My Commander

"Vampire?" She asked. He shook his head and stood to his full height.

"Holy shit! You're taller than Aiden and he's like freakishly huge." The difference between her own five foot three height and his made her feel like a toddler.

"I am not!" Aiden protested.

Darian grinned and sat back down. "Fae. We're all between six and seven feet tall."

"I thought fae we the "wee" folk."

"Yeah, not so much." Darian shrugged.

"Vi'Alina?" Meryn spoke it slowing to get the pronunciation correct.

"Yes. The 'Vi' prefix indicates that I am the heir for my family line. 'Alina' is the name of my house. If I had brothers, the second born would be Ri'Alina and the third born would be Li'Alina." Darian explained.

"What about the fourth born?" Meryn asked. Darian shook his head.

"We are so long lived that unless a tragedy occurs, no one after the third born inherits. They do not get a prefix for their name."

"So if I were fae I would be Meryn Vi'Evans?" Darian nodded.

"That's cool." Meryn turned to Gavriel. She took in his dark hair and brooding grey eyes. Gavriel was less ethereal and more dark and dangerous. He was exactly the kind of man you would want to run into on a dark and stormy night.

"You must be the vampire then." He inclined his head.

Keelan frowned. "Why couldn't it be me?" He demanded.

Meryn smiled and pointed to Keelan. He had a short auburn ponytail and amiable brown eyes.

"Because you look too nice and are nowhere near as elegant. He just exudes dark prince." She sighed, Aiden growled. She punched his thigh.

"Ow!"

"She has violent tendencies just like you." Colton joked. Aiden flipped him off.

"So that means you're the witch. What can you do? Can you fly?" Meryn leaned forward, eyes shining.

"I get premonitions sometimes and I work best with fire and air. My brother Kendrick is stronger, he can manipulate all four elements, but he decided to be an archivist instead of a warrior." Keelan looked down at the table.

"It's a respectable profession Keelan, we have a rich history that must be maintained." Aiden gently reminded the young witch. He knew that had been a point of contention between the two brothers.

"I know. It's just frustrating that I'm struggling to learn the spells we need and he can do them without thinking about it." Keelan turned his coffee cup in his hand slowly.

"And he's about three hundred years older than you are. Cut yourself some slack." Colton pointed out. Keelan brightened.

"I guess you're right."

Aiden sipped his coffee and enjoyed the sight before him. He couldn't ask for more than his friends and mate sitting together at the breakfast table. Maybe this mating thing would work out after all.

*****

"Hello boys, how nice of you to visit for breakfast." Adelaide and Byron entered the kitchen. Marius walked in behind them and immediately got to work on preparing breakfast, taking over from Colton. The unit members, including Aiden stood. Meryn looked around wondering if she should stand too. Byron walked over and kissed her forehead.

"They are standing out of respect for Aiden's mother. They were raised in a time where a man stood when a lady entered the room." Byron sat next to her and Adelaide next to him.

"They didn't stand when I entered the room, but then again, I guess I'm not a lady." Meryn poured herself another cup of coffee. When she looked up, she noticed that Byron was shooting daggers at the other men at the table who all looked properly chastised. Byron raised her hand and kissed it.

"Forgive them sweetheart. It speaks to their characters not yours that they failed to rise when you entered the room. I'm shocked that my son would fail to do so. It's a basic lesson in etiquette that I know was drilled into him when he was a boy." Byron patted her hand and continued to glare at the men.

"Father, I'm sorry." Aiden immediately apologized.

"It's not my forgiveness that you need." Byron nodded his head to Meryn. Aiden turned to her.

"I'm sorry my mate. I was still floating around from the great night's sleep I had last night and wasn't thinking properly this morning. Please forgive me." Meryn was surprised at how truly sorry he sounded, like he had committed some great offense.

"Considering you kidnapped me, locked me up, threw me in your trunk and dragged me around by my arm yesterday, not standing at the breakfast table doesn't seem so bad." She smiled brightly at him.

"You're not going to let me live that down are you?" Aiden groaned.

"Nope."

"What if I take you out and show you the city? We can go shopping. I know where we can get your espresso machine." Aiden took her other hand and brought it to his lips. Now here was the charming man from her dreams.

"Then of course I'll forgive you, now that you're acting like your dream version. I like you better this way. More charming and less growly."

Aiden's face froze his eyes became haunted. "You dreamt of me before coming here?"

"Yup. For weeks I fought against the urge to move. But it was like something was driving me forward. So I threw a dart at a map and ended up in Madison. After I moved into my apartment, I started having dreams. At first they were nice. You were wonderful and sweet. We would lay under these trees and talk. But then they got scary. Last night was the first night in weeks where I haven't dreamt at all. I hated getting out of bed this morning since I slept so well." Meryn was reaching for her coffee cup when Aiden pulled her onto his lap. He held her so close she could feel his heart beating out of control against her cheek.