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hold her and know that she really was back.
"Good morning, Pumpkin Dumpling," Rheia said and scooped Penny up out of her chair.
Penny wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. She smelled like syrup, Rheia was so
happy to see her, that she didn't even mind the stickiness she felt on the back of her neck.
She sat her back down and Colton and Rheia took their seats on either side.
Ryuu set a fresh platter of pancakes shaped like small animals down on the table. When Ryuu
caught her staring, he blushed and cleared his throat. "I thought we would all appreciate the levity this
morning." He kept moving around the table refreshing the platters. Ryuu had missed her daughter as
well.
Rheia turned to Meryn. "How's Felix this morning?"
Meryn looked down at the soft fabric sling across her chest. "He's sleeping, but his color
looks better today. He was so grey yesterday I thought we'd lost him." Her hand cradled the small
bundle carefully.
Colton looked at Meryn oddly. "How did you know to send Felix with Penny?"
Gavriel nodded. "I've been wondering that myself since yesterday."
Meryn's shrugged, head turning from one man to the other. "It just seemed like a good idea at
the time."
"Fate works in mysterious ways" Mina said, sipping her orange juice. Both she and her mate
were seated next to Keelan, looking much better after a good night's rest.
"Whatever the reason, I'm grateful for his help. Despite his size he fought like a true warrior,"
Gerard said commending Felix.
"If the two of you are up to it, I did have a few questions." Aiden said putting his fork down.
Gerard nodded. "Of course, Commander, anything we can do to help."
"Did the ferals say anything to you before going after Penny?" Aiden asked.
Mina shook her head. "I don't think they were specifically after Penny, they were reaching for
all of us, and no, they didn't say anything."
Gerard thought about it for a moment. "I have to agree, Commander. They tried to pull me out
the door before I was able to break away to stand with Mina and Penny, I don't think they were after
her specifically."
Colton cursed under his breath. "Couldn't they just tell us what they're after? It would make it
a lot easier to kill them."
Darian laughed. "You're getting lazy, Colton. That's like hoping a criminal hands you a signed
confession."
Colton looked at Rheia, then down at Penny. "I have good reasons for wanting to stay home a
bit more. The sooner we can figure out their end game, the sooner we can all relax."
"Seeing you with Penny, it makes me wish we hadn't pushed Elena away. We missed so many
years with them both." Mina smiled at Penny with tears in her eyes.
Rheia pulled Penny into her lap. "Can you tell us about her? Elena?"
Mina looked at Gerard who nodded; smiling she turned back to face her. "Elena was such a
headstrong child, very much an old soul, like our Penny. She knew exactly what she wanted and went
after it. That actually became the crux of our estrangement." She sighed then continued. "When she
was old enough we started pressuring her to visit with more chameleon families, in hopes she would
find a chameleon mate. We're a dying breed of shifters and every new birth is desperately needed."
"But Elena didn't want to hear anything about it, she said she was in love and she wanted to be
with her boyfriend, Reggie." Mina practically spat the name. "He was a wolf shifter that filled her
head with ideas that we were trying to control her and she should move away with him, and that's
what she did. One day she packed up and left to live in the human world with Reggie. The only way
we were able to keep track of her was by monitoring her on social media." She scrunched up her
nose, "Watching one's child from afar is never preferable. When she finally mated with Brian, who
ironically ended up being a chameleon, we were hopeful that she would return to Lycaonia to have
their baby. Months and months went by without any updates on her Facebook or Twitter accounts. We
assumed she was busy with the new baby and were on the verge of reaching out to her when the Elder
gave us the news that she had been killed last year." Her voice faltered and Gerard pulled her close,
continuing for her. "That's why we were so desperate to raise Penny. We failed to keep our daughter
safe, but we have a second chance with our granddaughter."
Rheia shuddered and kissed Penny's head. "I can't even imagine losing a child."
Mina nodded. "Which is why when we saw you with Penny last night, we knew we couldn't
separate you. I could never inflict that kind of pain on another mother."
"Sorry to butt in, but you said Elena was pregnant?" Meryn interrupted. Mina nodded.
Meryn turned to Aiden. "That sounds horribly familiar."
Aiden frowned. "But that happened last year."
Meryn paled. "Maybe I need to widen my search parameters more than I initially thought."
"Bullshit!" Darian exploded. "How could this have been happening right under our noses for
so long and no one noticed."
Beth set her coffee cup down. "Because not all of them have been discovered. Of those that
were, only a fraction were found by paranormals like the Vanguard and even of those we know about,
the ones that were killed outside Lycaonia weren't tracked. They were treated like isolated incidents.
It's only because of Meryn's reports that we knew to step back and look at the bigger picture."
Mina looked around the table. "You mean to say that our Elena wasn't the only one?"
Aiden shook his head. "You may have heard stories in the past few months about paranormal
couples going missing from inside Lycaonia. It's bigger than that, couples have been going missing
from all around." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]