Chapter Three #3
Anne palmed her face.
Kiera knew she should be loathe to talk about her parent’s death, but Meryn’s questions and clueless expression had her smiling. “We lost them five years ago. Catastrophic car accident while they were on the east coast for a job.”
“That sucks. Mine took poison to avoid being tortured by ferals,” Meryn said, popping another meatball in her mouth.
“Oh, my gods, are you okay?” Kiera asked, feeling for the smaller woman. Losing her parents in a car accident had been hard, she couldn’t imagine them taking poison to avoid torture.
Meryn gave her a thumbs up. “We murdered everyone involved.”
“Good for you?” Kiera asked.
Meryn nodded. “It was good family bonding time.”
“She’s not quite as psychotic as she sounds,” Neil said, smiling.
She looked up at her mate. “Maybe a quick dinner for the kids.”
Hunter was laughing. “She’s really not that bad.”
Kiera looked around the room, nearly everyone was nodding, but also smiling.
Kendrick looked at Meryn with a fond expression. “She is wonderfully efficient.”
“Most of what she’s done has been Council sanctioned,” Marshall paused. “What we know about anyway.”
“Anywho. So, what do you do? Genevieve is a chef.” Meryn asked.
Genevieve laughed. “I’m not a chef. I studied food science and like to cook.”
Meryn frowned. “How is that different than a chef?”
“Because I never studied cooking techniques. I just wing it.”
Meryn turned back to Kiera. “So, you?”
Kiera shrugged. “I’m kinda a Jack of All Trades. I love to read and learn. When I was looking for jobs amongst humans, I took positions doing all kinds of things. Personal assistant, librarian, day care, hostess, retail, you name it, I’ve probably done it, especially if it was entry level.”
“That’s really cool,” Meryn said, waving her meatball around. “I could never do anything that dealt with people.”
“It wasn’t so bad. Each job was different, so it kept me on my toes.”
“Can you bartend?” Meryn asked.
“Yup.”
“Can you do home improvement stuff?”
“I can paint and do small wood working projects.”
“Dude, that is so kick ass.”
Kiera was about to respond when they heard the front door slam.
They all looked toward the front of the house when a dark-haired man appeared.
“Caiden, permission to beat people to death?” the man demanded, shaking stuff out of his hair.
“Denied. And what are you putting on the floor?” Caiden asked.
“Could be raw egg or rotten cabbage,” the man snarled.
“Ewww,” Meryn said. She held up a fork. “Zev, wanna meatball?”
The wolf-shifter stopped mid snarl, walked over and accepted the meatball. He chewed, swallowed, and took a deep breath. “It was the people on the street, Caiden. They saw me coming back from Franklin with groceries and started throwing shit.”
He placed the bags he was carrying on the counter and ran a hand through his hair, grimacing at what he encountered.
Caiden turned to his father. “If we issue a decree at this juncture, it would be seen as being tyrannical.”
Their Elder began pacing. “Zev, was it planted antagonists or actual citizens?”
Zev sighed. “It was Mr. Calathea. I’ve walked by his shop hundreds, if not thousands, of times. He knows me. Or I thought he did.”
Hunter spoke up. “Sir, the units, we have to be able to defend ourselves.”
Elder Ironwood stopped his pacing. “Give me half an hour. I want to get Byron, Magnus, and Brennus on the phone and get their input.” He turned to his son. “Tell the men not to engage for now.”
Caiden’s expression hardened. “Yes, sir.”
“All we can do for now is keep showing up and showing the people we can be trusted,” the Elder said, reaching for his phone.
Meryn snorted. “That’s the quickest way to fail.”
Marshall turned to her. “How do you mean?”
“You’re moving at their pace and letting them set the narrative.
You’re in a reactive mode,” she explained.
“By not doing anything about it, you’re basically broadcasting that you feel guilty and are accepting their punishment.
” She waved her fork about. “If shit wasn’t hitting the fan, and people threw eggs at unit warriors, what would be the punishment? ”
Elder Ironwood thought it over. “They’d probably receive a heavy fine.”
Meryn looked at him. “Then give him a fine. Don’t change the punishment, that way he can’t say he was singled out.”
Kiera listened to the entire conversation. “Gods, she’s right.”
Elder Ironwood’s answering smile was rueful. “She nearly always is. I’ll still loop, Byron, Brennus, and Magnus in though.”
“Tell Dad and Uncle Bren I said hi, and tell Magnus I miss him,” Meryn said, steering a meatball through the glaze on her plate.
“Dad? Uncle?” Kiera looked to the small, quirky woman.
“Aiden’s dad is the Shifter Elder of Lycaonia, so he’s my dad too. My Uncle Bren, is Brennus Ri’Eirlea, the previous queen’s consort, and Magnus is like one of my bestest buds,” she explained.
“You?”
“I know right?” Meryn said. “Last October I was a nobody geek. Now, I’m up to my eyeballs in paranormal shit.”
“Lucky you?” Kiera asked.
“Some days, I wonder,” Meryn answered.