Chapter 15

Chapter 15
Merlot
He led his siblings and their mates down the street to a fenced-off area where a small building stood. They stood outside the fence, studying it. Margo leaned against him as her tendrils wrapped even more around his arm, connecting them even tighter together. He pulled her into his arms.
“Do you want to go back to the coven house?” he asked softly.
She shook her head. “No. You saved me. I want to help save them.”
He nodded before letting her go to lead them into the building. As soon as the doors were opened, strong odors of urine and feces spilled out, making them all gag. They walked in slowly, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness. Jenna cursed under her breath before she gasped.
“What the hell?” Joyce cried. “Jenna?! Where did you go?”
Suddenly, light flooded the room, making them all blink rapidly. Jenna stood pressed against the wall with her eyes squeezed closed as tremors moved her body. Joyce ran over to her, pulling her into her arms, while Jenna instantly clung to her as tears streamed down her face.
“I don’t like the dark.”
Joyce rubbed her back. “It’s okay, baby. I promise you will never have to be in the dark again.”
She sniffled before pulling back. “Let’s go get the kids.”
Joyce kept her close to her side as they walked toward the door on the other side of the small room. Nalani stepped in front of them when Merlot reached for the door. She licked her lips.
“I don’t think you guys should go in. Let me and my sisters go in. Minton, too. I think you guys would scare them.”
Nomad kissed her softly before nodding. “If you need us, we are right here.”
“Thank you.”
Margo retracted her tendrils before walking into the room with her sisters and Minton. They immediately froze when they walked in, and Margo whimpered. Merlot leaned forward, and his breath was stolen from his lungs when he saw the small 6 by 6 room where 24 kids of all ages were practically stacked on top of each other. Nalani and Jenna took Margo’s hands as vines shot out of her with bright purple flowers on them. The kids all tried to shrink back as they stared at the four in the center of the room. The flowers opened, releasing a sweet smell that had the kids sliding to the ground, fast asleep. The vines were quickly reabsorbed into Margo’s body as Minton gently picked up a little girl, about 6. He handed her to Nomad before meeting Merlot’s eyes.
“We should take the kids back to the coven house and get them healed and see if we can find their homes.”
Merlot nodded as he opened a portal back to the coven house, where the coven members were told to wait for them. He stepped out, letting his aura out.
“There are children that we need to bring back here. They will need to be bathed and placed in a nice bed. Who here are nurses, teachers, or other childcare professionals?” About a dozen people stepped forward. “You will assist us. We’ll handle healing. Be gentle with them, or I will eliminate your lives.”
They all swallowed, but they followed him through the portal. They handed the women the smaller children while leaving the bigger ones for the men. In mere minutes, every single child had been removed from the room and taken through the portal back to the coven house. Merlot ordered Joyce and Keith to take the children they carried to the room so he could bathe them while his siblings did rotations to check on the other children. He started the shower before stripping the kids down and carefully situating them under the stream of water.
As more dirt, feces, and other debris were washed off, the more he could see the infected wounds and bruises on them. He clenched his jaw as he took the time to heal every bruise and wound on them before using a spell to move them out of the shower so he could dry them off. He clothed them all before moving them to the bed, where he tucked them in. Someone knocked on the door, and he told them instantly to come in. Emily smiled sadly at the sleeping children as she walked in.
“Hey, cousin. Your mate is a fucking badass.”
He looked around, startled. “You saw Margo? Where is she?”
“Outside. She’s rooted to the ground.”
Well, fuck. Why didn’t she tell him she was leaving the room? He ran down the stairs and out the front door. He paused when he saw the same thick vines that had found the deceased children at Slimmer were out. He sighed as he sat on the stairs to watch over her as she worked. Slowly, around 15 bodies were pulled to lay at her feet. He jumped to his feet when she stumbled, rushing over to her to catch her. He picked her up as he let their shirts melt off their bodies so she could connect to him. She buried her face in his neck, sobbing.
“There’s so much pain, so much loss. How can anybody do this to children?”
He breathed his fire over her, hoping to help her calm down a little. “I don’t know, baby, but I promise you, we will make them all pay.”
She sniffled as she continued to cling to him. “I need to take them to the others. They shouldn’t be left here.”
“Okay, baby. We will. I just need to finish up here, and then I will take you back.”
“Okay. Go finish. I will stay here.”
He pecked her lips as he set her down. He put up a protection spell around her and the vine cocoons before hurrying inside. He quickly checked on all of the children before pulling Mayra and Minton aside.
