"Thank you."
"You are very welcome."
"I hate to ruin the happy atmosphere, but has anyone found out who Marcus was referring to when he said 'they'?" Kari asked.
Declan let out a low hiss. "No." He turned to a man who looked so much like him Ellie was sure they were related. "Rex? Any luck?"
Rex shook his head at Declan's question then turned to her. "Ellie, we haven't been introduced yet. I'm Rex Lionhart, Declan's older brother. I'm also the shifter Elder for Noctem Falls. What Declan is referring to is his request that would allow us to use magic to get Marcus to talk."
Ellie sat back. "Who is Marcus? And what could he possibly know that would warrant using magic to get the information?"
Kari shivered, and Declan wrapped an arm around her. "That was the long story I was going to tell you later. Marcus tried to kill me, destroying Broderick's lab in the process. He said that 'they' promised to make him a prince. Unfortunately we have no idea who 'they' are."
"And you didn't kill him?" Marjoram asked Declan. "You have a tremendous amount of self-restraint."
Declan's eyes hardened. "We need answers. He was found with a necklace that allowed him to hide the fact that he had gone feral."
Ellie heard her grandmother gasp. Her own mind began to swirl with the frightening possibilities that presented. Declan continued. "Kari's mind was also influenced with the same method vampires use on humans. So either Marcus was strong enough to get into her mind and try to kill her, then killed someone else to go feral, or he's working with someone. We need to know who."
"Wait, go back to the necklaces," Marjoram prompted.
Aiden took over the explanation. "In Lycaonia, we discovered groups of ferals had somehow learned how to strip the soul of an unborn child to use as a container for shifter souls. Each soul creates a small bead that can be added to a necklace. Each bead can give the wearer different abilities, such as masking their feral presence, invisibility, or super strength."
Marjoram's hand rubbed her chest. "The murders," she whispered.
Aiden nodded, looking grim. "Yes."
"Gods above, protect us all," Marjoram murmured.
A chorus of amens echoed around the room. Her grandmother straightened in her chair. "If what you say is true, then not even Noctem Falls is safe." She stared at the prince. "What are you going to do to keep my granddaughter protected?" she demanded.
"Gram!" Ellie hissed.
Magnus held up a hand. "Ellie, your grandmother is well within her rights to ask such a thing, especially seeing as how we called you here for your help." He pointed to the men standing quietly in the corners. Ellie blinked. She had missed them completely. "As you can see, Elizabeth has her own guards, Kuruk and Tarak Géroux." The men winked and saluted. "With Kari and Meryn's permission, I would like to assign one of the guards Law brought with him to act as your daytime bodyguard." He smiled at her. "I am pretty sure her mate can keep her safe at night." Ellie blushed, and Grant growled his agreement.
Kari was already pulling out her notepad. "Broden and Ramsey Lionhart have taken over guarding me. Meryn has Law and Ryuu during the day, and Aiden and Gidan at night." She flipped a page. "We could easily assign Emeric as a daytime guard and Idris as a night guard. That would still leave us the other team to help the unit warriors in patrolling the city." She looked at Grant. "Do not worry about your patrol while you are helping the children, I made sure we were covered."
"Oh, she's good," Marjoram said.
Kari smiled. "Thank you." She closed her notepad and looked down at Ellie. "Tarragon should also be returning tomorrow. When he found out Bethy was pregnant, he practically had a mental breakdown and raced back to Storm Keep for medical spells for infants. He may not know much about human medicine, but he should be able to help with spells."
Ellie felt relieved. "That would be wonderful. The medicine I have been giving them seems to be helping, but I'm not sure for how long."
"Have you figured out where you'll be staying?" Elizabeth asked.
Ellie exchanged looks with her grandmother. She then turned to look at Grant. "We'd actually prefer to stay on Level Six with the children." She smiled when Grant nodded his agreement.
He gently squeezed her hand, showing his support. He looked over to Elizabeth. "I'll be staying there as well. I've been rotating with Stefan to keep the children calm."
"That is easily arranged. When the witches created quarters for the wolves, they made more than enough houses. You can choose whichever empty one you would like," Magnus offered.
The rest of the dinner was quiet as they discussed how everyone's day went. Ellie thought about what she had learned. Suddenly, their world seemed like a much darker place.
Grant ran a thumb over her hand, pulling her out of her thoughts. He hadn't let her go, not once throughout dinner. "Let's go pick out a house so your grandmother can settle your things. I know you want to get into the lab tonight."
"When you come back down to Level One, veer off to the hallway on the left. Once you're about halfway down, the infirmary is on the left and a large lab is across the hall on the right. I'll need to add your handprint to the biometric lock," Broderick offered.
"I'll be down as soon as we get our luggage moved to the new house." She turned. "Grandmother, are you ready?"