“You're a little panicked at the moment,” Odin said gently. “Take a breath.”
“Sure.” I stepped into the elevator. “Breathe. Yep; that's a good idea.”
My husbands piled into the elevator with me again, two of them texting rapidly. I realized that I was a man short. I'd have to text Toby too. He was probably going to want to come over now. Shit; if I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that one of the most important things the Mirror could have shared with Narcissus was the chant to my territory. I was off my game, and I needed to refocus.
“Perhaps we should take her to my place,” Re suggested. “Aaru is the most difficult territory to infiltrate.”
“We've got a new chant in place,” Trevor pointed out. “We should be good; better than an open territory human souls journey through.”
“But the mere fact that Narcissus got into this one unsettles me,” Re said.
“He has a point,” Odin agreed. “But I think we should take her to Toby. He only shares his territory with Naye. And they don't have a lot of friends. I think only their parents and their uncle goes to visit. Five people total, not including us. That seems to be the most secure place that we can take her.”
“The most secure place I could be in is Faerie,” I reminded them.
They grimaced at me. No one wanted to hole up with me in Faerie.
“We have to go for the Twins' birthday anyway,” I pointed out.
“That's eight days away,” Odin reminded me. “Do you really want all of us in Castle Aithinne for eight days?”
“Toby's it is.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Toby and his brother Naye shared a territory. They used to share a home in a cave high up on the mountain that overlooked their lush forest but Toby had recently moved out. He had wanted a place of his own that he could bring me to; one that didn't have bad memories for me or have his brother living in it. Especially since his brother had caused those bad memories.
Now, Toby lived at the foot of the mountain in a Tuscan-inspired villa. He was more than happy to host all of us, and Doba, his Labrador, was even more excited to have company. Doba leaped about even after she'd stopped her happy barking; leading us into the house and through the hallways with the glee of a bumblebee in a field of wildflowers.
Toby would have put me in the master bedroom with him but with all of us staying, that would have been awkward. My husbands would undoubtedly want time alone with me. So, everyone got their own guest room. I couldn't bring Nick with me since Doba was there, but Samantha said she'd watch over him while I was gone.
I was finally able to take a breath.
After everyone settled in, we had a quick meeting to talk about our living arrangements. Some of my husbands had responsibilities to take care of but they wanted as many people with me as possible. Trevor had to check on Moonshine, Azrael had school, and Odin had to see to Asgard. They decided to trade off days. Once that was worked out, we tried to relax and enjoy Toby's hospitality.
“I'm going for a run through the woods to scope out the territory,” Trevor announced.
“I'll join you,” Kirill offered.
“Me too!” Lesya perked up.
Yes, we'd brought my daughter. I wasn't about to leave her behind yet again. Especially not when Narcissus was gunning for me.
“Okay, Kotyonok,” Kirill agreed. “Come here.”
Kirill helped Lesya out of her clothes and waited for her to shift into her little lion form. I straightened in my seat when I noticed a black spot on her neck.
“What's that?” I asked as I stood and went over to inspect my daughter.
Lesya nudged and batted at me playfully, but I held her still so Kirill and I could look her over. Her tan fur had been darkening to deep golden-brown, but I hadn't thought anything of it until I'd seen that spot. It was nearly black. I searched her body and found a few more places where the fur was growing even darker than the pelt of an adult lioness.
“She vill be black lion!” Kirill beamed at me.
“Oh, you lucky girl,” I said to Lesya. “Did you hear that? You're going to be a black lion like your daddy.”
Lesya gave her little roar, and we all laughed in joy. Black lions in the Human Realm don't exist. There are rumors of them and there is a type of Ethiopian lion that has a black mane, but there have been no validated claims of the existence of completely black lions. Black werelions obviously do exist but are rare; there was only one in our pride. But it looked as if soon, there would be two. After we took a moment to celebrate, Trevor and Kirill shifted into their animal forms and took Lesya out on a run through the forest.
“Okay,” I said slowly as I looked around at the others. “What should the rest of us do?”
“Well...” Re smirked.
“That doesn't involve sex,” I added. “That Valentine's dinner was fun but I'm not up for a repeat yet.”
Re grimaced.
“You're a water god, right?” Azrael asked Toby.
“Yes.” Toby looked pointedly around his home.
His courtyard was built around an ambling stream that came in from the forest before winding its way out, there were numerous fountains around the villa, and Toby's master bedroom is one big water feature. But I understood immediately what Azrael was getting at.
“There's no pool,” I explained to Toby. “The guys like to swim.”
“Angels too?” Toby asked. “I'd think the feathers would hamper you.”
“Birds like water.” Azrael shrugged. “And I don't have to wear my wings when I swim.”
“Fair enough.” Toby snorted self-consciously. “Well, the lack of a pool can be rectified in a
