Page 9 of My Haven (Bewitched and Bewildered #16)

Caiden looked from his father, to Kendrick, then to his unit.

Each man wore an expression of varying degrees of horror.

Thank gods for Amelia! She kept him mostly up to date, but even she had been selective in sharing everything, as most secrets weren’t hers to share.

Caiden had a feeling Kendrick laid everything out for them.

Meryn looked at the men and handed Ryuu the box of treats she brought with her. Smiling the squire began to pass out the sugar. Slowly, the thousand-yard stares disappeared as the sweet confections were consumed.

Meryn with a brownie in hand looked to him. “What exactly has the Witches’ Council been doing? Auntie said that working with them has become impossible.”

His father grimaced. “They are saying that their communication crystal and phone systems are broken, so they have been relying of scrolls and runners. Scrolls of all things!”

Meryn heaved a great sigh. “Fuck that noise. Bryok?”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Did Darian show you how to do my little portals?”

Caiden leaned in with interest. What were little portals ?

“Yes, Your Highness. I believe he called them Button Portals.”

“Button Portals? I love that name! Perfecto. Can you bounce around and place them all over the city including the local cell tower?” she asked, then took a huge bite of her brownie.

Ryuu stepped forward and took her wrist. “This one is okay, but you will need a balanced dinner.”

She nodded.

Bryok stood and stretched. “It shouldn’t take me long.”

Marshall held up his hand. “One moment. If the alliance is broken, can you place portals?”

Meryn just waved her hand back and forth in front of her face. “To-may-to, to-mah-to. In this instance, I’ll ask for forgiveness, not permission. Besides, I hear they’re not tech savvy, so they won’t even know. Pretend you didn’t hear any of this Uncle Marsh.”

His father’s eyes bugged slightly, then he frowned. “Uncle Marsh?”

Caiden smiled. Being called ‘Uncle Marsh’ superseded the placement of unauthorized portals.

Meryn tapped her mouth with her fingers. “No good?” She turned to Lily. “I call you Auntie like my other Auntie, but with my other uncle I say Uncle Bren.”

His mother laughed. “I think Uncle Marsh sounds fine.”

Marshall looked at her with a sour expression. “You would. She is a mini version of you.”

“She is the best gift my sister could have left me,” Lily said, winking at Meryn.

Caiden noticed that Bryok had slipped away while his father was discussing his new name. He had a feeling nothing except an order from their commander could have dissuaded him.

“Caiden, is there a room I can use here to set up some routers?” Meryn asked.

Tristan stood. “I can show you.”

Nigel and Neil also stood. “We’ve got it Meryn. Same set up as Noctem Falls?”

“Yup. This will be the second pillar city we’ve set up wi-fi for.” She turned to Aiden. “Shouldn’t I get paid for this?”

Aiden smiled. “They technically haven’t asked you to do it, my love.”

She scowled. “Later, after we’ve killed all the douchebags, I’ll send them a bill.”

Aiden gave her a sly look. “Did you charge Magnus?”

She shook her head. “Why would I charge the man buying me a rocket launcher?”

Aiden’s expression snapped to a frown. “You said you were asking for pepper gel instead.”

“Actually, I asked for both.”

“We said no explosives, you promised.”

“Bullets are kinda like small explosions and you’re okay with my sniper rifle,” she countered.

His commander looked around the room for some small measure of support. Lily took pity on him. “Meryn, do you really need to shoot rockets? I thought you wanted to learn magic?”

Around the room, Kendrick, Aiden and Thane all said, ‘No!’ at the same time.

Meryn waved around the room. “I am always vetoed.”

Lily smiled sweetly. “Once you find Abrielle, if you want to learn, she will teach you.”

Thane groaned. “She’s right. Mother will absolutely adore Meryn and see her as a challenge.”

“Why would I be a challenge?” Meryn asked.

Thane rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes cut to Aiden before he replied. “Meryn, your premonition and empathy are too strong for you not to be able to do basic magic.”

Meryn’s eyes narrowed and she looked to Kendrick.

Kendrick just stared back at her, not looking in the least bit sorry.

“I wanna do magic!” she said.

“I know,” Kendrick replied.

“Why won’t you let me try?”

“Because, unlike me at your age, you have zero impulse control when it comes to defending what is yours. I’d rather give you bombs than magic,” he explained.

“I am so gonna have Thane’s mom show me magic,” Meryn said.

“Why do you need city-wide wi-fi anyway?” Aiden asked.

“For my cameras,” Meryn replied.

Aiden huffed, then reached for a brownie. He shoved the whole thing in his mouth, chewed for a bit then swallowed. Only then did he respond. “Baby, you can’t just install cameras in a city we’re not exactly friendly with. Why do you need them?”

