Peggy's beautiful eyes filled with sadness and hurt. She looked down at her outfit then around.
Everyone, including his Brothers, glared at him as if he'd kicked their puppy. Fuck. He felt like the worst jerk in the Nine Universes. Note to self. Find a better way to deal with supernatural female teenagers. One that didn't make him look like a foolish cruel tyrant.
"She looks fine." Kassern looked critically at Peggy. "I mean that's modest compared to some of the outfits Karly gets in."
"She's a child" Toren honestly tried to at least sound nicer. "Karly's not only an adult, she's a married woman."
"I am not a child!" Peggy's voice hardened.
Toren's mercury formed inward pointing spikes in response to her anger, reminding him exactly how much she was a part of him.
His stubborn anger struck back. "You are not a woman, either." He pointed to the door. "Go change."
Her bright blue eyes flashed with tears. A heavy brown woolen robe with a hood suddenly covered her head to toe. "There, are you happy? Is that good enough?"
She looked eerily like the captive women at Kharef's convent. Ice water slid through his veins, washing a dreadful premonition over him.
"Brother, she's fine." Dorn put a hand on his shoulder, rocking him with a blast of aquamarine calm.
The effort to defuse him only served to piss Toren off more. "Get your calm off of me, brother. If I want it, I'll absorb it from your happy ass."
"You might not want it, but you sure as hell need it. And we can't afford extra negativity in our lives. We have more than enough."
Shit. He was being an absolute fool. A jerk. Acting like a superstitious human. Toren sat down. He wanted to apologize to them all, especially Peggy, but couldn't unhinge his jaw. He also wanted to direct Peggy to come sit next to him so he could…be next to her. Strange fucking emotions made no sense. Was he really going to act like her father just because she took a human form? What did he know about that shit? Zero. Not entirely. He knew how to take care of a woman. And now that she was…something like that, maybe his instincts naturally followed that path. Of course. That's how your powers work, stupid.
Peggy came over and sat next to him anyway. Utter relief flowed over him like a soothing bath.
What the—
Toren spied her other hand firmly entwined with the large awkward one of that gangly human teenage boy!
—fuck was going on? "So you're married now?"
She looked at him, her forehead puckered with annoyed confusion. Toren raised his brows and aimed his gaze at their joined hands. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. Sudden instinct reared its head to deliver the boy a warning. But if he dared speak his mind on the subject, he would lose any influence he might have with her, leaving him powerless over her in more serious situations. Son-of-a-bitch.
She attempted to pry into his mind and Toren mentally smacked her away, not in any mood to be have her reading him like a rude brat.
She would certainly answer for this behavior.
Eventually.
Her siblings took their seats across from the Brothers. Who was responsible for this ridiculous human form idea? Peggy stood as if to go join them and Toren yanked her back down. She gave an exasperated huff but stayed put. Good thing for her.
The human boy leaned and whispered to her. "You look perfect, don't worry about it. He's just upset about Miss Kassie, Lyght, and especially Miss Sam."
The mercury in Toren's body immediately receded and he realized it had prepared to physically reprimand the kid had he said the wrong thing. But the worst was the realization of how sane the boy behaved in comparison to an Archangel. God, he needed to get a hold of himself. He had never been so on edge in all his existence.
"So we were thinking." Francis crossed his long fingers with the short ruby nails on the table before him. Toren barely managed to listen to his harebrained scheme.
"Wait, wait, wait." Kassern cocked back in his chair, calmer than he had a right to be, considering the insanity these kids would get up to on their own. "Are you referring to the human boy?"
"Tyler." The human's brows leveled into a faint scowl. "My name is Tyler. The human Tyler. And I'm fifteen. Not a boy."
"Doesn't matter Tyler." Kassern shook his head. "It's not happening. It's not safe. You have no training. This isn't a game."
Fifteen? Toren looked at Dorn to see if he'd caught the lie. But which was the lie, the first age he'd given or this age? Toren had thought the boy seemed kind of big for thirteen. Toren eyed Maxwell and Robert. Weren't they supposed to be…teenagers too? They looked like grown men. Young. But grown. Which was probably why Peggy felt the need to overdress.