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Audiobook Release | Resurrected as a Drow

Resurrected as a Drow is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

My name is Fynn Draven, and I used to be from this world.

I think I might have died, but I can’t remember. All I know is that I woke up on an altar as a drow male, and the beautiful dark-elf priestesses said they begged their Spider Goddess for help.

They ended up with me.

Drow males apparently don’t have a lot of standing or power in this matriarchal society, but the women who summoned me are in dire need. Their House has been raided, their family decimated, and they are out for revenge.

So, if I can help them get their vengeance, I could potentially be adopted by this House and increase my standing in this cutthroat world.

And this group of beautifully evil priestesses will also need help making children to replenish their numbers…

Narration By: Ella Meruha, Evan Jordan
Duration: 11 Hours, 24 Minutes

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Kill Monsters, Get Rich 3 is out!

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Audiobook Release | The OP MC 11

The OP MC 11 is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

The God of Time has defeated the warlord terrorizing the Kotar Desert, but my job in the sandy kingdom isn’t done yet.

Monsters from myths and nightmares are still roaming the dunes, and I suspect someone is summoning them, so it’s up to me to find him.

In between being a new father and dragon tamer, of course.

Narration by: Christopher Boucher, Jessica Threet
Length: 8 Hours, 04 Minutes

Kane's Fate 5 NSFW Covers!

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Kane's Fate 5 is out!

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Kane's Fate 5 Chapter 4

“He’s a dealer,” Mr. Lowrey explained matter-of-factly as he pulled a fancy looking notepad and silver fountain pen from a drawer in his metal desk. “I haven’t had too many dealings with him personally, but we know each other in… A professional capacity.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lowrey,” Dax said as he took the piece of embossed card on which Auden’s dad had scribbled the name and address.

“Please, understand this, Kane.” Mr. Lowrey addressed me by my first name and clasped his hands together against the edge of his desk, and I nodded slowly for him to continue. “The business that I conduct down here… I skirt the very thin line between illegal and not, I admit that. But I do not actively go out of my way to cross that line.”

“I understand what you’re saying, sir,” I assured him in a determined voice. “We appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”

“We wouldn’t dream of implicating you, Mr. Lowrey,” Penny promised him with her voice soft and delicate. “You’ve been such a help to us.”

“Plus, Kane thinks you’re really cool.” Dax shrugged.

Silence hung in the air for a split second, until Mr. Lowrey burst out into a bellowing laugh that had him slapping the arm of his chair.

“I’d been super cool, right up until that exact point,” I sighed at my friend and shook my head.

“Your poker face isn’t as good as you think, Mr. Turner.” Auden’s dad chuckled heartily. “Which reminds me, with all of these winnings I’m paying you with, you should come to one of my poker nights. You’d meet some characters.”

“Maybe one day soon, when my personal life isn’t so busy.” I nodded.

“Well…” Mr. Lowrey shrugged and then shot a quick wink in Penny’s direction. “Women are welcome, too. They often have the best poker faces of them all.”

We extended our thanks to Mr. Lowrey once again and eventually made our way out of his magical fight ring, though not before he supplied me with paperwork and a debit card for the account he’d set up in my name.

The statement read a total of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and I pocketed the slip of paper with a suppressed grin as Dax and Penny followed me out of the establishment.

“So, we have to go and find a drug dealer?” Penny asked once we were back out on the subterranean streets.

“In a manner of speaking,” Dax said. “I guess it makes sense, considering what we need.”

“What exactly is powdered snowstone?” I questioned my charmer friend. “And what exactly is the curse on it?”

“The term curse is sorta generalized,” Dax explained as we followed Mr. Lowrey’s directions through the underground metropolis. “It’s referencing its color, not an actual hex or whatever.”

“Why?” Penny questioned. “Like, why does the color make it cursed?”

“Well, pure snowstone is white,” Dax replied with a shrug. “Makes perfect sense, right? Well, cursed snowstone is like a steely gray color. Like it’s stained. And when you powder it, its properties are totally reversed.”

“Like when you pull a reversed tarot card.” Penny nodded in understanding.

“I gotta say,” I chuckled as we dipped into a back street behind a particularly rowdy market stall selling hexed wheels of cheese that sliced themselves into portions. “I’m kinda glad I’m not a charmer like the rest of my family. The amount of stuff you guys have to remember is crazy.”

“It becomes second nature.” Dax shrugged again. “Not to mention I know more than most charmers, thanks to Imperium being shady as fuck.”

“Now that you’re working with the good guys, it’s definitely come in handy, I have to admit.” I nudged my tattooed friend in the shoulder as we walked, and Penny giggled as Dax just shook his head.

“It still puts a sour taste in my mouth,” my tattooed friend admitted. “But I’m glad I can put it to use in a positive way, at least.”

We eventually came across the place Mr. Lowrey had detailed in his note, and the sign above the establishment simply read ‘The Apothecary.’ The sign was old and wooden and lacked any sort of paint or flourish, and the front of the shop was just as nondescript and boring. It was made of old polished mahogany wood and thick dusty glass, and I could barely see any sort of light coming from inside.

Nevertheless, I pushed the door open slightly, and when I heard the faint tinkle of a bell somewhere above me, I stepped through the doorway with Dax and Penny right on my tail.

It was just as dingy inside as it looked from the outside, and the only source of light was a stack of white wax candles melted to the front desk. Their flames flickered as we disturbed the air, and the candles weren’t held in any sort of container, so the long drops of translucent wax trickled down the side of the counter like frosting on a birthday cake. The shop had a dry, dusty smell like the very wood itself held the scent of every single herb and flower on the planet, and despite the call of the bell above the door, nobody appeared to greet us.

“Is anybody even here?” Penny whispered in the gloom.

“Yo,” a lazy voice suddenly muttered. “Is someone out there?”

“Hello?” I offered a greeting.

I heard a shuffle, a lengthy groan, and then a slight clattering as the owner of the lazy voice picked themselves up from wherever they’d been slumped to come and greet us.

A moment later, an incredibly tall and lean figure lumbered around the corner behind the counter and eventually came into view. He had long brown hair that was so matted it was basically dreadlocked, there was a tattoo of a hieroglyph on his left cheek just beneath his eye, and he had a pipe wedged tightly between his teeth.

“‘Sup, guys,” he muttered as he nodded to the three of us, and the pipe expelled a small mushroom cloud of smoke as he tugged on it. “What can I do ya for?”

“Uhh…” Dax shot me a quick concerned look, and I just nodded in encouragement. “We, ahh, we needed an ingredient for a potion we’re brewing.”

“Okay, right on, ingredient.” The shop owner nodded so that his hair swayed slowly against his shoulders. “What kinda ingredient, friend?”

“Powdered snowstone,” Dax said in a flat voice. “Cursed.”

“Ohhh, you got some dangerous voodoo going on, huh?” the shopkeeper snickered through half closed eyes and then sniffed loudly. “What makes you think I got that bad boy in stock?”

“Mr. Lowrey sent us your way,” I explained in a slow voice so he could properly understand me. “My name is Kane Turner. I work for him, and he said you could help us.”

“Right on, right on,” the long haired man said. “Lowrey’s alright, means you’re alright. Nice to meet you, Kane. My name is Bartholomew, but you can call me Mew. Everyone always goes for the start of their names, but where’s the fun in that, yanno?”

“Mew,” Penny giggled. “I like that. Like the Pokemon.”

“And just as legendary.” Mew tipped an imaginary hat in Penny’s general direction and then squinted at Dax again. “Cursed and powdered, you say?”

“Do you have it?” Dax asked.

“Yeah, yeah I got it.” Bartholomew the shopkeeper nodded slowly. “In the back. Uhh, gimme just a second. How much do you need, an ounce? A pound?”

“Definitely not a pound.” Dax choked out a nervous laugh. “Half an ounce would be plenty.”

“Just a little one and done, I gotchu.” The stoned shopkeep chuckled again and shuffled off behind the counter once more with a trail of gray smoke lingering from his smoking pipe.

“Is he okay?” Penny asked under her breath, and her brow was furrowed over her blue eyes.

“I think he’s just high,” I snorted. “He seems harmless enough, though.”

“As long as he gets us what we need, then I’m all for it,” Dax muttered before he looked around the shop. “It’s nice knowing this is where I can shop for, ahh… Lesser known ingredients.”

“You mean illegal ones?” I smirked.

“All for the greater good.” Dax grinned back at me.

“Okay, friends…” Mew shuffled back into view carrying a small black pouch made of velvet. “Cursed and finely milled snowstone. Measured out half an ounce, but it went over slightly, so you got a little zoot extra in there.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, though I wasn’t entirely sure he could even see me because his eyes were that hooded. “How much do we owe you?”

“Cool fifty ‘kay should do it.” Mew shrugged disinterestedly. “I take cold cash, crypto of choice, or old school wire transfer. But you can check potency first, if you want, go right ahead.”

Dax pulled the drawstring of the little black pouch and dabbed his finger into the powder that filled it. The tip of his finger came out a thick dusty gray, almost black, and he sniffed it deeply.

“It’s legit,” Dax confirmed as he brushed the substance off the tip of his finger and back into the velvet pouch.

“Well, ‘course it’s legit, dude.” Mew laughed slowly. “How do you wanna pay then, friends?”

“Uhh, I can transfer.” I grinned. “Thanks.”

“Ayye, you’re alright, yanno,” Mew giggled as he set everything up on a tablet that looked entirely too futuristic and out of place in his gloomy candlelit apothecary store.

“Well, we trust Mr. Lowrey the same way you do,” Penny said with a slight smile.

“Makes perfect sense, miss.” He nodded sagely. “Any friends of Lowrey’s are friends of mine. ‘Specially those that transfer big stacks. Straight payment for straight goods, we love to see it.”

He wiggled the tablet in the air as it dinged with confirmation and then slapped me on the shoulder.

“Much appreciated, amigo.” Mew grinned, and I noticed he had a number of silvery teeth similar to Mr. Lowrey’s singular one. “It’s been a while since I ain’t had to fight people for a dang payment, and since you’re friends of the big cheese… I insist. A tab on the house.”

“A tab?” I asked curiously.

