"We would like you all to have lunch with us. If that is okay with you. And we can show you our house," Pai said, looking at everyone. "And it would be a good way to open our own channel of communication. It will help us to talk to each other without allowing others to know what is happening. Technology can be hacked, but what's within us, cannot be," Dean said. "Alright, that sounds great. Dean and I will show you around, while Phayu and Win will get the meal ready. Please come this way," Pai said. "Can I stay..," Rain began. "Go see the house little one. See if you can find Phi's room," Phayu said, and Rain immediately skipped off happily. Tharn and Type looked at each other. They had really needed to speak to Phayu about their son, because they were amazed how different Rain was with Phayu. For now, they would go with the others, but they vowed to talk to Phayu at the earliest.

The elders were amazed at the simple beauty of the house. It was massive, a large conference room in the basement, a dining table that could seat at least thirty to forty people ("We hardly use this room," Pai said), a formal salon and a large family room on the ground floor, along with a big wonderful kitchen on the ground floor. There were four sets of staircases that went to four different wings, with three levels. The first level had another salon, more private and smaller, the second level had five rooms with ensuites and the top level was again common, with an indoor pool. "It doesn't look like Phayu designed it just for the four of you," Type commented. "Actually, Dean made him design this way," Pai said, laughing. "Why?" Charn asked curiously. "I don't really know. It just felt the right thing to do," Dean said, blushing. "Well, Dean is being humble. He decided to manifest our mates, and a big family. So, Phayu heard no end of demands. Guy wanted to give up after a while," Pai continued to laugh as Dean punched him on the arm.

"Please don't listen to him," Dean said, as he just ushered everyone along. The four youngest men were quickly able to recognise their mates' rooms from the scent. "Strawberries and vanilla," Rain giggled softly. "Jasmine," Team said, equally softly. "Coffee," Sky said, as the other three rolled their eyes. "Butter cookies," Pharm said, making the others giggle again. All the older men watched fondly as the younger ones ran around looking everywhere and trying to discover everything.

They were greeted with a redolent meal. "This looks wonderful Phayu, Win," Kinn said, as they all sat down. "Thank you. Umm, we did not set out blood, as we were not sure if...," Win trailed off. "Not required son," Tinn said. "We are mates, and do not require anything from the outside," Charn said. "How do you feed then?" Vegas asked curiously. "We either use bagged blood, or each other if times are desperate, which doesn't happen anymore, since we do not leave the comfort of our home," Phayu said. "How did the young ones manage without their Draugs?" Pai asked. "We give them our wrist when they need," White said. Phayu, Dean, Win and Prapai looked at each other. "We know what you guys are thinking. It is your duty and your privilege to feed your mate," Pete said, waving his fork around enthusiastically. "But you can't just take our babies from us," Tharn said, a mutinous set on his face. "Khun Tharn..," "The four of you are mates to our children. But the truth is, no matter how old they become, they will still stay our babies," Min said, sounding strained. "We have no intention of taking our mates from their families right now. We only request you to let us know when they need to be fed," Phayu said, bowing his head.

"And what about you Phi Mate?" Rain asked quietly, his voice soft. "We will continue like this awhile little one," Phayu smiled at him. Rain and the other young ones looked at their fathers beseechingly. "Phi Mate..," "No little one. Now eat, before it get cold, okay?" Phayu admonished softly. Rain looked put out, but he grudgingly continued to eat. After lunch, Win offered to show them the area around the house. Phayu was about to go with them when Tharn and Type stopped him. "There is something we would like to talk to you about," Type said, sounding serious. "Of course, anything," Phayu said, leading them to the less formal salon they had. "Phayu, as you know, physical human diseases cannot touch us. We are completely immune to them. However, that doesn't stand true for certain cerebral diseases. Rain is a wonderful boy, and we love him a lot, have no doubts of that. But he suffers from a slight form of ADHD. He finds it difficult to concentrate on things, gets emotional very quickly, needs to move around quite a bit," Tharn said. "Medicines will not work, as they are all of the human variety and our bodies will reject them. What he needs is someone constantly taking care of him as he gets restless. We tried, and I even reduced my working ours to bring some structure to him. But you have seen his dad," Type glared at Tharn, who looked properly downcast, before continuing. "He spoils him, sometimes to the point of overindulgence, just making things worse." "Ai'Type!" Tharn whined, but was subdued by another glare by his husband.

