"I want my coffee Ryuu!" Meryn yelled.

"Bye," Gavriel said and followed the others out of the dining room.

Ryuu returned with a tall glass. "Here. It's mostly frothed milk with just a little bit of coffee. I'm afraid of what your body would do if we went cold turkey, so we'll be cutting you back in increments." He set the cup down in front of her.

Grumbling, she took a sip. "There's no coffee in here," she complained.

"Yes there is, just considerably less than you're used to. I'll order a decaf version of your espresso bean. You can have the same drinks you're used to, just with no caffeine." He reached over and put a bagel, apple wedges and cheese blocks on her plate. "You can't go to your office without clearing your plate," he said, his voice stern.

Meryn looked like she was about to argue for a moment before she slumped back. "I am, aren't I?" she asked.

He nodded. "I didn't think to check until you mentioned it yesterday, but your rhythms are different."

"Damn," she muttered.

Elizabeth put two and two together. "But this is happy news! You should tell Aiden right away." Even though she wasn't raised around shifters, she knew of the great importance they put on having children.

"No," Meryn said, biting into her bagel savagely.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because if he finds out, I won't be able to torture him with the condoms anymore and he will be impossible to live with." Meryn stuffed the blocks of cheese in her mouth until her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk.

"So when will you tell him?"

"Soon, I promise," Meryn confirmed.

"Oh, Meryn." Elizabeth shook her head.

Meryn looked up. "Don't 'Oh Meryn' me. You don't have to live with him. He already treats me like a glass figurine. If I even so much as sneeze he's hauling me off to the clinic for Adam to check me over. I just want a little breathing room before I tell him. To process it for myself."

"Okay, your call." She stood and stretched. "You finish your breakfast, without choking. I'm going to go get started on the data entry for the unit members. The database you created is going to work perfectly."

"Cool. Be there soon." Meryn frowned down at her apple slices.

Elizabeth smiled. Life was about to get a lot more interesting in the next few months.

CHAPTER TEN

Meryn joined her half an hour later and they really began to make headway with the personnel files. The more she input the more concerned she became.

"Meryn, have you noticed anything strange about the files?" she asked.

Meryn nodded gravely. "There are so many that have died. We're adding them so we can track and archive their reports, but there are so many. It's like each unit loses a member at least once every other year." Meryn looked up at her fear in her eyes. "I had no idea they had lost so many." Her eyes filled. "I don't want to lose anyone."

Elizabeth felt her own tears threaten to spill over. Shaking her head she deepened her resolve. "We won't lose anyone. They have us now, Meryn, and their own mates are on the way. Already you've made changes that will help to keep them safe; just look at your trainee program. That triples the manpower available. We're here for a reason, don't forget that."

Meryn scrubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her tee-shirt. Elizabeth actually looked forward to each morning to see what Meryn would wear. Today she had on a Ghostbusters tee-shirt. Meryn smiled at her. "Thanks, I needed that pep talk. I'll stay positive, it's just ... I've been targeted before. I still have nightmares; they're so hard to shake because it really happened. It's terrifying when you can't even see your enemy." Meryn wrapped her arms around her midsection as if trying to hold herself together.

Seconds later, Ryuu breezed through the door and was at her side. "What is the matter, denka? Your fear was strong enough that I could feel it in the kitchen." He knelt down in front of her and ran a thumb soothingly over a blue dragon tattoo around Meryn's wrist.

"Just remembering the attack. I was telling Bunny that what made it especially scary was the fact that we couldn't see them."

Elizabeth couldn't imagine fighting an unseen enemy. No wonder the men were doing 'Blind man's Bluff' drills. They were conditioning their bodies to move without the benefit of sight, honing their other senses. It must have been a blow to their pride that they couldn't defend Meryn.

"I will do whatever I can to help Keelan and the other witch Quinn to devise a spell to keep them away," Ryuu promised.

A thought struck Elizabeth. "Not to jinx us, but what has kept them from coming back? I mean if we can't see them why haven't they attacked before now?"

Ryuu stood, crossing his arms bringing one hand to his chin. He thought about it before answering. "For the first week after the attack I ordered my shikigami to guard the house. They are my spirit servants. I can control them, but it's draining and I can't maintain it. During that first week whenever they tried to get close to the house the spirits would make them visible. It was enough to keep them away. They are cautious. This is the factor that has the men confused. Normally ferals are all about their base desires. They are one step up from shambling zombies. They usually have just enough intelligence to lay basic traps or trick humans. But this new breed, they are patient. They think things through and are leery, this makes them much more of a threat. I have a feeling that the reason why they have stayed out of the house up until now is because of me. I am an unknown to them. I was able to make their assassin visible and we gained information from him, even in death. They may not want to tip their hand and that is what makes them more dangerous than the typical feral."