Chapter Thirteen
Kiera relaxed in the wooden lounger on the back deck.
She, Meryn, Pip, Anne, and the twins were relaxing while the men walked around the backyard with shovels pointing out possible house plots.
Each warrior had different ideas for their own homes.
It would be everyone’s first time living on their own and they were excited.
So far, the most outrageous idea came from Zev.
He wanted go-karts to get around between the houses.
The guys were on board until they realized the kids would feel bad if they couldn’t drive them.
It wasn’t until they had half created a duty rotation for driving around in a go-kart before Caiden axed that idea.
Konstantine shocked everyone and wanted floor to ceiling glass walls everywhere. It was completely opposite to what vampires were used to in Noctem Falls. He said he had finally adapted to being in the open and wanted to embrace that.
Aedan wanted his own version of the treehouse that King Darian was building the unit warriors in éire Danu. He said he heard his brother brag about it for months and wanted one of his own.
Hunter’s house idea was fine, until he kept adding bedrooms. Caiden had to break it to him that usually anything over ten bedrooms was considered a mansion, not a house.
Hunter then pointed out that kids need space.
The compromise was that if they outgrew the six-bedroom house designed, they would build a new one.
They were now trying to use shovels to draw lines on the ground showing pathways and where the houses would be.
The main argument being that they weren’t close enough, but if they were too close, they wouldn’t need go-karts.
Caiden who thought the go-kart argument was done, looked like he was about two seconds from throwing his shovel.
Ryuu adjusted the umbrella overhead so that she, Meryn, and Anne were in the shade, then passed out chilled juice in gorgeous cocktail glasses.
Myra and Johann had taken the kids back to their house to help in the garden.
She smiled. It wasn’t a big surprise that the kids, being witches, loved gardening.
Without the threat of their uncle’s custody claims looming overhead, both kids seemed to be really coming out of their shells.
The Armstrong cousins were looking for a place in the city to act as their new office. She wanted to go with them at first, but ultimately, she realized she wanted a day to relax. Rory assured her they would pick a location where she’d have her own space.
“Auntie said that the fae craftsmen should be here day after tomorrow,” Meryn said, taking a huge gulp of her juice.
“Will we need them that fast?” Kiera asked.
Meryn nodded. “We had a mouthy little shit of a trainee back home who Gavriel was about to murder. He paid for an entire barracks to be built near the alpha estate. One day I looked out the window and there were trees, the next, a building. Shifters are crazy fast builders.”
They watched the men argue and point with the shovels.
“Do they know what they’re doing?” Kiera asked.
“Probably not,” Meryn replied.
“At least Kendrick is there,” Kiera pointed out.
“He is there strictly for entertainment, don’t rely on him to help,” Anne said from the other side of Nigel. She adjusted her sunglasses. “Actually, he may make it worse.”
They watched as Kendrick followed the men, not saying much, but smiling the whole time, as if they were his own private show.
Meryn reached over to the table between her and Kiera and dug her hand into a bowl of chips. “I feel like I’m forgetting something,” she said, wiggling her nose. “It has to do with the bank I think.” She thought about it for a second, then nodded. “Yeah, maybe the bank.”
The men, as one, turned and looked at Meryn. Aiden reached for his walkie talkie. “Double the patrols around the Nu estate. Double up on city watch, teams of four not two,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” was the immediate response.
“What?” Meryn demanded.
Kendrick walked over and sat in the chair on Kiera’s other side. “Every time you have said you’ve forgotten something, things go sideways.”
“That’s not fair. They were probably going sideways the whole time, and I’m the only one who notices,” Meryn argued.
Kendrick leaned forward and just stared.
“Oh,” Meryn said, realizing she had proved him right.
Kiera sighed happily. “Did you think mating would be like this?”
Meryn pointed to herself and Anne. “We’re both human, well, technically I’m half-fae, but raised human. Mates weren’t on our radar.”
Kiera watched Hunter. “I always thought it’d be this grand passion, but it’s different.”
Meryn raised a brow. “No heat?”
Kiera blushed.
Meryn grinned evilly. “So, after our little talk, I had an epiphany.”
Kendrick chuckled. “This should be good.” He took a glass of juice from Ryuu.
Meryn ignored him. “I think the type of animal dictates the size of a male shifter’s…”
“Meryn!” Aiden roared.
“What!”
“No.”
“It’s for science.”
“Ab-so-lutely not.”
“I can add a tab in my database,” she said, calmly to Kiera.
