"You ready, hun?" Marco asked. Penny peeked out from around his side, holding his hand.
Rheia nodded. "Yes. Surprisingly I was able to get most of my personal things into two suitcases. Everything else is just household items, but the things that matters will be going with us." She walked over and scooped Penny up, the small girl laid her head on her shoulder.
"We're going to a very nice place, Penny. It's called Lycaonia. It's a city where all the people are like Uncle Radek and Uncle Marco," she said, walking down the stairs. Behind her Marco easily managed the three suitcases.
Penny looked up and pointed to her chest with her thumb. Rheia nodded. "Yes, darling, people just like you, a whole city of shifters. Won't that be nice?"
Penny scrunched up her face for a second, thinking about it, then nodded.
"Okay, here are the directions. Things are pretty normal until you turn off the highway. No matter how lost you think you are, stay on the dirt road. You'll have someone waiting for you," Radek explained, handing her a piece of paper before plucking Penny from her arms. He kissed the toddler's face all over the place. Penny squirmed, trying to avoid his whiskers. Radek pulled back and smiled at her. Penny without changing expression tweaked his nose. He gave a long booming laugh.
"You're not coming with us?" Rheia asked, feeling uneasy. She tucked the directions in her pants pocket.
"Car's loaded, Boss." Marco said, returning from the garage. He handed the keys to Rheia.
Radek shook his head. "You'll be safe in Lycaonia. I'm going to stay with the guys and try to find this threat and eliminate it. There have been too many..." he hesitated. "Incidents lately. I want to find where these guys are and take care of it."
In Rheia's mind she translated; There have been too many murders lately, and they wanted to find the ones responsible and kill them all.
Rheia took a deep breath. "What if..." she didn't want to sound childish. She was a grown woman, a doctor even. She shouldn't be relying on these men to tell her that everything would be okay.
"What, honey?" Athan asked. The men gathered around to say their goodbyes.
"What if I don't like him? What if he isn't like you, any of you? What if he doesn't want me?" she said, voicing her greatest fear.
"Oh, honey, you're breaking my heart," Levi muttered and pulled her head close to kiss the top of it.
"You love us, Pumpkin Dumpling, but your mate will complete you in ways that we never will. You're our kid sister. But you'll be his mate, his partner, his equal. He'll see sides of you, we, and correct me if I'm wrong gentlemen, never want to see. You're our kid sister for crying out loud!" Radek said, the tips of his ears turning red.
"Ahh, you mean sex." Rheia grinned.
Levi gasped and covered Penny's ears. Rheia rolled her eyes. "It's a natural part of life Levi."
"Not for you," Marco grumbled.
"If he hurts you, just call us. We have no problem explaining very thoroughly how he should treat our baby sister," Athan said, his blue eyes turning dark.
Rheia turned to Penny. "I wonder what they'll be like when you find your mate?" For a second Rheia thought she saw the hint of a smile on Penny's face.
"That will never happen! Our Penny Baby isn't allowed to mate. Ever," Marco said, growling.
Penny rolled her eyes. Rheia's heart swelled with pride. Penny may not be her daughter by blood, but this tiny kiddo was turning out just like her.
"Okay, enough crazy talk. You head to Lycaonia, find your mate, tell him if he hurts you we'll skin him alive and Penny stays a baby girl forever. Got that?" Radek demanded.
"Yes, sir!" Rheia laughed, taking Penny from his arms.
She was just about to head towards the garage when she heard a loud bang and the sound of splintering wood.
"Run for it!" Radek yelled. The men turned and ran towards the family room, blocking the danger so she and Penny could escape.
Heart in her throat, Rheia clutched Penny tightly and ran into the garage. She opened the driver's side door and got in. Penny scrambled over to the passenger seat and hit the button to lock the doors.
"Good girl! Now, get the seatbelt on and hold on tight. We don't have time to get you in your car seat," she said and started the car. She hit the garage door button. Slower than she could remember it ever moving in the past the door rose. Before the door was completely up, the same feral from her nightmare appeared behind her car, grinning at her in the rear view mirror.
"I don't think so!" she muttered and threw the car in reverse. Pressing her foot down on the accelerator she had a second to appreciate the surprised look on his face before he disappeared under her car. Both she and Penny bounced up and down as they ran him over.
The car screeched to a halt at the bottom of the driveway before she executed a 'K' point turn that would have made her father proud. She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal and sped away.
After a few minutes, a small, warm hand took hers. She looked over and saw Penny was watching her closely. There was neither fear nor panic on her face. Her brave angel was trying to comfort her.
"Oh, baby, we'll be okay, and your uncles will be okay too. We'll get settled in Lycaonia and they'll come to visit and this will seem like a really bad dream. You'll see." Penny nodded and pulled her hand up and kissed it sweetly.
"I love you too baby girl. I know one thing, my mate has a hell of a lot to live up to." Rheia said, trying not to think of what could be happening to the men they'd left behind.