“Yes, brother, a tab. Open up that third eye, take a deep old look inside your psyche.” Mew gently held his hands up to my head and placed a finger on either one of my temples. “You’ve got a lot goin’ on in your noggin, brother, I can feel it. You should take a load off for a sec, it does you no good keeping it all sealed and bottled, yanno?”

“And is this tab… dangerous?” I asked.

“Hell, no,” Mew snickered. “It’s enlightening. And it fades relatively quickly.”

I narrowed my gaze at the shopkeeper as I considered his proposition. I’d never been one for drugs, but he was offering it for free, and after yesterday, I knew I wanted to take more opportunities to relax when I could. Besides, my shifter healing would probably get me sober pretty quickly, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem, and maybe I’d receive some “enlightenment” about the problems we were facing.

“He’s got a point,” I muttered to Dax and Penny as I stared into the stoned shopkeeper’s leathered face. “Maybe it’d do me good.”

“It’d do us all good,” Penny admitted. “As long as you look after me?”

“I’ll always look after you,” I assured my newest girlfriend. “Dax?”

“Fuck it,” my tattooed friend sighed. “I’ve been too tightly wound since being with my parents.”

“See, I could sense you guys were in need.” Mew nodded seriously and held his hands up to his own temples this time as he massaged the skin, until he suddenly dropped his arms and then smiled widely around his smoldering hash pipe. “Follow me, friends.”

He motioned for us to dip behind the shop counter and follow him through to the back, and I was thrilled to see the doorway covered by a glass bead curtain that rattled and danced as we passed through.

Some stereotypes just made me really happy.

Mew led us to a small room covered in cushions and poufs that reminded me of Professor Orr’s meditation class back at the academy, and the stoned shopkeeper gestured eagerly for us to find a seat as he bustled around us.

“Now, you put this on the back of your tongue, let it dissolve completely, and then swallow,” Mew instructed as he handed us each what looked like a church communion cracker.

“This is it?” Penny asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes ma’am.” Mew nodded. “Just let it do its thing. It reacts differently depending on what it is that you need to see. Open yourself up to it, and it’ll quite literally work its magic.”

I placed the thin wafer on the back of my tongue and closed my eyes as it immediately began to dissolve in my mouth. It filled my mouth with the taste of medium rare filet steak, ice cold whiskey, and something I couldn’t place but very much reminded me of how my girlfriends tasted.

I resisted the urge to crunch it or swallow it until the thing had completely dissipated in my mouth, and I kept my eyes closed as I swallowed deeply and let the magic of it wash over me in waves.

After a minute, or maybe an hour, it was hard to tell, I felt the room melt away around me, and I wasn’t even sure whether I was actually still fully conscious or not.

Either way, I knew where I was.

My feet were covered in soft powdery snow that came up to my ankles, but I didn’t feel the typical biting cold of it. It felt more like sand, comfortable and a little warm. Snowflakes swirled around my head in the air and danced in the slight breeze like lightning bugs on a summer’s night, and they eventually settled into the blanket of snow that already covered the ground. I glanced behind me to find I hadn’t left a single footstep in the snow, and I realized I must have been standing in place for quite some time.

For how long, though, I wasn’t entirely sure.

I was in a familiar forest clearing with a dark night sky above me scattered with a million stars. The moon was full and almost as bright as the sun, and the light reflected against the thick blanket of snow so easily that the dead of night was almost fully illuminated. The pine trees around me tenderly held onto armfuls of snow, and the only sign of life for miles around was a singular log cabin in the clearing just ahead of where I stood. It had a faint glow that indicated a fire crackling within, and the front door bore very recognizable runes carved right into the wood.

It was Frida’s cabin.

I’d seen her here before, in my dreams.

I continued to stand in the snow and waited patiently.

She would show herself, I was sure of it.

After another ten seconds, or ten minutes, maybe even an hour, a shadow shifted in the light of the window. Then the door with the ancient runes carved into it slowly swung open with a slight creak, and a figure appeared in the light that came from within.

Except it wasn’t the ancient Nordic goddess called Frida that stood before me.

It was Premier Weaver.

She was dressed in her usual pressed gray pantsuit, with an Atroba brooch glittering on the left lapel, and this incarnation of her didn’t just wear a white tiger pelt around her shoulders. She had a live white tiger beside her, obediently sitting on its back legs… With a leash around its neck that she held tightly in her right hand.

I immediately let out a shout of surprise, but the vision suddenly disappeared, and I found myself back in Mew’s apothecary.

“Ayoooo…” Mew groaned and held out a hand to me. “Brother, what’s with the commotion?”

“Nothing!” I gasped and rubbed my head. “Sorry. It was nothing. Penny. Penny?”

I gently shook my girlfriend’s shoulders, and she blinked slowly as her vision refocused on me.

“Kane…” she breathed with a wide smile. “I saw you.”

“I bet you did,” I chuckled and then nudged Dax with my toe so I could bring him back to the real world.

“Hey, what gives?” my tattooed friend muttered from where he was slouched against a huge tasseled cushion. “I was making out with Angelina Jolie…”

“We gotta go,” I insisted, and I continued to blink furiously against the drug’s power in an attempt to refocus myself. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

I dragged my girlfriend and my friend out of Mew’s shop, but not before ensuring Dax still had the powdered snowstone in his possession, and then we hightailed it back to the rickety old elevator.

“You wanna tell us what the hell went down in there?” Dax yawned as we rode the elevator back up to Croak’s pub.

“I saw her again. Premier Weaver.” I shifted anxiously, and I had to focus to stop my toe from tapping the floor. “In the forest cabin in the snow.”

“You mean you saw Frida?” Penny asked in confusion.

“That’s exactly the point,” I sighed. “They’re the same fucking person, or they’re definitely ancestors, or related in some way. I swear to god, I can just feel it.”

“So, hang on, what’d you see exactly?” Dax pressed as he hurried our way out of Croak’s pub, where the scene was exactly the same as always, and out into the street where my Ford Mustang was still waiting for us. “Tell me specifics.”

“It was Frida’s cabin, with the runes on the door, but it was Premier Weaver that came out to see me,” I explained hastily. “It was the Premier as she looks today, dressed in a fancy suit with an Atroba brooch. But she… She had a pet white tiger.”

“A pet white tiger?” Peggy shook her head as she took the information in. “Was it you?”

“No, I was still in my human form. They came out of the cabin to greet me. The tiger… It had a leash around its neck.” I frowned grimly. “Tell me that isn’t a perfect metaphor.”

“But what for?” Dax asked as I hit the gas and sent the enchanted car speeding back toward Meloria.

“That, I’m still not entirely sure of.” I sighed. “I just wanna get this potion brewed so we can work out how the hell they’re related.”

The hyper speed jump from downtown San Francisco back to Meloria took us only a minute or two, and the moment I killed the engine outside the school gates, I was already hurrying my way up the remainder of the driveway, across the quad, and back to the shifter dorms with Penny and Dax hot on my tail.

I’d already texted the girls that we’d be on our way back, and I found the gang huddled in my room by the time Penny, Dax, and I could join them.

“Did you get it?” Adi asked her big brother eagerly the moment she saw him.

Dax just nodded silently and handed Adi the small black drawstring pouch, and I was suddenly hyper aware of the fact everyone crammed into my bedroom was staring intently at the three of us.

“Did you get high?” Demi blurted out with a giggle.

I shot both Dax and Penny a look, and despite my freak out in the apothecary, I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled its way up my throat and out of my mouth when I noticed their mussed hair and bloodshot eyes. My shifter healing abilities seemed to have cleared the rest of the drug from my system already, but the seer and charmer were apparently not so lucky.

“Yeahhhh, we kinda did,” Dax admitted with a lopsided grin. “Perk of Kane winning his fight.”

“What fight?” Adi asked as she looked at me curiously. “You got into a fight?”

“My dad got you in the ring again?” Auden shook his head with a knowing smile. “I hope he paid well.”

“He did.” I smirked. “In an account this time, too. Although, I’ve already spent a good chunk of it on whatever’s in that little baggie Adi’s got in her hands.”

“Once again…” the teenager murmured from where she was sitting cross legged on my floor. “You’re all super lucky to have me.”

“And why’s that?” Penny asked with a slight giggle as she curled down to sit beside Dax’s little sister.

“Because I’ve already pretty much brewed the potion, no thanks to my big brother here.” Adi stuck her tongue out at Dax. “With no help from my stoned big brother, no less.”

“Not stoned,” Dax grumbled. “We just… Awakened our third eye, is all.”

“Yeah, and whatever Kane saw, it did not sit right,” Penny said pointedly. “You gonna elaborate for them?”

I explained exactly what I’d seen in my vision, and how if this is what my so-called third eye, or subconscious, was getting when I really thought about it, then there had to be some possibility that my theory on Frida and Premier Weaver was correct.

“Especially combined with the fact we already know ancestors can be doppelgangers, not just from research, but we’ve seen it with our own eyes thanks to Dean Canmore,” I reminded them all. “But even Mr. Weaver corroborates it, in his published works.”

“You do have a point,” Indira said and ran her hand down my arm. “I guess now we go after proof, as always.”

“Okay, I’m gonna add the snowstone…” Adi murmured from where she was hyper focused on the ground at the small pewter cauldron beneath her. “We need something from that familial line, though…”

“Like what?” I immediately asked. “What do you need?”

“If we wanna see what deceptions the Weavers have put into place, whether known to them or not, we need some sort of link to them. A blood link, or…”

“Or DNA?” I asked and straightened up eagerly. “Like a hair, or a toothbrush or something?”

“Seth’s out,” Charlotte immediately said when she grasped what we were saying. “I can unlock his door and get a hair from his comb or something.”

“Go,” Adi commanded her as she stirred the potion carefully. “Now.”

Charlotte hurried out of my bedroom and across the hall, where I saw she popped Seth’s door lock and hustled her way inside. She returned a moment later, and she was gingerly holding something between her thumb and forefinger.

“A hair,” she announced as she wrinkled her nose. “Where do you want it, Adi?”

“Just drop it right in,” Adi said as she started to count her stirs.

“What are we looking for?” I whispered to Dax.

