Brie watched as Aiden and Ryuu both hovered around a drowsy Meryn, who kept growling at them while sipping on her coffee. Meryn’s eyes turned toward her. "What'd I miss?"
Brie winced and flexed her arm. "Not much as far as the investigation goes. The warriors are still working with the families to get bodies identified."
"What happened to your arm?" Meryn asked, pointing to the plastic wrap sticking out from under her sleeve.
"I got a tattoo to symbolize that I'm an Eliana's Daughter now." She pulled up her sleeve to reveal the amazing tribal knotwork encircling her arm. "The under part of my arm hurts the worst, but I'm glad I have it."
Ari kissed her arm right above the markings. "It's so hot."
She felt herself blushing. She still wasn't used to being viewed as a desirable woman, but every day Ari showed her that she had just needed a strong enough man at her side.
"Badass," Meryn whispered. She looked up at her mate. "I want a tattoo."
"You have one. That freaky dragon one that keeps changing," Aiden pointed out.
"No, I want a warrior tattoo."
"You're not…" Aiden let his voice trail.
Meryn's eyes narrowed. "I'm not what?"
"Maybe you should design a sixth man tattoo?" he suggested quickly. "Take all the time you need to get it right. I mean it took years to get the unit warrior tattoo finalized."
Meryn's eyes widened. "Why didn't I think of that! A geek warrior tattoo!" She pulled out her laptop and began tapping away. "It's gonna be awesome. I want a magic one like yours and my dragon."
Aiden went from looking relieved to looking worried again.
"We had more people post on the message board grumbling about elitism," Nigel said, looking up from his tablet. "We don't have a lot of views yet though."
Meryn shrugged, her eyes still glued to her laptop. "These things need to grow organically. If it was a concern all of a sudden, then it would seem planted."
"It is planted," Neil pointed out.
"Yeah, but they don't know that."
Brie felt a hand on her shoulder she turned and smiled at her dad as he and Doran sat down on the sofa on her other side.
"How'd Cam take the news that you were officially quitting?" he asked.
She laughed. "I think he's still cussing. He really wanted me to take over as sheriff. Now, he needs to pick out and train a replacement before he can retire."
Ari scowled. "What did the man think would happen? That you were going to commute back and forth every day? Besides we need you here."
"Yeah, there's no way I'd pass up on Leo's food," she agreed.
Ari nodded then looked at her. "Is that the only reason?"
She leaned over and kissed along his jaw. She heard his swift inhale before she sat back. "And I'd miss you," she whispered.
"Maybe we should have lunch at home?" he suggested, his thumb lazily rubbing circles on the top of her hand.
"No can do, Ari," Aiden interrupted. "We are receiving those thermal imaging goggles from the queen today. You need to be at the briefing, and your mate needs to lead said briefing."
Ari's eyes turned a dark honey color as he began to growl at his commander.
Aiden's eyebrows shot up. "What'd I do?"
Brie was laughing so hard she collapsed against her dad. "That's like the third time," she howled.