My Commander (Bewitched and Bewildered #1) (18 page)

"What on earth!" Adelaide and Byron rushed out of his office. They stared down at her as she wiggled around moaning.

"You owe me five dollars." Byron said, holding out his hand. Adelaide shook her head.

"I may owe you five dollars because you bet she would go down the banister, but you owe me twenty because I told you should wouldn't think to put any pillows down like Ben." Adelaide wagged a finger at her mate.

"Y'all are mean. I'm crippled!" Meryn got up on wobbly legs.

"Come sit down and keep us company in my office, the chairs are more comfortable there than in the drawing room." Byron helped her to hobble to his office and got her seated.

"Today sucks! Aiden's laptop sucks! And showers suck! And banisters suck!" Meryn knew she sounded childish, but she pouted anyway. Some days just needed a restart button.

"Poor dear. Here have some tea, you'll feel better in no time." Adelaide passed her a cup of steaming tea. Meryn took in the light fragrance.

"Jasmine?"

"Yes, it's one of Byron's favorites." Adelaide passed her a small plate filled with cookies. To their right a large stone fireplace had a toasty fire going that gave the room a warm glow. Meryn wiggled in her chair getting comfortable ignoring the twangs of pain from her tailbone and sighed. The day was looking much better.

In a comfortable silence Adelaide wrote, actually hand wrote letters as Byron tapped away at his computer. Meryn was itching to see if his desktop was any better than Aiden's laptop.
 

"Meryn get over here before you sprain your neck." Byron stood and motioned to his chair. Meryn quickly set her teacup down and practically ran over to his desk. Byron sat next to his mate and started to help her address some of the envelopes.

Meryn cracked her knuckles. It was a Mac. She logged in as a guest and in seconds she was on the internet. She pulled up her database and began pulling reports.
 

"Oh, rip that one up. We're not inviting the Bowers, not after what I found out this morning." Adelaide seethed. Byron regarded her in surprise.

"What did Ethan do?"
 

"Not Ethan, Daphane! Marius was almost ashamed to report that nearly all of the potential squire candidates that we had lined up for interviews after the ball have backed out. Evidently, Daphane is interviewing for Elise on the exact same day and is saying that it's more prestigious to work for someone who was actually paranormal in a smaller household than for a human in House McKenzie." Adelaide slammed her pen down. Meryn shrugged.

"If that's all it took for them to change their minds, then they might have done us a favor. Now we won't have to weed them out." She thumped her fingers on the polished wood of Byron's desk.

"That's a very positive way to look at it Meryn." Byron sounded proud.

"That also means less interviews and talking to people." Meryn looked up grinning. Adelaide laughed.

"Of course, you would look at it that way."

"You're getting to know me all too well Mom." Meryn went back to the notes that Elder Airgead had given her. A throat cleared.

"Ah Meryn, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Byron started. Meryn had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

"Yeah, Dad?" The expression on his face was priceless. She had been right. He wanted to be called Dad. He swallowed hard.

"Um ... how is the computer working for you?" He changed directions quickly.
 

"Better than Aiden's, that's for sure. Hey, can I ask you something? Are paranormals allowed on Facebook? Or is there some super duper paranormal version?"

"No, we use the same version of Facebook as the rest of the world, we just have to be careful about what we share. All devices have Geo-tagging disabled." Byron explained.

"Hmm." She pulled up Facebook and went back to work.

"Well, as it stands, we have three interviews. A promising young man from London, one from Germany and another young man from Japan. I've never heard his family name before so he may be new to serving. Honestly, all of this back stabbing and pettiness because Daphane Bowers doesn't feel like everyone is paying enough attention to her future grandchild, is ridiculous.
 
As if it weren't that time of the year for shifter birth announcements." Adelaide shook her head and Meryn froze.

"What did you say?" Meryn turned to Adelaide.

"About Daphane?"

"No, about shifter birth announcements."

"Didn't Aiden explain about our conception windows?" She asked.
 

Meryn nodded. "But why did you say what you did about birth announcements?"

