My Champion(57)

Kari patted his leg. "Do your best."

Meryn slumped back. "I am edgier than normal lately, everything irritates me. Then this damn misophonia popped up out of nowhere. Like I really fantasize about smothering Aiden in his sleep."

Aidan's fork stopped mid-shovel. "What?" he asked, looking spooked.

Eva nodded. "I get what you're saying."

Adriel froze. "Wait. What?"

Eva shrugged. "Sometimes you breathe so loudly I can't fall asleep. I'm so tired that well, sometimes I kind of would like for you to stop breathing so I could get some rest."

Aiden and Adriel exchanged terrified glances.

Aiden turned to his tiny mate. "Meryn, baby, please don't kill me in my sleep."

She held up her hand. "I make no promises."

Aiden just grumbled as he picked up another forkful of food and started eating his troubles.

Magnus was alternating between eating and looking at his notes. "I do have some good news. Thanks to Kari, we will be getting Leif Grassfield and Travis Hickory back." Magnus crossed something off his list. "Goddard was able to reach Leif and Travis while they were still in Vegas. They will be here in the next couple days. I am having them resume their duties. Nigel and Neil will remain assigned to their units as trainees with Travis and Leif as mentors."

Bethy clapped her hands "That's wonderful! You get the experienced witches back for the city, and we get to keep Meryn's twins."

Aiden grumbled at the phrase 'Meryn's twins'.

Magnus winked at her. "It was your idea."

As dinner began to wind down, Meryn and patted her belly. "Well, that was good, but I gotta go; I have a date." She hopped from her chair.

Aiden grabbed the back of her shirt. "A date?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, if you're done, you can come too."

Aiden looked at his empty plate and shrugged. Sebastian and Ryuu stepped forward.

"If everyone would like to adjourn to the antechamber, we will be serving tea, coffee and dessert there, so that Ms. Meryn can have her date," Sebastian said winking at her.

Meryn popped out of Aiden's grasp and headed toward the antechamber. Kari walked with Declan into the room and sat down on one of the sofas. She didn't know how she'd missed it walking in, but Sebastian had transformed one wall of the antechamber into a media center. There was now three large TVs with game consoles, games controllers, and even a small lava light all geared for a true gaming experience.

Meryn plopped down in one of the gaming chairs in front of the television.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. Sebastian opened it and Avery and Warrick walked in.

He looked around. "Hi everyone," he waved shyly. He saw Kari and made a beeline to her. He was about to wrap his arms around her to give her a hug when he noticed the bite marks on Declan.

He grinned widely. "Congratulations."

She blushed. "Thanks. What is all this?" she asked him.

"Meryn, Nigel, and Neil have been teaching me how to play a game on their console, and now, Meryn wants to play with the group of us. We're going to be syncing up with Noah and Jaxon. Meryn says we have a kickass team even though I can't really walk in a straight line yet," he admitted.

Warrick walked over and placed a hand on the small of Avery's back. "You are getting better."

Kari began to crack her knuckles. "What game are you playing?"

"Call of Duty. Meryn's been into the zombie mode so we have been killing zombies,"Avery answered.

Kari looked over at the console wall. There were three: One for Nigel, one for Neil, and one for Meryn. Kari stood, grabbed a controller, and sat down in the gamer chair next to Meryn.

Meryn's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding right?"

Kari just winked. After the game was loaded, everyone logged in, and the game began. Kari had to admit she'd never met anyone as good as Meryn, except for her. After seeing how well the team was working together, Meryn asked them if they were willing to play against other teams and everyone agreed. Soon, they were playing with a team from Orlando.

"Fuck! Dammit!" Meryn growled, practically screeching at the television. "Camping bunch of fucktards!"

Kari nodded her agreement. "Amateurs."

Between Meryn and Kari, they were more than able to take the other team single-handedly, the boys helping them when they could.

"All right, denka, it's time for you to settle down," Ryuu said, coming over to confiscate her controller.

"Kickass game! I haven't had this much fun in years," Meryn said excitedly

"Your blood pressure is too high." Ryuu handed her a cup of calming tea.

"Fine." She sulked for a moment before brightening. "I know! We can watch anime."