“Sir, it’s just like what I told Menace. What each squad is telling me is that when their fae brothers were recalled to Éire Danu, they knew something was wrong. They all went AWOL.” Cam laughed. “US Military will be pissed, but give it fifty or sixty years, and they’ll re-enlist.”
“Where are they now?”
“On my fucking front lawn.” Then in a softer voice. “They’re not feral, sir, none of them so far.”
Aiden reached around for his chair and collapsed into it. “Thank the gods.”
“I’ll text you when they’re leaving for Éire Danu.”
“Roger that,” Aiden replied, then Cam disconnected.
Meryn brought her phone up and began scrolling. “There’s so many of them! They were all military? Yum.”
“Meryn!” Aiden barked.
She smiled at him and continued scrolling. “Hey babe, if they’re all coming here, where will they stay?” she asked, her eyes still glued to her phone.
Aiden looked to Ari, who looked to Brennus, who looked to the Queen.
She tapped the crystal next to her chair, and a few moments later, Portia entered. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
The Queen smiled. “Where can we house one-hundred Vanguard warriors?”
Portia stared. “I’m sorry, what?”
“We’re getting reinforcements, but they need a place to stay.”
“Your Majesty, if you could give me a few moments, I will check with Molvan.” She bowed, then shut the door behind her.
Ari exhaled. “We’d love to have them at the warrior villa, but we don’t have the room.”
The dings kept echoing from Meryn’s phone, but each one meant another warrior was safe; everyone around the table was smiling.
A few minutes later, the door swung open, and Molvan practically skidded into the room. “What? What about one-hundred Vanguard?” he asked, eyes wide.
Meryn looked up. “Dude is gonna stroke out,” she observed, then looked back down at her phone.
The Queen stood and quickly went to her aide’s side. “This is a good thing, Molvan. The warriors are safe, and they’re coming here to help.”
“There’s no room! Anywhere!” the man screeched.
Meryn looked back up and watched as the normally composed man unraveled. Sighing, she walked over and laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Molvan, they’re military. They’ll probably just pop tents or create base-like things or whatever. Where’s a flat, central area they can take over?”
Molvan blinked rapidly. “Your Highness, you are a genius.”
“I know.”
He brought his hand up to rub his forehead. “Since the dramatic temperature decrease, we’ve had Lady Zoe and Master Kincaid set up warming stones in the fountain area of the shopping district. They could set up there.”
Meryn patted him a few times. “See? Not so bad.”
Molvan straightened. “Your Majesty, with your permission, I’d like to head to the main portal to help direct them as they arrive.”
The Queen inclined her head. “Of course.”
The man turned to Portia. “Maybe an update to the people, so they won’t…” he hesitated, as if searching for the right words.
“Freak the fuck out?” Meryn suggested.
“Exactly,” Molvan confirmed.
Portia nodded. “Not a bad idea.”
Together they left the room quickly, discussing the logistics of the sudden influx of warriors.
“Baby, I’m proud of you,” Aiden complimented.
Meryn shrugged. “The screeching was kinda annoying.” She went back to her phone, hiding her pleased expression at his pride.
Ari lifted his phone to his ear. “Hey, Rex. No, I’m fine. Listen, can you ask Cord if he’s willing to head over to Dav’s pub and help prepare some food? Why? Oh, we’re getting twenty Vanguard squads reporting to the city in the next hour or so.” Ari grinned at the squawk of surprise that came from his phone. “Can you also let Dav know to shut down the bar tonight? We have a welcome party to host. Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks, bro.” Ari tapped his phone. “I figured you’d want someplace a little less formal to meet with the men,” he said, looking at Aiden. “I’ll text Aeson so the Éire Danu warriors can provide a proper greeting.”
Aiden sighed in relief. “Are you sure you don’t want to be second in command in Lycaonia?”
“Hey!” Brennus protested.
Aiden smiled. “I’d send you Colton.”
Brennus scowled. “You know that’s not a fair exchange. You’re the only one that can control that wolf.”
Aiden nodded. “True.”
“Any idea on assignments?” Kendrick asked.
Aiden sat back in his chair. “As much as I’d love to keep them here, Molvan is right. There just isn’t enough room. Squads would be stepping over each other.” He strummed his fingers on the table. “If they’re willing, I’d like to send six squads to the other pillar cities, Storm Keep being the exception. We’ll only be sending two squads there. I think even the Witches’ Council would notice six squads of men appearing suddenly.”
Kendrick nodded. “I’d like to speak to whichever squads head to Storm Keep.”
“Of course. You know that city best.”
Priest lifted his own phone to text Gage. His unit brother stayed behind this morning, waiting for Zoe and the boys to finish breakfast. After that, they were going to go with Zoe to another spell center with Kincaid.
The response was immediate. Fuck yeah! As soon as Zoe is done with this center, we’ll head home and help prep!
Ari turned to him. “Gage updated?”
Priest grinned. It figured Ari would know he’d update Gage. “As soon as Zoe is done with today’s spell center, they’re heading home to help the guys prep.”
Ari turned to his mate. “What’s our next step?”
Brie pulled out a small notebook from her back pocket. “I’ll be touching base with Ben later since he took over at the morgue. I handled our first batch of confirmed names from Noctem Falls, but I can’t do them all, so I want to go over some ‘breaking bad news’ basics I learned on the force with the guys.” She looked around, then paled. “I’m sorry, we were doing good news just now.”
The Queen sat down next to her mate. “In a way, it is good news, Brie. We can finally lay them to rest.”
Brennus wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“Yeah, it’s not like they’re more dead because you’re talking about them,” Meryn added.
Everyone turned to stare.
She looked up from her phone. “What?”
Amelia closed her eyes and slumped back in her chair. “Tact, Meryn. Do you remember talking about tact?”
“Yeah, but then it seemed like a pain in the ass to keep track of conversations and people’s expressions and stuff. It’s too hard.”
Thane winced. “She’s technically not wrong.”
Meryn looked confused. “They’re still people even if they’re dead right? I don’t think they’d get pissy if we talked about them.”