’d like to call me.’
Penny nodded.
‘How about Daddy?’ She shook her head.
‘Dad?’ She shook her head again.
‘Father?’ Again her shook her head sending her ringlets flying about her face.
Rheia noticed the dejected look on Colton’s face. A big part of her wasn’t emotionally ready to share her daughter, but another rapidly growing part was already falling for Colton’s roguish ways. It seemed to her that he should always be smiling.
She turned to Penny. ‘How about Papa?’
Penny paused. She thought about it then nodded.
Immediately Colton’s face brightened. ‘I’m your Papa!’ He tickled her and Penny’s face broke out into the first smile Rheia had ever seen.
‘Oh!’ She covered her mouth with both hands and watched as Penny smiled and thrashed around in Colton’s arms, she had never looked happier.
Colton noticed her distress and stopped. ‘What?’
Rheia shook her head and pulled Penny into her lap for a cuddle. ‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen her smile.’ When Rheia pulled Penny back, she was almost afraid to look, afraid the smile would be gone. But it wasn’t, it was still there, Penny was beaming up at her.
‘You’re so beautiful when you smile, dumpling,’ she said kissing her daughter’s forehead.
Penny leaned in and kissed her cheek before wiggling to get down. Once on her feet she ran from the dining room. Rheia went to get up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
Ryuu bowed. ‘I’ll watch over her so you can eat your lunch.’ He placed a towel on the buffet table and followed the little girl.
‘Sounds like good advice to me,’ Colton said, placing three small finger sandwiches on her plate.
‘What are your plans for the rest of the day Rheia?’ Beth asked.
Rheia shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Less than twenty four hours ago, I was in my own home and my biggest concern was helping Penny to speak again. Now, I’m far from home, I don’t have my brothers or a job. But Penny’s never looked happier. It’s like she’s a different child.’
‘Can you tell us what happened to her?’ Colton asked wrapping an arm around her chair.
Rheia drew in a ragged breath. ‘There’s not much to tell. About a year ago, Radek was sent to check on a house because a concerned neighbor reported the couple that lived there hadn’t been seen in a few days. When he got there he could tell the door had been kicked in, but then shut again so that no one could see from the road. He said he found Penny’s father in the hallway. Radek could tell he had been trying to defend the door to the master bedroom; the poor man had been ripped to pieces. He said as horrible as the hallway was, the scene in the master bedroom was a hundred times worse, blood and chucks of flesh were everywhere. He was about to turn and leave the room for fresh air when he heard a tiny noise. He found Penny wedged, pinned really, between the bed and the wall, she was three at the time. He said the blankets had been thrown over her and that if he hadn’t heard the sound he never would have known she was there. The smell of the blood completely masked her scent.’
‘When he lifted her out she was covered in urine and feces. She had been so terrified she hadn’t moved from the spot in days. Her legs had cramped, she nearly suffocated under the layers of blankets, and had been surrounded by blood and the stench of death from what was left of her own mother.’ Rheia had to take a deep breath.
‘Dear Gods,’ Beth whispered. Gavriel pulled her close, his hand stroking her hair comfortingly.
‘You don’t have to go on,’ Colton said, taking her hand.
Rheia shook her head. ‘I can go on. Penny lived it, I’m only telling you about it. I can be no less brave than her.’
Colton raised her hand and kissed her fingers gently. She took comfort in that small action.
‘Radek knew the couple had been paranormal, so he called Athan to pick Penny up. They brought her to me, knowing I would never turn her away.’ She paused and looked around. ‘You see, I was adopted when I was a little girl, too. My father was the town Sheriff at the time; he found me much in the same way Radek found Penny, except both of my parents were alive, they were just too high to feed and take care of me. Daddy took me home, the same home where I was living when Penny came to me.’ She smiled. ‘He didn’t have to forge any paperwork like we did, he just stubbornly refused to give me up. Eventually the judge awarded them custody. You can’t do something like that anymore though.’
‘For the first six months Penny was with me, she was practically catatonic, completely non-responsive. It took me nearly a year to get her to the point where she was communicating with nods, head shakes and thumbs up signs. Her smiling today was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.’ She swallowed hard and wiped the tears from her eyes.
‘That’s it!’ Colton said his eyes blazing. He stood up and pounded the table with both hands.
Everyone stared at him in shock.
‘What in the world?’ Rheia asked.
He turned to her his eyes suspiciously moist. ‘We’re going to mother fucking Disney World! You and Penny have lived through hell. I want to do everything I can to make you smile. You deserve to spend the rest of your life smiling.’
Rheia couldn’t take her eyes off him. He stood there, green eyes bright, his blond hair glowing in the afternoon sun and to Rheia he looked exactly like what she dreamed Prince Charming would be.
Smiling up at him, she nodded. ‘Okay, let’s do Disney World.’
His smile was beatific. He sat back down in his chair and took her hand. ‘I swear, on my life, to do everything in my power to make you happy.’
‘Oh, that was just beautiful,’ Beth said sighing happily.
Rheia blushed; she wasn’t used to such open displays of emotion.