“You won’t be able to see it,” Dax explained in hushed tones as we all watched Adi work. “Potions and herbology and botany are all practiced by humans, it’s maybe the most common sort of magic, but it’s only charmers that can really dissect the outcomes in detail, so…”

“Doesn’t matter,” Adi suddenly interrupted with a disgruntled sigh. “It didn’t work.”

“What do you mean it didn’t work?” I demanded.

“I brewed it correctly, by design, and the snowstone was definitely legit. I even tasted it, just to be sure.” Adi grimaced and stuck her tongue out, which was slightly stained a mottled gray. “But it just hasn’t evolved like it should. I did everything correctly.”

“Yeah, but that means…” Dax let out a long breath as he locked eyes with his sister. “Right?”

“Right.” Adi nodded grimly.

“What are you charmers getting at exactly?” Demi asked with her hands on her hips. “I’m confused.”

“The potion didn’t work,” Dax explained. “But even that, in and of itself, proves something.”

“Proves what?” Indira asked.

Dax sighed heavily and turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

“It means Seth Weaver isn’t actually related to the Premier.”

Kane's Fate 5 Chapter 3

“I’m gonna stay here, too,” Indira said with a slight smile. “I still have a whole bunch of school work to do for--”

“For Dean Canmore?” I finished her sentence with a question and brought her hand up to my lips so I could kiss the soft skin of her wrist. “That’s okay. You must be real busy with everything we’ve missed.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” My first girlfriend smiled and caressed my cheek with light fingertips. “I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” I chuckled.

“You’re staying behind, too, Adi,” Dax suddenly interjected.

“Are you for real, I really can’t tag along?” Adi pouted across the cafeteria table and slumped in her chair.

“It’s definitely not the place for minors,” Demi giggled. “Hell, it’s barely the place for us.”

“Speak for yourself.” I smirked.

“Whatever, I’ll stay behind with you Adi,” Demi promised the teenager. “We can have a pamper day. I can do your nails.”

“I only ever get black manicures,” Adi insisted and held up her hands so we all got a view of her chipped black nail polish.

“Oh, I am not having that at all!” Demi said in a horrified voice. “We can keep the goth vibes, but I am offended by those chips.”

“Okay, okay.” Adi rolled her eyes again but looked secretly pleased at the prospect. “Like a slumber party.”

“Yes!” Demi clapped her hands together excitedly. “We’ll have a slumber party.”

“You can count me in, too,” Charlotte told them with an eager nod. “I’m quite enjoying our mini sabbatical.”

“If you girls are babysitting Adi, I’ll go with Kane to San Francisco,” Dax said decidedly. “Since I’m the only one who knows what ingredient we actually need.”

“That’d be pretty helpful,” I agreed with a laugh, and then I turned to my newest girlfriend, who was eyeing me eagerly. “Penny?”

“Can I come with you?” the dark haired seer asked and blushed bashfully. “I wanna see this underground version of the city you’ve told me about.”

“Absolutely,” I said with a wide smile. “It’s pretty cool. Auden’s dad is also pretty cool.”

“Speak for yourself.” Auden rolled his eyes and took another sip of coffee. “He’ll be looking to replace me with you I bet, Kane Turner prize fighter… I expect the emancipation letters any day now.”

“Shut up,” I laughed at my best friend and his constant melodramatics. “C’mon then, let’s go. We can take my car.”

“Good, I wanna see how my intermolecular transmutation charm holds up.” Dax said and rubbed his hands together eagerly.

“Dude,” I sighed as I clapped him on the shoulder. “It works like a dream, but call a spade a spade. It’s hyper speed.”

“If that makes you feel cooler.” My tattooed friend smirked and followed Penny and I as we said our goodbyes to the rest of the gang and made our way out toward the school garages.

It was another beautiful summer morning, with an endless blue sky and bright sunshine, and it was almost a shame that we’d be spending the majority of our day stuck underground.

I gunned my Ford Mustang down the gravel driveway and let Dax’s charm work its magic once we hit over the miles per hour threshold, and within less than sixty seconds, I pulled up outside Croak’s bar.

The stoop opposite the old magical bar was still habited by the same group of loitering teenagers, but when they saw me again, the main guy who had a constant cigarette wedged into one corner of his thin mouth just gave me a stiff nod of acknowledgement.

Guess that made me an honorary part of the crew.

“When you said underground, did you mean completely dilapidated?” Dax murmured as I motioned for him and Penny to follow me into the rundown public house.

“Trust me,” I hissed over my shoulder, and I failed at keeping the smile from my mouth as Dax and Penny slowly took in their surroundings.

The same old man with the whiskey was still in the far corner, and the bartender looked like he was still running his stained bar cloth over the exact same rocks glass he had been when I’d last seen him.

It was like the bar was frozen in time up here, and I just pointedly sidestepped everyone and headed for the back door to find the same rickety old elevator waiting for us.

“No way this is safe,” Penny scoffed nervously when she laid eyes on the rusty metal cage.

“Demi said the same,” I chuckled. “It’s old, but it works. I promise.”

“You’d better promise,” Dax muttered as he shuffled past the grating. “If I end up as a smear at the bottom of an old ass elevator shaft, I’m gonna come back to haunt you.”

“I would have thought you’d be coming back to haunt me regardless,” I shot back as I heaved the old metal grating across.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Dax snickered. “You’d deserve it, though.”

“Oh, I definitely would.” I grinned as I punched my thumb into the one singular button on the panel.

The elevator groaned into life and shuddered dramatically before it eventually started to drag itself down the old cable. Penny immediately clung to me as the cranky metal box bobbed its way down into the ground, and I wrapped a protective hand around her waist. Dax just glowered at me from the other side of the metal box, and he continued to do so until finally we hit the bottom.

“That was fucking awful,” Dax deadpanned as we stepped out.

Penny just shuddered and quickly followed him.

The subterranean version of magical San Francisco was still just as heaving as it had been on my first trip down, and the makeshift streets still bustled with commerce while all manner of magical beings roamed freely.

“Woah…” Dax murmured as his wide eyes took everything in. “This is insane…”

“This is great!” Penny giggled, but she clung to my arm as we moved through the crowd. “It’s crazy down here!”

“Wait ‘til you see the fight ring,” I told them with a smug grin. “Follow me.”

We pushed our way through the fray of the magical marketplace, and I definitely noticed a lack of Sharps beneath the surface of San Francisco now. The last time I’d traveled down to the magical underbelly, the marketplace had been crawling with the weird skeletal looking gang members, dressed in their black pinstripe suits with freakishly long fingers and nails, but I didn’t even see one as we made our way through the underground city.

I smirked to myself as we entered the magical fight ring, and the three of us walked up to one of the tellers in the main foyer.

“We’re here to see Mr. Lowrey,” I told the impish looking bookie sitting behind the old metal bars. “My name’s Kane Turner.”

“You here to fight again?” she asked me.

“You remember me?” I grinned.

“‘Course I do,” she scoffed. “You beat Alfie Beck.”

“Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Turner!” I heard Auden’s father behind us as if he’d materialized from thin air, and I turned to face Mr. Lowrey with a genial smile on my face.

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” I asked him as I shook his outstretched hand.

“Definitely good,” he replied with a grin.

Auden’s father was still dressed in a finely tailored suit, though instead of the gray he’d worn previously, he was now dressed in a rich maroon color, with a gold pocket watch chain dangling from his waistcoat and gold rings on his hands instead of silver. His spectacles this time were thin barely there wire frames, and his silk pocket square was a rich bronze color.

“So, have you brought me new fighters, Turner?” Mr. Lowrey asked as his beady black eyes curiously studied Dax and Penny.

“No,” I chuckled. “Well, that’s up to them, I guess.”

“I’m a pacifist,” Dax blurted out.

“You are?” I prompted with a smirk.

“No,” Dax admitted and scowled at me for calling him out. “I just don’t fight well.”

“That’s all you had to say, dear boy.” Mr. Lowrey chuckled. “And the lady? I don’t believe we had the pleasure of meeting last time Mr. Turner fought for me.”

“Nice to meet you, sir, but I’m not a fighter,” Penny giggled as Mr. Lowrey quickly took her hand and brushed his lips against the back by way of greeting.

“Well, Mr. Turner here certainly is.” Auden’s father grinned, and his platinum tooth glinted in the neon lights. “Shall we go to my office?”

Mr. Lowrey led us through the fight club until we eventually ended up in his huge expanse of an office, and he took a seat with a flourish and pulled a cigarette case out of his jacket pocket.

“So, Mr. Turner…” he started as he wedged a white tipped cigarette into the ring holder on his index finger and motioned for the three of us to take a seat opposite. “Do you have any more diamonds to sell me?”

“Sadly not, I was actually wondering if you had some information for us,” I explained as we sat in the plush leather chairs on the other side of his huge metal desk.

I noticed he’d swapped out the carved shark tooth for a perfect replica of the Death Star, the gumball machine had been replaced by a crystal bowl full of boiled candies wrapped in cellophane, but the tumbled crystals remained in the exact same place and exact same formation.

“Well, nothing is free down here.” Mr. Lowrey smirked through a ghostly plume of cigarette smoke.

“I figured as much,” I chuckled. “Why don’t you tell us what you need first?”

“Nothing major,” Auden’s father assured us as he expertly flicked the tip of his cigarette with his pinky finger so that the clump of ash was knocked into a huge crystal ashtray on the desk beside him. “Just another fight.”

“I still get prize money?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Of course.” Mr. Lowrey nodded. “Only a hundred this time, though.”

“A hundred dollars?” Penny asked suddenly.

“Multiply that by a thousand.” Mr. Lowrey laughed loudly and then took a long drag on his cigarette. “I like your new girl, Mr. Turner, she has a sense of humor.”

“I didn’t mean offense, I…” Penny shifted in her seat as she blushed, and I leaned across to take her hand.

“He’s just playing with you,” I said with a slight smile and squeezed her hand.

“You sure she doesn’t fight?” Lowrey asked curiously as he honed his gaze on Penny. “You look as though butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth my dear, and that could come in handy.”

“I’m only a seer,” Penny explained, and I sensed a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “And my secondary ability is just drawing.”

