Three Parts Fey (10 page)

Benny felt an
unfurling sense of relief. She couldn’t hug Miaka, but she patted
her on the shoulder and promised to keep in touch as much as was
feasible.

Kima sat down
again, and they continued their lesson with both Michael and Miaka
paying close attention. It was yet another wonderful mental image
to walk away with.

Today was
turning into quite an encouraging day.

“So, Dornan
will come out of the house with my sister, Emily. The betas might
be behind them, and the attached alphas will be outside on guard.
Everybody will be watching Dornan. If he goes on alert, we will all
be in for it.” Andrew spoke grimly.

Argyle had his
sunglasses on, and he glanced over at Andrew. “What happens if he
goes on alert?”

Andrew sighed.
“We will have to fight for our place in the pride.”

Tremble
grinned. “Do we want a place in the pride?”

Benny elbowed
him. “Shush. Of course. This is even all the way around. Elves,
vamps and now lions. Everybody is going to have all the backup we
can manage.”

Tremble took
her hand and raised it to his lips. “Yes, Benny.”

Andrew turned
down the long drive and jerked his head toward the sprawling ranch
house with high spires at every corner. “Felines love a high perch.
We are no exception. They saw us on the highway. You can see them
gathering on the grounds and emerging from the woods. Huh. There
are more off today than I thought.”

Benny didn’t
comment that it didn’t seem to be a good thing. A yard full of lion
shifters was setting her senses on edge.

Argyle was
flexing his hands, and Tremble’s ears were as alert as she had ever
seen them. Even Andrew was on alert.

Meeting a
swirling and evolving family was definitely different from the cold
greeting of the fey and the relaxed moments with the vampires.
Benny braced for anything.

Andrew pulled
in at a safe distance from the house, and he glanced at them.
“Okay, you have been briefed and we are all ready for a fight. I
don’t think that there is anything else to cover.”

Benny nodded.
“We are going to follow your lead, Andrew. We are going to take our
cues from you.”

“Got it. Well,
here we go.”

In a rehearsed
move, three of them opened their doors while Benny unbuckled. When
they gathered outside her door, Andrew opened it and took her hand
to guide her out. She was the alpha female to their gathering of
alphas, and they were exhibiting their protection. It was odd, but
since the lionesses owned the property, they were entitled to
protection. Benny was their ersatz lioness.

They stepped
toward the front doors of the home and paused a safe distance from
the threshold. The doors opened, and Dornan and Emily came out,
with Emily’s heavy belly leading the way.

Dornan gave a
formal nod. “Andrew You bring members of your pride here to greet
us?”

Andrew jerked
his head slightly. “I have. They are my pride and my family. I
would like to introduce you.”

Emily nodded
her head. “Come, brother. I need a hug and your nieces are going
out of their heads waiting until this is safe.”

Andrew nodded
and stepped forward. “Dornan Bearing, Emily Smith-Bearing, I would
introduce you to my partners. Tremble, Argyle and Agent Ganger are
my chosen life bonds. They are my family and now yours.”

Dornan stepped
forward, and they could feel the eyes on them from every angle. He
walked up to Andrew and inhaled the scent off his body. He
shuddered slightly and then came over to greet them in precisely
the same ways.

Emily came up
behind him and repeated the actions, rubbing Benny’s cheek with her
own in greeting. Tension eased and everyone relaxed. The members of
the pride slowly walked in to greet and accept the newcomers in
their midst. One small moment turned from tense to warm, and it
made Benny smile.

Emily pulled
her aside as the little girls rushed out to meet their new uncles
and aunty. “I think he is where he is supposed to be.”

Benny watched
Andrew move through his family and pride members accepting
congratulations for his bravery and the power that his new pride
exhibited.

“I think so,
too. We just all fit. The odds were against it, but there it is. We
fit together and nowhere else.”

Argyle had a
three year old on his shoulders and Tremble was holding the toddler
with aplomb.

Emily linked
arms with her, indicating her instant comfort. “I think they would
make great fathers.”

