Page 24

Merritt

Life was just getting better and better.

I had a Daddy for a mate and a new friend who knew about dinosaurs.

“Lorne is going to really hate that he refused to come.” Kenzie did a little happy dance in his seat that broke the tension. “Please continue so that I can brag later.”

I tried not to laugh…I really did.

Daddy rolled his eyes. “We’re staying on track.”

Did that mean we weren’t going to get dinosaur answers?

Toman looked around the room. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to stick to the original list of questions or deviate as new ones come up.”

Oh…he had a point.

Daddy looked like he wanted to groan, and a mix of frustration and curiosity was coming through the bond. “The original list. Then we’re going to have a logical conversation about what to do next.”

“I want to hear about the dinosaurs.” Florida Man, as Daddy called him, looked ready to go all Florida Man about that one. “You don’t always get to decide how we debate things.”

“You wanted to turn it into a theme park.” Daddy’s glare said what he thought about that idea. “I don’t care if you were right about the dinosaur part. That doesn’t fix your stupidity.”

I was going to have to talk to Daddy about manners again, but for the time being, I rested my hand on his leg and got a very clear I apologize in my head.

The stronger bond made me want to do a happy dance and I didn’t bother trying to hide that from him. It had Daddy pressing his lips together as he worked to keep his stoic expression. “Does anyone want to debate the order of the meeting?”

Yes.

The answer was yes.

After about five minutes of everyone nearly shouting at each other and at Toman, Daddy looked over at Boyd and gave him a you’re it kind of look. I was pretty sure Boyd had been hoping they’d wear themselves out like angry toddlers, but it didn’t seem like that plan was going to work in the time we had available.

“We’re done.” Somehow he made the words echo through the room like a movie wizard instead of the mage that he was.

Kenzie’s eyes went wide with excitement and even Wren clapped, but the rest of the room was stunned silent as Boyd gave them a bored look like they were beneath him.

I was pretty sure it turned Daddy on, but it was impressive, so I didn’t mind.

“This chaos will stop or all of you will be sent home with an explanation that you can’t perform under pressure.” Boyd might not have meant that the way it sounded but the men all winced and the women in the room were trying not to laugh.

“Questions will be submitted in writing.” Boyd seemed to have used the chaos to plan out something logical, so I was curious to see what he would say. “Someone will be picked to interview Toman and provide the answers to everyone.”

Quiet grumbles went around the room but no one interrupted yet, so Boyd seemed to take that as permission to continue to be an angry badass. “You will all grow up or get out. Yes, we made some mistakes in not monitoring the portal, but we’re working on rectifying that. Nearly all of you have been useless or worse than useless and have actually hindered decision-making.”

He looked at Florida Man when he said that, but all of the visitors got a firm glare. “Yes, the situation has changed and has gotten more complicated, but that’s why you need to function. You were sent as representatives of your local councils and you look more dysfunctional than us.”

It was hard to imagine that being true…yet it was.

Most of the room winced again, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see the deputy trying not to smile.

I wasn’t sure what Kenzie was thinking, but he kind of looked disappointed in everyone too. But no matter what was going through his head, I knew he was frustrated about something completely unique, and I couldn’t wait to hear about it later.

“Now. While you all think about a few logical questions you’re sure we need to know about, I am going to ask Toman if he thinks we should visit or if it would be safer for all involved if we don’t go through the portal.” Boyd’s logical point stunned the room and mouths dropped open right and left.

Kenzie was right.

We needed cartoon effects going off around everyone because light bulbs and floating question marks around everyone’s heads would’ve made it a lot more interesting.

So of course, I had to share the image with Daddy.

I could feel little shakes running through him like he was trying not to laugh, but his bored and slightly disappointed expression never changed. It was funny until he sent back a mental image of my red bottom.

Oops.

He was still silently laughing as I stopped teasing him but for an entirely different reason that time.

He was such a brat.

When everyone stayed silent, even Kenzie, Boyd turned to Toman, who seemed to be finding the chaos fascinating if I was reading his expression right. “From our point of view, we need to understand where we came from. We were cut off for so long that we don’t know the history or culture of your people any longer.”

Heads started slowly nodding and even Toman seemed to understand where we were coming from. “Yes. Your people have…”

He paused, looking at Wren, who happily supplied an answer. “Diverged. We diverged in a yellow wood and we’re happy for taking the path less traveled.”

Half the room looked confused and the other half giggled, so it was clear who’d needed to memorize that poem growing up.

Toman was on the confused team until he had a light bulb moment. “Ah. Yes. We have similar literary pieces to memorize.”

Boyd wasn’t going to let us get too far off track and brought us back to the main point. “We don’t know enough about our history and we’re not sure what information is fact and what’s a myth. From what our ancestors passed down, most of the people trapped here were young. They adapted and thrived. We’re proof of that, but a lot was lost and we’d like a chance to gain back that knowledge.”