"Khun Type, how can I help?" Phayu asked, ignoring the by-play between the two men, his mind focused on the well-being of his mate. "First, please call me Pa," Type said, smiling at his son's mate. "I would love to Khun, but I don't want to use that title with you until I am comfortable calling my own father that. I wouldn't want to hurt him at any cost," Phayu bowed again. Tharn was impressed despite himself. As for Type, he knew at this moment that this boy, he would be the best choice for their son. "Very well Phayu," Type smiled. "Okay, as to what you can do to help. You have studied Architecture, and that's what Rain is studying at Uni. We request you to give him time, whatever you can, how much ever you can, whenever you can. We can see how comfortable he already is with you, and we can see that he already listens to you in his own way, which is more than I can say about myself and Tharn," Type added. Phayu nodded. "You are his mate, and in a way, a senior. So it would not raise any red flags. You can protect him and you can help him," Type said. "Okay Khun. I will do whatever I can," Phayu said. His tone convinced Type and Tharn that their son was in safe hands. "Let's go and take a look around," Phayu said, gesturing forward.

Later, much later, Phayu, Dean, Win and Pai sat around in their favourite room. "So?" Dean asked. "It was a whirlwind 24 hours," Pai laughed lightly, as he leaned back with his eyes closed, in his recliner, but no one was fooled by it. "I don't think Pakin and Chai thought that the four young ones will be our Draugs. He miscalculated," Win said, voice hard, warrior mode on. "What was he thinking? What was the Council thinking? Kidnapping the little ones?" Dean asked, his anger clear. "Clearly, they weren't thinking at all!" Pai said. "What are you thinking Phayu?" Win asked, noticing that their friend hadn't said a word. "I don't know what they were thinking when it came to kidnapping the fledgelings, or when it came to us meeting our families. I only think that they wanted us to come out of retirement. They wanted us out," Phayu said. "That means they took an unnecessary chance with our Draugs, just to prove a point?" Pai was livid.

"To give them the benefit of doubt, I don't think they knew they were our Draugs. So now, in retrospect, they must be regretting their decision," Dean said, pensively. "Phayu, we need to have a concrete plan before storm the bastion. I guess even you know that. So where do we begin?" Win asked. "Intel. What we need is information about every single member of the Council; their strengths, their weaknesses, anything and everything we can find," Phayu said. The others nodded. "I am on it," Dean said. They knew that intel collection was Dean's forte, so they would leave that to him. "How about our Draugs?" Win asked. "We need to find a way to protect them," he added. "Team and Pharm are studying Business and Rain and Sky are in Architecture. It will not be amiss if Phayu and Pai are helping them," Dean says thoughtfully. "I disagree. Our Draugs need all of us. We need to find a way to be with them and protect them," Pai said.

"Best thing to do would be one of us picking them up and bringing them here. Then they spend time with us. And one of us drops them back. We can alternate," Win said. "That's a better plan. And we need to get our families into our care too. Plus Win, we need to make sure my car is checked out, before any of us uses it, especially if it is about the safety our Draugs," Phayu said. "It amazes me how in a span of 24 hours, we went from 500 years of celibacy to instant family," Pai said, rolling his eyes. The others laughed, but the sound was hollow. "I can't tell you how wild it makes me to know that all this while, we literally lived an arm's throw from our families and mates, and we were fucking clueless," Win said, still seething with anger. "Pakin and Chai have a lot to answer for," Dean said. He was also angry, but he was always more in control than Win.

