by Alanea Alder
Ellie beamed. "He's teething, which means tons of drool and growling. Grant thinks it's adorable," she said teasing her mate.
Grant shrugged. "He is very fierce."
"Where is my godsson?" Adriel asked.
"My gram took over watching him during the day. The antivirals that Rheia and Anne brought have bought us some time. Adora along with her mate and son help us monitor the children during the day and we've been rotating unit warriors to stay with them at night." Ellie looked at Grant, who kissed her temple. "We don't want Benji at the hospital anymore," she admitted softly.
"Well duh, that's where the sick kids are," Meryn said breaking the awkward silence Ellie's confession created.
Ellie looked up surprised. "You don't think I'm being a hypocrite?"
Meryn just stared at her. "How? If you were working at a normal hospital, treating an outbreak among kids, no one would consider you a hypocrite for leaving your child at home. It's not your fault everything is cramped in this city. I swear you can't turn around here without stepping on someone's nuts."
Eva chuckled. "Especially when you're aiming for em."
Meryn shrugged. "He had it coming." She looked at Ellie. "If anyone has something smartass to say about Benji send em my way. I'm your bitch remember?"
Ellie broke out into a huge smile. "How could I forget?"
Aiden groaned. "You don't need to be offering to fight." He looked at Ellie. "Send them my way instead."
Ellie blushed. "Thank you, Commander."
He waved at hand at her. "Trust me, it would be a pleasure to educate some of these pompous windbags."
"Did that mouthy little troglodyte ever challenge you?" Kendrick asked.
Aiden grinned. "Not yet, maybe he's still clucking like a chicken."
Meryn looked between the two men. "So it's okay for you two to cast spells and beat up on people but when I do it, I'm being 'difficult'." She held up her fingers to form air quotes.
Etain sipped his coffee. She had a point. If you took her actions and attributed them to warriors, it wouldn't seem as scandalous. "She has you there Commander," Etain mused out loud.
"My pregnant mate does not need to keep getting into fisticuffs with impudent tunnel escorts and exposed to spell making components," Aiden refuted.
Meryn stared. "Did you just seriously use the word fisticuffs?"
Aiden ignored her. "She should be concentrating on eating healthier and getting more rest, for our child's sake."
"Meryn two-point-oh happens to like pudding and coffee thank you very much." Meryn sat back crossing her arms.
"I noticed you ate a normal breakfast this morning," Rheia pointed out.
Meryn blinked and looked down at her empty plate. "It tasted good today."
"It's because I doused everything in cinnamon," Ryuu said stepping forward to take her plate. "Marjoram's suggestion seems to be working, though, we may need to stock up on more cinnamon."
Meryn stuck her tongue out at her mate. "Ha! There! I am eating better."
Aiden smiled and pulled her onto his lap. "I'm very proud of you baby."
Bethy turned to Ryuu. "I don't think that will be a problem. The vendors on Level Six adore her. With all the rumors running rampant about our pregnancies, they will be tripping over themselves to donate."
Aiden looked at her. "What rumors?"
Bethy looked at him surprised. "You mean you haven't heard?" Her eyes glanced around the table. Etain shook his head when she looked at him. "None of the warriors have heard anything."
Kari sipped her coffee. "I have heard some things, but I bet you have heard more. The people here trust you more than anyone," she informed Bethy.
Bethy blinked. "Oh. Well, as most of you know a pregnancy is a sign that a couple or in our cases, our House has been blessed by the gods. Despite there being a sickness here in the city, most still view Uncle in a positive light. On this level and within our circle of friends, there are four pregnancies, plus little Benji. Most of the city believe that Uncle is favored above all others by the gods, especially with my pregnancy being out of season. It has helped more than you know to keep political rumblings to a minimum."
Eva snorted. "If you call that mob that marched on our bar-b-que minimal rumblings, I'd be afraid to see what could happen."
Bethy turned to her friend. "That was just a portion of the Noble and Founding Families. Remember, they represent a small percentage of the city. The average citizen outnumbers them sixty-to-one."