“I think so,
too, but I am waiting until I have a few years in the XIA under my
belt. We have joined more than lodgings; we have linked lifespans.
I have a bit more time than most humans are granted.”

“So, you are
thinking of having kids?” Emily tried to be sly.

“Of course.
Tremble has already volunteered to be the house husband, but none
of us are in a rush. We can’t be. We have no idea who the father of
the first would be.”

Emily blushed.
“So you.. all together?”

“No. But it is
fairly serial. One sets off the others and so on.”

A sly female
voice from behind Benny murmured, “It sounds like a circus.”

Emily stiffened
and turned with Benny. “Maggie, you were not invited to speak.”

The woman was
beautiful, golden and had the sly look of an ex-girlfriend.

If Benny didn’t
have such a good opinion of her own worth as a female, she would
have been intimidated. As it was, she smiled slightly and extended
her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

Maggie narrowed
her eyes and sneered. “I don’t shake hands with mongrels.”

Emily’s
shoulders stiffened. “You are speaking to my soon-to-be
sister-in-law.”

“Madam Alpha,
you are going to have to choose between pride and family. You can’t
have both. Eric deserves better.”

Benny lowered
her hand; her brain was smug in the knowledge that Maggie didn’t
call him Andrew. That was the name he preferred, and if she didn’t
use it, she didn’t know him all that well.

Benny smiled.
“He does deserve better. He chose better. He has three loyal
partners, and we would all fight to the death for him.”

Maggie’s
features shifted for battle, and she lunged forward. “Prove
it.”

Benny shifted to keep
Emily out of the line of attack, and she let her other form
out.

The
half-shifted, charging lioness’s eyes widened in shock as she was
facing a demon king with fey eyes and vampire calm.

It was almost
comical to see the woman go from aggressive to grovelling as Benny
grabbed her, flipped her and pinned her to the ground with one hand
in her hair and her head back. It was a submission pose and Maggie
didn’t fight it.

Emily cleared
her throat. “Well, that was unexpected.”

Benny looked at
her new sister. “Apologies. I had hoped to ease you into this
particular manifestation.”

Emily waved it
off. “Not you. Them.”

Benny looked
over to where the guys were standing and the demon manifestations
were exceedingly obvious.

“What did you
do to my brother?”

Benny wrinkled
her nose. “We are all bound together. It was necessary, but we now
share portions of all the others in our odd little unit. The demon
manifestation is me, fey is Tremble, and Argyle’s teeth and calm
come in handy. We get enhanced senses and claws from Andrew.”

Emily hugged
her belly. “All that is just inside you?”

Benny held
Maggie in the twisted position and smiled. “Of course. I only let
it out on special occasions. It was important for Andrew’s family
to know what we had become, together.”

Emily exhaled.
“Well, you don’t seem like a ravening beast, and you don’t seem
evil.”

Benny didn’t
mention that she wanted to snap Maggie’s neck as casually as you
would swat a fly. She smiled and looked down at her prisoner. “Are
you going to behave?”

Maggie nodded
slowly and as much as should was able to. “Yes.”

Benny whispered
a charm to lock Maggie in her half-shifted form for a day. “Now,
you are going to have to deal with having your furry face on
display for a day. Twenty-four hours from now, you will regain
control. Never attack me or mine again. It is not worth your life
to try and gain position by aggression.”

Maggie scuttled
back the moment that Benny let her go.

Benny looked at
Emily and slowly receded back into her normal skin. It was a little
disturbing that it was coming so easily when she wanted extra
power. Reaching for her demon side wasn’t her favourite means of
defense.

Andrew came up
to her and wrapped her in his arms. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “I
am fine. She didn’t lay a claw on me.”

Maggie was
sitting on the ground with her hands on her face, her claws a
little too near her eyes for Benny’s liking.

Emily sighed.
“I will look after her. Thank you for not killing her.”

Benny nodded
toward Emily. “It was a near thing...wait how did you know?”

