Author's Note (Updated 9/25/17): I try to make my notes all at the beginning and the end so that you don't loose the flow of the story.

For those new to my stories, I write all of my Dark-Hunter fanfics as novella length continuations of the series, as best as I can. I try to avoid making any guesses as to where Sherilynn Kenyon is headed with her series, or over arching story lines. Instead, I simply wrote stories for some of my favorite characters who have yet to have their stories told, so I do guess at their backstory if it hasn't been shared in the DH books yet. Ms Kenyon could easily shatter each one of my stories as new books come out. And, that has in fact happened as I created a story that included Hecate as a character. Then Dragonmark came out and she is referenced in the book. It throws her whole role in my Achilles story out the door in so far as cannon goes. So, please take some of it with a grain of salt. These are just my attempts at giving more characters their happily connected relationships in one form or another.

Also be warned that I do write with Ms Kenyon's foundations of sex, violence and abuse. Though I may cuss a bit more. Depending on the story. They are all rated M for these reasons. And be aware that there may be SPOILERS if you have not read the DH series up to Dragonmark.

I started these stories two years ago and my writing has improved. I hope to spend some time going back to my earlier stories and seriously working on rewriting (not content, but fixing grammar and any major cannon issues as they popped in). I also gave all of the stories dates just to help me remember who was where as I wrote them, as several of the stories do overlap a fair amount.

This story, is rather independent. I created many of my own characters for these stories. So, headed into this story, please know that the main female character is not from Ms. Kenyon's book series, nor are any characters from her past. Additionally, Declan and his group are original to this story as well. However, references to Jenna and her family are from Deimos's story.

If you would like to read my other stories in chronological order, they are:

Achilles (ancient to modern), Deimos, Colt, Kell, Phobos, Morginne, Remi (has a broader timeline), Ethon (falls during Remi)

If you would wish to read things in clumped information, the order is:

Achilles and Remi can be read completely independently, before or after the other clumps. Clump one- Deimos and Phobos. Clump two- Colt and Kell. Clump three- Morginne and Ethon.

So, enough with my crap, on to the story...

"Shit!" Remi growled as one of the waitresses dropped another plate behind him.

She quickly scurried away with apologies.

Remi Peltier was in no mood for anything else to be grating on his nerves. Not that he ever was in a good mood, but recently, it had become worse. He threw down his towel and left the kitchen before he blew up.

Life for him was nothing more than a series of open wounds being filled with salt and rubbed in hard.

How could he ever explain to anyone that he never felt like he belonged around people when he was born into a family where he is one of fourteen children? He had suffered the loss of two of his brothers like the rest of the family. As well as the recent loss of their parents. But, still, that left his ten brothers and one sister. Plus, several of them had significant others and children.

Then, add in the fact that the family ran a local bar and boarding house of sorts. Sanctuary was in fact, a limani, a type of refuge to the preternatural community. Among the world, there many entities that the humans don't know about. Among them are the Were-Hunters, or shape-shifters. There are several species of Were's in the world, such as lions, wolves, panthers, hawks, even dragons. A limani is to be a safe haven for everyone to find shelter regardless of past, species, or much in between, with very few exceptions to those rules.

The Peltier family were bears. A mix of Katagaria and Arcadian bears. Katagaria being animals who can take on human form. Arcadian being humans that can take on the animal form. Yet, despite being mixed blood, they were all true to bear nature. Everyone in the family tended to walk a fine line between absolute family loyalty and general desire to be left alone at risk bodily harm to the person annoying them. Interesting nature when running a limani and human business at the same time. Still, the bars 'house rules' said it all… "Come in peace or leave in pieces."

Most members of the family, including the extended family of residents who lived in Sanctuary, were a little more social. A few prefered to keep to themselves. None, more so than Remi.

Okay, maybe the dragon in the attic, but he didn't really count in Remi's mind.

Unfortunately, for Remi, he was never really left alone. Not only did he have to work in the bar, but he had to interact with the family in the halls of the house as well. And, that was where the salt came into the picture. Because the one person who ever managed to break through his shell to touch his heart… now lived in the house, mated to his twin brother and mothering his children.

It wasn't really their fault, Remi always tried to justify things so as to not lash the anger out on them. For as much as he really wanted to shred his brother to pieces, Remi also loved him.

One of the curses of being a Were-Hunter was that they could not have children until they are mated, and could only have children with that mate. The real kicker was that they couldn't choose their mates. The Fates chose for them.

All the Were-Hunter could do was sleep around until they had sex with the right person. Afterwards, their mating marks would show up on each others hands, in exact match. Unfortunately, the first time that Rebecca was in heat, she went in search of Remi and stumbled upon his brother Quinn. Quinn didn't know about Remi's relationship with Becca. Becca was too overwhelmed with the emotions and need of her hormones, did not even realize that Quinn was not Remi. And, since Remi and Quinn are part of a set of identical quads, it was easy to mix them all up.

Yet, boom.

Despite the inexplicably random mistake of it all, the two received their mating marks.

Yeah, they could have refused. But, that would have left Quinn impotent for the rest of Becca's life, and Becca unable to have children. So, they chose to seal the deal.

That left Remi in the cold, living down the hall from them as they have children. Each child rubbed it in deeper that his brother was sleeping with the woman that he had been in love with for years. It would be easier if he could just stop his love for her.

It all grated on him. His general disposition was one of snarling, growling, agitation. That was on a good day. And, it was the reason that he was delegated to only working in the kitchen, washing dishes, away from the general public. He should just leave. But, he couldn't bring himself to abandon his family. Especially after their parents died.

Life fucking sucked.

December 2, 2016

It was early, or getting very late depending on your view. The bar was closed to humans, giving the staff a chance to clean the place up, and mop the floors. There were still preternatural customers milling about, since Sanctuary was technically open 24/7 for them. Though, even those crowds had died down.

Remi hadn't slept well, so he headed into the bar to help mop the floors. It would give him something to do. He would need to be down there in a few hours anyway. At least, this way, he knew the place would be clean.

Most of the guests had worked their way up to the second floor of the bar where there was still a good poker game underway. It was rambunctious enough that even Serre and Justin were milling about and watching the festivities.

"One of you should be up on the third floor, doing your jobs." Remi grumbled to himself. Too low for anyone to hear. Were-animals were created by the magical manipulation of a god and a desperate king. As a result, the Were's could use magic themselves. Most commonly to transport themselves in a flash to a location. Yet, because Sanctuary was a public business with human clientele, filters were put in place to funnel all outside attempts to flash into the bar to the third floor where the humans could not see. There was always supposed to be someone there as guard to check intentions and that the person entering was not already banned. Remi tried to not think about the lack of security.

At least the poker game kept people occupied so Remi could flip the chairs onto the tables after they were all scrubbed down. Then, as he pulled the mop bucket into the room, he looked up to the top of the stairs that lead from that third floor. A woman stumbled out of the door and looked like she was about to tumble right on down all of those steps.

In the space of a heart beat, he used his magic to flash himself up to her and caught her before she was seriously hurt. Then, she passed out in his arms.