"Girls, listen to me. There's so much I want to tell you, but I can't right now. Just know that you were brought together for a reason. Stay close to each other. We'll be there soon."

Meryn sniffled. "Are you really going to beat Estelle up?"

"I know that we can't use black magic to bring her back, but I will be getting in touch with the city back home to make arrangements to move her grave to our estate. That way we can desecrate it whenever we like," Lily promised.

Meryn smiled weakly. "I'd like that."

"Mother, maybe you should take this opportunity to change before Father brings the bags down," they heard Caiden suggest. "You spent the entire day in those clothes traveling already."

"You're such a good boy, Caiden. I think I'll do just that. See you soon, girls."

"Remind me to never piss that woman off," Caiden muttered.

"Well, we knew Meryn got her crazy from somewhere. Evidently, it's hereditary," Colton said, winking at Meryn, making her smile.

Amelia sat down in her chair with a plop. "I have a baby sister-cousin."

Meryn brightened. "I have another sister!"

"Commander, if you ever need tips on how to handle those two, let me know. I have over thirty years' experience raising Amelia," Caiden offered.

Aiden cleared his throat. "Actually, is there a way to know if they're lying?"

Caiden laughed. "Ask her a question."

Aiden turned Meryn in his lap until she was looking up at him. "Baby, are you playing with explosives?"

Meryn looked up at the ceiling in an exaggerated eye roll. "Where am I supposed to get explosives to play with?" Aiden smiled and relaxed.

"Sir, did she make eye contact?" Caiden asked.

"No." Aiden answered frowning.

"She didn't make eye contact and answered with a question," Caiden confirmed.

Aiden swallowed hard. "What does that mean?"

Caiden laughed. "It means you're fucked. She's building a bomb."

"Hey!" Meryn protested.

Amelia smiled. She didn't feel like such an oddball now; someone else thought like her. "What kind of bomb?" she asked.

Meryn just turned to her and grinned.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." Colton intoned dramatically.

Darian wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulders. Not wanting to waste a single moment of his affection, she leaned into his body and was rewarded when he pulled her closer. She didn't know what had changed with him, but she would take what she could get.

"I'm going to let you guys go. Father looked a little shell-shocked earlier. Kyran, Tristan, and I will help him adjust. We raised Amelia so we weren't really all that shocked at Mother's ideas, but I don't think Father has ever seen her so angry."

Amelia snorted. "I never threatened to raise the dead to pummel it."

"Yes, you did. Technically, you threatened to beat Morgan Fiero to the point of death and then beat him again while he was recovering, basically the same thing," Caiden reminded her.

She laughed out loud. She hadn't heard the name Morgan Fiero in years.

Beside her, Darian stiffened. "What did he do to her?"

"He kept snapping her bra, trying to get it to come off. Kyran was about to step in when Amelia turned and completely unloaded fourteen years of techniques she learned watching us train on him. It took Kyran and another unit warrior to pull her off him. From the time Amelia was eleven until she was eighteen, we hid every weapon in the house."

"I wasn't that bad," she countered.

"Keep telling yourself that, baby girl. There's a reason why grown men are afraid of you." Caiden teased.

"But she's so bubbly," Beth said, using Meryn's expression.

"Yeah, and that's what makes her so scary. She never stopped smiling her pleasant smile when she damn near beat little Morgan Fiero to a pulp. I swear she should have been born a redhead. It's like a universal warning label that the person you're talking to could lose their shit at a moment's notice," Caiden sighed.

"Two, there's two of them," Keelan whispered.

"About to be three. Her mother is on her way for a visit. Two generations of wackiness." Caiden laughed out loud. "Kyran, Tristan, and I were planning a visit to Lycaonia to threaten Darian about how to treat our baby girl, but having Lily head out there is a thousand times better."

"Almost three generations!" Meryn said brightly pointing to her belly.

"Sir, can I request a transfer to Storm Keep?" Colton looked worried.

"Denied," Aiden grumbled.

"On that note, have a great visit." Caiden laughed again and hung up.

"Sonofabitch!" Aiden growled. "He's enjoying this."

Meryn practically bounced in his lap. "I get to meet my aunt and uncle. I have family!"

Amelia looked at her and shared a wide grin. Even though she had brothers, Meryn was different--she was like her. She watched Doctor Who and ate expired pickles. Suddenly, she didn't feel alone or homesick, not when she had a baby sister-cousin who was just like her!

"Meryn, let's skip the movie and go to bed. You've had a lot thrown at you tonight," Aiden suggested.

Meryn immediately looked alarmed. "But..." She looked at Amelia.

Amelia smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, especially now that I have found my mate and my baby sister-cousin."