He chuckled and
rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “When you change, we can
feel what you feel through our binding. It is definitely not the
way we imagine you normally think. It is far more aggressive.”

She sighed.
“Sorry.”

Dornan cleared
his throat. “Well, since I have seen the power that you bring to
our pride, welcome once again, Beneficia Ganger.”

She gave Andrew
a quick look before turning in his arms and opening his
embrace.

“We bring you
power, allies and magic. What does your pride offer us?”

Dornan blinked.
“We offer you companionship, allies and family.”

Benny stepped
forward. “Right answer. Welcome to the family, Alpha.”

He bent his
head, and they rubbed cheeks for a moment. He smelled like dry oak
leaves and musk with a hint of sunshine.

“Welcome,
sister.”

“Thank you,
brother.” Benny smiled and returned to Andrew’s embrace, tucking
his arms around her. They had some time to formally meet the rest
of the available pride, but then, work called. Benny was looking
forward to taking on the minutia of the XIA. Tomorrow was going to
be stressful, so she wanted to bury herself in the boring details
of extra-natural law enforcement.

When a little
girl tapped at her leg demanding an introduction, Benny grinned.
She was now an aunty. Today was definitely a distraction.

Back in the
SUV, Benny enjoyed the sucker that little Melody had given her.
Benny had responded by enchanting a few strands of braided grass
into a flower that would change its appearance every six hours. The
little girl had hugged her and immediately taken off to show every
lion on the premises her new flower.

Andrew
chuckled. “I am getting all kinds of ideas watching you with that
sucker.”

She opened her
mouth and crunched down on the candy.

Three voices
said, “Ouch.”

Argyle had a
strange expression not accounted for by her candy
assassination.

“Argyle, what’s
up?”

He smiled
slightly. “I haven’t been out like this in actual daylight in an
extremely long time.”

He had been
wearing a hood that sat on his shoulders at the moment, but his
skin hadn’t burned or even heated up. Even his eyes didn’t show
their normal irritation from the sun.

“Oh. I am
guessing you have gotten better?”

He grinned. “I
got something.”

Tremble
chuckled. “You sound like it is an STD.”

They all
laughed at that.

Argyle
shrugged. “I suppose I will have to get used to being nearly human
again, so to speak.”

Benny smiled.
“Consider it adjusting to daylight and leave it at that. I don’t
think any of us qualify for human anymore.”

Tremble
snorted. “I never was human, nor was Andrew.”

Andrew turned
and gave Tremble a look. “I was for a few years. I mean I was
raised in the pride, but shifting didn’t kick in until
puberty.”

Argyle cleared
his throat. “I was twenty-six. I was human. I remember human. I
don’t know what to do with it now.”

Benny blinked.
“If you want it changed, I am sure that we could supress the
humanity.”

He shook his
head. “No. I am just wondering where the nearest beach is.”

The occupants
of the vehicle chuckled and pulled into the XIA. In ten minutes,
they were logged in, changed and armed for the evening. The skies
were red and the shenanigans were about to start.

Benny cuffed
the nymph that had been seducing her way through the park in an
effort to find her way home. It was an odd means of location, but
it worked for nymphs. Someone would eventually help her get
home.

The boys had to
hang back on this one. The nymph could seduce simply by looking
into a man’s eyes. Benny was going to have to hang onto her until
the collection wagon arrived.

“This isn’t
really fair.” Benny kept her grip on the nymph while the others
interviewed participants in the unlawful sex acts. They were all
going to get a summons to appear.

Tremble
shrugged. “Sorry. It is you or us. I think your odds at resisting
her are greater.”

Benny snorted
and waited for the pick-up.

Two female
officers were driving the collection vehicle tonight. One of the
females was a porcupine shifter, and she wasn’t going to take any
guff from a lonely nymph looking for directions. It was the public
sex that had been the problem, all six times.

Benny made sure
that her charge was tucked away and her cuffs were retrieved before
the transport left.

“Are you guys
finished with your gawking?”

Tremble
shrugged. “You are best suited to dealing with females with
seduction on their minds.”