War lets go of my hand as we walk into the living room and see Parker, Kai, Talon, and Hunter talking.

"What's up?" I ask as we get near them.

Hunter looks at me. "We're discussing our next moves and the information that my father gave us about what's been going on."

"Right," I mutter. "This mysterious baby everyone's all gung ho about." I roll my eyes.

Talon gives me a pointed look. "Mercy, you shouldn't just let that roll off your back. If the old lady's visions are true–"

"Even if there will be a baby. It won't be anytime soon, Talon. I'm on two different kinds of birth control."

"Two?" Parker asks curiously.

I chuckle. "Another downfall to being a half-demon. Not all contraceptives will work unless paired with another because just one doesn't have the . . ." I pause thinking of the right word. "right juice, I guess is a way to put it. Even the demon-made contraceptives are a giant pain in the ass to get the right amount needed to prevent a half-demon's pregnancy."

"Ah," he says as he meets my eyes. "How're you feeling after last night?"

"A hell of a lot better now that I actually got some sleep. Where is everyone else?"

"Your mom is with your dad and uncle in the kitchen. I think she said she was making breakfast. Vivian is with Xena in her room."

"Xena?" I ask, confused. "When did she get here?"

"Remember when I said we went to get help?" War asks. I nod. "We went to get Xena."

"I wonder why she didn't say anything to me," I mutter and then shake my head as I step back from the group. "You guys keep talking about," I wave my hand, "whatever the hell it is you plan on talking about. I'm going to go bug my mom for some pancakes."

I don't wait for a response, I just turn around and walk off to the kitchen. I don’t bother to hide my chuckle when I see my uncle glaring at my mom as he leans against the counter.

"What's wrong?" I ask, coming to stand beside him.

"Your mother is the most infuriating human I have ever met," he grumbles. "She actually kicked me out of the way so that she could cook and ordered me not to touch anything."

I snicker. "You know there's a reason for that right? Your cooking is just as horrible as mine is."

He shrugs. "Doesn't mean the crazy woman had to kick me."

"Wait, she actually kicked you?" I ask, mouth twitching in amusement. That amusement grows when he narrows his eyes at me.

"Right on my shin."

"Quit being a baby," my mom snaps from the stove. My dad's standing on the other side of her watching her with amusement glittering in his eyes. "You’re this big bad demon. A little kick to the shin isn't going to kill you."

"Have you been back to bed, mom?" I ask, hoping to stop yet another argument between the two of them. I have had to do it more times than I care to admit or even want to count since we lost dad.

"No, your dad and I wanted to talk and catch up," she says with the happiest smile I've seen on her face in years.

I glance up and meet my dad's gaze. I give him a smile, happy that having him back made my mom happy. I just don't have a clue how to act with him. Or talk to him. To him, I'm probably still that little girl he lost when Payne and Jerome took me.

"Mercy, can we talk?" Dad asks, gesturing to the door that leads outside.

"Um, yeah, sure."

He leads us outside and leans against the patio railing. I close the door behind me and we look at each other. I purse my lips, not really knowing what to say. Or if I should even be the one who starts.

"This is awkward as fuck," he says bluntly, shocking a laugh out of me. "You're not my little girl anymore," he says softly, eyes sad. "I missed so much time with you, Mercy. You have no idea how much I wish I could have stopped Payne from taking you. Then we finally found you, freed you, and then I ended up being the one trapped. I hate that I've missed so much of your life."

I smile sadly. "You haven't missed much."

His red eyes scan over my bare arms and shoulders, anger briefly flashing. "I wish I could have spared you that pain. He will pay for it, I promise you that."

I grin evilly. "Damn straight he will. I'm gonna kill him. I'm looking forward to it."

Dad chuckles. "I was pleased to hear that your uncle trained you after I was gone. I would have liked it to be me, but I'm glad he helped."

"If it weren't for him, I'd have been killed or taken again a long time ago," I admit.

"Your mother told me a little about your life before you had to go to the Order." He pauses, expression pained. "God, I'm so sorry, Mercy."

I bite the inside of my cheek and sigh. "There's really no point in dwelling on it all. We can't change it. It isn't your fault that I was taken, and it wasn't your fault that you ended up getting taken, too. You got me out of there, that's enough for me."

He nods with a small smile. “Alright, I’ll stop blaming myself.”

“Good. Do you think mom’s done with breakfast? I’m starving.”

* * *

“Do you have any threes?” Vivian asks, eyes focused on the cards in her hands.

“Go fish,” Xena says, smiling at Vivian’s pout.

“Okay, Mercy, your turn,” Vivian says after grabbing a card from the deck placed between the three of us.

God. How long has it been since I’ve played this game? Almost ten years?

I eye the cards in my hand. “Uh, do you have any queens?”

Vivian plucks a card out of her hand and tosses it to me.

“Such a sore loser,” I tease, making her laugh. Turning to Xena, I ask, “So, why didn’t you let me know that you were here earlier.”

She smirks. “I knew you were . . . busy,” she finishes. “Do you have any fives?”

“Go fish,” Vivian sings.

“Vivian is handling her parents’ death pretty well, all things considering,” I send to Xena. “Should we be worried? I’ve never been around a child who lost their parents that young.”

“You think I have?” Xena chuckles beside me as she hands the card Vivian just asked for over. “I don’t know. She’s probably still processing. It’ll hit her hard, we just have to make sure we’re there for her when it happens.”

Movement in my peripheral makes me look up from the card game, and I glare at Kai, who’s standing there with his arms folded across his chest, a smirk playing at his lips.

