My One and Only (Bewitched and Bewildered #10)(39)

Serenity watched as Meryn got really interested in her eggs. She wasn't the only one who noticed.

Aiden leaned in. "What are they doing Meryn?"

"Hmmm?" she looked up at him eyes wide.

"Meryn," he growled.

"It wasn't my idea," she started.

"What wasn't your idea?"

She took a deep breath, then hesitated. "Do you really, really want to know? I mean later you won't be lying when you tell the council you had no idea what was going on."

Aiden's eyes bugged out. "What in the gods' names are they doing?"

"Wellllll," Meryn dragged out the word.

When Aiden fumbled at his waist for his walkie-talkie she grabbed it and started talking fast. "The twins and I didn't like how DeLaFontaine hurt Pip so much. And he's our brother now, so we're sort of legally obligated to defend him and make sure that it never happens again."

Pip's eyes filled. "They are doing something for me?"

Meryn turned in her chair to face him. "Yup. Your bio-dad did very bad things that hurt a lot of people, but one of the worst things he did was mistreat you.

"Your parents and guardians are supposed to take care of you and feed you and make you feel safe and teach you how to make your way in the world. But he didn't do any of those things and he hurt you. He will eventually pay for his crimes against the city and her people, we just wanted to make sure that he paid for what he did to you too."

Aiden sat back. "I can't even get mad over that. I'm sure whatever you do will be worth whatever lecture the council comes up with."

Magnus cleared his throat. "Part of the council is sitting right here." Meryn gulped, and he continued. "Considering the severity of his other crimes I cannot see you getting too stern of a lecture." He eyed her closely. "What did you do?"

Meryn beamed. "Diarrhea."

Magnus turned to Ryuu. "Simply adorable."





CHAPTER NINE





Serenity and her mate, with Meryn and Pip in tow, caught up to the twins in Meryn's bat cave. Meryn rushed over to them. "Did it work?" she asked, as they crowded around a monitor.

Nigel nodded. "We think so. Though, we forgot the guy who attacked Kari and Jervasius Régis was still down there, so they may have gotten it too."

Meryn shrugged. "Serves them right."

Serenity leaned over Meryn's shoulder to watch what looked to be closed circuit video. "Is there sound?" she asked as she watched DeLaFontaine throw an epic temper tantrum. The other prisoner was already doubled over on his toilet.

Neil laughed. "Yeah, but we have the volume turned down. He's cussing a lot and making death threats. Opps!" he pointed to the monitor as DeLaFontaine raced to the corner fumbling with his pants. He turned to Meryn. "Building in anger as a trigger was genius."

"Ut oh," Nigel whispered as they watched Leif and Travis walk in. They had only taken two steps when both covered their mouths and started gagging.

Neil's eyes were huge as they watched the two unit warriors back out of the cells. "They must have gone in because DeLaFontaine started shouting. They are gonna kill us, they have guard duty down there this week."

Meryn snickered. "Stay close to Kendrick," she advised.

Serenity turned to Pip who had watched everything quietly. "Pip are you okay?"

Meryn and the boys turned to glance behind them where Pip stood off to one side. Neil looked worried. "Did we go too far?" he asked.

Pip took a few steps closer. "He looks so small on your screen." His hand reached out to touch the monitor. "Was he always so..."

"Flawed?" Meryn asked supplying the word. Pip nodded. Meryn bumped hips with him. "I think he looks smaller to you because your world got bigger."

Pip looked at her frowning. "Why did I want his approval so much?"

Meryn turned back to the screen. "Because he is your dad, and no matter how awful they are, we always want the approval of our family."

Pip straightened his back. "He is not my family. Not anymore."

Neil slung an arm around his shoulder. "You have us now. We're still learning a lot ourselves, but maybe that's why we can help you more. The warriors have forgotten what it's like growing up in our world."

Pip brightened. "Can you help me fly better? I still wobble."

The twins grinned at each other and Nigel nodded. "We sure can. If you can wait a bit, we're compiling all the video footage we gathered from the Pits for Meryn. After that we can go with you. You don't have to worry about falling with us there. You can practice all you want."

Neil looked over to Meryn. "You want to come with us?"

She shook her head. "I'm going with Serenity and Micah when they look in on the kiddos. Then after that we have to come back down to Level One for a boring ass bigwig meeting."

Serenity eyed Meryn. "I didn't know you wanted to check on the children."

Meryn blinked at her. "I don't. But I'll tag along so I can visit Mr. Culpepper and Old Man Richter on Level Six so they can feed me."

Serenity stared back at Meryn. "You don't care about the children?"