“It’s not just drawing,” I scolded her softly. “And you’re not ‘just’ a seer.”

“We all have our talents, darling,” Mr. Lowrey assured us before he focused on me again. “Speaking of, your opponent.”

“You don’t wanna hear what we need?” I asked Mr. Lowrey.

“No need.” He waved an airy hand and stubbed his cigarette out with the other. “You know I’ll gladly help you. I’ve already cut your prize fund in half, and I like surprises.”

“I see where Auden gets it from…” Dax muttered, and the comment made Mr. Lowrey laugh even louder.

“You’ll be going up against a pusher, Turner,” Mr. Lowrey explained. “She’s just perfected her secondary ability, and it’s formidable. She’s been eating through my odds.”

“She?” I asked curiously, and my thoughts immediately went to the tiny black-haired pusher that we’d seen in the lower cages on our first trip to the fight club.

“Sienna Cray,” Mr. Lowrey said. “She’s recently worked her way up to the main ring since she dominated the cages.”

“I think I know who you mean.” I smirked. “Petite, dark hair? What’s her secondary ability?”

“Invisibility,” Auden’s father said with a slight huff. “It doesn’t even make for a good show.”

“I can beat her.” I nodded thoughtfully and then fixed my boss with a wide grin. “And I’ll ignore the ‘halved prize fund’ comment if you help us source what we need.”

“You have yourself a deal, as usual, Mr. Turner.” Auden’s dad grinned widely so that his platinum tooth glimmered in the low glow of the neon on his desk. “I’ll show our guests to the viewing box. I’d like to see this for myself, too.”

Dax and Penny followed Mr. Lowrey as he left his office, and I waited to be collected by one of his lackeys to be taken down to the lockers and sign my usual non-disclosure agreement.

I felt the familiar buzz of adrenaline start to crackle away under the surface of my skin as I sat on the old wooden bench in the empty locker room, and I pulled my shirt off over my head as I stretched my neck muscles.

A rakishly thin girl with a blonde buzzcut came to ask me the same ‘fit to fight’ questions as before, and then she motioned for me to follow her toward the platform that would deliver me up to the main arena.

I heard the swell of the crowd before my head had even risen past the floor, and I raised an arm as I was swiftly delivered to the ramp on the far side of the neon lit glass cube that made the main fight ring.

“Aaaaand back by popular demand!” the pixelated announcer screamed from where his face was superimposed on the huge television screen above the ring. “The white tiger, Kane Turner!”

The crowd went insane, and I raised both of my arms triumphantly. My eyes sought out Mr. Lowrey’s box, which I could just about make out above the blinding neon lights and rows upon rows of crazed spectators, and I shot a pointed wink in its general direction.

“The feared white tiger shifter goes up against one of our most recent prize fighters!” the pink haired announcer called. “She battled her way through the cages below to dance in the main ring for you. It’s the pusher, Sienna Cray!”

Sienna appeared from across the glass cube, and I noticed she was already shaking her head with a grin on her face before we even started to walk toward the glass ring.

As I stepped through the gap in the glass, I heard her laugh.

“Knew you’d be back.” She smirked as she looked me up and down. “Nice to see you in less clothing.”

“Now, the last time I saw you, you had a bloody lip in the bar below our feet,” I commented with a grin of my own. “I’ll do my best not to bruise that pretty face of yours, okay?”

“You’d better not hold out on me.” Sienna suddenly frowned. “We fight for real or we don’t fight at all.”

“I admire the hustle.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “How’s your healing?”

All students at Meloria were taught basic healing skills, but everyone’s skill level was different. Shifters had it easiest, since our healing was almost instinctual.

“On point,” she insisted. “Let’s go, handsome.”

A bell rang and reverberated around the huge glass cube, and Sienna Cray immediately disappeared from where she’d been poised in front of me.

I let out a bored sigh and waited.

After about maybe ten seconds, I caught a whiff of her scent and felt a sudden force in the air knock me back toward the edge of the glass ring, so I planted my feet into the floor and let the familiar heat of a shift brew from the center of my back and out toward my extremities.

The warmth traveled through my veins until it took over every inch of my body, and with a roar, I morphed fluidly into my white tiger fera. I felt another pusher attack hit me in a sonic wave as my paws thudded against the glass, and I huffed out through my feline nose as I skidded away again.

She couldn’t quite get a grip on me yet, she could only shove me a little, and I knew this fight would be over almost disappointingly soon.

But at the very least, it would prove to the masses how little Sienna deserved to be in the main ring.

As cute as she was.

I sniffed through my tiger nostrils and pricked my ears. I could smell her scent, a mixture of sweet hairspray, mint body wash, and butterscotch, somewhere to the left of me, and my ears searched for the telltale thump of a heartbeat.

Sienna was crouched in the back left corner of the cage, so I stepped out toward the right to make her think I was moving away from her.

The moment I heard her take a deep breath, I leapt from where I stood in one fluid movement. Then I launched myself toward the left corner, and by the time her heartbeat had quickened in fear, it was too late.

I batted a paw out in a swiping motion as I began to land, and my claws came into contact with Sienna’s shoulder. The pusher yelled in sudden pain, and she materialized in front of me with her chest heaving and blood dribbling from two huge welts in her skin.

I snapped my jaw at her, and she held her good hand up determinedly as I rounded on her again. I huffed air out of my nose and leaned on my back legs so my two front paws raked at the air in front of her in warning.

She chose not to heed it and threw everything she had at me.

This time, her telekinesis hit me full force, and it sent me flying across the arena. I skidded to a halt by using my long claws to scrape against the glass floor, and I let a growl form in my chest.

I wanted to let her have one hit, partly for the show that I knew Mr. Lowrey desired, and partly so I didn’t feel completely guilty for actually hurting her.

Her invisibility kicked back in as I dug my claws into the glass, and I focused on the heat of her heartbeat. The sound was erratic, panicked in its fury, and I focused on its location within the glass cage.

To my right, three steps away.

I let a continuous rumble of a growl echo through my chest as I took a step forward, and I heard Sienna’s heartbeat shift a step behind me.

I kept my hackles raised and my ears pricked, and I did my best to drown out the drone of the crowd and the shouts of the announcer and focus on just that one singular sound.

She’d skirted to my left, and I immediately took my window of opportunity.

She had made the mistake of coming too close, and now she was in biting distance.

I let out a sudden roar, tilted my neck to the left, and opened my jaw around her arm. Then I immediately clamped down, and Sienna rematerialized with her wrist between my two rows of teeth.

I fixed her with a deadly stare, but she pulled once and grimaced as my teeth dug into her skin. Then, with a set jaw, she slowly raised her hand and patted me patronizingly on the head in defeat.

I loosened my focus on her heartbeat so the swell of the crowd reached my ears again, and I shifted back into my human form with a grin.

I was still close enough to her that I grabbed her wrist, and I wrapped an arm around her waist when she faltered on her feet slightly as the adrenaline began to wear off.

“Focus on your healing,” I muttered to her quickly. “Do it, now. You’re still bleeding a lot.”

Sienna grumbled something under her breath but closed her eyes and leaned against me for a moment as she focused.

Once I was sure the bleeding had stopped, I raised both my arms triumphantly once again with a wide grin.

The crowd went wild, and I took a few bows before I was shuttled back down to the lockers so I could retrieve my shirt. Within ten minutes, I was back in front of Mr. Lowrey’s burnished metal desk.

“You really do make it look easy,” Auden’s father chuckled as he lit another cigarette.

“That was an easy one?” Penny asked with wide eyes.

“You had me up against a pusher who was maybe a quarter of my size, if that.” I shrugged and smirk. “It feels almost wrong taking a hundred grand off you for that.”

“And yet, you will.” Mr. Lowrey pointed at me with a laugh. “And yet, you will, Mr. Turner. I’ve taken the liberty of setting up a bank account in your name, so I can deposit them rather than give you wads of cash.”

“Works fine for me.” I nodded appreciatively. “Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you,” Mr. Lowrey countered. “Now that Sienna is off the docket for the main arena, we can get some serious fighters in there again.”

“Yeah, give him a worthy opponent next time…” Dax muttered with an overexaggerated eye roll.

“Quite,” Mr. Lowrey chuckled. “Now, aside from the one hundred thousand dollars you’re about to be given… How is it I can help the three of you?”

“Dax is brewing a potion for us,” I explained delicately. “And there’s a particular ingredient…”

“That cannot be purchased from any old herb shop?” Mr. Lowrey finished my sentence with an understanding nod. “What are you after, exactly?”

“Powdered snowstone,” Dax said and coughed awkwardly. “The cursed kind.”

Mr. Lowrey whistled and immediately pulled another cigarette out of his pewter colored metal case. I watched him twirl the filter between his fingers before he brushed his lips to it, and then eventually he wedged it into his smoking ring. He played with his lighter for a moment before he finally used his thumb to flick the switch.

“You’ll be spending most of your winnings,” Auden’s father warned me in a low voice. “But I do know someone from whom you can buy such black market ingredients.”

Well, it was a start.

Kane's Fate 5 Chapter 2

I pulled Charlotte into me again as the coffee pot chimed happily behind me, but the promise of caffeine was long forgotten in the presence of a far more addictive substance.

Charlotte smelled like floral perfume, tequila, and the coconut scented hair mask I knew that she liked to use every Sunday, and her bright green eyes danced with anticipation as she looked up at me. I wound my arm around her slight waist and used my other hand to caress her jawline, until my thumb gently tilted her heart shaped face up enough for me to kiss her.

Her plump rose colored lips dutifully opened for me the moment they met my mouth, and she wound her tongue around mine as we kissed against the kitchen counter. She tasted even better than she smelled, and the animalistic thoughts of my fera started to taint my human thoughts.

I wanted to take her, mark her again, possess her… I wanted to coax those unimaginably sexy sounds out of her mouth as I tasted the sweet wetness between her legs that I could already smell in the air around her.

“Wow…” I heard Penny’s suddenly breathless voice coming from somewhere by the couches, and I pulled away from Charlotte’s eager mouth with a wet sucking sound so I could glance across at my newest girlfriend.

