The god-like man just raised an eyebrow. "So, you didn't try using the culinary torch to make smores?"
"Well..."
"And it produced enough smoke to set off the smoke alarms and sprinklers?"
"Actually..."
"Which then, in turn, caused a panic resulting in said torch getting dropped and setting fire to the cabinetry?"
She sighed. "Yes."
"It's why we brought her here. She's our favorite little barista in town and the owner of the coffee shop was enraged. He fired her and kicked her out on the spot," Cameron explained.
The golden hottie turned to Cameron. "Kicked her out?"
"He was my landlord too, I rented one of the apartments over the shop." She pointed around the room. "I've known these guys for years. They come by the shop all the time. If they hadn't been there, I'd be on the streets. I should've taken them up on their offer last year to be their live-in barista," Izzy mumbled.
Cameron pointed to her three small boxes. "Thank the gods we were there, or I doubt he would have even let her get her stuff."
"You have my thanks," the gorgeous guy said to Cameron.
"Seriously?" she put her hands on her hips.
"What?" he asked.
"How about hmm... I don't know, like who the fuck are you? Why do you care what happened to my stuff and what in the hell is a mate?" she poked his chest with each word. Breathing hard she looked up at him and was surprised by the fact she had actually backed him up a bit. Feeling fearless she gave him one last poke before glaring up at him.
"What was it you said to me? 'You mated into that craziness?'" Another blond to her right asked, laughing his head off.
The man before her flipped him off then smiled down at her. "I'm sorry for the poor introduction. My name is Oron Vi'Eirson. I care about your belongings because you are my mate. A mate is one half of a destined pair, Fate has determined that you would be the perfect partner for me, and I have to say, never in my thousands of years did I ever dream I would be blessed enough to deserve someone as special as you."
Izzy felt her brain trying to make sense of what he just said. She knew he was speaking English, but somehow what he was saying simply wasn't clicking.
"Mates? Wait... thousands of years?" Izzy reached around her blindly looking for a chair as her head began to swim.
"It's okay, just breathe," a soft voice said, guiding her to a stool. "I know it's a lot to take in, but you're doing very well."
Izzy looked at the gorgeous woman helping her. "Your eyes are purple."
The woman paused, then smiled. "Yes, they are like my father's. My name is Serenity Meadowsweet." In a calm voice, she went around the room and introduced everyone. The one named Amelia set a glass of water down in front of her. "Thank you," she said, gripping the glass tight.
"You're very welcome. Izzy wasn't it?" Amelia asked.
She nodded absently. "Yes, Isabelle Campbell, but everyone calls me Izzy." Her eyes went back to Oron. "You're supposed to be like my soul mate?"
He nodded. "It's okay if you don't believe me right away, as long as you give us a chance to get to know one another."
She looked down into her water glass. "You won't stick around. No one does. I'm a mess."
The women around her began to laugh. Bristling, she glared at them. Amelia shook her head. "We're laughing because you're in excellent company." She pointed to the short-haired Meryn. "She covered our town square in glue, called one of our Elders a douchebag and likes to electrocute people." She pointed to her own chest. "I'm an empath and almost caused a major earthquake when I was two, I tore up the Lycaonia's town square's cobblestones and almost got stuck being a dog when I tried a shifting spell for the first time."
Meryn sighed. "You were so damn cute though."
Izzy felt herself beginning to relax. "That sounds nuts." She looked over to Serenity. "What about you?"
Serenity winked. "I disobeyed council dictates to go halfway across the country to help a city of vampires to fight a virus."
"Badass!" Izzy whispered. "Wait, Elders? Shifting? Vampires?"