My Guardian (Bewitched and Bewildered Book 6) (24 page)

"Breathe? This isn't the first time she's done this!" Beth crossed her arms on the table and lay her head down on them. Gavriel's head was turned away, but his entire body was shaking with laughter.

"What? Seriously, now I'm dying to know what I did?" Meryn grinned as she took in the chaos around her.

"Ugh!" Beth screeched, her head still down.

Gavriel lost all sense of composure and slumped over his mate, laughing hysterically.

Beth sat up, forcing Gavriel to lean back in his chair. Her mouth twitched. "It's not funny."

Broderick had also joined Gavriel, who was laughing too hard to answer.

Caspian shook his head. "Do not mind them darling, they are idiots, but we love them anyway. What are you going to do?"

Eva sat forward. "Please tell me what she did. Curiosity overload over here."

Beth exhaled loudly and leaned back in her chair. Her resigned expression changed to a soft smile. "Meryn announced on Facebook today that thanks to a third party, she and I were now 'expecting' together."

Eva blinked. It was true that they were both pregnant. How could that be wrong? Beside her, Adriel began to chuckle. "What?"

Adriel turned to Beth. "Was it worded just like that?"

Beth nodded.

Adriel turned to Eva. "Think about it. Thanks to a third party, they are having a baby together."

Third party? Oh!

"Oh." Eva looked at Meryn, who still looked confused. "She still doesn't get it."

Beth sighed. "It wouldn't be so bad, except she also announced we were in a relationship together. Of course, she meant that I had adopted her as a sister."

"Yikes." Eva winced in sympathy. "What's being said?"

"What did I do?" Meryn demanded.

Eva turned to Meryn. "You kinda implied that you and Beth used a sperm donor to get Beth pregnant since you're both lesbians."

Meryn gasped. "I did not!"

Caspian leaned in. "Is Gavriel breathing?"

Beth turned to her mate, startled. She whacked him on the back, and he inhaled loudly then proceeded to laugh uncontrollably.

"You're no help," Beth said, laughing.

"I was a big help," he managed to choke out.

"Oh you!" Beth rolled her eyes.

Meryn pulled out her phone and stared down at it frowning. "Is that why someone asked me what clinic we used?"

Beth groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Shit." Meryn looked up at Aiden. "Your brother may be calling you confused about phone calls he may or may not be receiving concerning artificial insemination."

Aiden just chuckled until his phone began to vibrate. His laughter was cut short. "Shit." He stood as he answered. "Hey Adam, funny you should call." He walked out of the room, rubbing the back of his neck.

Eva sat back in her chair, holding her mate's hand. Beth slapped Gavriel's arm as she one-handedly typed on her phone in an effort to do damage control. Broderick cackled as he helped himself to a second sandwich. Meryn scrunched up her nose as she started reading messages.
 

She turned to her mate. "How was your day?"

Adriel smiled as they took in the chaos around them. "Getting better and better."

CHAPTER TWELVE

After the confusion over Meryn's Facebook announcement calmed down, everyone finished their lunches and returned to whatever project they had been working on for the day. Eva was looking forward to a quiet afternoon in the communications hub with Meryn. Her time in the sun, power nap, and lunch had her feeling great despite the rough start that morning.

Adriel kissed her softly. "Have fun," he said, winking at her.

"I don't think I have a choice when Meryn is involved," she said.

He gave her one final kiss then left, closing the door to the hub behind him. Eva got comfortable in one of the high back leather manager chairs while Meryn tapped away on her laptop. She had just started to doze lightly when the door swung open and slammed against the wall.

"Meryn! We did it!" Nigel announced, bursting through the door. Neil was right behind him, beaming proudly.

Eva jumped a mile. "Dammit boys, y'all trying to kill me?" Eva clutched at her chest.

Meryn jumped up. "Seriously! Already? High five!" Meryn held up both hands, and the twins clapped hands with hers.

"It was in the book you got us from Kendrick. Once we were able to wrap our heads around the theory of trapping winds in crystal, it was surprisingly easy to do." Nigel handed Meryn a small stone. "Later we can see if we can make these into key chains or something easier to carry."

