Page 16 of My Haven (Bewitched and Bewildered #16)

Moments later, the guy who had met her in line, along with some of the other restaurant staff filed in. “They helped you?”

Hunter grinned. “We wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”

“You’re Hunter, right?”

“I am. This is Zev, the sparkly one is Konstantine, and the blond one is Aedan. You probably saw his brother in the kitchens,” he said, pointing to each of the men.

Konstantine, punched Hunter in the upper arm, causing the man to howl and hop around. “I do believe we agreed that I would never be described as sparkly.”

“My bad!” Hunter said, rubbing his arm repeatedly.

Genevieve laughed at their antics. She could clearly see how close they were.

“Am I too late for brownies?” a deep voice asked.

She watched as a man every bit as tall as Caiden walked in, only he carried a lot more muscle.

“Is he single?” Arlo asked.

Meryn shook her head. “Nope, that one is mine. Genevieve, Arlo, meet my husband, Aiden McKenzie.” She pointed behind her. “To get it out of the way, those three are Bryok, a warrior who works with my husband, Ryuu Sei, the one who looks after me and Pierce Alamarez, dude who protects me.”

She waved. “I’m Genevieve Taylor, YouTuber , and this is my bestest friend, Arlo Sommer, video editor.”

Hellos were made all around as the guys got settled.

Meryn looked over to Caiden. “Where are Tristan and Kyran? I thought for sure they’d be here.”

Caiden frowned. “I thought they’d be here too.”

Lily walked in holding a bottle. “They went to get Meryn’s nighttime snacks and some noodles for Anne. They should be back any minute?”

Meryn bounced around in her chair. “Yes! They remembered!”

Lily got several cordial glasses out and poured the delicious smelling liqueur into each. She made sure to give Genevieve the first one then handed out the rest.

Genevieve took a sip and sighed happily. Meryn nudged the brownies over. “Enjoy them for me,” she said, giving a sniffle.

“No caffeine?” Genevieve guessed.

“And low or no sugar. Protein is okay, so Tristan and Kyran went to get me chicken tenders and steak bites. Oh, and fries and glazed brussels sprouts. Ryuu discovered if you glaze or roast veggies I eat them more.”

“If you take salt, pepper and pour a bit of butter over brussels sprouts and roast them, they taste like popcorn. But, you really have to brown the tops,” she advised.

“I so want to try that next,” Meryn said.

Genevieve heard a door open and close. Three men and a woman walked in, all holding bags.

“Food!” Meryn crowed.

Genevieve stared. “How tall are you?” she asked the red head.

The man smiled and pointed to Aedan. “About his height.”

“Why do you look taller?”

The woman set her bag on the counter. “He carries it well, doesn’t he?”

“I’ll say,” Arlo agreed.

Caiden pointed to the two who looked like him. “Tristan is the one with darker brown hair, Kyran has the lighter hair.” He pointed to the red head. “That’s Kendrick Ashwood and his wife Anne. Kendrick is one of my closest friends.”

Anne pulled out a styrofoam box. “This is my second night having noodles. The local place is amazing.”

Lily began pulling out small plates and everyone ended up with a bit of everything.

Genevieve wanted to try the noodles, but the brownie and liqueur had left a lovely taste in her mouth.

Meryn scooted her plate closer. “I know you want to try everything.”

“But the brownie…”

Meryn shrugged. “Have more later,” she suggested.

Caiden pulled out a plate from the fridge and slowly began reheating a steak. When it was done, he cut it and put half on her overflowing plate. “I made this yesterday.”

She cut a piece and took a bite. The moan that escaped was unplanned and embarrassing.

Arlo laughed behind her. “I have to edit those out, or she’d have even more crazies following her.”

“What crazies?” Caiden, Tristan and Kyran asked at the same time.

Arlo blinked, then turned to her. “I think a fall wedding would be lovely.”

Genevieve looked at Caiden. “Is this like a signature dish, like the only one you do?”

Tristan laughed. “All his food is like that.”

Arlo began to hum the wedding march.

Genevieve couldn’t even bring herself to care, she just continued to eat. When her steak was gone, she stared down at her empty plate. Caiden slid his portion to her. “You have that. I had it yesterday,” he said, smiling smugly.