Kiera looked over, and the warriors were simply looking at Meryn in horror.
“Meryn…” Aiden growled.
“I’ll start by studying you,” she offered.
He huffed, then sighed. “Agreed, but I will determine how long you will need to study me for. You may never get to others.”
Meryn blushed and nodded.
The men seemingly wanting to avoid future catastrophic conversations walked further away in the direction of the Armstrongs.
Hunter began pointing, then motioning with his fingers, little legs walking.
It looked like they were trying to determine a good halfway point between the Nu estate and the Armstrong home.
“Anywho. Did you go on a shopping spree after you got your money?” Meryn asked.
“No way. We were raised lower- middle class. I feel like buying name brand deli meat is a splurge,” Kiera admitted.
“Same,” both Meryn and Anne added.
Meryn twirled her straw. “It’s so weird. I used to keep everything I wanted in my cart, like I was window shopping, but now that I can actually get everything, it’s not as much fun anymore.”
Kiera thought of her own ‘Saved for Later’ list she had. “Maybe I could get a couple things.”
“I’ll send you the link to the pepper gel my friend Zadie recommended,” Meryn offered.
“Thanks.”
In front of them, the guys were all pointing in different directions.
“Meryn, when should me and Neil go over there?” Nigel asked, watching the men begin arguing again.
“When someone draws blood,” Meryn said, flippantly.
“Got it.”
Kendrick set his juice down and stood. “Ready to start some tests?”
Kiera looked up in surprise. “Now?”
“Why not?”
“Can I watch?” Meryn asked.
Kendrick looked down at her. “I don’t think you have a choice.”
Meryn smirked, then her face fell. “Hey!”
Kiera was about to say something when Zev swung his shovel at Aedan.
Nigel and Neil stood. “That’s our cue.” They hurried over and began easily turning over the earth using their magic, to mark plot boundaries.
The men looked disgusted with themselves for forgetting about the earth witches.
Caiden looked back and saw Kendrick smiling at him.
Kendrick could have helped at any point if they had asked.
Caiden shook his head ruefully and went back to marking the ground.
Kiera stood. “I’m ready.”
“Excellent. Now, we know you can sense other’s magic. I’d like to test if you can manipulate other’s magic.”
“What do I do?”
“I will summon fire magic to my hand. I want you to imagine pulling it towards yourself,” Kendrick explained.
When his hand began to glow red, she closed her eyes and began to feel around for his magic.
It took a second but then that warm feeling in her tummy expanded.
She felt Kendrick’s magic in front of her.
She imagined gently pulling the red strings to her hand.
When heat began to form in her palm, she opened her eyes, a flame danced between her fingers.
“Shit,” Kendrick whispered.
“Shit,” Kiera echoed.
“Holy shit!” Meryn crowed. “That’s so cool!”
Kendrick turned. “Caiden, come here!”
The guys jogged over and they saw Kiera standing there holding an open flame.
Caiden smiled. “So, she’s a fire witch?”
Kendrick shook his head slowly. “Summon air to your power hand,” he instructed.
Caiden lifted his right hand and soon it began to glow yellow.
Kiera’s nose tickled with the distinct scent of ozone.
Just like with Kendrick’s fire, she slowly began to pull yellow threads towards her other hand.
She watched in amazement as a tiny tornado formed.
It spun and wobbled in her palm. Never in her life had she ever been able to use elemental magic like this.
“Aww it’s so cute!” Meryn gushed.
Caiden’s eyes were huge. “Are you seeing this?”
Kendrick passed a shaking hand over his mouth. “I am.”
Meryn sat up. “Can you mush em?”
Kiera looked at her. “Huh?”
Meryn made the motion of flattening her hands together.
Excited, Kiera tried just that. She brought her hands together and let the red threads of the fire magic tangle with the small tornado. It spun and spun until a large fire plume shot from her hand, up past the roof of the estate. In the summer’s heat, the wind from it was almost overwhelming.
Kendrick brought both hands up as if to calm her. “Kiera, take a deep breath and imagine the tornado getting smaller and smaller,” he instructed in a calm, even voice.
“Why are you talking to me like I’m holding a bomb?” she asked.
She looked up and his expression told her everything. She was.
She began to panic. “What do I do!”
Kendrick eased forward. “It’s okay, me and Caiden are here, we won’t let anything bad happen. We promise. Now, take that deep breath.”
She inhaled a shaky breath.
“Imagine it getting smaller,” he repeated.