My Brother's Keeper

Amelia crossed her arms over her chest. "She isn't. And Caiden still hasn't forgiven you for telling me about the birds and the bees when I was seven."

"I don't understand; it's a natural part of life." Kendrick looked at Ryuu who shrugged. Okay, bad example of a person to look to in order to gauge normal human response. His eyes went to Meryn who looked equally confused. Yet another bad example of normal. Intrigued, he turned to Rheia. "Not appropriate?" he asked. Amelia sat down, shaking her head.

Rheia sighed and continued to thump Colton on the back as he choked on his breakfast. "She is a little young for that conversation, but I actually had been planning on explaining things soon anyway. She asked where the baby came from, and I refuse to tell her nonsense stories about a cabbage patch. She will learn the correct medical terms for our reproductive parts not silly baby names."

"No. She's too young," Colton protested when he could breathe.

Rheia eyed Colton. "Then you explain where our baby came from," she challenged.

"Challenge accepted," Colton growled. He turned to the small girl and lifted her into his lap. "Momma and Papa love each other very much. You know that right?"

Penny nodded.

"Well, one day, Papa couldn't hold in his love for Momma anymore, so he took her in his arms and kissed her so hard that his loved touched her heart and created a tiny seed. That seed floated down to Momma's tummy, and a baby started to grow in her belly."

Penny thought about it for a second. "So Papa loved Momma hard, gave her a seed, and made a baby?"

Beside Meryn, Gavriel choked on his coffee. Laughing, Meryn thumped him on the back.

Colton nodded. "Exactly."

"Oh Colton! You can't tell her that," Rheia said with a worried expression.

Penny turned to Colton. "Is that why you said you'd kill any boy who kisses me?"

"Yup. You're too little for kissing. You have to leave that to the grown-ups." Colton said nodding.

"When can I kiss boys?" she asked.

Colton thought about it for a long moment. He turned to Aiden, then Gavriel, then Darian. The men wore equally scary looking frowns. He looked down at his daughter. "When you find a boy who is stronger than your Athair." He pointed to Aiden. "Smarter than your Uncle Gavriel, more noble than your Uncle Darian, more loyal than your Papa, and kinder than your Uncle Keelan. When you find a boy like that, then you introduce him to us, and we'll let you know if it's okay to kiss him," Colton replied.

"Okay Papa. I think I know who." Penny kissed his cheek and hopped down. "I'm going to go color now before Grandma gets here." She skipped out of the room.

"Wait! Who?" Colton's eyes looked wild.

Rheia patted him on the arm. "She will grow up eventually."

Colton slumped backward. "No, she's not allowed. Ever."

Rheia rolled her eyes. "Cavemen, y'all are a bunch of cavemen."

Kendrick ignored Colton's brooding and smiled at the blonde next to Gavriel. "I don't think we've been introduced."

"I knew you'd get around to asking. My name is Elizabeth Monroe, I'm a lepus curpaeums..."

Kendrick smiled. "You're a bunny. There aren't too many bunny shifters left, I'd love to see you shift later."

Gavriel growled at him, his eyes turning red and Elizabeth laughed.

"What?" Kendrick asked.

"You will not see my mate naked."

"Who said anything about being naked? I just want to see the actual shift from human to bunny. Most shifters I meet weigh at least as much as their human selves in animal form. This is a rare situation where the human form weighs considerably more. I've been working on a hypothesis about where the extra mass goes," Kendrick explained.

Gavriel blinked, his eyes returning to their normal grey color. "You know, I never even thought about that."

"I don't mind shifting, but it will have to be much later. I'm in the middle of a nationwide multi-race census, so I don't have time to experiment," Beth offered.

Kendrick waved his hand. "Any time you have free."

Beth looked between him and Meryn. "Guess I'm Bunny for life." She sighed.

"What does she mean?" Kendrick asked.

Meryn grinned. "That's what I call her." She looked down at her phone. "On that note, I better head to the office. My minions await."

"Minions?"

"Jaxon Darrow and Noah Calloway. They're learning about programming languages and computer science to assist the units. We don't use nearly enough technology."

Kendrick held up a hand. "Before you go, I just have one question..." He took another sip of coffee. "How long has Lycaonia been covered with the stench of black magic?"

Everyone stared at him in shock. Aiden finally shook his head. "What do you mean, covered in black magic? The city is as it has always been. We don't deal in black magic in Lycaonia."

Kendrick sat back. "Someone has. There's a fine layer of black magic grime everywhere. I noticed it the second I entered the city's boundaries."

Aiden turned to Ryuu. "Is that true?"

Ryuu nodded slowly. "If Heika says that the city is coated in black magic, then it is coated in black magic. I am unable to tell the difference between white magic and black magic, so I can not see what he does."