Meryn coughed in their direction, and they both ran. She turned to them and gave her Spock sign. "Boo-ya! That's how you get rid of douchebags!"
Ryuu shook his head. "No, denka."
Meryn became thoughtful. "That didn't work huh?" Even the twins were shaking their heads. "Damn," she cussed.
"Come on, baby, you need to eat something other than those damn jelly beans," Aiden said, wrapping an arm around Meryn.
"You were so hot when you were putting that jerk in his place." Meryn rubbed her face against Aiden's torso.
His face brightened, the incident with the jellybeans clearly forgotten. "Really?"
"Yup. I love it when you get all snarly."
Aiden scooped up his tiny mate and swaggered toward the tunnel. "Maybe I can find someone else to get snarly at. Do you think Colton is awake?" Ellie heard him ask as they walked away. Ryuu gave them a half bow and followed his charge.
Ellie turned to Rheia. "Did you want to warn your mate?"
Rheia shook her head. "Torturing each other is the foundation of their relationship. Who am I to ruin a good thing?"
Grant watched them walk away. "I'm not really feeling like breakfast on Level One today." He looked down at her. "Want to grab something from the vendors?"
Ellie giggled. "Are you sure? It's bound to be entertaining."
He shook his head. "Colton will pull me into it."
Kendrick nuzzled his mate's neck. "How about you?"
Anne shrugged. "It's up to you. Breakfast at home has been so boring without Meryn."
Kendrick chuckled. "That is true." He turned to Ellie and Rheia. "How about we grab something up here then head to the lab? I have a feeling Grant is right; if we go down, we'll get pulled into Meryn's shenanigans, and the sooner we can get to the lab the better." He jerked his thumb toward the twins. "I promised them I would show them how some of the human testing equipment worked."
Anne thought about it. "You're probably right, but we have to eat lunch with them."
Kendrick's smile turned downright evil. "I wouldn't miss lunch for anything in the world."
Anne's eyes narrowed. "Meryn's shenanigans, my foot. What are you up to?"
Kendrick's eyes widened. "Who me?"
Ellie smiled. "Lycaonia must be an exciting place to live with those two." She looked up at her mate. "Lead the way, looks like we're eating up here." She turned to Kendrick. "I'm eager to see what you think of the samples." Kendrick raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Grant reached down and grabbed her hand. He led them between the stalls until they came across one that looked slightly shabbier than the rest. It was tucked off to one side catty-cornered so it couldn't be seen right away from the eating area.
"Stella, you open?" he called out.
"Of course, I am open. What else would I be doing?" a cranky voice answered.
Grant steered them to the small table and benches in front of the stall. Moments later, an older woman stepped out from her cart and looked at the crowd in front of her booth. "Well now, who are all these folks?" She wiped her hands on her apron.
"Stella, this is my mate, Dr. Eleanor Kimball." He pointed to Rheia and Anne. "These two are Dr. Rheia Albright, Nurse Anne Ashwood, and her mate, Kendrick Ashwood. Prince Magnus called them in to help with the children." He nodded to the twins. "And you know the twins."
"Aye, I do. Twin troublemakers the pair of 'em." She eyed the women. "Medical folk, huh? I don't know much about medicine, but I do know food. Iffn' you need any broth or soup for the wee ones, just let me know. I can whip up a mean batch of chicken stock."
Ellie was entranced at the cadence of the woman's speech. "You're not from here, are you?" she asked.
Stella snorted. "No, I'm not. Came here with me mate a century or two ago when humans began to settle out here. Before that, we lived in Scotland, but it got to be too crowded with so many older bloodlines in one place." She looked them over. "Now, what can I get you for breakfast?"
Ellie looked at Grant; she had no idea what was offered here and didn't want to offend by asking for the wrong thing. Stella patted her on the shoulder. "Poor thing, I won't bite. I may bark a lot, but it's mostly harmless."