Neil handed one to her. "We were going to do these for the refugees, but it takes a lot out of us. We actually had to wait until the housing project was done before we did these, otherwise we would have been useless. Besides, Adriel isn't comfortable with the refugees having access to the entire city. He said trying to keep them safe was hard enough when they were all in one place."

Eva turned the stone over in her hand. "Is this pumice?"

Neil nodded. "Air stone. Each tiny hole captures air and holds it."

"I wanna try it!" Meryn exclaimed heading for the door.

Eva reached out and grabbed her collar. "Hold it right there, cub. Don't you have more messages to respond to?" Eva pointed to Meryn's laptop. "You promised Beth you would post an explanation."

Meryn's face fell. "But I want to see how these babies work."

"I'll tell you what. If the twins promise to stay with you, I'll head to the tunnel and try it out. That way I can help you later. Deal?" Eva looked at the twins.

Both nodded. "We were going to study some more anyway. We can do that just as easily here as in our quarters."

"Fine, Facebook posts then I'll just beat my head against my laptop trying to figure out the killer's pattern. To me, it looks like he's just picking whomever he can get to, like crimes of opportunity, but ferals aren't like that. They're like 'braaaiinnnns' and randomness. What really has me curious is figuring out how this sucker is getting around. If he's feral, he can't fly anymore. It's not like he has one of those stones; the twins just made them."

Eva stopped and looked at the stone in her hand. In all the conversations she had been a part of, no one had brought up how the feral was moving around the city. If Meryn was correct, then wouldn't he be confined to the Grand Hall? She forced herself to smile. "You'll figure it out," Eva said encouragingly, a plan already forming in her mind.

"Maybe. Go on, but you have to tell me everything as soon as you get back." Meryn climbed into her chair and pulled her laptop onto her lap.

Eva twisted the stone in her hand. "Boys, how does this thing work anyway?"

Nigel laughed. "Say
autem
to go up and
descendit
to go down."

Eva memorized the words. "So what should I expect, like a whoosh or what?"

Nigel frowned. "No idea, we came directly here after making them."

"I'll go with you in case it doesn't work," Neil offered.

"You're making me feel real nervous about this," Eva grumbled.

"Relax, if anything goes wrong, Neil will just float you back up here." Nigel waved a hand at him.

Meryn stared at her. "You know what? You testing it out first, great idea."

"Be back soon," Eva said, pulling Neil behind her by his collar.
 

They headed out of the hub, through the prince's quarters and out the door. Together, they walked up to the transport tunnel and looked down. "Kinda dark down there," Neil commented.

"If I end up in that net..." she let her threat trail off.

Neil gulped. "I won't let you drop, swear!"

"Right." Eva held the stone in her hand. "
Autem."
She began to lift steadily off the ground. When she got close to the ceiling, she pulled herself to the edge and into the open air in front of her in the tunnel. She continued to float upward.

"It works!" Neil exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Don't sound so surprised; it's making me nervous," Eva said.

She kept floating upward. "Neil! How do I stop?"

"Say
prohibere
," he shouted.

"
Prohibere?"
she asked. Suddenly, she was falling.
 

Neil jumped into the tunnel and caught her. "Try not to say that until you're at your level. Maybe later, Nigel and I can work on a pause command."

Eva swallowed hard a few times. "Right. Makes sense."

Neil returned her to the platform. She took a deep breath and tried again. "
Autem.
"

Again, she lifted up, this time she kicked off the ground into the tunnel. "I think I got the hang of this. I'm heading to Level Six, keep an eye on Meryn and under no circumstances is she allowed to try this by herself. I don't care if you have to sit on her."

Neil gave her a salute. "Be safe."

"Thanks."

Eva floated gently upward, passing all the other levels until she was at the Marketplace. She reached out and grabbed the ceiling and pulled herself into the launching platform. "
Prohibere.
" She dropped the distance from the ceiling to the floor. She couldn't help but smile. It felt good to have her independence back.
 