The dark-haired seer had been staring longingly as I’d made out in the kitchen with Charlotte, and Demi just giggled to herself when she noticed Penny’s expression.

“I think we should probably get behind the safety of Kane’s bedroom door,” Demi murmured as she pulled Penny up from the couch. “Come on.”

The four of us made our way across the common room and down the corridor, but the familiar buzz of hot electricity had already started to burn at the base of my neck as my desire for the three of them built within me.

We bundled our way through the threshold, and then finally my bedroom door clicked shut behind me.

“Mmm, much better.” Demi slowly walked over and placed a long, lingering kiss on me.

I felt her plump lips smile against my mouth when she felt the low rumble in my chest, and I wound my arms around her tight waist to press closer to her.

Charlotte had already dragged Penny across the room, and Demi pulled away from our kiss as she ran her hand down my arm. She wound her fingers through mine and slowly pulled at me until I started to move away from the door, and I could follow her across the room and to the bed.

“You’re up, Penny,” Demi purred as she sank into the mattress and immediately curled up with Charlotte.

“I am?” Penny asked in a tight voice, and her eyes suddenly found mine.

Her expression was a mixture of excitement and nerves but fueled by the same burning desire that the rest of us felt, and the dark-haired seer slowly climbed to her feet while my other two girlfriends remained on the bed together.

I watched Penny in silence as she approached me, but I made sure to keep my eyes fixed on hers, and she stopped when she was in front of me.

Then she blinked up at me, and I just nodded ever so slightly, barely an inclination of my neck, but she knew what it meant.

Penny’s hands traveled over my shoulders and down my chest, past my stomach, until her fingers could hook into the hem of my shirt. She pulled it off over my head and flung it unceremoniously on the floor somewhere to the left, and then she hooked a thumb into the waistband of my jeans.

My breath hitched in my throat the moment her knuckles grazed the skin of my hip, and the seer looked up at me to fix me with a knowing smirk. Then, suddenly, it was like all of her nerves melted into nothing more than a hungry desire.

She pulled me back toward the bed as her hands quickly grappled with my belt buckle, and he pushed my jeans down far enough so that they fell at my feet.

“God, Kane…” she whispered as her eyes marveled at the sight of rock hard erection, and she gently pushed me down to sit on the edge of the bed.

I couldn’t see Demi and Charlotte behind me, but I could hear their rapid heartbeats and their jagged breathing as they watched us, and I knew they were giving Penny her moment, almost like an induction.

That was even hotter to me, the fact my girls were waiting their turn but eager to see how Penny fared, and my cock twitched at the thought of them all.

Penny dropped fluidly to her knees in front of me and opened my legs so she could position herself between them. She began to softly kiss my naked skin, from the side of my neck right where my pulse jumped, to the dip in my collarbones, across my chest, and down the centerline of my stomach, until her head hovered between my legs.

I could feel her soft breath against my dick, I could sense the wet heat between her own legs, and I resisted the urge to grab her by the hair there and then. I wanted this on her terms.

She ran the show. For now.

Penny ran her hands against my thighs, and then, finally, she ran her tongue across the entire length of my erection in one wet motion, and I felt a moan escape me at her touch. She slowly took me in her mouth and wrapped her plump lips around the tip so I could feel her tongue against the head of my cock, and the sensation made the pit of my stomach swirl and twist in pleasure.

“Oh, fuck… That feels good,” I breathed, and Penny didn’t need telling twice.

“Mmmmm…” She immediately took my entire cock into her mouth, and I groaned again at the wet heat as the tip of my dick hit the back of her throat.

“It looks good, too…” I heard Demi breathe from somewhere behind me.

Penny’s head moved up and down over me, and this time I couldn’t resist winding a hand up into her dark so I could watch her work.

Then I heard the soft wet sounds of kisses behind me, and I knew Demi and Charlotte were just as turned on at the sight of Penny with my dick in her mouth.

“She knows how good you taste,” Charlotte purred as she shifted behind me and pressed her already naked breasts against my back.

The redhead pusher bent down to kiss at my neck as Penny continued to suck my cock, and I could sense Demi touching herself somewhere behind me, and it was all I could do not to unleash my first load down the seer’s throat there and then.

“I’m not the only one that tastes good,” I replied with a growl as Penny’s mouth left my dick with a satisfyingly wet pop.

I pulled the seer up to me and kissed her hungrily, and I twisted her around so she was flush against the bed. She looked up at me with hooded eyes and parted, swollen lips, and I had to just look at her for a moment.

She was gorgeous, with blue eyes that blazed with desire, and I watched as her chest heaved while she caught her breath. I slowly pulled her clothes off her until finally she was naked beneath me, and I brought a hand up to caress one of her breasts as I leaned down to kiss her again.

The dark-haired seer moaned into my mouth, and she instinctively spread her legs a little wider so I could push up against her.

The moment my dick brushed against her soaking wet pussy, she let out a shuddering gasp that was the hottest thing I’d ever heard.

“Oh, she’s so ready for you, Kane,” Charlotte whispered in awe. “Look how wet she is…”

“Fuck her,” Demi muttered. “I wanna watch.”

I stopped kissing Penny for just a brief moment, but I made sure to keep one hand on her perky breasts so I could gently pinch her nipple between my thumb and forefinger. Then, with my other hand, I wrapped my fingers around the back of Demi’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss of her own. Her breath became immediately ragged in her throat as I got a taste of her tongue, but it just wasn’t enough.

“God, I need all of you,” I whispered against Demi’s plump lips.

“Penny first,” Charlotte reminded me softly, and I glanced up to see her on the opposite side of my bed with her legs spread and her hand stroking her clit.

“I’m yours, Kane.” Penny murmured with her hands in my hair, and I squeezed her nipple again to make her jump beneath me. “Take me. Please.”

I ground my hips down at just the right angle so the tip of my cock pushed against the soft folds of Penny’s opening, and she gasped at the feel of my dick against her pussy lips. I slowly slid my entire length inside my newest lover, as deep as I could possibly get myself, and then I stopped there for a second as I bottomed out inside of her.

She’d held her breath up to this point, and when I was fully inside of her, Penny let out a long shuddering groan.

“Does that feel good, baby?” I asked her as Demi and Charlotte continued to watch us.

“Y-Yes…” Penny whimpered and bit her lip. “You feel so good inside of me. So hard and deep inside me…”

She felt good around me, too, and I started to slide in and out of her soft velvety wetness as I gripped the tender skin of her inner thighs. Penny instinctively arched her back up, so every thrust forward, I was forced deeper and deeper inside of her, and I started to pick up the pace as I pounded in and out of her with satisfyingly slick wet sounds. I could feel her tunnel constrict around my cock as we rocked together on the bed, and I buried my head into her voluptuous cleavage as I fucked her.

“O-Oh, Kane…” Penny gasped as her hands wound themselves into my hair, and her legs tightened around my waist. “You’re s-so big, fuck, Kane!”

I could see Demi and Charlotte touching themselves in my peripheral vision, and neither one of them could stop watching the sight of Penny and I fucking in front of them.

“Kaneeeee…” Penny whined my name, and her grip on my hair tightened. “Kane, I… I’m…”

“Are you close for me, baby?” I growled as I continued to roll my hips and slide in and out of her. “Are you gonna cum for me?”

“Oh, make her cum…” Demi cooed from beside us.

“Make her take it,” Charlotte moaned softly with her fingers still on her own pussy.

I felt the sudden spasms within Penny as the tip of my cock found that magic spot deep inside of her, and the seer began to writhe beneath me as I pounded it over and over again.

“Ohhh, f-fuck!” Penny cried out helplessly. “Kane!”

Her head hit the pillow as every muscle in her body tightened, so I instinctively sped up my rhythm, and Penny bucked her hips up toward me as her orgasm finally hit her.

She squeezed against my cock as her juices rushed over me, and I kept thrusting in and out of her even as she came, until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Oh my fucking god, Kane, fuck, that… T-That feels soooo gooooood!” Penny screamed beneath me as I drew her orgasm out for as long as I possibly could, and she squeezed even tighter around my cock until I felt the swirling pleasure in the pit of my stomach hit its peak.

“Fuck!” I groaned as the tension inside of me finally released, and my load exploded inside of my newest girlfriend.

My orgasm shot hot spurts of my seed deep inside of Penny, and we both gasped and shuddered against the onslaught of pleasure. I collapsed on top of the dark haired seer as I tried to catch my breath, and she wrapped her legs around my waist to hold me there.

“Fuck…” she giggled breathlessly. “That was…”

“Something,” Charlotte finished the sentence for her. “Have we finally found someone who can wear Kane out?”

“Not likely,” I growled as I slid out of Penny’s dripping pussy and pulled Charlotte toward me by the ankle.

The redhead pusher squealed as I yanked at her leg, but the sound dissolved into a giggle by the time my lips found her neck, and eventually a low moan came out of her mouth as I nibbled at her earlobe.

“You want me, too?” Charlotte asked as she spread her legs around me.

“I always want you,” I replied as I continued to kiss her neck. “I wanna taste you…”

“O-Oh…” Charlotte gasped as I pushed a hand between our bodies and explored her chest and stomach until I brushed past her hips and found her leaking wetness.

I slowly slid a finger into my pusher girlfriend as I continued to kiss her, and she shuddered beneath me.

“Oh, you really are ready for me, huh?” I grinned into her lips as I curled my finger inside of her. “Look at how wet you are for me.”

“I’m all yours,” she insisted in a hoarse voice.

“I know…” I promised Charlotte as my lips left hers and went to kiss at her neck again. “I know you are…”

I kissed my way down the pusher’s throat where the heat of her pulse was warm against her skin, across her collarbones and the soft curve of her pert breasts, and I quickly circled my tongue around one of her nipples as a preview of what was to come.

Charlotte gasped as my teeth grazed her nipple, and I let my hands travel down her body so I could push her legs open. Then I kissed my way down past her breasts and over her stomach, until eventually I hovered over her hips.

“Kane…” she whispered hoarsely, and I didn’t reply, just kissed the soft flesh of her inner thigh.

I gently pushed her legs even further apart so her feet ended up planted on the bed on either side of me, and finally I ran my tongue across her sweet wetness.

