"Never, my darling girl. I'm going to let you go, I have a certain vampire elder in Lycaonia to call." His voice took on a hard edge.

"Give him hell, Unky!" she cheered. She heard his chuckle.

"Miss you every day Bethy," he admitted.

"I'm doing you more good here than if I were there pouring your tea," she pointed out.

"That's the Gods' honest truth. Bye baby."

"Goodbye, Uncle."

She exhaled and grinned. She wished she could be a fly on the wall of René Evreux's office. She loved it when her uncle lit into people; it was truly a thing of beauty. Smiling she walked out of the office and met up with her mate at the base of the stairs.

"Darn, I was hoping to catch you in the shower." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She could feel the dampness of his hair and smelled the scent of his soap. He pulled her flush against him. She could feel his growing arousal against her belly.

"I could always take another shower," he whispered behind her ear sending shivers through her body. Just then her stomach growled loudly. Chuckling, he pulled back.

"Then again, I need to make sure my mate is fed. I wonder what's for lunch." He placed a warm hand on her back.

"Ryuu said he was making beef stew. I've been smelling it all morning, I can't wait to eat!" she confessed.

Together they went to the dining room. Keelan, Darian and Colton were already seated and stood as they entered. They all sat down together.

"Now we just need Meryn and Aiden," Colton said, buttering another biscuit.

"They may be a few minutes," Elizabeth informed them.

Colton and Keelan groaned and both reached for another biscuit.

A few minutes later a very satisfied looking Aiden and wet haired Meryn walked in. The men stood again.

"Shower sex sucks," Meryn announced loudly.

Colton started choking on his biscuit and Keelan and Darian just stared at her.

Aiden blushed but continued grinning as they sat down.

Elizabeth leaned forward dying to know what prompted that statement. "What happened?"

"Slippery surfaces and not the good kind, one." Meryn started ticking off reasons on her fingers. "Water not a natural lubricant, two. Height differences, three. And I got a freaking charley horse right when..." Aiden covered her mouth at that point.

Ahh. So someone had fun and someone didn't. Poor Meryn.

Aiden removed his hand. "I'll make it up to you later baby." He said then kissed Meryn's temple.

Meryn just grumbled and savagely sawed her biscuit in half before turning to her mate. "So which rooms are the trainees getting?"

"There are six master suites used by Colton, Darian, Keelan, Ryuu, us, and Gavriel and Elizabeth. On each floor there are three guest suites so I don't see any reason why each trainee can't have their own room. What that means, gentlemen, is that all of our storage space is about to disappear, so whatever you want to keep needs to be taken to the attic." Aiden turned to the fae. "Darian, can you tape off and designate storage space in the attic for everyone? We need to have the rooms cleared so that they can be made ready to be moved into by tomorrow." Aiden laid out the afternoon's working plans.

Darian nodded. "It's probably a good idea to go through some of our old boxes anyway. I know I have stuff in one of the guest rooms that I probably haven't even thought about in decades. Whatever of mine doesn't fit upstairs I can always ship home to Éire Danu."

"Home?" Meryn asked.

"A fae's true home is always Éire Danu." Darian winked at her.

"Oh." She shrugged.

Ryuu rolled in a cart that held steaming bowls of a dark brown stew. Aiden turned to the squire. "Ryuu, can I ask that you help look after the trainees? They aren't children. They're grown men by human standards, but young in our world."

"Of course. Do I send them to you for discipline?" Ryuu asked as he began to place bowls in front of everyone.

Aiden shook his head. "If they are doing something that merits discipline go ahead and administer it, then send them to me. Then I can discipline them again. Most are old enough to have outgrown those kinds of hijinks, especially considering they are now assigned to a unit. If I'm not available you can send them to any Alpha Unit member," Aiden said.

"I'm sure there won't be any issues," Ryuu said grinning.

Aiden groaned. "You just jinxed us."

Ryuu shrugged. "Be that as it may, I will make sure they understand that while they reside in this house they are to respect my rules."

Aiden just nodded. "I trust your judgment."

When Ryuu set the bowl down in front of her, she breathed in the savory aroma. She picked up her spoon and dug in. There was a burst of flavors in every bite.

"Ryuu, this has to be the best stew I've ever had!" she exclaimed and wasn't lying. Growing up in a noble court she had always been exposed to the world's best, but nothing compared to this simple meal.

Ryuu bowed. "Thank you. I am happy with it."

The table was quiet as everyone devoured their lunch. Elizabeth smiled up at Ryuu when he placed a second bowl in front of her, taking the empty one. When she looked around everyone except Meryn was working on their second bowl.

With a full stomach she leaned back and looked over to Aiden. She had waited until everyone was nearly done before bringing up the conversation with her uncle. "Aiden, I called my uncle today. I told him about what Meryn has shown me regarding the missing persons. As I suspected he had not been informed."