‘I want to go to Disney World, too.’ Meryn said looking up at Aiden with puppy dog eyes.
Aiden shot Colton a nasty look. Colton raised his hands and shrugged.
‘It will be a nightmare arranging security.’ Aiden grumbled.
‘Worth it,’ Colton said dismissing his friend’s concern.
‘My brothers would be more than happy to help,’ Rheia volunteered. In fact she knew they would jump at the chance to see Penny playing.
‘You keep saying brothers, but you were adopted. Are they your biological brothers?’ Beth asked.
Rheia shook her head. ‘Heavens no. I think I mentioned my father was Sheriff when he found me. His deputy was Radek Carson. Radek belongs to a small squad of paranormals that monitor Jefferson, the town I’m from. My father, mother and I discovered they were paranormals by accident when my father returned to the station to berate Radek for not going to the hospital after getting shot while out on a call. My mother insisted on going with him since she was a nurse and could look at the wound. I went with them since they didn’t want to leave me alone and because I loved helping my mother treat people. Daddy walked right into Radek’s office just as Levi was healing him with a spell. The door was standing wide open so my mother and I saw as well; I was about eight at the time. They sat us down and explained how squads like theirs existed all over the country to help people. They called themselves the Vanguard.’
‘The squad in Jefferson consists of Radek Carson as Sheriff, Levi Sorrel as a police detective, Marco Rodriguez as Fire Marshall, Dax Vi’Eaereson as firefighter and Athan Durant as lead paramedic. They were my best friends growing up and always looked after me; they are the only family I have left.’
‘Ai-DEN! What the fuck!’ Meryn screeched.
Aiden looked at her, puzzled. ‘What?’
‘What? What do you mean what?’ she asked, standing.
Seconds later Ryuu came rushing in with Penny on his hip. ‘Denka, what is the matter? What has he done this time?’ he asked, setting Penny down on her feet. She ran over to Colton and climbed into his lap
Aiden glared at him. ‘Why do you always assume it’s me?’
Ryuu glared at him flatly. ‘Because it usually is.’ He hurried to Meryn’s side and cradled her wrist in his hand. Rheia watched in wonder as an electric blue dragon tattoo on Meryn’s arm began to glow. Meryn took a deep breath, but continued to send her mate death glares.
Aiden looked around; the men all shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. Rheia could see whatever had set Meryn off, the men were clueless as to what it was.
Ryuu maneuvered Meryn back into her chair. ‘Now tell me, what exactly has you so upset?’
Meryn pointed a finger at Aiden. ‘Him! He’s been keeping secrets! Secrets that could have helped me months ago!’
‘Oh my Gods!’ Beth’s eyes widened.
Meryn turned to her. ‘Exactly!’
Aiden rested his head on the table. ‘I never understand you,’ his voice was muffled by the table.
‘Understand me? Understand me!‘ Meryn yelled jumping to her feet again.
She turned to Rheia. ‘You said your brothers are part of this Vanguard squad?’ she asked.
Rheia nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘You say they’re all across the country?’ Meryn prompted.
‘Yes, I’ve heard them talk about many different cities.’
‘So like, maybe, I don’t know, five or ten squads?’ Meryn asked.
Rheia shook her head. ‘More than that, at least one per state, for sure.’
‘Aiden!’ Meryn turned back to Aiden and picked up a fork. ‘I’m going to fucking stab you!’
Aiden jumped back as Ryuu brought his arms up under Meryn to keep her from stabbing her mate.
‘Meryn, you need to calm down and tell us why you’re so upset!’ Aiden said, concern etched over every inch of his face.
‘You all can’t be that thick?’ Beth demanded, turning an angry look to her mate.
Gavriel shook his head. ‘We would never knowingly upset either of you my love.’
‘Let me stab him. Just once!’ Meryn yelled. ‘Just four tiny holes!’
‘Can someone please explain?’ Aiden boomed.
‘You want an explanation? Fine! How about this for an explanation? Lycaonia is slowly being invaded by ferals; we’ve been attacked not once, but twice. Manpower is so scarce I had to restructure your entire training system just to get rookie trainees distributed to speed up the training process and you mean to tell me you have hundreds, fucking hundreds of trained unit warriors around the country that you haven’t told me about?’ Meryn gasped for air. She glared at him for two seconds before bursting into tears.
Aiden moved forward, waving his hands around his mate, not knowing what to do. ‘Baby, please calm down, you’ll make yourself sick.’ Ryuu released her and Meryn collapsed into Aiden’s arms. ‘I didn’t deliberately keep it from you, to be honest I forgot all about them. The Vanguard project was never sanctioned by the council, so it was all volunteer based. Instead of cycling from active duty to retirement, we had unit warriors establish identities outside of Lycaonia to provide quicker assistance to families living outside the four pillar cities. Instead of retiring, they were put in an inactive state until they returned. They aren’t even on our rosters anymore. For all intents and purposes they are doing this on their own time.’
‘Please tell me you have a list somewhere. Please tell me you’ve been keeping track of their names and locations,’ Beth pleaded.
Aiden looked to Colton and Gavriel. Both men shook their heads.