"Holy shit!" Eva exclaimed. "That's close to twenty thousand people based on the little I know about the Noble and Founding Family numbers, where are all these citizens hiding?"
Bethy looked confused. "They aren't hiding. They are on their levels of course."
"There's no way twenty thousand people go to Level Six and I missed it," Meryn argued. "I have cameras now."
Bethy exchanged looks with Magnus who shrugged. She turned back to Meryn. "Why do you think they all go to Level Six?"
Meryn held up her hand and began counting off on her fingers. "Food. Shopping. Food. Entertainment and food."
Bethy laughed. "Meryn, each level is self-sufficient and trade directly among themselves for foods and goods. Going to Level Six everyday would be like going out to eat every night."
"And?" Meryn asked as if unsure of her point.
Bethy sighed. "Meryn, normally people don't eat out every night."
Meryn looked around the table guiltily. "Oh. Well, I didn't either before I met Aiden," she said quickly. "I cooked a ton of Hot Pockets for myself."
"Don't remind me," Ryuu murmured.
Etain relaxed back in his chair. "I'm glad to hear that the people still support our prince. It will make patrols go much smoother."
"Agreed." Adriel added.
"So like twenty thousand people huh?" Meryn hedged.
Bethy nodded. "Yes, Meryn."
"So, like these peeps are kinda like homebodies and don't get out much huh?"
Bethy shrugged. "I suppose."
"So, how do we know they aren't sick?" Meryn asked.
Etain felt his heart begin to race. He looked around the table to see varying degrees of horror on the faces of his closest friends.
Ellie, Rheia, Anne and Adriel stood quickly.
"Stop!" Kari shouted holding up her hand.
They turned to her, eyes wide.
"Running out of here with your hair on fire will not solve anything. Obviously if they are ill, they are not reporting it. If you all storm out of here panicked, we will have nothing but chaos on our hands."
Slowly, the four sat back down still looking a bit wild eyed.
Kari stood. "Let us instead have the normal level patrols done by the warriors go door to door for the next few days. We have not done a sweep in a while looking for our errant feral Augustus Pettier, let us use that as our explanation to speak with everyone."
Kendrick rubbed his chin as he stared at Meryn. "How is it that you somehow manage to see things we don't?"
Meryn shrugged and stared down into her latte. "My grandmother used to say that my defective brain focused on the wrong things."
Etain clenched his fists. More than once he had heard off comments about Meryn's grandmother, and none of them were good. Having gotten to know Meryn well over the past couple weeks he could only imagine how precocious she must have been as a child. She would have been a delight to know. It angered him that her upbringing had been anything but a happy one. Hearing the gasps around the table at her quiet comment he knew the others felt the same.
"You are not defective Meryn. You are extremely special and should be treasured as the rare mind you are. If I hear of anyone saying otherwise, they will have to face me," Magnus said his eyes darkening to a deep burgundy.
Meryn smiled shyly at his pronouncement while Aiden continued to rub his cheek against the top of her head. "So if I need a favor?" she started, a calculating look on her face.
Magnus smiled, his eyes returning to their normal color. "You
have only to ask."
"Will you take me down to the vaults today? I'm kinda tired, so I was thinking we should just take it easy and have some fun," she suggested.
Beside Magnus, Bethy stilled as did Adriel. Etain knew the two of them along with Sebastian had been pushing Magnus to rest more. The prince was pale and looked exhausted. A day with Meryn might be just the thing to help him recoup.
Magnus became thoughtful. "I do not know Meryn, so much is happening. I have the meetings with the Founding Family members this morning." He strummed his fingers on the table. "I could have Sebastian escort you down so you could pick out your rewards."
Meryn hopped down off her mate's lap and trudged over to Magnus. She leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "Please," she asked simply.
"I could very easily go to those Founding Family meetings in your stead Uncle," Bethy offered.
Magnus' eyes went wide as he stared down at her spiky brown hair. His mouth opened and closed several times before he smiled gently. His arm came around so he could pat her on the head. "Of course dear, I will go with you."