“Mayra, I want you to be the Alpha here. Lola will be your beta. I need you guys to find out where these children belong. Also, if you can find out where any more of our mates are, that would be great. Margo wants to take the other children to be buried at Slimmer. I’ll send Lola back in the morning. Joyce and Keith will stay here tonight to assist. Let me know if you need anything.”
Mayra hugged him. “Thank you, brother. Tell your woman she did well today. I’m proud to call her my sister.”
Merlot pulled back to hold his hand out to Minton. “Thank you for protecting my sister. Welcome to the family. Also, be careful when she takes you home. Dad is very protective over the girls. Especially the ones that belong to our mom.”
Mayra shoved his shoulder. “We’re all Mom’s.”
Merlot winked. “That’s the point. He’s doubly screwed if he messes up. See you tomorrow.”
He raced back outside to Margo, cursing when he saw her standing there with her arms folded across her naked chest.
“I’m sorry, Margo. I wasn’t thinking. I’m going to make you shirts that have your back out so we can connect that way,” he told her as he magicked a shirt onto her.
She put her hand on his face. “It’s okay. Are you done?”
“Yes. Let’s go home, beautiful.”
He opened a portal as vines came out of Margo’s body to reconnect to the cocoons. Merlot took her hand as they walked through, with the cocoons being gently dragged behind them. Margo let out an angry growl when she saw several holes in the ground where the last bodies had been left. She turned to glare at him.
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know. Calm down. There has to be an explanation. We-”
She walked closer to the coven house before sinking the new cocoons into the ground. She retracted her vines before storming up the stairs to go inside, while Merlot hurried behind her. She shot him a furious look.
“Your people dug up my children,” she accused. “That is so wrong!”
“There has to be an explanation. They would never do anything to harm anyone. I swear, baby-”
She spun on him to poke him in the chest. “Don’t call me that. They did it. How else were their bodies dug up? Huh? Answer me? How else?”
“Margo! You’re back. Come here, please. I would like to show you something.”
Margo turned back around to glare at Lucy. “Where are my children? I buried them. They were under my protection. What did you do to them?”
Lucy smiled at her. “Come here. I’ll explain everything.”
Margo grumbled but started heading toward the living room. Merlot followed behind her, completely devastated that she was acting that way toward him, but he understood. If their places were reversed, he would be upset, too. Lucy stopped her at the door to the living room to wait for Merlot to catch up to them. She beamed at them before pushing the door open. Margo rushed into the room and began to inspect each of the children inside as they crowded around her. Merlot glanced at his mother.
“Who are they?”
Lucy leaned her head against his shoulder. “Those, son, are the children from the cocoons. I don’t know how she did it, but she brought them back. I was asleep when I felt power in the air and ran outside. The cocoons were coming up, and I had no idea what was going on until they started opening. They are all here. We have been waiting for you guys to return.” She sighed. “I’m starting to wonder how many of these species’ abilities were left out of the books. Nowhere in any of them is this power described. I’m assuming that by the way she was acting in the hallway, she had no idea that she could bring the dead back, either.”
“No, she thought you guys did something to the bodies.”
She smiled as Margo came back over to smile shyly up at him. “Merlot, I’m sorry.”
Lucy walked back to the kids, leaving them alone. Merlot pulled Margo into his arms.
“It’s okay. We’ll earn your trust eventually.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her up.
“Can we go to bed? I’m exhausted. Life is hard.”
He chuckled as he nodded to his siblings and parents. “We’ll talk in the morning,” he told them as he carried her out.
When they got to their bedroom, he stripped their clothes off before putting them both in bed. She rolled over to raise up on her arm to look down at him as she drew hearts on his chest.
“I really am sorry, Merlot. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. Your family has been nothing but good to me and my sisters.”
He pulled her down to kiss him. “I love you, Margo.”
She searched his face. “Do you?”
“Yes. Every day we’re together, you make me more amazed by everything you do. I don’t want to be without you. It would destroy me.”
She lightly scratched his chest. “So, you’re saying this is our forever?”
He put his hand over hers, making hers lay flat on his chest. “It was forever to me the second I knew we were mates, Margo.”
She bit her lip nervously as a large, thick vine came out of her chest over her heart. She cupped the budding flower on the end, gently holding it as it slowly bloomed into a large black flower with thorns that resembled teeth on the inside of it. She swallowed hard before placing it over his heart. He jumped when the thorns entered his skin. He looked up at her curiously, silently asking her to explain. She leaned down to kiss him as the flower let him go.
“This is our forever, Merlot. You claimed me. It made me your forever, but not you mine. I just claimed you. Now, you’re mine, too.”