Meryn held up her hand and began ticking off reasons.

“Lycaonia, Noctem Falls and éire Danu. We’re three-for-three with shit going sideways in a pillar city.

I’m not going to be scrambling for intel later due to some silly technicalities like ‘legality’.

Remember babes, eventually the U.S. Government gave up on curbing my shenanigans.

Do you really think I’m gonna listen to a bunch of robe-wearing douchebags? ”

Caiden, Kyran and his unit turned to stare at Meryn. Kyran cleared his throat. “Did you leave that out of your update?”

Law began to laugh. “She was my handler when I was running unsanctioned missions overseas.”

Meryn flashed them her weird ‘V’ symbol with her hands, then resumed typing. “Hey Thane?”

“Yes, hun?” his brother asked, stepping closer.

“What am I to your mom? I’m working on a chart.”

Thane opened his mouth, then turned to Law. “She’s my godsdaughter, so granddaughter?”

Law shrugged. “Aunt by Association?”

“You really think she’ll like me?” Meryn asked.

Thane’s expression softened. “She will love you.” He turned to Marshall and Lily.

“Don’t get me wrong, she loves Amelia too, but Meryn will keep her on her toes.

With her powers, not much surprises her anymore, and I think Meryn will be an unexpected delight.

” He tilted his head. “They are very much alike.”

Kendrick shuddered. “They should never meet.”

Meryn’s expression became diabolical. “Game on.” She had resumed typing, then looked up frowning. “If she’s that powerful y’all need to shift your focus from what could have happened to her, to why she wouldn’t want to be found.”

Caiden felt like the air had been sucked from the room.

Kendrick sat down. “Gods above, she’s right, as usual.”

“Please don’t tell her that,” Aiden said.

Meryn swatted at her mate. “I was right about éire Danu, wasn’t I?”

Caiden could tell he wasn’t the only one confused by that declaration.

She rolled her eyes. “I did say we should try changing the batteries.”

Of all people, it was Kendrick that snort laughed and buried his face into the crook of his elbow as he lay his head on the table.

It seemed like Kendrick’s reaction released the tension in the room and everyone began laughing.

Aiden smiled and rubbed Meryn’s back. “Please say that again when Darian is around.”

“You keep rubbing my back and I’ll do whatever you want,” she said, closing her eyes.

“No rocket launcher?” he asked.

“Almost anything.”

That set off another round of laughter.

Thane walked over and ruffled her hair. “What would we do without your insight?”

She opened her eyes and grinned. “No telling.”

Caiden stood. “Sir, would you like to join us for drills?”

Aiden nodded, stood, then kissed his mate. “I’ll be right outside love, just like back home.”

She went back to her laptop. “Later gator.”

“Thane, you guys wanna join us?” Caiden asked, silently praying his brother said no.

Thane shook his head. “Thank you, for being polite, but we’ll decline. Thanks to Meryn’s suggestion, I think Law, Justice and I will go back to mother’s to look at things from a different perspective.”

“Will you be back for dinner?”

Thane clapped him on the back on the way out. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss your cooking for anything.”

After his brothers left, he looked at Meryn and Pip at the table, with Ryuu and Pierce standing behind them. “Will you all be okay?”

Meryn looked up. “I’m eating whatever I find in your fridge,” she warned.

“Leave the steaks and salad bowl alone, those are for dinner. I’ve had them marinating for days.”

“Snack foods okay?” she asked.

“Any and all you want. If you want something before dinner, Mother can show you our takeout menus if you want to order food. Place the order for pickup and someone will run get it for you.”

Her eyes lit up. “I haven’t had takeout in like forever.”

He turned to Ryuu. “Most places in the area are very health conscious. They use organic ingredients and sourced meats. There’s a reason why my mate is visiting. Our local restaurants are exceptional.”

“Auntie! Menus!” Meryn crowed.

His mother laughed and went to the sideboard to get their folder of menus.

Caiden smiled then turned to his father, Kendrick, and Anne. “I’m assuming you all will be staying for dinner?”

His father nodded. “I’ve been looking forward to your meals too. We’ll watch over Meryn, so you concentrate on drills.”

Kendrick stood and offered his hand to Anne. “I want to check in on a few things in the Lower City, but we will be back for dinner.”

Anne looked over to where Meryn was pouring over the menus. “Meryn if you end up getting Thai, can you order me some noodles?”

“Gotcha.”

Kendrick kissed his mate’s hand. “Come along, my love. I’d like to show you where I raised Keelan.”

Anne’s eyes widened and she smiled brightly. “I’d like nothing better.”

As they walked away, he heard Kendrick ask. “Not even noodles?”