Meryn's popped up, and she grinned at him. "Good because I don't know what you consider an heirloom. Plus half of it is probably stuff we don't use anymore. I don't want to pick out a golden bowl only to discover people used to shit in it or something."
Magnus stared, then burst into laughter. Wiping his eyes, he pulled her head down and kissed her forehead. "I will keep you from making such mistakes." Meryn blushed furiously.
Bethy met Meryn's eyes and mouthed, 'thank you!'.
Sebastian stepped up behind Meryn and ruffled her hair. "I will pack a huge lunch and soft duvets. You can make a day of it, the whole day in fact."
Magnus shook his head. "Surely not the whole day."
Sebastian pointed to Meryn. "You would not want to disappoint the little one would you?"
"Of course not."
Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest. "Then you both are to spend the entire day in the vault, relaxing and resting."
Magnus looked at his niece. "Thank you for taking over the meetings for me darling. Remember if they get too rambunctious to call me immediately."
Bethy looked over at Kari grinning. "I think we can handle it Uncle." Kari nodded.
Etain hid a smile. It was clear who was really in charge on Level One.
Meryn rubbed her hands together as she walked to Aiden and climbed back into his lap. "Time to swim in the gold coins like in Duck Tales."
Etain smirked at Law who was scowling. "Too bad I'm her guard now. I bet you would have loved to see what our prince has in his vault."
"Shut up," Law groused.
"I'm not upset you're jealous," Kendrick said to Law. "Even I wouldn't mind seeing what the prince of the vampires has deemed precious enough to store in the family vault."
Meryn looked at the witches smugly. "I get to go. I even get pudding," she gloated.
Kendrick winked at her. "That's because you're so special."
Micah cleared his throat. "Adriel, with four new adult cases showing up at the hospital yesterday, would you like me to change out the rotations so that the shifters are doing patrols away from sickness? The witches, fae and vampire warriors can help on Level six," he suggested.
Adriel exchanged glances with Rheia and Ellie. They both nodded before Ellie spoke. "That might not be a bad idea. As Meryn pointed out just because we haven't seen any vampires coming forward as sick doesn't mean there aren't any. But we do know for a fact that shifters are susceptible. The last thing we need is for our warriors to get ill."
Grant turned to his mate. "I've been around the kids since day one and haven't gotten sick, in fact, none of the shifter warriors have."
"Let us not tempt Fate," Adriel said.
Grant scowled at his unit leader. "I'm staying with my mate."
"Of course you are," Adriel sighed. "Just be careful."
Grant rolled his eyes. "At this point, I have been covered in just about every type of bodily fluid a kid can produce, if I was gonna get sick I would have by now," he said jokingly.
Ellie turned to her mate slowly her eyes wide. "You're right. You've been exposed to everything from vomit to blood. Why aren't you sick?"
Grant looked surprised at her expression. "Because I eat my veggies?"
Declan laughed. "No you don't, you're a meat and potatoes kinda guy. Sometimes minus the potatoes."
Ellie frowned. "Why aren't you sick?" she demanded again.
Grant looked around to the others. "Do I apologize for this?"
"No, but this does make for an interesting morning in the lab," Kendrick mused.
"Grant as you have just admitted, you have already been exposed. You stay with Ellie and continue to help on Level Six. The other shifter warriors should be moved to patrols in the city. I do not want to take any chances with their health," Magnus ordered. He turned to Ellie. "When did you say your friend was arriving?"
Ellie smiled. "I bet you she is packing as we speak."
CHAPTER TWO
Vivian Mercy stared down at her cell phone and chewed on her lower lip. Eleanor Kimball had to be one of the best pediatricians in the world, so there was no doubt in her mind that when the doctor used the term 'Shifter Virus', that's what it was. The only problem was, they didn't exist.
Her seminar about updated lab procedures at the Center for Disease Control had just wrapped up, so she was between projects. There was a fae portal located outside of Atlanta, so she could head to Noctem Falls from there. She just had to convince her squire to tag along.