She finished the steak, then went on to try the noodles, the chicken tenders and the brussels sprouts Meryn was excited about.

“Where is she putting it all?” Kyran asked.

“She said, she has a second stomach for good food,” Arlo explained.

Genevieve munched on the brussels sprouts and watched Caiden.

He was never more than a foot or so from her.

He anticipated her every need from a second napkin to salt or a refill on her drink.

He just watched quietly, smiling, allowing her to take up space and simply enjoy herself.

He didn’t try to impress her or talk big. He seemed happy just being next to her.

As long as he didn’t have a crazy ex out there, he was seriously becoming a contender for long term.

The front door slammed, and more than one man reached behind them to pull out a gun. Seconds later another red head came storming in. “I’m going to kill those assholes!” he yelled.

The guns went away.

“Which assholes?” Meryn asked, mouth full of food.

“The Witches’ Council! They are refusing to return the funds back to the Fire Temple!”

Meryn swallowed then chuckled. She looked at Caiden. “You were so close to a normal mating.”

Genevieve looked from the newcomer spewing words like ‘witch’ and ‘fire temple’ to Meryn. “Mating?”

The angry man froze, all color draining from his face. “Gods, Caiden, I’m so sorry,” he said, sounding mournful.

Caiden turned to her. “It’s not as crazy as whatever you’re thinking.”

“Why is he complaining about a Witches’ Council?” she asked.

“They’re the local government we’ve been butting heads with.”

“Witches?”

Meryn watched them smiling. “This is my favorite part.”

“At least she hasn’t fainted yet, like I did,” Anne said, taking a huge bite of noodles.

Genevieve felt her head swim. “Mating?” she repeated.

Meryn nodded. “Yup, like Fate thought you and Caiden would be perfect together, so he got prophetic dreams, and I helped him meet you. You get a mate dedicated to you for life and like amazing sex. The only downsides are some bitey douchebags called ferals and the political fuckers in the Witches’ Council.

” She smiled brightly. “But, don’t worry about them, we’ll probably be killing them later. ”

Caiden buried his face in his hands.

Anne began laughing, causing her to choke on her noodles. Kendrick stood and his hands began to glow. Her coughing eased.

“Magic?” Arlo asked.

“Totally,” Meryn confirmed.

“Like witches and shifters and stuff?” Arlo asked, sounding excited.

“Yup!”

Arlo looked at Caiden. “Is he a shifter? He’s totally built.”

Meryn shook her head. “They all kinda are. Caiden is a witch, like Kendrick.”

Genevieve glared at Arlo. “Stop taking this so well!”

Arlo rolled his eyes. “Girl, you hit the jackpot. I’m sticking to your ass like glue on the off chance one of these muscled gods belong to me.”

“Could be a muscled woman too. Ari’s aunt back in éire Danu had me looking twice,” Meryn confessed.

“Tell me more,” he begged, sounding breathy.

“No! Don’t tell him more,” Genevieve shouted, grabbing the counter.

“Five bucks she faints. She’s pale as shit and her eyes are darting every which way,” Meryn said.

Genevieve felt warm arms hold her. She thrashed for a second thinking Caiden was taking advantage, but relaxed when she saw it was Pip. “I… I…”

“Shuuush. It’s okay. You can be scared, because it’s scary for you.

But, I’m here and so is Caiden. I know it may feel weird to think he’s your husband all of a sudden, but he’d never hurt you.

” He kept running his hand over her hair.

She turned to bury her face in his chest. He was small, but right now his hug felt perfect.

She felt a cool set of hands take hers. When she looked up it was Lily.

“I met Caiden’s father nearly thirty-six-years ago.

They didn’t have paranormal books or shows like they have now.

Magic and men who turned into animals were seen as demonic.

” She gave her hand a squeeze. “I totally understand how overwhelming this can be.”

Kendrick turned to Arlo. “Anne told me she learned alchemy from anime and about magic from RPGs, but you’re saying some humans know of shifters and write stories about them?”

Arlo grinned evilly. “Erotic romances even.”

“Why haven’t we heard of those?” Hunter mused.

“Any recommendations?” Zev asked.

