"Friend me and I'll invite you. I set the group to Super-Secret so you won't be able to search for it." Izzy scrolled through her app and fired off a friend request. "Done."
Aiden returned to his chair and sat back down. He looked at Oron. "Your unit leader may need a vacation by the time I get back."
Oron winced. "What'd Colton do now?"
"He tied Sascha to the bell tower in the drill field."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"Then he covered every inch of rope in superglue which hardened and not only made cutting the rope near impossible, but also ensured that when he was finally cut free, he was mostly naked."
Oron shrugged. "That's what he gets for letting Emmy nearly get kidnapped and assaulted."
"What?" Aiden demanded.
Izzy watched as nearly all the blood in Oron's face drained away. "Nothing."
"Oron!"
"Shit," Darian whispered.
"She's fine Aiden."
Aiden stood again, reaching for his phone. "Hey, Colton." He walked back toward the windows.
Oron let his head drop to the table. "My unit leader is a dead man."
Izzy watched as Meryn's fingers moved a mile a minute. When she was done, she eased her phone back to the table as Aiden stomped back and sat down. "Everything okay love?" she asked.
Aiden's ire slipped a bit at her endearment. "Yes, though I can't wait to get home."
Aiden's phone dinged, and he picked it up. He read the message, sighed and sat it back down.
"Problems, sir?" Darian asked.
"Colton can't find Sascha anywhere, which may actually be a good thing at the moment. I wonder how he knew to slip away?" Aiden mused out loud. Everyone eyed Meryn's phone then looked anywhere but at the commander.
"I bet it was his cat instincts," Amelia suggested quickly.
"Could be," Aiden agreed.
"Hey, speaking of cats, where's Rex?" Meryn asked, looking around. "I heard this was lion country or something."
The queen wiped at her eyes with a napkin. "That is mostly true. After the Great War, I opened up Éire Danu to two groups of shifters, the sun-loving lions and the wind walkers or bird-shifters. Both groups made the city their family seat. They are so well integrated into our society; I cannot imagine the city without them."
"There are bird shifters? Like robins and blue jays?" Izzy asked.
The queen shook her head. "More like harpy eagles and hawks."
Brennus turned to her. "In fact, the ranking unit of the city, Tau, has a harpy eagle shifter in their ranks, his name is Priest Vi'Aerdan."
Meryn scrunched up her nose. "Huh? A shifter with a fae name?"
Brennus smiled at her. "He was adopted."
"I told you they were well integrated," the queen said.
"One royal palace and twelve houses?" Izzy asked.