"Son, what's the matter?" Byron demanded.
"I thought they were just dreams." Aiden buried his face against her neck.
"You've been having nightmares too?" She whispered. He nodded.
"Nightmares? I thought you said they were nice dreams." Adelaide asked sounding worried. Aiden lifted his head.
"It's like Meryn said. At first they were nice; we'd meet in a clearing in the woods and talk. But then the dreams turned into nightmares. In the dream I would search for her, but couldn't find her. She would call out to me, teasing me and then it would get quiet. Then I would hear her scream, but I'm too late, she..." He faltered. Meryn pulled away and looked around the table.
"I'm murdered. A man that isn't Aiden comes out of the woods and stabs me repeatedly, like he enjoys it." Meryn shuddered. In her dreams she could clearly feel the cold steel in her body.
Gavriel stood, chest heaving. "They cannot be prophetic. You have found your mate. She is safe." Gavriel's normally grey eyes began to glow red. Aiden stood and placed Meryn in his seat. He hurried over to Gavriel.
"Breathe my friend. Meryn is safe. So is your mate. Fate will find a way to bring her to us and then we'll guard them both." Aiden had his hands on Gavriel's shoulders. Keelan reached up to place a hand on Gavriel's forearm.
"Suadet, frater meus. Be at ease, my brother." Keelan whispered the phrase over and over again until Gavriel took a deep ragged breath.
"Thank you Aiden, Keelan. I too have been having nightmares. I have to put my faith in Fate and pray my mate is delivered to me in time." Gavriel hung his head.
"She'll make it to Lycaonia and then the Alpha Unit will keep her safe." Aiden stood back and helped to ease Gavriel into his chair.
Meryn stood to return to her seat, but Aiden pulled her back into his arms and sat down, placing her once again in his lap. She was going to protest, but after seeing how affected Gavriel was, she knew that Aiden just needed to hold her. She looked at the elegant vampire and wanted to alleviate his worry.
"Aiden is right, you know. I had no choice in coming here. I thought I had a bad case of wanderlust but now I know what it was. It was a relentless driving force. If something like Fate took the trouble to uproot me and move me here I doubt she would let anything happen to your mate before getting her here." Gavriel looked at her his eyes unreadable.
"Do you really think so?"
Meryn didn't hesitate before nodding. "Absolutely. Especially considering how many books and DVDs I had to pack. My sci-fi collection alone was like ten boxes. Trust me, you have no idea how hard Fate had to work to keep me focused long enough to pack my shit. I kept wanting to stop and read a book or watch a movie I hadn't seen in years." The strain lifted from the vampire's face.
"Thank you Meryn. I do feel better knowing what Fate must have gone through to get you here." There was a trace of a faint smile on his lips.
"You're welcome." Meryn smiled, then thought about it. "Wait. Was that a compliment?" She frowned. Colton swallowed a chuckle. Gavriel smiled at her.
"I believe it was a compliment my dear. Fate, after all, has decided you were worth the effort." Adelaide injected. Gavriel nodded.
"Oh, okay." Meryn turned so that she was facing Aiden. "After we go shopping, can we go get my stuff? I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm not nuts and y'all aren't lying. So I guess I'm sticking around for a while."
"You mean forever." Aiden said in a gruff voice.
"So the rumors are true. My baby brother has found his mate." A deep voice rumbled from the doorway. Meryn turned and to her surprise two men who looked eerily identical to Aiden stood smirking at them.
"Meryn, please ignore the pair of grinning fools that are my older brothers. Adam is the ugly one on the left and Adair is the uglier one on the right."
"There are three of you?" She could tell they were related since they all looked just like Byron. Dark black hair and piercing blue eyes. Adam was just as tall as Aiden at six foot six, but with a much leaner build. Adair was shorter at six foot four but more muscled through the chest. Adam had kind eyes and Adair had a teasing smile. She couldn't help waving at them.
"There are four of us." A voice called out from behind the two brothers.
"Move out of the way, she wants to meet the sexy one." The voice was light and sounded younger than the other two. Adam and Adair stepped into the kitchen to make way for yet another man. Meryn couldn't help but stare. The last brother was as tall as Adair at six foot four, but that is where the similarities to his brothers ended. This one clearly took after his mother. He wore his long blond hair back in a ponytail and his brown eyes were warm and inviting. He was like the Greek Adonis come to life. He moved forward until he was able to pluck her hand from Aiden's grasp and kiss her knuckles. Aiden growled at his brother.
"My name is Benjamin. I'm afraid mother ran out of 'A' names and gifted me with a 'B' name like father." He winked at her devilishly. She giggled up at him and Aiden pulled her close.
"Mine!" he growled. Benjamin placed a hand over his heart and gave a low bow.
"Of course brother. I was just admiring your beautiful mate. I can only hope that Fate is as kind to me when picking out my future snuggle muffin." He gave an exaggerated sigh. Adelaide laughed.
"Quit teasing your brother. As you can probably tell, he's the youngest." Adelaide patted Benjamin's cheek when he walked over to kiss her good morning.