‘Unbelievable.’ Beth closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
Aiden pulled Meryn into his lap; she had calmed down enough that she was just sniffling. ‘You have to keep in mind, this project was never approved and it technically doesn’t exist. As one warrior would return, another one would go out. If a warrior wanted rest and relaxation, he would put out feelers in a low-crime area. If they wanted sunny weather and the beach, he would check with coastal squads to see if they had an opening. These men go into an inactive status when they leave. They pretty much run things themselves with Radek being point of contact to me for all the squads. He might have more information, but then again, he lives outside of Lycaonia and doesn’t have to worry about paperwork being found in an audit.’
‘Don’t blow smoke, Aiden.’ Beth said, her eyes opening. A small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. ‘I saw the state of your office before we redecorated, you weren’t worried about an audit.’
Aiden had the decency to blush.
Colton leaned back in his chair and threaded his fingers behind his head. ‘Radek is still with Vanguard huh? That sneaky bastard, he owes me five bucks.’
Everyone turned to face him. Rheia knew that his offhanded comment made it seem like the missing five dollars was Colton’s only concern, but she saw it for what it was, comic relief. Sure enough, when she looked around everyone was smiling.
‘I can call him for you. I’m sure he’d be very interested to hear you’re my mate.’ Rheia teased.
Colton’s chair landed on all fours and he looked at her not blinking. ‘Fuck! I’ve mated Radek Carson’s little sister.’
‘Actually, he calls me his baby sister. That probably doesn’t make a difference though.’ Rheia laughed at Colton’s morose expression, it tickled her.
‘You talk about him like you know him,’ Beth said.
The men all nodded.
‘He’s good enough to be in Alpha, he could have had my position if he had wanted it. But the idea of leaving Lycaonia was too tempting,’ Colton explained.
‘We need an accurate count of all Vanguard warriors and their locations. Then we need to be able to get in contact with them and mobilize them if need be. Then we have to make sure that they are either up to speed on current human technology or get a sixth man out to them to run their command centers.’ Meryn began listing everything that needed to be done.
Beth stood. ‘First things first, your wellness checkup. I’m sure that Rheia would love to see our recently renovated clinic.’
Meryn stood, her eyes and nose red. ‘Okay.’ All the spunk seemed to have been drained from her during her outburst.
‘I’m sorry, baby, if I had remembered I would have told you sooner.’ Aiden nuzzled her cheek gently.
Meryn sighed. ‘It’s just that Beth and I worry about you guys all the time. You’re always outnumbered, the ferals seem to be breeding like rabbits,’ she turned to Beth, ‘no offense.’ Beth rolled her eyes. Meryn continued. ‘We’ve been doing everything we can think of to help you. If even half the Vanguard returned, we could easily triple our numbers. We never know which routine patrol will be the one where one of you doesn’t return and it eats us up inside.’
The men fell silent.
Rheia stood and stretched. ‘Nothing in life is guaranteed, not even tomorrow. I learned that early in life. You have to do what you can, when you can, like wellness appointments or Disney World.’ She smiled at Colton. ‘What you can’t do, is live in fear. It will leech every moment of joy out of the time that you do have, and that’s no life at all.’ She turned to Penny. ‘What do we do when we’re afraid of something?’ she asked the little girl.
Penny stuck her tongue out and blew a loud raspberry. Rheia nodded. ‘That’s right, baby girl. You give it the ole two finger salute and you keep moving forward, because backward isn’t an option.’
Gavriel shook his head ruefully. ‘Human’s lives are so short, but the wisdom you acquire stuns me at times.’
Rheia looked at him. ‘It’s because our lives are so short that we have to learn quickly.’ She turned to Beth. ‘Ready when you are, only, who’ll watch Penny?’
Colton spoke up quickly. ‘We can watch her,’ he said, pointing to the men.
Rheia looked around, the men wore varying expressions, ranging from neutral to anxious. ‘Are you sure?’
Colton nodded. ‘Absolutely! We got this.’
Beth and Meryn walked around the table heading towards the doorway, Ryuu following behind them.
Rheia kissed Penny on the forehead. ‘Same rules with Papa as when Uncle Radek and your other uncles watch you, okay?’
Penny nodded and reached into her small backpack to pull out a cell phone.
Rheia smiled. ‘Good girl.’
‘Wait, what rules?’ Colton asked as she walked out of the room.
‘Never mind. Have fun.’ She waved goodbye.
In the foyer, Beth eyed her scrubs. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to change?’
Rheia looked Beth up and down taking in her outfit. ‘You’re a clothes person, aren’t you?’
Meryn chuckled. ‘You have no idea.’
Rheia pointed to her scrubs and shook her head. ‘No thanks, I like my scrubs.’
Beth shuddered.
‘Ladies, your coats.’ Ryuu held three coats over one arm, he handed them out, one by one.
Meryn arranged her scarf and Rheia could have sworn it moved on its own. Blinking she looked again and it was still.
‘Okay, let’s blow this popsicle stand,’ Meryn said heading out the door.
Rheia followed eager to see somewhere familiar.
I can’t wait to get to the clinic and normalcy.
