My Guardian

"I love it!" Bethy touched each charm smiling. "Let me guess. The rabbit is Daddy, the book is Papa, the feather is Tarak, the spear is Kuruk, the wand is Tarragon, the sword is Adriel, and the crown is Uncle."

Broderick nodded then stood. He passed out small keystones to Tarak and Kuruk. When he stepped in front of Adriel, he passed the keystone to him. "Thank you," he whispered.

"As if I would say no," Adriel chided. He tucked the stone away in his pocket. Later, he would determine the best way to carry it.

Gavriel nuzzled Bethy's neck. "Who is Tarragon?"

She turned to face him. "His full name is Artemisia Dracunculus. When I found out that his parents had given him the scientific name for Tarragon, that's what I started calling him. I was young, and it was much easier to say. Unfortunately for him, it stuck. Growing up, I always had a witch healer and a vampire with me. Tarak and Kuruk took turns being my guard, but Tarragon was always my healer."

Broderick smiled. "Tarragon will be joining us soon. He's at Storm Keep. He wanted to study a few more bone healing spells before returning home."

Kuruk chuckled. "Do not let him hear Bethy is pregnant, we may never see him again. He will lock himself away to learn spells about healing infants and delivery."

Meryn tilted her head and looked at her adopted sister. "You're pregnant."

Bethy wiped her eyes smiling. "Yes, dear, I know."

Meryn scrunched up her face. Adriel was quickly learning the human's many facial expressions; this one was her thinking face.

"But aren't you a shifter? I thought shifters could only conceive during summer solstice?" Meryn asked, looking around the room for confirmation.

Adriel sucked in his breath and turned to Bethy. She placed a trembling hand to her stomach before leaning into her mate. "How?" she whispered.

Magnus rubbed his chin. "Not to pry, but how often do you feed from Bethy?"

Adriel watched Gavriel's eyes shift from gray to red. "That is none of your business."

Magnus sighed. "I am trying to be delicate."

Gavriel growled. "That is private."

Magnus ignored Gavriel's aggression and continued. "I will take that to mean often. What I am trying to get at is this has happened before. It is extremely rare, but in the vampires written history, the Book of Life, there have been recorded examples of women conceiving out of season. In every instance, the male is an ancient vampire and the female another type of paranormal. It was theorized that the act of multiple feedings"--he cleared his throat, blushing--"while being intimate, passed along something of the vampire to stimulate his mate to ovulate. It has not happened in nearly five thousand years, but then again, most of our older generations were lost in the Great War. There are not many old enough that can do such a thing anymore."

Bethy looked around the room, her face haunted. "What if something is wrong with my baby?"

Magnus was up in an instant and kneeling down in front of his niece. "There is nothing wrong with your baby. He or she will be perfect just like you are. You will have every possible resource and healer at your disposal, I will see to it myself," he promised. He lifted her hands and kissed them.

"Plus you have Kendrick and Rheia and Anne and Amelia and me and..." Meryn rambled until Aiden once again covered her mouth with his hand.

Bethy took a deep breath. "Of course, you're right. I'm being silly."

Meryn shook her head, moving Aiden's hand. "Little Jack will be just fine." Meryn cooed wickedly.

Bethy's eyes narrowed. "Stop calling my baby a jackalope, Meryn!"

"I'll love the little thumper no matter what," Meryn said solemnly.

Bethy growled. "Thumper?"

Meryn began to giggle. Aiden gently tapped her on the nose. "Fine! I'll be good. Promise."

Sebastian handed Bethy a cup and saucer. "Here love, Ryuu said this would help calm you. Two babies in the family, we have been blessed by the Gods!" Adriel watched in amazement as the man practically danced his way back toward the kitchen.

Magnus stood up and resumed his seat. He looked from Meryn to Bethy and hesitated. "Maybe you ladies should go lie down while I go over some things with your mates," he suggested.

Bethy raised an eyebrow, and Meryn snorted. Adriel turned his face to hide his grin. He had only just met Meryn, but he had a feeling she was just like Bethy. They wouldn't let Magnus exclude them so easily.

Meryn turned in Aiden's lap to look at Magnus. "I thought you called Beth and me here specifically; why send us away?"

Magnus looked at them with a pained expression on his face and grimaced. "I actually needed Aiden and Gavriel here but did not want to alert the Founding Families by sending for the Unit Commander and his second in command." He turned to Bethy. "Not that I was not desperate to see you again, dearest heart."

Bethy tapped her finger against the side of her tea cup. "You might as well begin. We're not budging. Besides, Gavriel and Aiden would probably tell us later anyway. What you have to say can't be any worse than what we have been through in the past few months."

Magnus nodded more to himself than to anyone in the room. He stopped then looked at Aiden. "Everyone at the council level believed that what was happening in Lycaonia was a localized attack. We assumed that since the ferals were going after shifters the other cities would be safe. We were wrong."