Around her the men quieted in stunned silence. Oron whistled and nodded at Ari. "She put that together before any other warrior. You should be proud."
Ari blinked. "What?"
Lorcan and the other warriors from Lycaonia just grinned and sipped their beers.
Dav sat back, holding his own tankard. "That sly bastard."
"Mother and Father were mated when they had Aiden, thank you very much," Ben said, sniffing dramatically.
Ari collapsed back, rubbing his hand over his mouth. "Not even the council has noticed." He looked around.
Quinn waved his hand. "I cast a soundproofing spell on this place the second we got here."
Dav shook his head. "We may need to think about getting a permanent one installed if we keep having meetings here."
Bryok looked from her to Ari and back. "What are we missing?"
Ari half turned to face him. "Aiden managed to bring in and free up six units of warriors without anyone noticing."
Casek frowned. "Why would he do that?"
Brie sat back. "He definitely has a more modern mindset than I expected."
"What?" Bryok repeated.
Brie shrugged. "I can't say for sure, but Aiden is organizing the men the same way the SWAT commander back home organizes his men before raids. You get everyone together, review intel, then go in. If he's quick enough and sends half the men out before everyone realizes how many warriors are milling about, no one may notice for a while."
Quinn pointed to Ari while looking at Brie. "You say six units, but Tau is only a four man team."
"I'll be going out with them, " she said, deliberately not looking at her mate.
Quinn turned to Sascha. "Can she do that?"
Sascha exhaled. "You know, thanks to Menace electrocuting me on multiple occasions, I find that very little surprises me anymore. I just go with the flow now."
"She did say she missed you," Izzy added, then frowned. "Though she did say that after Ryuu upped the charge on her screwdriver thing."
Sascha whimpered and proceeded to empty his tankard as even his own unit laughed at his plight.
Brie snuck a look up at her mate. He looked down at her and shrugged. "You keep expecting me to get mad that you're taking an active role in the investigation. That won't happen. In the wild, it's the lionesses that hunt to feed the pride. I come from a home with strong females, so you being in law enforcement doesn't faze me one bit."
Oron turned to Ari. "You should introduce her to your aunts."
"Aunts?" she asked.
Ari cracked his back. "Yeah, on my mother's side, Eliana's Daughters. My mother has six sisters, and they're all incredibly strong. Remember, we spoke about them back at the warrior villa. " She nodded, and he continued. "They're all warriors in their own right but don't serve in units. They currently exist to protect other lion-shifters. It's not needed as much now that most paranormals live in or around pillar cities, but back before the cities were created, the lionesses were known as Protectors of the Weak."
"Kinda like old school beat cops that knew their neighborhoods inside and out. The lionesses would patrol and keep the stronger shifters from dominating communal spaces," Oron added.
Brie turned and grabbed Ari's arm. "I have to meet them."
"Do you really?" he asked, in a strained voice.
"Why? Are you ashamed of me?" she demanded.
"Hell no. It's just that…they're…they…" Ari floundered.
"They baby him like no other, and they'll probably challenge you on the spot," Oron finished.