Charlotte let out a shuddering moan as I lapped up her already leaking juices, and I kept my hands on her thighs as she arched her back into me.

“So hot…” I heard Penny mumble from somewhere above me, and I let out a singular laugh.

The vibration of my chuckle against Charlotte’s pussy made her hands clench into fists, and she gripped onto the bed sheets as I swirled my tongue hungrily around her clitoris. I stopped for a second and lightly sucked, and she almost let out a wail of pleasure.

“Oh!” Charlotte panted. “Oh my god, don’t stop that…”

I carried on sucking and licking at the pusher’s wet clitoris as she ground her hips in the same rhythm, and as her breathing started to become tight little gasps, I could tell she was starting to get close.

“You’re so damn good at that, Kane,” Demi muttered in an approving tone.

I opened my eyes and looked across the bed, still with my tongue inside of Charlotte, and I saw Demi and Penny were still completely naked and curled up on the bed beside us while they stared at me with my head between Charlotte’s legs.

I could feel how much closer Charlotte was, and I swirled and licked my tongue across her until she started to pant helplessly.

“Oh, fuck Kane!” the redhead pusher gasped, and her hands came down to tangle in my hair and press my face deeper into her pussy. “Right there, p-please don’t stop, that feels so good, please Kane, please…”

I held Charlotte’s thighs down with both hands as her orgasm rocked through her body, and she came so hard that she shook and screamed beneath me. I let her ride it out against my face until eventually her hands tugged at my hair, and she pulled me up to her so she could kiss me.

“I do taste good, huh?” She giggled breathlessly as she wound her tongue around mine.

“Yes, you do.” I smirked into her kiss, and then I quickly moved one hand from her leg across to her still quivering pussy.

I edged my middle and index fingers into the soft heat of her and curved the digits upward toward that special spot inside of her, and I chuckled in satisfaction when Charlotte let out a long guttural moan.

“Does that feel good, baby?” I asked her quietly, and she nodded with her eyes clamped shut with pleasure.

“Feels so good…” she groaned. “I need you. Kane, I need you right now.”

I didn’t need telling twice, and I pulled my fingers out of her until I could line the tip of my dick up against the velvet folds of her pussy. I pushed her lips apart and then slowly slid my length inside of her, and Charlotte immediately clamped down around me like a vise.

“Oh, fuck…” I hissed as I started to immediately pound in and out of her. “Fuck, you feel so good, too.”

Charlotte didn’t have any coherent words, just rhythmic gasps and moans as I slipped in and out of her tightness. I couldn’t help myself and picked up speed, and her spasming hole constricted around my cock as we rocked together on the bed sheets. She grappled desperately at my back and wrapped her legs around mine as we pushed and pulled at each other, and I could feel Charlotte’s soaking wet pussy tighten up around me as I found that sweet spot inside of her again. I hit it again and again until Charlotte could only whimper beneath me.

“Fuck, I love it when you tighten up around me, baby,” I growled. “God, it feels so good.”

“Kane, I’m gonna cum!” Charlotte suddenly moaned and threw back her head. “Kane, I… I-- fuck, please…”

“Together,” I commanded in a hoarse voice as her words made my second orgasm start to swirl inside of me. “Oh, fuck… Now!”

My dick erupted deep inside of my redhead pusher girlfriend, and I could feel the hot ripples of my sperm fill her up as Charlotte’s own orgasm rocked through her again. I held her there as my cock continued to empty inside her, and she kissed me between her racked gasps of pleasure.

But I was far from done.

“Demi…” I panted breathlessly as I lifted my head. “Your turn.”

“This is why I like going last to begin with.” Demi smirked as she lifted my head up from between Charlotte’s still heaving breasts. “It’s like you got a point to prove.”

“You want me to prove how well I can fuck you, even after Penny and Charlotte?” I grinned as I slid my dick out of Charlotte’s still pulsating pussy, and a trickle of my seed leaked down into the crack of her ass.

Charlotte giggled as she crawled up the bed toward where Penny was sprawled on the bed sheets.

“You’re gonna wanna watch this,” Charlotte told Penny. “Demi always puts on a show.”

“Damn right.” The shifter grinned.

I leaned back on my knees, with my cock still rock hard and soaking wet, and pulled Demi toward me by her waist. Then I gave her one swift, enticingly hard kiss before I flipped her over so she was on all fours and facing away from me.

“I see what you mean,” Penny murmured as she locked eyes with me, with Demi between us.

I pushed Demi’s knees apart and lined myself up against her, and I could already see how wet she was before I even touched her. The moment the tip of my cock spread her pussy lips apart, she arched her back and groaned into it, and she took every single inch of me until I was completely bottomed out inside of her.

I gripped my shifter girlfriend’s waist as I stretched out her warm, wet pussy, and I let out a long moan as my hips touched the soft flesh of her ass.

“Fuck, Kane…” Demi groaned as she arched her back even higher, and I gripped my fingers into her plump ass cheeks. “Fuck me… Please.”

I didn’t reply with words, I just slid my cock almost all the way out of her before I slammed back into her again. Demi’s soft walls stretched to accommodate every inch of my dick, and she shuddered beneath me with her face pressed into the bed sheets as I gripped onto her ass even harder.

I looked up to see Charlotte and Penny on the bed opposite us, both still naked, both with my juices still spilling out of their pussies, and both with their hands on each other while they watched me fuck Demi.

It was one of the hottest images I’d ever seen, and it just made me pummel in and out of Demi hard enough to make our skin slap together with each thrust.

“Fuck, Kane!” Demi screamed as I slid in and out of her.

“Oh, you’re really stretching her out, Kane…” Penny murmured as she softly circled her clitoris with her middle finger and watched with hungry, hooded eyes.

“Oh my god, Kane, you’re so… So big…” Demi whimpered beneath me with her hands balled up in the bed sheets, and I just pounded into her faster and faster until the sound of her soft moans became loud screams of pleasure.

“You like that?” I growled hungrily.

“Oh, she definitely does,” Charlotte cooed from opposite us. “She looks so good like that.”

“Fill her up, Kane,” Penny said in a low voice as she finally slid one of her own fingers inside of herself, and some of the cum I’d left in her oozed out of her pussy lips like frosting.

I felt the familiar sensation of swirling heat in the pit of my stomach as I watched Penny and Charlotte touch themselves, and as Demi’s perfect pussy tightened and spasmed around my dick, I couldn’t resist giving Demi’s round ass a light smack. It jiggled beneath me with every hard thrust, and my shifter girlfriend’s yelp of pleasure brought my orgasm close to the surface.

“You gonna cum for me, baby?” I snarled as I gripped onto Demi’s tight waist.

“I was waiting for you,” Demi gasped with her face almost flush to the mattress. “I… I don’t know how much longer I can wait.”

“That’s hot,” I groaned in a strained voice.

“He’s close…” Charlotte whispered to Penny, and when the dark haired seer locked eyes with me, it was over.

“Yeah, I’m close,” I growled, and then the pleasure washed over me in sudden waves. “Fuck… Now!”

I let out a literal roar as I came and came hard, and my dick exploded deep within Demi’s welcoming pussy. Her legs shook as her own orgasm rippled through her body, and I kept my grip on her caramel colored skin as I filled her up with my sperm.

“Oh my god…” I muttered with a light laugh as I finally softened my grip on Demi’s hips and pulled out of her with a wet pop. More of my seed spilled out of her and onto the sheets, and my fera purred with satisfaction.

“You were right…” Penny said in awe as Demi collapsed beneath me in a fit of endorphin fueled giggles. “That really was something.”

The four of us spent the rest of the night putting Dax’s soundproofing charm to good use, though we thankfully managed to fall asleep in a tangle of naked limbs and rumpled bedding long before the sun started to come up.

I woke up the next morning with a new invigorated sense of purpose, and although it was incredibly difficult not to bundle into the shower together and spend the rest of the new day in bed with my girlfriends, we eventually made it out of the shifter dorms alive.

We met Indira and Auden in the cafeteria, where my first girlfriend was waiting for me with a knowing smile and a large cup of coffee in a takeout cup, and I took the drink from her with a grateful smirk.

“So… Did you guys have fun last night?” she asked innocently, and Auden choked on a bite of his bacon and kept his head down.

“Yes.” Penny grinned. “We did. Lots of fun.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Indira blew our newest pack member a kiss. “What’s on the agenda today, then?”

“Business,” I said firmly as I took a long sip of my coffee. “I wanna do some research, maybe get our hands on some of Mr. Weaver’s books.”

“Library it is, then,” Auden piped up once the conversation had steered away from me making love to my multiple girlfriends. “Let’s go.”

We finished up breakfast, though I made sure we all grabbed another cup of coffee to go, and then we headed across the quad toward the library.

After having a day off, I wanted to soak up as much information as possible. Every time Philo Geralds thought he’d be one step ahead of us, I wanted to make sure we were two steps ahead of him. I’d had enough of his taunting, and even Mr. Weaver himself had called his adversary a know-it-all.

So I wanted to beat Philo at his own game.

We each pulled one of Mr. Weaver’s books from the shelves, settled ourselves at our favorite table in the library, and got to work.

The book I’d chosen was titled Old Gods: The First Harbingers Of Magic, and it was one of Mr. Weaver’s earliest published works. It was a massive tome, with almost a thousand pages and quite sadly no pictures.

I flicked through the index until I saw something that stuck out to me, and I found the chapter marked under the name ‘Frida.’

“And she carved her story into the stars themselves, to warn every magical being across the entirety of time…” I muttered as I read.

“What’s that?” Indira asked as she looked up from her own book with squinted eyes.

“I’m just reading about Frida…” I replied slowly with my eyes still fixated on the words. “About how she forged the runes on the asteroids, so we’d be warned.”

“Across the entirety of time…” Auden quoted. “Does that mean this’ll happen again?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “We know there must’ve been a white tiger before me. Maybe there’ll be another one after me.”

“That’s a depressing thought,” Demi said and then giggled at my raised eyebrow. “Not because there’d be another one like you, that part sounds kinda fun. I just meant how this apparently is always destined to happen.”