"Meryn, shifters get pregnant around Summer Solstice. It's October, most couples wait until after the first trimester to announce anything, it's bad luck. That's why there are always shifter birth announcements this time of the year." Adelaide explained.

"Oh my God." Meryn felt the blood drain from her face.

"Please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong." She muttered to herself over and over again.

"Meryn?" Adelaide and Byron stood and walked over to her. Meryn quickly scanned the site she was on and sat back feeling sick.

"I know how they were linked, the two missing couples. They had both posted birth announcements on Facebook within a day of each other." She whispered. Adelaide gasped and grabbed Byron's arm.

"Byron!" He was already moving. He grabbed his jacket and was heading to the door.

"Good work Meryn, call Aiden and let him know. I'm convening an emergency council meeting. We need to send out a public warning to stop birth announcements." He ran through the door. Meryn was frozen in her chair.

"Meryn. Meryn. Call Aiden." Adelaide pushed the desk phone towards her. With a shaky hand, she dialed Aiden's cell.

"Father?" Aiden's voice sounded confused.

"No, it's me. Meryn I mean."

"Why are you on my father's desk phone?"

"He let me use his computer. Listen, I found the link between the two couples, they were both pregnant. They posted a birth announcement on Facebook within a day of each other." She explained. He began cursing a blue streak.

"Your father is calling a council meeting to stop birth announcements."

"I've got to go, I need to update the unit leaders. Meryn, stay with my parents today. Don't go out on your own."

"I won't. I promise. Aiden?" Meryn hesitated.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Be careful, okay? I've kinda gotten used to you."

"I will. I promise. Love you." He whispered.

"Love you too." She hung up the phone and stared at it. When she turned, she saw Adelaide standing near the doorway, staring out, a haunted look on her face. She went to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Adelaide gave a low cry and hugged Meryn back tightly.

"This is why I've always wanted a daughter." Adelaide pulled back and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. She smiled down at Meryn.

"Aiden would have promised to kill whatever was bothering me and then he would have left to go train to make sure he could. Sometimes you just need a hug." Meryn laid her head on Adelaide's shoulder. She breathed in the older woman's perfume and buried her face in her dress.

"Is this a mom hug?"
 

Adelaide laughed. "Yes, this is a mom hug you darling girl. How about we take over the kitchen while Marius isn't here to chastise us and make a huge mess making cookies?" Adelaide suggested. Meryn could definitely get used to having a mom.

"Only if I get to introduce you to the joys of eating cookie dough."

"Deal!"

They walked to the kitchen and Adelaide began pulling out ingredients.

"Adelaide, can I ask you something?" Meryn measured out the brown sugar, she poured some into the bowl and ate a teaspoon. A cup in the bowl, a teaspoon for her.

"Of course, dear." Adelaide was measuring the flour and chocolate chips.

"Was it hard living apart from Byron all those years?" Meryn sucked on her teaspoon. Adelaide paused for a moment and kept pouring.

"Yes. Yes, it was very hard. Some nights I would lie awake upstairs and wonder why we were so close but apart. I didn't like it, but, there were nights where Byron had to leave with his unit where they barely made it to the scene in time to save a life. Even the extra time to the barracks would have cost lives. I understood why we had to live that way, but no, I didn't like it."

"Why didn't you move into the barracks with him? From what I can remember the place is like a small mansion, there had to have been room." Meryn snuck another teaspoon of sugar.

Adelaide blinked at her. "It just isn't done."

"Hmm." Meryn poured the brown sugar into the bowl.

"You'll get used to it after a while and you'll have your squire to keep you company." Meryn watched in fascination as Adelaide easily stirred the wooden spoon through the chunky mixture. This was the part that she always had problems with, her scrawny arms could barely move the spoon. She kept forgetting that Adelaide was a shifter too.

"Okay, it's mixed. Do you just eat it?" Adelaide looked down at the bowl.

"Nope. Let's put it in the fridge for a while. Then we should be able to eat it. Chilling the dough makes the cookies better too." Meryn covered the bowl with a towel and placed it in the fridge.
 

"Let's have some tea while we wait." Adelaide put the kettle on the stove to boil.

