"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 have to organize and move out depending on the situation. We already arrive to scenes too late, there's no way Aiden can add twenty to forty minutes to that process for additional travel time and getting up to speed. You can't live there because living with a unit would be like living in a barracks."
"I don't want to live away from him. I'd miss his dumb ass."
"Sit down with him. Explain why you were upset. He's not like me. He doesn't understand the delicate workings of the female mind. You will literally have to spell it out for him."
"Maybe he doesn't really want me. He's called me a distraction a couple times already."
Ben laughed out loud.
"Of course you're a distraction, you wouldn't be his mate otherwise. Just your scent alone is a distraction to him. When you factor in your complete lack of knowledge about societal norms and general wackiness of course he's distracted. If he weren't then you'd have to worry." Meryn looked at Ben as his words sunk in.
"He doesn't want me around because he wants me?" She asked and somehow that made sense.
"Yup. Now, let's go downstairs and have some tea. I bet mom broke out the good stash to calm Aiden, it's delicious." Ben wagged his eyebrows at her.
"Thank you. Are you ... will you be my friend?" Meryn held her breath.
"No."
Meryn's heart sunk.
"But I will be your brother." Meryn tackled him and they landed on the floor.
"I've never had siblings before. Can I use your hiding spot if I need to escape Aiden again?"
"Of course, I live to drive my brothers crazy." Ben stood and helped her to her feet. They walked over to the wall and crouched back down again.
"Though I remember this being easier when I was younger." Ben squeezed through the small passage.
"Probably because you were smaller." Meryn giggled.
"Probably. One sec." He popped the panel off and helped her out before replacing it.
"Come on." He held out his hand and she took it and they walked downstairs. She never had a brother before, but she liked the idea of someone being on her side for a change.