"Shall I inform your parents of your arrival sir?" Meryn stared, he was the quintessential butler. Perfectly combed grey hair. Clean shaven. Crisp collar and well knotted tie. She looked down. Yup. Even his shoes were polished to a glossy black.

"Is your name Alfred?" She asked, unable to help herself. He winked at her, his eyes kind.

"My name is Marius Steward, and you are?" He asked, eyeing Aiden who held her upper arm nearly over her head, which had her lurching around on tiptoe.

"My name is Meryn Evans, I've been kidnapped by this crazy asshole, who wants me to join his cult, have his babies and wear my skin. Can you call the police please?" Bushy grey eyebrows shot up, though his facial expression never changed. Aiden snarled down at her.

"He what?" A female voice demanded. Meryn looked up the grand staircase as the most elegant couple she had ever seen descended towards them. The woman wore her honey blonde hair up in a Victorian style bun. Her light brown eyes flashed as she moved forward. Her lavender dress was layers of lace and satin, cinched around a tiny waist. The man at her side wore a dark suit and cravat. They looked like they had just walked out of a scene from Pride and Prejudice. Meryn couldn't help the tiny sigh of envy. Never in a million years could she look like that.

"Aiden what have you told this poor child? And let go of her arm, you'll pull it out of the socket like that." The woman admonished. Aiden immediately released her arm. Meryn eyed the woman with new respect, if she had Aiden hopping to, then maybe she could help her get out of here.

"She is a menace! She gave Colton a bloody lip, threw a lamp at me, knocked me unconscious with the back of my toilet, kicked me in the back of the head... twice and dented the roof of my trunk!" Meryn noticed that he roared the last grievance, trust a man to be more worried about his car than his possible concussion.

"And how did she dent the roof of your trunk?" Meryn heard the edge to the woman's voice and answered quickly hoping to garner sympathy for her situation.

"He threw me in the trunk of his car. I was kicking it from the inside trying to escape." She sniffed dramatically and glared at Aiden. She noticed that he had suddenly paled.

"Oh, son." The handsome older man covered his face with his hand and the woman stared at them in shock.

"You locked her in the trunk?!"

"She was kicking me." Aiden protested.

"She is human and half your size!"

"You don't understand, she is a terrorist!"

"She is your mate isn't she?" The woman asked. Meryn started to feel uneasy. There was that mate word again.

"Maybe." Aiden muttered under his breath. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor. Meryn looked over to see Colton grinning like an idiot taking the whole thing in. She frowned at him. He winked at her. Yup, an idiot.

"You couldn't explain things to her in a normal way? You had to kidnap and assault her?" The woman demanded her hands on her hips accentuating her tiny waist. Meryn looked down at the puffy layers of her extra large hoodie, worn jeans and dirty sneakers. Yup,  no comparison.

"I tried to serve her dinner and that was when she hit me over the head."

"I was trying to escape, you had me locked up for hours." Meryn clarified.

"That's because you threw the lamp at me and were screaming about cults. I was letting you calm down." Aiden glared down at her, she glared right back. The sound of hands clapping together had them both looking at the woman.

"This is what we're going to do. We're going to go to the kitchen and let Marius make us a nice pot of tea. We'll sit down and I'll try to answer your questions. Please know that you are not in any danger. In fact every single person in this room would gladly defend you against any possible threat. You're in the safest place you could be." The woman stepped forward and looped an arm through hers. They walked towards the back of the house. Meryn hoped that after their explanation maybe they would just let her go. The woman leaned forward and whispered.

"His bark is worse than his bite. He's a good man. He has dedicated his life to protecting our people." The woman patted her arm.

"He doesn't like me." Meryn whispered.

"Why do you say that?" The woman asked.

"Because I don't look like you. He knew I had cut my hair, I don't think he likes how I look with it short. He said I look like a boy." Meryn ran a hand over her short cropped curls and the woman laughed.

"Trust me dear, he wouldn't want a mate that looked like his mother." Meryn stopped and stared.

There was no way this woman was his mother!

The woman pulled her along until they were in the kitchen. Meryn momentarily forgot about Adelaide's age and gawked at the room in front of her. The magazine cover worthy kitchen had warm, light brown, stone countertops, industrial stainless steel appliances and even a brick oven. This was every chef or bakers dream kitchen. They all sat down around a large, dark wood table. The woman's words started to sink in.

"You're his mother? No way! You're not old enough to be his mother."

"Thank you for that darling, but I'm older than I look."

Meryn edged away in her chair. "You're dog people too, aren't you?"

The woman looked at her confused.

"She means shifters. She saw Colton shift in the yard." Aiden explained to his mother.

"Sweetheart, Aiden is a bear, we're his parents, that makes us bears as well. My name is Adelaide McKenzie and this is my mate Byron McKenzie. You of course have met Aiden. The blond man who looks entirely too amused at my son's discomfort, is his childhood best friend Colton Albright, and the delightful man who is making our tea for us is my squire, Marius Steward." Adelaide made the introductions and Meryn nodded and kept her mouth shut. The less they knew about her the better.