Page 70 of My Pleasure

“Don’t worry cuz, we’ll do the thinking for you,” Rory offered.

Meryn pointed. “See, that’s why cousins are cool.” She sighed. “I guess a small cousin nugget wouldn’t be too bad. But I only have Uncle Marshall and Aunt Lily.”

Ryuu coughed into his hand. “On your mother’s side. You can have cousins on your father’s side as well, like Brie.”

Meryn’s face scrunched up. “So, Darian and Oron are my cousins because they’re Uncle Bren and Auntie’s sons?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“That’s because it’s not. We’re your brothers,” a deep voice corrected.

Meryn looked behind her and smiled. “Yeah, brothers…” She looked at Pip, then frowned again. “But not like Pip and Nigel and Neil.” She set her coffee cup down. “This shit is hard.”

“Denka, I believe your family broke every rule and tradition when it came to family bonds,” Ryuu pointed out.

Darian sat down next to Aiden. “What is she up to now?”

Aiden shook his head. “She wants cousins now.”

Darian turned to look at Meryn. “Is there a checklist you’re working on?”

Meryn rubbed her belly. “I want jellerbean to have all the family. So they’ll never be alone.”

Aiden’s expression melted. “We’ll get you cousins baby.”

Keran looked to Hunter. “Do we have cousins yet?”

Hunter shook his head. “Nope. My brothers have yet to meet their mates.”

Nicol pointed her fork at Hunter. “We’ll only accept your cousins.”

Meryn snorted. “Your fake uncle won’t be alive long enough to have kids, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Darian frowned. “Meryn McKenzie, you are weeks away from giving birth. Stop killing people.”

“But…” Meryn started.

Darian pointed to himself and Aiden. “We’ll do it.”

Aiden just nodded.

Darian looked to Aiden. “Who are we killing?”

Aiden pointed to the kids. “Their uncle.”

Darian smiled. “Never mind. Your Uncle Bren has called dibs on that one.”

“He’s awesome!” Meryn exclaimed.

Keran grinned. “And tall. Like super tall.”

“I feel like I should be given preference on this one,” Hunter protested.

“Another family bonding trip!” Meryn suggested.

Darian put his large hand on her head and bopped it around. “You summoned a dark entity last time. No, thank, you.”

She knocked his hand away. “Rude. That was Ryuu.”

“Because you asked him to,” Darian countered.