She watched Meryn carefully. "So are the two of you shifters?" she asked pointing to Meryn and Beth.
Beth nodded. "I'm a lepus curpaeums..."
"Beth's a bunny," Meryn interrupted.
"Meryn, quit baiting Beth," Aiden chided then smiled at her. "I'm a bear shifter."
"Who is growly and stubborn, but my teddy bear," Meryn whispered loudly to Penny.
Rheia looked around the table. The dark haired man sitting next to Beth spoke up next. "Gavriel Ambrosis, vampire. I'm also Beth's mate."
"Uuber vampire. Dark Prince, even." Meryn continued with her commentary. Gavriel shook his head smiling at her antics.
The man with long golden hair looked around before continuing. "Guess I'll go next. I'm Darian Vi'Ailean, fae."
"Super tall. Doesn't say a lot, but very sweet. He's always willing to get the hidden boxes of snacks down from the higher shelves for you," Meryn smiled at Darian who winked back.
All eyes swung to the red headed man who was blushing furiously next to Darian.
"I'm Keelan Ashwood, witch," he said, then looked at Meryn anxiously.
"Keelan is very thoughtful and courteous. He always goes out of his way to make sure I have my coffee in the morning." Meryn beamed at Keelan, who laughed nervously.
Rheia turned to Meryn, "What are you?"
"We haven't figured out that out yet," Colton quipped.
Meryn glared daggers at him, but he just laughed. Ignoring him, she turned back to Rheia. "I'm human."
Rheia noticed that Meryn's mate watched Meryn interacting with Penny with a gentle smile on his face. For all his bluff and bluster, he was a softie just like Radek. Rheia gasped and dug for her phone. How could she forget?
"Sweetheart, what is it?" Colton asked, his face filled with concern.
"I need to call home; I need to know if my brothers are okay." She looked down and nearly cursed aloud. Her phone was dead. In all of the chaos, she had forgotten to plug it in while she was driving.
Aiden cleared his throat. "Rheia, Radek called me early this morning. He told me to tell you that everyone was fine. He said he also suspected your mate was here in Lycaonia." He shot a droll look at Colton who grinned back at him. "He said to tell her mate that if he ever hurt her, that his Vanguard squad would come and personally remove your skin one inch at a time. He sounded very serious." Aiden's mouth twitched.
Colton turned to her, a serious expression on his face. "How many brothers do you have?"
She smiled at him sweetly. Now that she knew her family was safe it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Five."
He exhaled loudly. "Perfect."
"So who's your favorite doctor?" she heard Meryn ask. Penny held up four fingers.
"Fourth Doctor, huh? Mine's a tie between Ten and Eleven. Ten because he was so painfully lonely and Eleven because he wasn't afraid to kick butt," Meryn explained.
"Congratulations on raising a well-rounded daughter. I personally love Classic Who, not many younger folk go back and watch the older seasons," Beth said turning from Meryn and Penny.
Rheia smiled. "Thank you, Beth, right?" Beth nodded. Rheia paused."Let me ask you something. Is this mating thing real?"
Rheia noticed Colton flinched at her question and ignored it. Love of first sight only happened in cheesy 80's power ballads and fairy tales.
Beth smiled. "It is. I know it must seem strange to you, being human, but I think you already knew the answer to that question before you asked it. For the record, Colton has to be one of the most selfless men I've ever met. I think he'll be a good match for you."
Rheia snorted. "You don't even know me."
Beth raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair to look her up and down. "Smell of professional grade antiseptic soap, Gods awful polyester scrubs, Naturalizer shoes and the willingness to adopt a child not even of your own species? RN?" she asked.
Rheia shook her head. "Surgeon. I was working overnights in the ER when Penny came into my life. And scrubs are not God awful, they are comfortable and I never have to worry about what to wear," Rheia refuted.
"My mate is gorgeous and smart." Colton winked at her.
Rheia sighed dramatically. "Too bad I don't like blonds."
Colton's head whipped around to stare at slack jawed. She continued to look at him without cracking a smile. She could tell he didn't know if she was joking or not.
"Seriously?" he asked.
She shrugged indifferently and smiled up at Ryuu as he placed a plate of food in front of her. "You don't have to serve me, just let me know where the food is. I can make Penny's plate," she offered.
"See! It's not just me." Meryn pointed to Rheia.
Rheia looked around. "What?"
Beth answered. "Rheia, Ryuu is the house squire. In human terms, I think the closest thing that you have is a butler, but in the paranormal world, it goes beyond that. Here we treat squires with reverence. They command a great deal of respect as they are the ones who run the homes of the high ranking families."
"High ranking? Who here is high ranking? Wait, didn't she say that Ryuu was her squire?" she asked pointing to Meryn.
Beth fought a smile and nodded. "Aiden, when he takes over from his father as the Elder for all shifters, will be the highest ranking paranormal in the world, Meryn as his mate will also be highly regarded."