“What?” I ask.

“Are you guys seriously playing ‘Go Fish’?”

I sniff. “Don’t tell me a big tough guy like you has never played it.”

He chuckles. “Not since I was about nine, no.”

“Kai,” Vivian sings. “Play with us.”

Kai’s expression pinches. Clearly, he doesn’t want to play with us. I burst out laughing. “Yeah, not right now, kiddo. I’m actually here to get Mercy.” He meets my eyes. “We all need to talk. Xena would you mind keeping an eye on Vivian?”

“Of course not, she’s a gem,” Xena says, reaching over and ruffling Vivian’s hair, making the little girl giggle.

“I’ll be back, I guess,” I mutter and hand Xena my cards to put them back in the deck. Standing up, I stretch languidly, trying to get the kinks out of my back from sitting awkwardly on the floor for the last who knows how long.

Following Kai out of the room I ask, “What’s going on?”

“I’m not entirely sure, myself. We’ll find out in a minute.”

“You guys are such wells of information, you know that?” I ask, smiling at him.

He smirks. His smile fades away as he stops and cups my cheek. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Mercy.”

I smile, leaning into his touch slightly. “I am, too.”

He drops his hand and reaches for mine. Linking our fingers together he leads us into the kitchen where the rest of the guys, my mom, my dad, and my uncle are waiting.

My mom’s eyes narrow in on my hand in Kai’s, confusion briefly flaring in her eyes as she flicks her gaze to War and back to my hand in Kai’s.

Shit, she’s not the only one confused about all of this.

Kai drops my hand and moves to stand against the wall. War gestures for me to go to him. As soon as I get near he pulls me onto his lap, shocking the hell out of me.

He circles his arms around my waist, and I look at Hunter, since he’s the leader. Maybe we can get this started instead of awkwardly staring at each other.

“So, what’s going on?” I ask Hunter.

“I’ve explained to the team, and to your parents, about your ability to control the hellhounds,” he says, making me stiffen. War rubs his thumb in soothing circles on my wrist. “What we need to discuss are the next steps. I don’t doubt that my father will make Payne pay for what he’s done. He insulted my father, and that’s not acceptable to him. However, when I checked in with my father earlier about Torn, he informed me that Torn was gone. He disappeared after your fight with Damiana and the hellhounds.”

“I wouldn’t really call that a fight,” I point out. “She was hoping that the hellhounds would do her job for her. It just kind of turned around and bit her in the ass when I managed to gain control of the hellhounds.” I pause. “Pun not intended, but you know what I mean.”

Hunter gives me an exasperated look, while Kai, War, and Parker all chuckle. “In any case, my brother is M.I.A.”

“Okay, cut to the chase, Hunter,” I say impatiently.

“I have a spy who works under my brother, he feeds me information as it’s needed. I made contact with him after I heard Torn was missing. Turns out that my brother wants you to suffer because of the simple fact that he knows if he hadn’t gone missing, our father would have had him imprisoned and tortured until my father deemed he was suitably punished for making him out to be a fool.”

My mom glances around the room. “Suffer how?”

I swallow hard as Hunter’s gaze bores into me. “There are many ways to make someone suffer,” Hunter says quietly. “Especially someone who has as big of a heart as Mercy.”

“Sorry for having a heart,” I mumble irritably. I may be a bitch and can be cold, but to those important to me, I’m anything but.

War’s chest vibrates against my back, and I know he’s chuckling inside. Ass.

“He doesn’t know that Mercy is under the protection of my team, or if he does, he’s hiding it.”

I bite back a growl. “I don’t need protection,” I say between clenched teeth. My uncle laughs.

“Mercy girl, you’re a badass, we know this. That doesn’t mean you don’t need help,” he says, still chuckling.

I narrow my eyes at him. “I never once said that I didn’t need help. I said I don’t need protection. There are two very different meanings there.”

He rolls his eyes, but my mom flashes me a smile, while my dad watches with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn?” my uncle shoots at me.

“Why do you have to be such a dick?” I shoot back, smiling sweetly.

“Enough, both of you,” my mom snaps, clapping her hands together. “God, it’s like everytime I turn around you two are bickering.”

I grin. “It’s so fun, though.”

“She’s got a point there, Lilly,” Roderick agrees.

“Can we focus?” Hunter asks, a smile on his face despite the annoyance in his tone. Weirdo.

“If we must,” I grumble.

“As I was saying, he doesn’t know that you’re getting help from my team,” Hunter says, emphasizing his words with a pointed look in my direction. “The most likely way he’ll go after Mercy is to attack you three and Xena,” he says, looking at my family. “Possibly even Vivian if he knows about her.”

“So, what are we going to do?” I ask. “We can’t all stay one step ahead of your brother. There’s too many of us to not look suspicious.”

“My father has a home not far from here. It’s warded against everyone. I asked for his permission to allow your family, Xena, and Vivian to hide there until all of this crap is over. He granted it, and he’ll have the home spelled so even my brother can’t get in. We’ll still be staying with them when we need to, but for us, it’s best to keep moving.”

“Okay, when does this happen?” I ask, leaning back in War’s arms, finally letting myself relax slightly.

“As soon as possible. We’ll be going to Parker’s home next. We won’t be able to leave until nightfall, though.”

“Good.” My uncle says. He turns and points at me. “You and me in the basement. I need to be sure that you haven’t lost your touch.”

I groan. Damn it. Today’s a big ball of suck already.