Meryn sat down at the table and stacked the sugar cubes on a napkin. Without her laptop she felt exposed. She was working on the third row of her wall when Adelaide came over with two cups of tea. She sat down across from Meryn and sipped her tea.

"What was Aiden like as a kid?" Meryn asked, seizing this opportunity to get to know about her mate more. Adelaide smiled, but it was somewhat sad.

"He was a very serious, conscientious child. He always defended Ben and took time to show him things. He always made sure that I was comfortable before leaving a room. And of course he idolized his father. When he left the house to move into the academy as a trainee I missed him terribly. Byron had already become an Elder when Aiden left for training and Adam and Adair had already declined to inherit after Byron. I think that Aiden saw it as his duty to become a warrior and follow in Byron's footsteps. There are some days where I wonder if this is what Aiden really wanted and if maybe deep down, he resents his brothers for choosing other paths and forcing him to become a warrior." Adelaide twisted her tea cup on its saucer. Meryn thought about it for a moment and shook her head.

"He's too damn stubborn. He may have felt obligated at first, but he wouldn't have stuck with it unless it was something he wanted to do. When Adam and Adair introduced themselves I could see a hint of pride in Aiden's eyes. I don't think he resents them doing what they want with their lives."

"It's nice to be able to talk about this with someone." Adelaide admitted.

"Don't worry Adelaide I'll help you keep those boys on their toes." Meryn promised.

Adelaide's tinkling laughter lifted Meryn's spirits.

"I think you're doing that already. Let's go into the front drawing room and I'll teach you how to sew." Adelaide stood and Meryn moaned.

"Why? I thought you liked me?" Meryn finished her tea and stood.

"You don't want to give Daphane Bowers a chance to look down her nose at you, do you?" Adelaide lifted an elegant brow.
 

"No! I give her enough ammo as it is." Meryn admitted.
 

"Good. I'll start with something easy. First lesson; threading the needle." Adelaide walked with her to the front of the house.

Kill me now.

*****

For the rest of the afternoon Meryn discovered how Sisyphus must have felt pushing that bolder up the hill, almost reaching the top only to watch it roll back down again. After four hours she had yet to thread a needle. Every time she exhaled, she missed. Every time she inhaled she missed. So she tried holding her breath and almost fainted. By the time Marius returned with her packages Meryn was secretly planning to gather every needle in the house and melt them down in the backyard.

"I would think that you're playing a joke on me, but I can see how determined you are." Adelaide shook her head.

"I will thread this fucking needle if it kills me!" Meryn vowed shaking her fist.

"Why don't you take a break? I think Marius has something for you." Adelaide pointed to the doorway. Meryn saw a large box with the universally recognized Apple logo, and let out a loud shout. She jumped up and danced from foot to foot in front of Marius.

Marius, with great flourish opened the box and presented her with a brand-new laptop.

"Hello baby, I'm going to take such good care of you. Come here mama's boy." Meryn crooned at the small laptop and raced back over to her chair. In seconds it had booted up and was running her through the final set up. She installed a parallel
Linux
operating system and began installing her own programs from her flash drive. After a few minutes she had established the wireless connection and was back on the internet.

"You treat that thing more gently than most people treat their pets." Aiden's voice pulled her out of her gleeful exploration of her new machine.

"You're back!"

"I'll help Marius organize dinner." Adelaide kissed him on the cheek and headed towards the kitchen.
 

"Yup, I've been watching you fondle your new laptop. Should I be jealous?" He kidded.

"Absolutely." Meryn nodded and hugged her laptop close. She had opted for the 13inch Mac Book Pro. It was lighter than her old laptop and had more power. She had already gone online and located a new Doctor Who skin. She made a mental note to ask Marius about what address to use for shipping.

"What man can compete with a new laptop huh? We ordered pizza to give Marius the night off since he went shopping for us. After their showers the rest of the guys will be here. Hope you like green peppers." He stretched his arms over his head and rotated his neck. She admired the way his muscles shifted under his tight cotton tee. She sighed and he raised an eyebrow.