Magus walked over to a polished wooden sideboard and picked up a file. He began to flip through the pages. "According to the last report I got from your father and René, the necklaces are being created by using the souls of unborn shifters to house the abilities of their shifter parents and also halt the decay process, which eliminates the foul odor we have used over the centuries to track and find ferals. Amongst those hunted to near extinction are chameleon shifters, which give these new ferals the ability to become invisible."
"Gods help us!" Tarak whispered.
"Reapers." Meryn corrected.
Magnus paused. "I am sorry darling, what?"
"Anne helped us name the super ferals. We're calling them reapers, like the Grim Reaper, because they take souls," Meryn explained.
Magnus blinked and then picked up a pen. He wrote down the word on the paper. "That is a very apt name."
Meryn shrugged. "We liked it."
Adriel felt as if his blood was about to boil. "And why were the units not told?"
Magnus winced. "At the time, it was believed that this was confined to Lycaonia. Recent events have proved that assumption false. I am counting on you to get the men up to speed."
Adriel clenched his teeth together to keep from being disrespectful to his prince. "Yes, sire."
"Well, that's fucking bullshit!" Meryn exploded.
All eyes turned to the small human. Adriel wanted to throw his fist in the air in support, but knew that would be considered inappropriate.
"Now, Meryn," Aiden began.
"No. No more keeping things from me because I'm pregnant. I can't keep y'all from being stupid if you don't tell me things." She began to pat down her jacket. "Where's my phone?"
Ryuu stepped forward and handed her the small cellphone. "Here you go denka."
"Thanks Ryuu." Meryn looked down and frowned. "No service?"
"Meryn..." Aiden stepped forward.
Meryn held up a hand, silencing her mate.
Ryuu pointed to the wooden table in the corner of the room. "Denka, there is a land line."
Meryn put her phone away and walked over to the black phone. She lifted the handset and reached out to dial. "Dammit!" She had to pull out her phone and scroll through her numbers.
"You don't know the number?" Aiden asked.
Meryn gave him a sour look. "I haven't memorized a phone number since like nineteen ninety-eight." She carefully dialed the number and lifted the handset up to her ear.
Adriel watched the entire process in fascination. He looked over and saw that Magnus had a shit-eating grin on his face. He knew his prince loved the fact that the small, wacky human was going against every protocol established since the pillar cities were created. Adriel knew Magnus had been dying to do something similar for decades.
Adriel loved protocol. He loved established sets of rules; they were comforting. He always knew what was the right thing to do. But even he had to admit, the processes they had now were broken, and people were getting hurt because of it.
"Amelia. Hey. No, I'm fine. Listen, can you get a message out to your friend in Éire Danu? You need to tell her everything we have discovered about the ferals and make sure she tells the units. No, I don't know exactly what they've been told. Evidently, the council has been sending out bits and pieces and didn't think it was important enough to let the men guarding the cities know that they could be facing a new, souped up, invisible enemy. I know right? Make sure your brother knows too. Okay. Lurves you, too! Bye-bye." Meryn slammed the handset down on the phone. She looked up grinning. "I've totally missed being able to do that." She walked back over to Aiden. "We need like a new phone tree or something. Because leaving it up to the council isn't working."
Adriel coughed into his hand, gaining her attention. "What exactly did you just do?"
Meryn gave him a sly smile. "My big sister-cousin has connections in Éire Danu and Storm Keep. The units in both cities will be up-to-date within the hour."
Adriel looked over at Aiden who was grinning. Aiden caught him staring and shrugged. "Meryn seems to fall into this strange gray area when it comes to authority. She's my mate so she's afforded the respect my position demands, but she also has acquired ties of her own, placing her just out of reach of reprimand. Her actions are always brutally direct but usually the most efficient way to do something. She also doesn't let silly things like etiquette, protocol, custom, or rank get in her way. What she did in less than thirty seconds would have taken Magnus and I at least two to three weeks arguing at council level."
"Extraordinary," Magnus whispered.
Bethy smiled. "We think she is, too."
Meryn ducked behind her mate to remove herself from being center of attention. "I'm hungry again, and you promised me you would tell me how you poop."
Magnus's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "What?"
Micah began to chuckle. "What she means to say is she is curious about the city's infrastructure, utilities, and sanitation."
Meryn peeked out from behind Aiden. "Yeah, what he said. But more importantly, I need your Wi-Fi password."
Magnus shook his head. "We do not have Wi-Fi."
Meryn gasped and nearly fell backward. Ryuu helped keep her upright. "What do you mean you don't have Wi-Fi!?" she demanded.
"Meryn, this is a stone city, the signals cannot penetrate thirty to forty feet of solid rock per level. So, no Wi-Fi and no cellphones," Magnus explained.