*****
When Meryn woke the next morning she sat up and glanced around the room in shock. Boxes of tampons, cakes and brownies covered the surfaces of the nightstands and dresser. She hopped out of bed, grabbed a box and headed to the shower. After washing up, she opened up a suitcase and almost danced in delight at being able to put on different clothes. Today was that sewing circle thing. She held up her tee-shirts and sighed. She didn't have anything even remotely feminine. Nothing like the exquisite dresses Adelaide wore. She put a hand over her lower stomach as her cramps started back up. Fuck it. She was going to be comfortable. She pulled on her socks, jeans and boots. Instead of a pretty lace bra she put on her favorite white cotton one. When she reached for her tee-shirt she hesitated. Thinking of how welcoming Adelaide had been she chose the pink Strawberry Shortcake shirt. It was at least pink. She fixed her hair in a spike or two and used her pressed powder compact to take down the shine of her nose. She checked the mirror and shrugged. This was as good as it was going to get.
When she walked into the dining room for breakfast everyone looked at her in horror.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Aiden jumped up.
"I was hungry and wanted breakfast. Can't I have breakfast?" She asked confused.
"Of course you can. Come sit next to me, dear. I don't think Aiden fully appreciates how strong women can be." Meryn sat between Adelaide and Aiden. She noticed that Aiden watched her very carefully. Maybe she had laid it on too thick last night.
"I got you cake." Aiden leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"I saw. I totally plan on eating it later."
"Which one?"
"All of them."
"All?" Aiden asked.
"Yup, I don't know how you knew I was craving chocolate, but I swear last night I would have killed for some."
She saw Colton give Aiden a thumbs up. What on earth had they gotten into last night?
"We can delay introducing you to the sewing circle if you're feeling unwell. As a shifter, I only get my cycle once a year, I can't imagine getting it every month." Adelaide shuddered.
"It's not so bad when you get used to it." Marius set a full plate of eggs, bacon, toast and fried potatoes in front of her, she smiled her thanks.
"You can't have been getting it for very long. You're barely in your childbearing years." Adelaide sounded confused.
"I've been getting my cycle for about ... twenty two years now." Meryn took a huge bite of toast.
"Twenty two years? How old are you Meryn?" Adelaide asked.
"Thirty four. Why?"
"That means you started your cycle at the age of twelve? Every month for the past twenty two years." Adelaide looked ill.
"Yeah. So?"
"Do humans have babies that young? You're practically babies yourselves at that age." Adelaide asked.
Meryn shrugged. "Depends. Kids are having sex younger and younger these days. It's not unheard of to read about a twelve or thirteen year old having kids." Meryn carefully lifted her egg onto her toast. Her favorite part was biting into the yolk.
"That's barbaric. These girls' fathers, do they seek retribution for their daughters?" Byron demanded.
"Sometimes, sometimes the girls just get kicked out."
"Kicked out. What do you mean?" Keelan asked, getting pulled into the conversation.
"In some families if you do something like get pregnant young or come out as homosexual the parents kick them out of the house." Meryn explained. For all their paranormal worldly ways, she was discovering that Lycaonians were quite sheltered about the harsh truths outside their city.
"But that means they have nowhere to go, right?" Ben asked.
"Yup. If they're lucky they have another relative that can take them in, but too many times they end up homeless, and subject to the predators on the streets. Most end up addicted to drugs or forced into prostitution."
"In Lycaonia, every child is cherished. I can't imagine abandoning your own child like that." Byron wrapped an arm around Adelaide. Meryn felt horrible for ruining everyone's breakfast. It was so commonplace to her, she didn't even think twice about discussing it.
"Those are extreme cases. It's not too bad out there. I survived and I lost both of my parents. There are good people out there too." Meryn set her fork down suddenly wanting that chocolate cake.
Aiden sensing her change in mood lifted her onto his lap. It was starting to feel natural to her to be there.
"Would it hurt too much to discuss it?" Ben asked, sympathy in his eyes.
"There's not much to tell. Both of my parents died in a car crash when I was five. After that I lived with my grandmother. She was strict, but pretty much left me alone. As long as there was food to eat, I was okay. She ended up passing away my senior year in high school. My guidance counselor let me move in with her for my last month of my senior year and the summer before I went to college. After that I survived off of scholarships, part time jobs and grants. I graduated college and started working. It didn't take me long to figure out I didn't like working for other people, especially since most of them were dumber than me, so I started my own internet security business and I've been doing that ever since. The End."
"You've been alone since you were a teenager?" Colton asked. Meryn nodded, then thought about it.
"Actually, since my parents died really. My grandmother didn't really talk to me much. The only nice thing she ever did for me was get me my library card."