Cas felt her heart stutter. “Cam! I haven’t had a chance to fix the place up yet. I doubt there’s any food either.”
One of the men turned to her with a confused expression. “Why would you worry about that? We’ll take care of everything. You’re doing enough just giving us a place to stay.”
“Well said, Gael!” Cam responded. “Cas, honey, let the guys take of things.”
Reston stepped forward. “Run everything by my squad. We’ll relay things to Cas. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”
Coop and Link edged closer, practically burying her between them.
Gael laughed, and Cam stared at them flatly. “Let the girl breathe,” he ordered.
Coop and Link stepped back an inch.
Cam palmed his face, then brought the bullhorn back up. “Remember, men, these folks have suffered a great deal. Get situated as quickly and quietly as you can, then send a representative to the palace to get orders from our Unit Commander. He has been blowing up my phone, demanding to know what’s going on. The only thing I could tell him was that the Vanguard came home. Reston, you’re in charge of our special crates. My squad will be shipping your other things through as soon as possible, so you’ll live out of your diddy bags for a bit. For anyone who has been or is from Éire Danu, just brace yourselves. It won’t be the city you remember.”
With that, the fae lowered him then turned to ignite the portal. Five across and twenty squads deep, the men began marching through.
“Cas, you walk ahead of us in the middle,” Reston ordered.
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Link snorted. “Smart ass.”
Luca shook his head, smiling at her.
It took longer than she would have thought. When they brought up the rear and walked through the portal, she instantly knew why. It was cold. Horribly cold.
“Cas, here,” Coop said, pulling his hoodie over his head and handing it to her. On either side of the now dark portal, the men looked around in shock. The city was dark and cold.
She began to shake.
“It’s okay, honey, here, arms up,” Luca ordered, taking Coop’s hoodie and pulling it over her head.
“It’s not just that,” she said, when her head popped out. “It’s…” she looked around. This was not the glimmering, golden city of her childhood. “Gods, Luca, is this Éire Danu? Are we sure?”
“Holy shit! I told you my app wasn’t broken! Brrrr, it’s cold,” a female voice exclaimed.
Cassie turned to see a small group of people standing off to one side.
“Baby, you could have waited at the palace,” the large warrior at her side fretted.
“Yeah, fuck that. I wanted to see them arrive.”
Reston stepped forward. “Commander McKenzie, it’s an honor to finally meet you in person. I’m Reston O’Brien.”
The extremely tall and built man turned to them. “It’s a relief to see so many verified Vanguard. We feared we lost you all when months passed without people getting registered.”
Reston looked around. The other men seemed content with letting him speak since he stepped up first. “Nearly all of us were deployed, sir, or working private contracts. When the Queen ordered her children home, we knew we were needed here.”
“How long did it take to verify you all?” the commander asked.
Reston shot her a rueful glance. “It went quicker when a certain someone suggested the men take off their shirts and KOS anyone with a red tattoo.”
“KOS?” Cas asked.
“Kill on sight,” Luca answered.
The commander’s eyes swung to her, then narrowed. “Just being helpful?”
She smiled. “Sure, let’s go with that.”
The small woman at his side began to laugh. “That’s so freaking awesome. I wish I could have seen that.” Her eyes went to the men. “It’s like a fucking buffet out here.”
“Hey!” the commander said before trying to cover her eyes.
The men around her began straightening their shoulders a bit, grinning at one another.
The man sighed as the smaller woman danced away from him. “Men, this is my mate Meryn McKenzie, the designer of the Vanguard app.”
“Thank you!” Gael yelled.
Around them, the men shouted their thanks.
Meryn looked confused. “For what?”
Reston pulled out his phone. “You put in a section for updates. We knew how the enemy changed and the best ways to fight them.” He turned and pointed to the stack of crates. “We come prepared.” Grinning, he turned back to their commander. “Sir, most of us hit every military depot we could on the way home. Those crates contain thermal imaging goggles.”
The man practically sagged in relief. “Thank the gods,” he whispered.
“Denka, perhaps we can let the men get settled,” the beautiful Asian man suggested, wrapping a shawl around the smaller woman’s shoulders.
“I’m fine, Ryuu, besides it’s not every day you see a paranormal army. This shit kicks ass!” Meryn protested.
“Baby, please?” the commander asked, resting his hand on her very distended tummy.
“So, it’s cold? I grew up with all four seasons Aiden. This is nothing new to me.”
Cas stared. “It looks like you swallowed a basketball.”
Aiden smiled and gave her belly another protective pat before pulling Reston aside with some of the other men for an update.
Cas stayed near the smaller woman.
Meryn’s eyes turned to her. “Yeah, my belly really popped out last week. I’m about six months along.” She sighed. “I thought sleeping was hard before. This sucks.”
Cas saw mostly pink and yellow in her aura. Happiness and hope, which she found odd given the circumstances.
“Are you seeing pictures?” Meryn asked.
“Huh? No. Why? Do you?” Cas asked, shocked. So far, no one had been able to determine when she was looking at auras.
“Yeah.”
“That’s amazing,” she said, moving to stand closer to the woman. “I see auras and colors,” she admitted.
“My friend Serenity does that too, sort of.”
“Is she fae?”
“Half-fae, half-witch. I’m half-fae too. What color am I?”
“Mostly pink and yellow. Happiness and hope.”
Meryn scowled. “Are you sure?”
Cas laughed. “You can be grumpy and happy too, you know. What about me? Do I have a picture?”
Meryn’s eyes became unfocused. “A dinky little white flower,” she said, then shook her head. When she looked up at her, her eyes were back to being focused and sharp.
“Thanks?”
Meryn shrugged. “My pictures are weird sometimes. Like, I thought Ari was a fruit basket, because I thought the belladonna looked like stars and fruit.”
“So, you created a metaphor without knowing the context of the flower?”
Meryn shook her head. “I knew what it was after it was explained to me, but I couldn’t recall it on my own. It’s like the picture pulled information I learned in ninth grade and used it, but present me forgot I knew what it was.”
“Fascinating.”