“Not necessarily,” Penny suddenly piped up. “My book covers the magic of doppelgangers… I thought it’d be useful, since Philo is always so keen on using that particular charm. But it says something here about how the old gods will always be the old gods.”

“I had a dream that Premier Weaver looked identical to Frida…” I frowned.

“I mean, maybe, but I feel like it might be too much of a coincidence.” Indira said softly and put her hand across mine. “You had both of them on your mind so much, you were haunted by Reid Rivers in your dreams… It’s understandable things got a little jumbled in your subconscious.”

“It felt so real, though.” I sighed. “But I guess, like with literally everything, we need proof. Otherwise, it’s just a theory.”

“A long shot, too.” Charlotte said quietly, and her green eyes were apologetic when they met mine.

“There’s still a possibility,” I insisted. “Even if it’s slight. And it makes me question Mr. Weaver’s relationship with the Premier. What if he knows who she is? What if that’s why he married her in the first place?”

“You think Mr. Weaver also has suspicions that Premier Weaver is the goddess Frida herself?” Auden snickered. “That is definitely far-fetched.”

“Well, he didn’t seem to care too much about getting home to his wife,” I said pointedly. “Just about how much information he’d given up to Philo Geralds.”

“And he was super indifferent toward Seth, too.” Demi pursed her lips.

“That just sounds like typical white collar family stuff.” Penny smirked knowingly. “I see it all the time at my parent’s fundraisers.”

“Wait, you’re white collar?” Demi turned to Penny with a raised eyebrow and the beginnings of her own smirk. “For real?”

“How d’you think they can afford a Malibu beach house?” the dark-haired seer chuckled.

“Oh, I definitely need a wine night with your mom.” Demi grinned.

I let the girls’ conversation descend into appreciation for Penny’s wine cellar and instead continued to flick through the pages of Mr. Weaver’s book. I was intent on finding something that could potentially back my theory.

After a few more pages, and once the conversation had moved onto political fundraisers and how good I’d look in a tuxedo, I came across a particular chapter that somewhat played into my theory.

Mr. Weaver’s book discussed the potential of magical ancestors looking almost identical to their modern day counterparts, and how that particular phenomenon would further strengthen prophecies crafted by seers, and I eagerly pushed the book toward the center of the table just as Auden was telling the group about how his dad gatecrashed one of Penny’s parents’ fundraisers years ago.

“There!” I smacked the open page triumphantly. “Doppelgangers.”

“It does sorta make sense…” Indira admitted as she read the paragraph I had jabbed my index finger toward. “Magical ancestors being identical.”

“If doppelgangers are a phenomenon, like Dean Canmore’s ancestor, do you remember?” I asked eagerly. “Then what’s to say the goddess herself, the first ‘harbinger’ of magic, what’s to say she didn’t form her own doppelganger to live for her?”

“And you think that’s Premier Weaver?” Charlotte furrowed her brow thoughtfully. “You might have a point.”

“Premier Weaver is Frida’s ancestor,” I said firmly. “I’d bet any money on it.”

“Well, we need to figure out a way to prove it,” Indira said with a determined expression. “Hey, is Dax coming back to the school?”

“Why?” Auden asked and cocked his head curiously.

“If there’s any sort of potion or spell or hex, legal or not, that can look past deceptions… Dax’ll know it. Right?” Indira turned to me with an eager smile.

“I’ll text him.” I grinned across at my shift girlfriend. “I love your brain.”

“Just my brain?” Indira pouted.

“Everything.” I blew her a kiss and pulled my cell phone out.

Dax, I quickly started to type the message out. Are you planning on coming back and escaping your parents? We might need your help.

My cell buzzed on the table almost immediately after I’d sent my tattooed friend the text message, and I eagerly opened his reply.

I can do you one better, he retorted. I’m coming back, with Adi in tow. See you in the morning.

“Adi’s coming to Meloria?” Penny asked once I’d relayed the message to the others. “How come?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. “But I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

The day passed with more and more library research until eventually everyone’s bellies started to rumble with hunger, and we finally called it.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out, and by the time I woke up the following morning with either Indira or Charlotte’s face pressed against my neck and my other girlfriends sprawled in a mess on my bed with me, I was eager for Dax to arrive back at the school.

His younger sister, Adi, was perhaps even more eager, though, and she almost barreled me over with a hug when we met them in the quad.

“Woah!” I laughed as I used her momentum to pick her feet up off the ground. “You nearly took me out, Adi.”

“Ahh, I could do that with words.” Adi shrugged as I set her back down, and she whacked me in the shoulder, though her touch felt more like a feather than a sucker punch.

“How come you’re here, Adi?” Penny asked curiously as she gave the teenager a tight hug.

Adi looked every part her brother’s sister in a black high collared dress paired with fishnet pantyhose and clunky leather boots, and she had the same leather choker wrapped around her pale neck.

“I persuaded her to enroll.” Dax smirked smugly as he gave me a one armed hug.

“I chose to enroll,” Adi corrected him with a roll of her heavily smudged eyes. “But he said you guys needed my help?”

“Our help,” Dax corrected his younger sister with a very similar look on his face, and he turned to me with an exasperated sigh as we headed toward the cafeteria to grab coffee. “What do you need?”

I quickly explained what had gone down in his absence, and the research we’d gone through yesterday.

“So, you need a deception potion, focused specifically on that family?” Dax confirmed, and he let out a low whistle. “I mean, it’s doable. I think.”

“You think?” Indira asked.

“He means it’s not exactly legal,” Adi explained matter-of-factly as her brother shrugged. “Not that that’s stopped him before.”

“I’ve tried to steer clear of that line of work, remember?” Dax rolled his eyes as we grabbed our coffee and found a table to sit at. “But… being at Imperium came with such knowledge, and to be honest, it’s helped us out before.”

“You don’t have to justify yourself, Dax,” Indira said with a kind smile. “We know you’re doing it to help us.”

“Please don’t feel bad.” Penny nodded. “It’s for the greater good.”

“Yeah, I know…” Dax sighed. “There’s just one hiccup, though.”

“What is it?” I pressed as I took a sip of coffee.

“To brew a successful deception potion…” Dax began and then petered off in a sigh.

“There’s a certain ingredient even our father can’t stock,” Adi jumped in. “Cursed snowstone, powdered.”

“So, if your father doesn’t stock it…” I sighed. “How are we supposed to get a hold of it?”

“My dad,” Auden suddenly said, and we all turned to him. “Well, my dad himself won’t physically have it, he’s a pusher like me, but… this may come as some surprise, but he has a number of contacts on the black market.”

“That is… No surprise at all.” I chuckled and slapped Auden on the shoulder. “Good plan, though. Let him know we’re coming?”

“I’m not going,” Auden snorted and shook his head. “The less contact I have with my dad, the better. But I’ll still be your man in a chair back here if you need anything.”

“Well, looks like we’re in for another trip to San Francisco,” I told the girls with a smirk.

Kane's Fate 5 Chapter 1

“Kane…” Penny sighed softly. “We should go.”

She was spread out on the bed beneath me, with a knowing smile on her heart shaped face that made her lips turn up crookedly, and her eyes danced mischievously as I let my hands drag their way up her hips.

I tightened my grip on her waist and leaned down to kiss her.

“I know we should,” I muttered as our lips brushed together. “You’re totally right, in fact. But how can I, when I’ve got you here like this?”

The dark-haired seer giggled into my hungry kiss, and she wrapped her arms around my neck so she could press her pert breasts against my chest as she wound her tongue slowly around mine.

Penny was the newest addition to my pack, and I’d finally mated with her for the first time the previous night. Her hair, which was pitch dark and somehow always in her face anyway, was especially disheveled after our almost sleepless night together. She still looked adorable with it, though, and her rounded lips were far more swollen than usual from the amount of kisses and long, desperate makeout sessions we’d shared. She also still bore my brand on her shoulder, and the red bite mark was stark against her beautiful pale skin.

My pack was growing, and it filled me with an immense sense of pride. I never in a million years would’ve thought this would be my life, but I was enjoying every second of it. Sure, the world constantly needed saving, and there was always some bad guy’s ass that needed kicking.

But that was also my day job, too, so I couldn’t complain about it too much.

My best friend, Auden, had gotten me a summer job with his dad, who we all knew was crazy rich anyway, but we’d discovered exactly why and how he made his fortune when we’d first gone to visit him. Mr. Lawson ran an underground magical fight ring in the middle of a subterranean San Francisco, and I was now his prize fighter.

I had a constant supply of money, plus an insanely cool new car, a sleek gray Ford Mustang that Dax, my charmer friend, had cast a spell on to make it go at hyper speed whenever I needed it to.

“What’s on your mind?” Penny asked, and she gently pushed my hair away from my eyes as she studied me with her own.

“How do you always know when I’m in my head?” I smiled down at her and kissed the tip of her nose.

“Call it a seer’s intuition.” She giggled. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I nodded and kissed her again until I finally, reluctantly, pulled away from her to find some clothes. “Just thinking about how great this all is.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Penny commented with a sly smile, and she remained curled up in the mess of bed sheets as she watched me with hungry eyes. “Does this mean I’m your woman now? Like Indira, Charlotte and Demi?”

“Isn’t that what you signed up for?” I shot back with a wink as I pulled my shirt over my head.

“I guess it is…” Penny muttered and fought off the grin on her face.

But she couldn’t stop the flush that suddenly stained her normally pale cheeks an adorable shade of pink.

“As much as I’d love to leave you naked in bed for me to come back to…” I sighed heavily as I let my eyes wander over her naked body for what felt like the hundredth time. “C’mon, I guess we should get going before Seth bursts a blood vessel.”

The two of us reluctantly wrestled our way into our clothing from the night before, and it took all of my self restraint not to kiss the dark-haired seer and take her on top of the messy bed sheets all over again. I forced my mind away from the image of her ass in my hands and her face in the pillows, and I yanked my pants and sneakers on instead.

I stopped for one last breathless kiss with her before we made it out of the door, and then finally the two of us headed out onto the quad and toward the teachers’ dormitories.

The Meloria Academy quad normally teemed with people, especially in the warmer weather where students chose to study outside or hang out with their friends, but it had been blissfully quiet since the school let out for the summer.