“I’ll give you a list,” Arlo promised.

From Pip’s arms, she looked across the room at Caiden, who stood watching, hands clenched at his sides. She could see every muscle was tense, as if he was fighting to stay still.

He wants to come to me, but he’s afraid he’ll scare me.

She gave Pip a squeeze, then stepped away from them. She met his eyes then, taking a leap of faith opened her arms to Caiden.

Seconds later he had scooped her up and held her close.

“I didn’t want to push you over the edge.

I’m taller than most witches and I’m not the best at talking, I’m better at cooking and giving the men orders,” he admitted.

“You don’t have to be okay with everything right away, we can take it slow, whatever you need,” he continued his cute ramble.

He held her effortlessly in his arms, so that they were nearly eye to eye. He spoke fast, and under her hands on his chest, she felt his heart beating out of control.

“I’d prefer it if you stayed here, but if you want to go back to Franklin, I can assign a unit to watch over you. I’d do it myself, but I don’t want to pressure you. I know you have your van, we can bring it here,” he continued, almost from a single breath.

He’s adorable .

She smiled. And he’s mine .

She placed both of her hands on either side of his face, stilling him for a moment.

She took advantage of the lull in his ramble to place a single kiss on his lips.

“Help me learn about your world, then we’ll address this whole mating thing.

I’d love to stay here, but would like a separate room for now.

The van can be dropped off whenever. My deal breakers are verbal abuse, physical abuse, and cheating.

We can deal with everything else later.”

He simply nodded, looking dumbfounded.

“Do humans really have to state those as deal breakers? I mean that’s a given right?” Zev asked.

“Dating out there is reckless. I’m a bit safer as a guy. I think if I were a woman, I’d just embrace the single life. Dating isn’t worth getting killed,” Arlo explained.

“Killed? That happens?” Hunter asked, incredulously.

“Every minute, my large friend,” Arlo replied.

Caiden frowned. “You’re safer here.”

She couldn’t believe she was being held in the arms of a man she met that night, yet everything felt as if she had known him longer than Arlo. She couldn’t imagine a tomorrow without him.

Tomorrow?

“What’s for breakfast?” she asked.

Arlo laughed. “She’s feeling better.”

Caiden smiled down at her. “Whatever you want.”

“God, that was so sexy,” she whispered.

“Caiden, you found the most direct way to her heart,” Arlo teased.

“Waffles? No, french toast. No! Stuffed french toast, bacon, eggs, juice and coffee,” she suggested.

“Done.”

“Marry. Him,” Arlo repeated.

“I think I may,” she whispered, watching Caiden’s grey eyes turn to liquid silver.

“Not to ruin the mood, but Mikel, what was that about the Fire Temple?” Aiden asked.

Caiden’s eyes went back to a stone-grey color as he turned them to face Mikel. “They’re not returning the funds?”

Mikel gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for throwing you in the deep end.” He exhaled. “They said that whatever they had was used to maintain the temple, everything else was taken by my parents. What they invested, supposedly isn’t enough to break even, so there’s nothing to return.”

“How much are we talking?” Aiden asked.

“Millions,” Mikel said.

“In banks, right? Like you don’t have like a goblin bank or anything?” Meryn asked.

Mikel shook his head. “Normal banks.”

“Finally! Give me all your credentials. I can trace that shit, no problem,” Meryn said, leaning to one side.

She was about to topple off when Ryuu steadied her. “I’ll get it denka ,” he said, handing her, her laptop.

Mikel hurried over and began writing down all the information he could. “Meryn, if you can salvage even a quarter of what we had, that’d be a godsend.”

“I’m more curious as to what the assholes are doing with it, helping you is like a bonus,” she looked up, when she realized what she said. “But, like a happy bonus.”

He ruffled her hair. “I get it.”

Caiden touched his forehead to hers to get her attention. “What would you like to do, eat or talk about now?”

Realizing he had continued to hold her this entire time without straining had her thinking of a few things she’d like to do. She took a deep breath, then turned to Anne. “I would love to hear more about everything, but from your perspective.”

Anne smiled and nodded. “I’m a nurse, so if you faint, I’ll take care of you.”

She pointed back to her chair. “Okay, lay it on me, sister.”