My Defender(17)

"I can let go, if you don't want..." His hand tightened on hers almost to the point of pain.

"No!" He cleared his throat. "I mean, no. This is fine." He relaxed his hand a bit. She smiled up at him, and this time, with him at her side, they made their way to the door. Grant raised his other hand to knock, but the door swung open before he had a chance to.

Sebastian smirked at them. "Heard you were coming."

"You heard?" Eleanor asked, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Sebastian shook his head. "No, with the walkie-talkie. This way."





CHAPTER FOUR





They walked into the dining room. Unlike the antechamber, the dining room was a thousand times more intimidating. The extremely long wooden table looked like something that would have been used to serve a medieval royal feast.

There were no less than a dozen people chatting around the large dining table and only a few she recognized from the earlier that afternoon. The men rose from their chairs as she entered.

She smiled at everyone in turn. When she got to Aiden, the small woman at his side caught her attention. The petite woman was watching her with a slightly unfocused look in her eyes. Her short brown hair laid flat against her head, giving her an elven look. Ellie stared at her, and the woman stared back.

Grant cleared his throat. "Eleanor, I would like you to meet Meryn McKenzie, Aiden's mate. Meryn, this is my mate, Dr. Eleanor Kimball."

Ellie's breath caught at the sound of pride in his voice when he said the word my mate.

Meryn tilted her head. "Pillows and blankets."

Ellie blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're pillows and blankets. Something soft, comforting, and warm. Someplace to go when you're afraid." The small woman exhaled and closed her eyes. A second later, they popped back open again, and the green orbs twinkled at her in an impish way. The unfocused look was gone, and a strong personality shone behind her eyes. "Yep. Pillows."

"That was very good, Meryn. I could tell your magic only flared up a bit."

Ellie glanced down the table at the gentleman who had spoken. He bowed. "Law Ashleigh, a pleasure to meet you. To answer the question I can see from your expression, I've been helping Meryn with her empathy. Sometimes it can get away from her."

She smiled. "Thank you for the explanation."

Magnus indicated the two empty chairs. "Please, join us."

Grant steered her to the chairs, and they sat down. Once Ellie was seated, the men around the table resumed their chairs.

"We heard you had a busy afternoon," Magnus started.

She nodded. "A little bit after lunchtime, the children seemed to be okay, but then they started to toss and turn in their cots. A little while ago, just before we were about to come down, they all had another episode. We gave them more medicine, but I have a feeling all we're doing is putting a Band-Aid on the situation. I haven't had a chance to look at the bloodwork yet." She sighed.

"But I have," Broderick piped up. "I just looked for basics like you said. Besides a slightly elevated white blood count, I don't see much that could explain their symptoms."

"Thank you. I'll be looking at them again later. My grandmother is currently collecting a second set blood samples before she comes down, and I'll compare the two."

"Grandmother?" Meryn asked.

"Yes, she should be here any moment now."

"Right behind you, darling," a familiar voice called.

Ellie turned in her chair as the men once again stood. She smiled up at her grandmother; even though they had seen each other throughout the day as they treated the children, the change in their daily routine had set her on edge. She missed her evening coffee and wind down time with her.

"Glad you could make it."

Sebastian offered Marjoram his arm and personally escorted her to the empty chair beside Ellie. When she sat so did the men. Her grandmother leaned in and kissed her cheek. "The parents had more questions after you left, and I had to show them how to fill out their charts."

Ellie quickly introduced her grandmother to the table. As everyone sipped their drinks, Magnus turned to Kari. "Can you let everyone know of our newest concern?"

Kari winced. "It looks like word of the children's sickness has already reached levels three and four. Some of the noble families are concerned about their children. They are saying the wolves brought sickness to Noctem Falls, and are petitioning to get the refugees moved."

"Nowhere is safe for them to go," Elizabeth stated.

Ellie shook her head. "We don't even know if this is contagious. This is so unprecedented; there's no way to know where the sickness came from. If you look at this logically, the children didn't come here sick; they came here and then got sick. So whatever the cause, it's in the city; it's not because of the children."