She walked out into the Marketplace and took a good look around. The stands were arranged in long neat rows. There was no way a feral could go undetected in the actual marketplace; there were too many people. She walked a ways until she was beyond the stalls.

She smiled as she saw the fruits of the twins labor for the first time. The stone houses they created for her pack were impressive. She walked down the wide street between the two rows of houses.
 

"Hey Eva!"
 

Eva looked and saw Josie waving at her. She jogged over to her friend. "How are you doing?" she asked.

Josie smiled shyly. "Jorge and I got a house together."

Eva hugged her friend. "That's wonderful news! And about time too, missy!"

Josie blushed. "I spent so much time worrying if he still wanted me even though I was having someone else's baby. But when we were running in the desert, I heard him praying for our baby. He actually said 'our baby'. I never should have doubted him."

"I'm so happy for you." Eva felt like the sun had come out. After so much bad news, it felt amazing to know that her friends had finally come together.

"You're coming to the barbecue right? There's been some talk about canceling since we found out about Brian, but Alpha Stefan says we need to get to know our neighbors now more than ever." Josie glanced back at the housing opening where a tent stood roped off by yellow tape. She shuddered.

"Y'all have a date yet?" Eva asked, changing the subject. She didn't want Josie stressed over the murders.

"Day after tomorrow. I know a lot of people are worried about living with so many vampires, but they've been so kind, Eva. Perfect strangers have come up to us with boxes and boxes of stuff for the houses. And the food has been nothing short of perfection." Josie licked her lips.

Eva had a feeling that Josie was being a bit more spoiled than others. She was absolutely adorable and pregnant. According to everything she had heard, babies were a rarity around here. "I'll be there," she promised.

"Good. You can even swing by our home, and I'll make you coffee. We have water and electricity now." Josie pointed to the ceiling where two large pipes ran the length of the housing development and down to each housing structure.

"What're those?" Eva asked.

"One pipe carries water, the other electrical wires. They're needed for the utilities. Before the houses were created, they ran larger pipes in the ground for waste disposal. Aren't they clever?" Josie smiled.

"Listen, I'm going to go check on something, but you tell Jorge he owes me a beer." Eva winked.

"A beer, why?"

"I told him he'd be moved in with you before summer; he didn't believe me."

Josie tilted her head. "But Eva, how did you know we'd be together before summer?"

"Because if the two of you hadn't worked things out, I was going to handcuff y'all together," Eva said, laughing.

Josie giggled. "I'll tell him to keep a few cold ones set aside for ya."

"Thanks!" Eva waved and walked to the end of the long row of houses, following the tubes until she ended up standing in front of a large panel.

Carefully, she pulled on the door and let it swing open. She stuck her head in and looked up then down. In the large opening were three pipes. She stepped back and looked around. She pulled her handheld out. "Hey, Meryn."

"Menace. Over."

"What?"

"I'm Menace. Over."

"I know you're a menace," Eva said, laughing.

"No. That's my code name, you're BattleKitty. And you have to say over. Over."

Eva pulled back the handheld and stared at it. She lifted it back up to her mouth. "BattleKitty?"

"Yes, it's perfect for you. Over."

Eva rubbed the space between her eyebrows. "Menace, what did you say earlier about the feral. Something about opportunity."

"Well, BattleKitty, I don't have much to go on since you can't really establish a pattern with two incidents..."

"Meryn!"

"Right, all I was thinking was that the murders happened kinda close together at the edge of the Grand Hall and Marketplace, like he grabbed whoever was closest or something. Over."

Eva looked around. She jogged past the house to where the development began. On her left was a tent with yellow tape; it was where they Brian's body. There was a similar investigation tent set up around the spot where Emily and John had been found. She turned and noticed another panel in the wall.

"Menace, do you have a map of the city showing utility lines?" Eva asked.

"Yup, hold on, I'll send it to you. Why, whatcha doin'? Over."

"Just checkin' on something." Eva pulled out her phone and waited. After a minute, she was notified that she had received a new email. She opened the document and studied it.
 

If she was reading this correctly, the utility panels ran uninterrupted in a straight line down below the city. She ran back to the panel at the end of the houses. She looked down; it was pitch black.