Colton cursed under his breath. "Couldn't they just tell us what they're after? It would make it a lot easier to kill them."
Darian laughed. "You're getting lazy, Colton. That's like hoping a criminal hands you a signed confession."
Colton looked at Rheia, then down at Penny. "I have good reasons for wanting to stay home a bit more. The sooner we can figure out their end game, the sooner we can all relax."
"Seeing you with Penny, it makes me wish we hadn't pushed Elena away. We missed so many years with them both." Mina smiled at Penny with tears in her eyes.
Rheia pulled Penny into her lap. "Can you tell us about her? Elena?"
Mina looked at Gerard who nodded; smiling she turned back to face her. "Elena was such a headstrong child, very much an old soul, like our Penny. She knew exactly what she wanted and went after it. That actually became the crux of our estrangement." She sighed then continued. "When she was old enough we started pressuring her to visit with more chameleon families, in hopes she would find a chameleon mate. We're a dying breed of shifters and every new birth is desperately needed."
"But Elena didn't want to hear anything about it, she said she was in love and she wanted to be with her boyfriend, Reggie." Mina practically spat the name. "He was a wolf shifter that filled her head with ideas that we were trying to control her and she should move away with him, and that's what she did. One day she packed up and left to live in the human world with Reggie. The only way we were able to keep track of her was by monitoring her on social media." She scrunched up her nose, "Watching one's child from afar is never preferable. When she finally mated with Brian, who ironically ended up being a chameleon, we were hopeful that she would return to Lycaonia to have their baby. Months and months went by without any updates on her Facebook or Twitter accounts. We assumed she was busy with the new baby and were on the verge of reaching out to her when the Elder gave us the news that she had been killed last year." Her voice faltered and Gerard pulled her close, continuing for her. "That's why we were so desperate to raise Penny. We failed to keep our daughter safe, but we have a second chance with our granddaughter."
Rheia shuddered and kissed Penny's head. "I can't even imagine losing a child."
Mina nodded. "Which is why when we saw you with Penny last night, we knew we couldn't separate you. I could never inflict that kind of pain on another mother."
"Sorry to butt in, but you said Elena was pregnant?" Meryn interrupted. Mina nodded.
Meryn turned to Aiden. "That sounds horribly familiar."
Aiden frowned. "But that happened last year."
Meryn paled. "Maybe I need to widen my search parameters more than I initially thought."
"Bullshit!" Darian exploded. "How could this have been happening right under our noses for so long and no one noticed."
Beth set her coffee cup down. "Because not all of them have been discovered. Of those that were, only a fraction were found by paranormals like the Vanguard and even of those we know about, the ones that were killed outside Lycaonia weren't tracked. They were treated like isolated incidents. It's only because of Meryn's reports that we knew to step back and look at the bigger picture."
Mina looked around the table. "You mean to say that our Elena wasn't the only one?"
Aiden shook his head. "You may have heard stories in the past few months about paranormal couples going missing from inside Lycaonia. It's bigger than that, couples have been going missing from all around."
"What is the council doing about this?" Gerard demanded.
"They've ordered different units, from each of the pillar cities to start their own investigations. They're feeding all of their findings through Meryn who gives us correlations and possible leads," Aiden explained.
"Why are they suddenly attacking like this?" Mina asked.
Gavriel shook his head. "If we knew, we could possibly determine what they are after and stop them. But so far the attacks have been random."
Groaning, Meryn reached down and pulled out her laptop from her backpack. "This is going to take for-freaking-ever. I'm going to have to not only widen the city search, but also go back a couple years, and I have to do all of this with no caffeine? Fuck me."
"Remember Meryn, Adam and I both advised you to try and keep your stress down as well," Rheia reminded her.
Meryn nodded and smiled. "Sure, I'll get right on that. I'm confident the ferals will just pack up, go home and play dominoes once we explain I can't be bothered with them because of stress. If we have any hope of figuring this shit out and putting a stop to them, so my baby won't have to worry about getting hacked and slashed in the front yard then I'm going to have to put in a few extra hours."
Rheia stared at Meryn for a few seconds before turning to Colton. "Maybe getting pregnant right now isn't the best idea. I'm not sure I could survive without my caffeine."
Mina's eyes lit up as she looked from Meryn to Rheia. "Babies are such a blessing. If you need any help homeschooling let me know. I'd be happy to teach Penny, of course, unless you've made other arrangements."
Rheia looked to Meryn, who looked just as confused as she felt.
Meryn turned to Mina. "I'm sorry, what did you say about homeschooling?"
Mina turned from Rheia to Meryn and back. "Didn't you know? Paranormals homeschool their children until it's time for them to enter college or apprentie to a Master in a craft."