Gale sighed and leaned back in his chair. So many projects to work on so little time, he glanced around at his makeshift lab. If anyone other than his family had entered here they would have thought some had trashed the place. Bits of wire, glass, metal, jars filled with various plants and chemicals, and tools of all kinds were scattered across the tables. On the floor were books lying open and almost every one of them had little notes and citations in the margins. Papers were scattered haphazardly around them. Gale sighed again and let his head drop back to stare at the ceiling.

Normally he was very good with figure out problems and coming up with new designs for weapons, but something was eating at his mind. Even with the Carpathian ability to multitask in their minds something was deeply disturbing his mental process. It was itch he just couldn't or a nagging feeling that something was horribly wrong. But for the life of him he couldn't figure it out.

Something wrong? Gale snorted at the female voice, a voice he had known all his life. His older twin sister, Cole.

No, I just feel, He struggled to find the right word for what he felt. Agitated, like I have some pent up energy that I need to use to protect someone. He felt his sister move through his mind and asses what was going on. She seemed very curious about what would upset Gale because was always calm and logical.

There's something there, but whatever it is it isn't harming you. But other than that I can't identify it. It seems to move away whenever I look too closely at it. Gale ran his hand through his long hair. That didn't help him, but at least he knew it wasn't a vampire. Suddenly a growl echoed across the mental connection between him and Cole.

What is it?

Daniel is here. Well that certainly explained Cole's almost open hostility. Daniel was an old Carpathian hunter who was also the lifemate of their second youngest sister. But matters were deeply complicated by the fact that, Maria, their second youngest sister was only thirteen years old. Things got a little heated when Cole insisted that if Daniel wanted to see Maria he had to have a chaperone at all times. While Daniel said that the idea he would do something to Maria was an affront to his honor. However, Maria's safety had won out over his honor by a landslide.

I'll be inside in just a minute.

Thanks. Cole left his mind and Gale stretched in his chair. This was going to be slightly unpleasant. Gale hauled himself out of the chair and carefully tiptoed around all his notes and experiments making sure not to disturb anything before he made his way out into the night. Once outside Gale took a deep breath and just absorbed the night. Ever since he had made the change over a year ago everything was sharper. He could see, hear, smell, even sense things he hadn't before. A whole new world had opened up to him and it was breathtaking. He stood there just gaze at the stars for a long time. The night air was cool and smelt heavily of pine and earth, something he found very soothing.

Beautiful. A small voice inside him whispered.

"Yes it is." Gale said out loud to no one but himself. Taking in one more deep breathe to settle himself Gale turned resolutely towards the main house. He made his way quickly to the front and opened it to chaos. All of the furniture was pushed up against the walls. A toddler sat astride a giant snow tiger. She was whooping and urging the big cat to run faster through the house, much to the tiger's distress. A fully grown Carpathian male was chasing after them with a thirteen year old girl clinging to his back. A nanny who was also a body guard had shifted to her Lycan form and was pretending to chase the group with an elven year old girl on her back. The little girl brandished a small silver and was yelling charge.

Anywhere else this would have been a strange sight. Gale rolled out of the way as the snow tiger came sliding around the corner and rushed into the kitchen with his rider. He waited for the rest of the parade to dash through before he went to sit beside Cole at the Kitchen table. She had papers stacked neatly next to her and her laptop open.

"What do you need?" Cole flipped her braid over her shoulder and looked at her brother like he had grown another head. She pointed to the chaos.

"Can you get all of this outside and watch them? I need finish these estimates for this order." Gale read over Cole's shoulder. Someone wanted Cole to forge a ceremonial sword, and matching twin daggers. They wanted the hilts and sheathes incrusted with real gems, rubies and sapphires. Gale raised his eyebrows.

"Looks like a tall order." Cole snorted.

"Yes, but the check they wrote just to get the estimate cleared right away."

"Deep pockets?" Cole rubbed her face and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Mhmm, and they paid to have it done as quickly as possible." Gale whistled. That was a lot of money. Cole forged swords like it had once been done in ancient times. Bryon, her uncle-in-law, had helped her hewn her skills and Joseph her lifemate, agreed to do the ornamentation on the hilts and sheaths were it was needed. The business was a surprising hit. Lots of very wealthy people and collectors paid to have replicas made the "right way" as many of them called it. Cole sighed and put her head down on the table.

"Where's your lifemate." Her head instantly snapped up at the mention of Joseph.

"He's off getting food." Gale nodded and then turned to the group that was racing around the house. Gale took a deep breathe before in a booming voice asked,

"What's going on in here." Cole chuckled darkly as both her sister and daughter froze. Gale rarely used this voice, but when he did he meant business. Everyone turned and looked at him, some with surprise, others with a mixture of guilt and fear. In his normal voice he said, "Clean this up." gesturing at the furniture. The three kids hung their heads and slipped to their own feet before they started moving stuff back. Daniel was about to wave his hand and just make everything move back in place when Gale stopped him. "It's important they do this the hard way. We must always appear human."

"Having a toddler riding on the back of a tiger is not human, besides why make her do this when I can do it for her." Gale sighed, this was a constant debate between Cole and Daniel.

"You won't always be there to do things for her. She needs to know she could do things without your help, but if you must help her than do it with her like a human."

"She isn't human."

"But she must always appear to be." Daniel groaned in defeat then helped the four girls and one tiger move things back to their proper place. Once that was done Gale glanced at his wrist watch and said, "I'll give you guys to the count of." He paused to sneak a peek at his sisters and niece and almost laughed at their excited expressions. "Twenty, to get outside. Then I start tickling the naughty children." Daniel raised an eyebrow at Gale. "One. Two." All three girls went shrieking from the house. Maya laughed and walked at after them to make sure they didn't go too far from the house. Gale counted eighteen more seconds before he said. "Twenty." and followed the girls outside with Daniel walking beside him.