"You know. I was thinking. What if we ask all of them to move here? We have enough place, and nowhere will it be safer for them than here," Pai said. The others looked thoughtful. "That might be too conspicuous Pai. We are trying to keep the attention away, not draw it on us," Win said. Phayu and Dean nodded. "Win is right. However, since we are all discovering/rediscovering each other, we can ensure that come visit is as often as possible," Phayu said. "Okay. Then what we can do is at least create a schedule for our Draugs. They will be here more often than not," Pai said. "Don't worry. I will ensure more security measures are put in. And Phayu, we need to strengthen the wards around the house. You haven't fed a while. Do it, we need blood tonight," Win said. Phayu nodded. "Then I will go and do that," Phayu stood up, as Dean, Win and Pai set out to do their tasks.

"Also," Phayu said, as the others turned to look at him. "Don't forget to cloak your thoughts. Especially since we are dealing with the Council," he said. They nodded. They knew that even though they were powerful, and it was not easy to get into their heads, they had to be careful at every step. A couple of hours later, Phayu strode into their house desperately wanting a bath. It was always better if the blood they took in for the strengthening of the wards was fresh. Before, none of them had any issues about feeding from each other, or from someone else. But now that he had found his Draugs, he hated the feeling that he had gotten. Drinking from his brothers had been out of the question, because they needed the strength as well. But drinking from a stranger had been loathsome. All he could think of was the chocolate and lavender scent of his fated mate, his little one. But needs must. However, that did not mean he had to walk around with this stench clinging to him. "Shower!" he snarled, when Win called out to him. "What's gotten into him?" he asked Pai and Dean as he disappeared upstairs.

"Once the mate is in vicinity, drinking from someone becomes hard. We drank just a while ago, so we didn't have this worry. And we can make do with bagged blood until our mates are ready," Dean said. "Not the same for Phayu huh?" Pai said. "He hasn't had fresh in years, as far as I know. He always makes do with bagged," Win said thoughtfully. "We are going to be in so much trouble. Now that we have the scent of our mates, our senses are going to be heightened, and we can't depend on them..," Pai trailed off. "Technically, no one can stop us. It's our right and privilege. But they are too young for us. Just settling into their worlds," Dean said. Pai acquiesced. "It is going to be the hardest on Phayu. He is the oldest amongst us, and the most disciplined. Now that Rain has been found, Phayu might not want to touch even bagged blood," Dean said, sounding a tad bit worried. Win and Pai stared at him in alarm. But before they could say anything, Pai's phone rang. "It's an unknown number," he said, looking at it. "Put it on speaker," Dean said immediately as Win took out his phone took out his phone to put a blocker on their location and Dean took out his to trace where the call was coming from. Just then Phayu came down the stairs. Pai gestured and he immediately understood, waiting for Pai to pick up the call.

"Hello..," Pai answered. "Prapai Theerpanayakul?" a voice said. "Yes, that's me?" "You, along with Phayu Theerpanayakul, Dean Inkhamwiang and Pawin Koetkasin are requested to present yourself before the Council as soon as possible, to debrief on the hostage situations of the fledglings," the voice announced robotically. "We already debriefed to P'Pakin and P'Chai. We were asked to come in by them. We are not obliged to answer to the Council," Pai said calmly, looking at Phayu. Phayu nodded at once as he opened the door to a private conversation with his father. "Khun Vegas?" "Phayu?" "We have a situation," he said simply, and allowed Vegas to listen in to the conversation happening beside him. "You are not obliged Khun Prapai, but it would be in your best interests to do so," the voice continued. Pai looked at his brothers. They all nodded, thoughts linear. "Okay, Dean and I will come. You don't need the four of us. We both know what our brothers were thinking, so it's enough if we are there. Also, we will be bringing our representatives," Pai said, his voice frost, and his challenge clear. 'Mess with one, you mess with all!' The voice on the other end probably understood that as they agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Okay, be here tomorrow at 3 pm," the voice said, cutting the call. "Looks like we have finally fanned the embers," Phayu smirked.