Why did it have to be Noctem Falls? Why in the hell was Ellie there? Why couldn't it have been Lycaonia?
"Motherfucker," she muttered.
"Vivian, language." A low voice rumbled.
Vivi smiled. If she had a dollar for every time her squire admonished her for cussing she could afford to send him on the vacation he obviously needed.
"You'll be cussing too when you hear what's going on." Vivi stood and walked out of her office, down the hallway to the small family room where her extremely large squire sat folding her underwear.
Not for the first time in her life she was struck by the contradiction that was her squire. For as long as she could remember Halbjorn Bergson had been at her side. As a child, she had always assumed they were related because they both had red hair, everyone in the human world assumed they were father and daughter. It never even dawned on her how unlikely that was since he was a shifter and she a vampire. Growing up she never questioned why a bear shifter squire was raising a vampire child, but once she was old enough to venture out into other paranormal communities, she began to notice exactly how different they were from others, and realized that their small family was an oddity.
For one, not everyone had a squire, and if they did they usually chose one of their own race. Secondly, most children had at least one parent. She had neither, just Hal. He was everything to her. Mother, father, brother, best friend, but most importantly squire. He took care of her and made sure her world kept spinning. She knew she would have been lost without him.
He was also huge, like blot out the sun huge. But that had never scared her, if anything he always made her feel safe, after all who would tangle with a six foot eight, barrel chested bear shifter descended from Vikings?
"That was Ellie," she began.
"Oh?" he commented without looking up.
"She has discovered a shifter virus."
This had him looking up. He smiled. "Sounds right up your alley, when do we leave?"
She grimaced. "She's in Noctem Falls."
"No," he said immediately.
"But Hal..."
"No. I won't have you waltzing back into the lion's den. I told you a long time ago, we could go anywhere on this earth but Noctem Falls, and I meant it." He put the clothes in the basket and turned to face her. "Anywhere but there."
She sat next to him and wrapped both arms around one of his. "They have already lost a child H
al. She was only five years old."
He inhaled quickly. Her shaggy squire was a push over for children. She continued. "It hit the children first, over a dozen are sick now. You know I can't say no."
He rested his head on top of hers. "I didn't realize Noctem Falls started to have children again."
She smiled. "They haven't. Prince Magnus took in a local wolf pack to protect them from the unexplained murders going on around the country. It's their children that are ill."
She felt it when his breath caught. "Wolves are at Noctem Falls? Are you sure?"
She nodded against his arm. "From Wolftown," she answered quietly.
Cursing he stood and began to pace in front of their coffee table. Being so tall it was a short walk back and forth. "What is Fate up to now?" he grumbled.
"You know I'd rather stay here with you, but I can't turn my back knowing my refusal could result in more children dying."
He stopped and turned to her a sour look on his face. "You already said yes haven't you?"
She nodded. "I wouldn't be the girl you raised had I said no."
"Low blow Vivi," he rumbled.
"Will you come with me?" she asked.
His brows snapped together as he frowned. "Of course I'm coming with you! Let you head off to that city of death alone? Ha! I'd like to see you walk out of here without me girly. You're not too old for me to put you over my knee," he threatened.
She rolled her eyes. He had never raised a hand to her. She doubted he would start now. "If we pack right away we could get there by this evening."
Hal stopped his pacing. "You get the suitcases down from the attic, you know I don't fit through that tiny hatch they built. I'll start organizing your clothes. It's a good thing I just did the wash." He bent down easily lifting the clothes laden basket with one hand.
"Yes, Hal," she said smiling.
"In and out. A quick visit. Do not talk to anyone. The sooner we get back home the better. I don't trust that prince, or the vampires, or anyone in that city," he rambled.
"Yes, Hal," she agreed.
He wagged a thick finger at her. "I mean it missy. No talking to anyone."
She fought against the urge to roll her eyes again. "Just the medical team and those organizing treatment efforts, that of course may include the prince, that's unavoidable."
