Darian gave a lazy shrug. "What can I say, it was boring at home without her." He wrapped an arm around Amelia as they followed their commander who was still arguing with his tiny mate.
Oron "Never a truer word was spoken."
*****
Aiden disappeared for most of the afternoon meeting with different warriors and verifying them as they gave reports. This left Meryn in the kitchen with her cousin, squire and dedicated fans. Micah and Serenity watched on in amusement.
Once the verification process finished, Darian had decided to stay with Aiden as a member of the Alpha Unit while even more meetings continued, which meant Oron was guarding both his baby sister and the menace.
"Did you really blow up the Council Manor?" one warrior asked a rapt expression on his face.
"No!" Meryn exclaimed slamming her small hands on the counter. "When I find out who is spreading that rumor, I'm gonna kick them in the nuts!"
The guy laughed. "I see the violent tendencies weren't an exaggeration."
Amelia turned to the warrior as she was trying to calm Meryn down. "She really didn't. All she did was coat the entire square in flour glue. Oh! And she also took out a lot of ferals with a sniper rifle. If we're talking destruction, I'm the one who ripped up all the cobblestones in the square to halt the invading ferals so that the guys could kill them, though I accidentally incinerated them instead, with Kendrick's help of course." Amelia's adorable ramble to profess Meryn's innocence had them both looking like homicidal maniacs.
Micah nodded. "That's what I heard from most of the Alpha Unit warriors as well. Though Colton did admit, he still has nightmares about the time Meryn almost blew them both up with a hand grenade."
Serenity elbowed him in the ribs. "Not helping."
The guy closest to Meryn stared. "You almost blew up Colton Albright?"
Meryn sighed. "Yeah, sort of. But he's being a big baby about the whole thing."
Oron leaned his chair back and watched the varying degrees of horror on the men's faces.
Liam turned to him. "I would say it's because they're human and half-human, but the humans in Monroe don't act like them."
"We've just been blessed by the gods," Oron said, smiling wide.
Amelia turned to him her eyes shining brightly. "Thank you."
And that right there was why he'd die protecting her, her joy always seemed to radiate about her in calming waves, despite the macabre way she had accidentally burned their enemies to death.
"You're easy to love baby sister."
Meryn poked her head around her cousin. "What about me?"
"Meryn, you're just as easy to love despite yourself, and I don't know who that surprises more, the people in your life, or you."
Ryuu nodded as he rubbed his chin. "That is a shockingly accurate statement."
Meryn looked thoughtful. "Thank you...I think."
"You're quite welcome, Menace."
The men laughed. "I see that rumor is true, they call you Menace and Amelia is the Little Terrorist."
Amelia sighed. "I will never get rid of that dratted nickname."
Oron heard the door to one of the meeting rooms open and more men filed into the large kitchen area.
Meryn turned to her mate. "Do you love me, despite me?"
Aiden got that deer in the headlights expression. "Uhh, I love you no matter what baby," he said hesitantly.
"Good, okay. I love you too." Meryn picked up the bag of Cheetos the guys had ridiculously presented to her, evidently having read it on Facebook that they were her favorite snacks.