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Meryn shook her head.
"You do know he has a key right?" Ben said nonchalantly.
She looked up at him tears streaming down her face. "I don't want to see him right now." He
sighed and put his plate down. He grabbed her hand and they ran. They ran up the stairs and through
the halls. Just when she thought they couldn't go any further, he made them run in circles at the end of
the hallway. She thought he was out of his mind until he reached up and tapped a tiny panel behind an
antique mirror. A small opening appeared and he crouched down low and crawled inside. She
followed him and he put the panel back. She was about to ask him how he knew about this when he
placed a hand over her mouth. Barely breathing they heard thundering footsteps in the hallway. In the
darkness Meryn waited.
"God dammit Ben, this isn't funny!" Aiden roared.
"Aiden, whatever is the matter?" Meryn heard Adelaide ask.
"My stupid baby brother kidnapped my mate!" Aiden's voice was barely human.
"Calm down before I call your father. I'll be in the front drawing room waiting for you with a
pot of tea. We'll drink a cup and you can explain why Meryn is upset enough with you to be hiding
with Ben." Adelaide said reasonably.
"But!" Aiden roared.
"You have five seconds to get those canines retracted young man before I do it for you."
Adelaide's voice was still level but had dropped an octave. It dawned on Meryn that of course her
voice could change, Adelaide was a shifter too.
"Sorry Mother." Aiden said sounding much calmer.
"Good. Now come downstairs with me and tell me all about it." Only when the sound of their
footsteps disappeared entirely did Ben remove his hand. He groped in the darkness until he found her
hand. He guided her through the small tunnel to a hidden room. It had a single, small, round window
that let in the fading afternoon sun.
"Man, I haven't heard Mom or Aiden that pissed in a long time. I haven't had to use this hiding
place in the past two hundred years." Ben collapsed onto a long chaise lounge and a cloud of dust
enveloped him. Meryn coughed and laughed as she tried to wipe of the dust from his clothes.
"Now you tell big brother Ben what Aiden did to make you so sad. Then we can plot a
suitable revenge."
"You've done that a lot up here haven't you?" She sat next to him on the lounger.
"You bet. My brothers were always bigger than me, but I was usually faster. I discovered this
hidey hole when I was a boy. My speed gave me enough time to run around to disperse my scent and
duck in here. You can't move right away or they'll hear. I escaped many a beatings this way."
"They didn't really beat you, did they?" Meryn even though she was extremely pissed at him,
couldn't imagine Aiden beating a younger brother.
"Beat may be a harsh word. Pound maybe? Don't get me wrong, most of the time I totally
deserved it, but that's just how brothers are. Now what did Aiden do? Maybe I can help." Ben's
concerned brown eyes were her undoing. She was used to shouldering her pain and frustration alone.
She wasn't used to having people worried about her or willing to anger their family members for her.
She buried her face in her hands and cried. Ben wrapped an arm around her and held her close.
"Hey, nothing can be so bad that you and I can't take care of it. I know people who know
people." Ben kissed her hair.
"Aiden doesn't want to live with me. Today was so wonderful, we went shopping and he
showed me the city. He was perfect and charming and loving and passionate."
"Whoa on the passionate stuff sis, big bro doesn't need to hear that." She smiled timorously.
"Then Aiden says that we aren't to live together, that he has to live with his men and I have to
learn how to keep house. That's not how I envisioned being together with someone. I'm anti-social,
but even that is too much space for me." She wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"Aiden is in a tough spot. He's right. He can't live here. There's too much training and drills
with the units for him to commute. Units live together because we can be called up at any time and
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