Toman nodded slowly, letting Boyd get his explanation out and probably vent too. When Boyd and everyone else went quiet again, Toman met each person’s gaze and seemed to be doing his best to look calm. “Your people have thrived and are very different than ours, but being different is not a bad thing. It was not expected that most would survive, so we had no idea what to expect on this side of the portal.”

Judging by Toman’s personality, they couldn’t have expected anything like us.

“The isolation changed things, and also the humans that we married and grew up with shifted how we would’ve behaved and how we would’ve seen things.” Boyd shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “The indigenous people living here accepted us, as well as the first settlers to this land. The different culture and even living in a society that doesn’t use magic changed how we evolved. But we would like a chance to get to know where we’ve come from.”

“The shifters have shifted.” Kenzie’s whispered words made me want to smile, but everyone else pretended not to hear him, so I had to ignore it too.

“That is all very logical and what we hoped to find.” Toman took a breath and let it out slowly. “It was asked if I am a soldier or specialized hunter. I am not. I am, however, a leader on our version of your council.”

Great.

They’d sent through a politician.

“My education, however, seems to be closest to what you would call an anthropologist.”

Even better.

They’d sent through a politician who thought we were cavemen.

Half the heads in the room cocked and I couldn’t tell if they didn’t know what an anthropologist was or if they were confused about something else. I didn’t ask, though, because I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel stupid.

“I have been granted the authority to invite a delegation if you were found to be safe and we could communicate clearly.” Gesturing to himself, he shrugged. “We did not know the spell we had for absorbing language would work.”

Made sense.

Wait.

“There’s a spell for learning a new language?” Boyd asked the question at least half the room was confused about.

Toman glanced around, looking confused too. “Yes. We did not know how much your magic would have changed and if it would still work. I was glad to see that while the…”

Looking over at his mate again, Toman paused for a few seconds. “The taste of the magic has altered slightly, it still works the same.”

Well, that was interesting.

“English has many words that overlap.” Shaking his head, Toman seemed slightly frustrated with that. “The spell cannot always pick the right word.”

Oh.

That made sense too.

“It’s because English is a mix of a lot of different languages.” Kenzie shrugged. “We like taking all the fun stuff from everyone else and we grabbed words too. Food is more fun but someone a long time ago liked the words better.”

Since he wasn’t exactly wrong, heads started slowly bobbing as they processed what he’d meant.

Toman just smiled. “That is something we did not expect. Our world is not made up of large isolated bodies of land, so there is not the expansive of culture as you have here.”

Cocking his head, Toman paused. “Variety of cultures?”

“It makes life fun.” Kenzie smiled wider as he nodded. “But we like learning about new places and I’m really hoping you have new desserts we can learn to make.”

I liked someone who had their priorities straight.

“And they have new stories.” Wren bounced in his chair. “They don’t seem to have romance novels but they’ve got new fairy tales.”

Most of the room didn’t seem to know if smiling at their excitement was appropriate, but they seemed to find it cute.

“That makes up for no new romance novels.” Kenzie couldn’t resist being helpful. “We’ll send some of those through with you. We’re good sharers.”

Boyd and the deputy cocked their heads and I could see them trying to decide how they felt about that suggestion, but unsurprisingly the topic shifted again before anyone could figure out a good response.

“So we’re going to send a group through to what…to get information and do like a cultural exchange?” Florida Man frowned. “We had a high school kid from France come live with us for the school year. It was awkward.”

“For fuck’s sake. Who gave him strange kids to take care of?”

Daddy’s frustrated words filled my head through the bond and I had to try not to react. He wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the time to burst out into laughter.

Surprisingly, it was one of the Canadians who managed to respond appropriately. “We will expect it to be difficult and will send those who can adapt well and who will not mind being the object of study.”

Every foreigner in the room turned to the Americans.

Great.

Send the attention-whores through the portal.

Wren smiled brightly. “You’re in luck. I don’t mind lots of attention or answering stupid questions.”

Was that a dig at some of our visitors?

Frowns popped up right and left, so I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure that out right off the bat.

“I’m going to call for a vote to get this on record.” Daddy’d had enough of a break that he didn’t sound like he wanted to brain them any longer. “Please raise your hand if you agree to send a delegation through the portal to get information and establish communication.”

No one moved for about five seconds and I found myself holding my breath.

Hands.

Everyone raised a hand and I could feel a mix of emotions firing through Pierce. Relief and excitement were two of the primary ones, but they left me wondering what he was thinking. Did Daddy want to go through the portal?

The situation had shifted since we’d first talked about it…significantly so. But did that change how Daddy felt?

I thought I was doing my best to keep my thoughts to myself, but Daddy glanced over at me before squeezing my hand under the table.

“No worries, little mage.”

The strength of his words surprised me and I barely held back a smile.

“Yes, Daddy. No worries.”

We’d figure it out no matter what happened.

“I’d like to know what everyone’s thoughts are on bringing dinosaurs back through the portal.” Florida Man’s serious expression made everyone quickly realize he wasn’t joking. “Repopulating extinct species is a global imperative, you know.”

Okay, maybe there were still a few things to worry about.