"Not even Elder Airgead could find a way?" she asked, feeling shaken.

"No. The witches in the units here in Lycaonia have been casting everything we know at those damn necklaces to get them to reveal their secrets to us so we can figure out how they are made, a clue, anything!" Keelan banged a fist on the table.

Amelia turned to Darian. "How can you fight them? How can we possibly win?"

"I'll tell you how," Meryn declared, jumping to her feet. "We find out where these murdering bastards are and then we launch a nuke straight up their--"

"Dinner is ready." Ryuu interrupted from the kitchen doorway. He looked over at Meryn who had a fist raised in the air. "Denka, you know it is not good for the baby for you to get so excited before a meal."

"Uh, Meryn, you keep talking about explosives. They're just figures of speech, right baby?" Aiden asked.

Ignoring him, Meryn pouted and sat down, crossing her arms over her chest. "You ruined my moment, Ryuu."

"How will I ever live with myself? Mashed potatoes?" he asked blandly, holding a spoon over his cart.

Meryn brightened. "Yes, please and lots of them. Oh! Can you also mix the peas in with mine?"

"Baby?" Aiden prodded.

"Give up, Commander, lost cause," Colton advised.

Aiden reached for his wine glass.

"Of course." Ryuu dished out a large portion of potatoes and mixed in a spoonful of peas. Without asking, he added two large slices of meatloaf.

"Might as well add a third." Meryn said, watching his every move.

Ryuu's eyes widened. "Your food consumption cannot be normal." He turned to Rheia. "Please check her for a tapeworm."

"Hey! I do have a parasite, but it's a half human, half bear shifter and future Time Lord, thank you very much. So please Ryuu, Meryn two-point-oh would like another slice of meatloaf and some tuna."

Ryuu's eyes widened. "Tuna and meat loaf?"

Amelia's fear over the terrifying feral development evaporated as she watched Meryn bicker with her squire. Meryn was completely unfazed by the alarming changes in the ferals because, having only been here for a few short months, that was all she had ever known.

Around the table, everyone was smiling at the tiny human, and Amelia realized that maybe the mates truly had been brought here for a reason. Meryn's attitude and fresh perspective were needed to keep them from becoming too overwhelmed. It gave her hope because there was no way Fate would bring her all this way after giving her dreams of her mate for over thirty years just to take him away.

"Tuna sounds good to me, too," Amelia agreed feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Actually, me too, Ryuu. Sorry." Rheia blushed.

Ryuu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Anyone else?" Everyone else shook their heads. Ryuu frowned at Rheia then at Meryn, but when his gaze turned to her, he looked confused. "I know why the two of them have odd cravings, but you're not with child."

Amelia shrugged. "I'll try anything once. I live in the moment. Life is too short not to eat meatloaf with tuna."

Ryuu shook his head. "Two, there's two."

Beth nodded her head. "I know Ryuu, it'll be okay," she said in a soothing manner.

Ryuu straightened his back. "Ladies if you will but give me a moment to serve the rest of the table, I will return with your additional side dish."

Meryn grinned evilly. "But it's not going on the side; I'm putting it on top."

Ryuu sighed and continued to serve the table. "Yes denka, of course."

Gavriel leaned back in his chair. "Amelia, may I ask, how old are you?"

"Thirty-six, why?"

"Just curious. Ryuu and Beth are right, you and Meryn both have a very optimistic and simple view of the world," Gavriel explained.

"Dammit! You're older than me. Except for Penny, I'm still the youngest. Even Jaxon and Noah are older." Meryn growled.

Aiden kissed his mate's neck causing her to laugh. "Meryn, you know, as a human you are treated according to how humans age, not paranormals."

"Exactly," Amelia agreed. "To a paranormal, age is just a number, unless you have brothers."

"Amen," Rheia said.

"Or fathers," Beth agreed.

"Yeah, unless you have testosterone-driven male relatives, ages don't really mean anything, just like expiration dates on food," Amelia added.

Everyone stared at her except Meryn who just nodded and ate a huge bite of her peas and mashed potatoes.

"What?" Amelia asked, looking around.

Keelan sat forward. "Do you mean that ages and expiration dates are the same because they are both numbers?"

"No, I meant that they are both pointless numbers. Ages are a pointless unit of measure for races that can live thousands of years and expiration dates are pointless because they are just for show."

Meryn nodded again. "True."

Aiden turned to her, looking horrified. "No, baby, they are not just for show."

Meryn scrunched up her face and turned to Amelia. "Really?" Amelia shrugged.

Aiden nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

Meryn thought about it for a moment. "What about pickles? Pickles don't expire, do they, Ryuu?"

"Not the ones packaged by NASA for deep space exploration, denka. Did you want the tuna plain or mixed with mayonnaise as if it were going on a sandwich?" he asked as he finished serving Aiden before refilling his wine glass. Keelan snickered.