So Penny and I didn’t feel too guilty for our very public display of affection, and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other as we crossed the empty campus. We ended up making out in the elevator the whole ride up to the teachers’ dorms but our messy kisses were interrupted by the fit of giggles that spilled out of Penny’s mouth every few seconds, and when we eventually stumbled into the dean’s apartment, everyone inside shot us a knowing look as we stopped dead in our tracks in the doorway.

I glanced down at Penny, bit my lip against the next chuckle that bubbled in my throat, and forced myself to swallow my laughter.

“Good night?” Indira asked innocently.

Penny couldn’t keep her giggle inside, and she clapped a hand to her mouth.

“We’ll take that as a yes.” Charlotte smiled.

“Welcome to the pack, Penny.” Demi winked and then came to wrap her arm through Penny’s. “Has he marked you, yet?”

“Demi,” I chuckled and shook my head as I glanced at where the dean was thankfully still out of earshot.

“What?” the caramel skinned shifter pouted reproachfully and shrugged her shoulders. “It was just an innocent question.”

“Nothing about you is innocent,” Charlotte said with her eyebrows raised, though her lips were twisted upward in her adorably crooked smile.

“Yes.” Penny nodded seriously in answer to Demi’s question, and her hand hovered instinctively around her shoulder as she looked up at me with round eyes. “He did.”

“Good.” Demi grinned as she pulled Penny away from me with a chuckle. “That means it’s official.”

I followed my girls into the dean’s living space and quietly shut the heavy wooden door behind me. Canmore herself was buried in paperwork at her desk, with a pair of thin spectacles across her eyes and a frown furrowing her brow as she studied whatever it was she was reading.

Indria was sitting on the edge of one of the plush leather couches Canmore had decorated her living space with, with Mr. Weaver bundled up in a thick fur blanket beside her.

Seth Weaver was crouched down by his father’s side with a mildly concerned look on his pointed face, and he barely even glanced up at us as we approached.

“He’s asked for you, Kane,” Indira said in a soft voice, and at her words, both Weaver men eventually turned their gaze upon me.

I sat on the couch opposite the Weavers and finally made eye contact with the person we’d rescued from the Alaskan cave hideout.

Mr. Weaver was a slight man, with a wiry frame and lean shoulders sloped down at such an angle that he would have looked severely downtrodden anyway, even if it wasn’t for the fact he’d just been rescued from some magical cave hideout. His pale gray eyes looked like they didn’t really possess any color at all, and they were so watery he constantly seemed on the brink of tears. .He had pale blond, almost white hair, hardly any eyebrows at all, and thin lips that slashed across his pale face like an ugly scar, and he shifted his weight inside the thick blanket and nodded to me slightly.

“Kane Turner…” he murmured softly as I sat down opposite him, and he fixed me with a watery stare as he licked at his dried lips.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weaver,” I replied with a polite nod. “How are you feeling?”

“Like death,” Mr. Weaver immediately fired back and then sighed so heavily his shoulders literally slumped like a cartoon. “But better. I suppose I have you all to thank for that.”

His voice was soft and quiet, and for a moment I felt as though I recognized it. I couldn’t quite place it, though, and as he continued to speak, the feeling eventually melted away.

“I’m not sure how long I was held captive in that place for,” Seth’s father murmured and shook his head. “But I am incredibly grateful to you for rescuing me.”

“It was our pleasure,” I told him sincerely. “Though I’m afraid rescuing you was the only upside to the mission. Philo Geralds got away.”

“Philo Geralds…” Mr. Weaver repeated the name with a huff. “A pompous know-it-all.”

“I agree.” I smirked. “Did he reveal any information to you?”

“I’m afraid not.” Mr. Weaver sighed and shook his head again. “It was quite the opposite, in fact. He wanted information from me, and I’m ashamed to admit that I gave it to him.”

“Under those conditions, you have nothing to be ashamed of,” Charlotte said gently.

“What sort of information was he after?” Indira asked as she cocked her head curiously.

“Well…” Seth’s father shifted his weight with a grimace and leaned back into the soft leather bound cushions of the sofa. “He knew I was a celebrated historian, and he knew I had focused my studies on the old gods and old magic for the entirety of my career.”

“Couldn’t he have bought your books for that?” Seth finally piped up with a disgruntled expression.

“Son.” Mr. Weaver wore a pained expression that he failed to hide with a smile. “There is a lot more to my studies than just the books I’ve published and the odd lecture I’ve given.”

“Like what?” Demi asked.

“Well…” Mr. Weaver shifted uncomfortably on the couch and didn’t meet Demi’s eyes, he just addressed his hands where they were clasped tightly together in his lap. “The Atroba, for one example.”

“The Atroba were fashioned after the old ways,” I suddenly remembered and looked at Mr. Weaver for clarification. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.” The pale-haired man nodded slowly and fixed me with a stare before he pulled his eyes away and started to speak at his hands again. “The cult itself was actually created by the first humans to bear witness to magic. They thought it should be shared, not harbored by just those lucky enough to be born with it.”

“Hence why magical people have hidden in plain sight since,” Indira added in a grim tone. “Mr. Weaver, we’ve tried to gather as much information as possible against these people, but if you have any other information for us, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“I understand,” Mr. Weaver sighed, and his voice was heavy with exhaustion.

“My father is tired,” Seth suddenly said, and he tipped up his nose haughtily. “Can we save the inquisition for when he’s rested?”

“That’s fair,” I agreed and nodded to Mr. Weaver again. “Please get some rest, okay?”

“I will.” He nodded sagely and fixed me with another watery stare. “I plan to return home with my son as soon as your dean will allow it. Thank you again, Mr. Turner. Your efforts will not go unnoticed.”

“I appreciate that, sir.” I smiled.

Dean Canmore, who’d carried on her work in silence, lifted her head and nodded us over as Seth and his father remained on the couches.

“I think you are all deserved of some rest,” the dean said as she looked up at the five of us, and she peered through her wire framed spectacles and clasped her hands together across the sprawling paperwork in front of her. “This is an order, and I’m aiming it mostly at you, Kane. Take a day.”

“But, Dean Canmore--” I started to protest, but she held up a hand, so I fell silent.

“You’re going to be no use to anyone if you’re constantly running yourselves ragged,” the dean said and ran a hand through her sandy colored hair with a huff. “That’s an order, Kane. Rest. Relax for twenty fours, okay?”

“We can save the world tomorrow.” Indira smiled up at me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

I bit my lip against the obvious protests but eventually succumbed to the dean’s suggestion and nodded.

“Why don’t we go and hang out on the quad?” Demi offered. “Auden’s probably out there on his sun lounger.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I told my shifter girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as I sighed in defeat. “We can take a day, I guess.”

“Please do,” the dean said with a smile of approval, but then she suddenly turned her attention to Indira. “But, ahh, Ms. Winters, could you please stay behind?”

“Sure.” My snowy owl shifter girlfriend smiled widely. “For the… School related work you assigned me last week?”

“Yes.” Dean Canmore grinned for the first time in a while, and the genuine smile looked almost foreign on her tired face. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” Indira said with a smirk of her own, and then she turned to the rest of us. “I’ll catch up with you guys tomorrow, okay?”

“What’ve you got cooking up?” I asked curiously as I wound an arm around her slim waist so I could give her a hug goodbye.

“Nothing to concern yourself with,” Indira teased and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

“No promises.” I smirked as I squeezed her waist. “But I’ll make it up to you.”

“I bet you will,” Indira giggled.

“That’s enough hormones in my study for one day,” Dean Canmore sighed with a shake of the head, though her eyes still held the humor from her last smile. “Go and enjoy a little time off, Kane. You’ve earned it.”

I bid my farewells to both Indira and the dean, and then I gave the Weaver men an understanding nod as I departed the apartment with my other girlfriends.

It felt like Indira and the dean had some secret pact they needed to discuss, but I knew better than to get in the way of women who knew what they wanted, so I reluctantly left my first girlfriend to her scholarly duties and went to find Auden with the rest of my lovers.

It was a perfect early summer’s day, and the sun shone high in the sky as we made our way out of the teacher’s dormitories and onto the quad. I could hear the incessant drilling of bugs in the air, the scent of wildflowers filled my nose as we crossed the lush green lawn, and when I looked up, I could see the sky was an ocean of blue, with not one single cloud marking its emptiness.

“Oh, perfect timing!” Auden shouted when he spotted us walking across the quad toward him, and he eagerly waved us over.

My heavily pierced best friend was once again sunbathing in the middle of campus, though he’d outdone himself since we’d last seen him. He’d wedged a huge yellow and orange striped parasol into the ground so his sunspot had a good section of shade, and he’d stored a massive cooler beneath it that was bursting with beers, wine coolers, and a whole crate of White Claws.

But Auden was right because it was perfect timing, and as we made our way over to him, I noticed that he somehow had a blender held in one hand and a huge margarita glass in the other.

“I’ve just blitzed another round!” Auden grinned smugly as we sat around his sunbathing spot. “Who wants a marg?”

“Me please,” Penny said as she leaned forward eagerly. “And make it salty.”

“You’re a salt girl?” Auden asked with mock surprise. “Though that figures, you’re sweet enough as you are.”

“Careful,” I chuckled as my best friend lobbed me a bottle of beer from his cooler before he set to salting the rim of the margarita glass. “That’s my girlfriend you’re talking to.”

“Oh, really?” Auden smirked as he handed Penny a frozen cocktail and began to pour one out for himself. “Made it official, have you?”

“Last night,” Demi commented slyly as she cracked her raspberry White Claw and nudged Auden with her shoulder. “Penny’s dorm room quite hilariously doesn’t have a soundproofing charm on it.”

“Oh!” Penny gasped into her frozen cocktail and choked on the first sip of her frozen margarita.

“She’s just playing with you,” I assured Penny with a laugh before I playfully glared at Demi. “I know you didn’t hear us, the shifter dorms are too far away.”

“Still, probably a good thing everyone’s home for summer vacation,” Penny muttered, and she swirled her margarita around as a rosy pink flush started to stain her cheeks.

“That means it was really good.” Charlotte grinned as she grabbed a wine cooler from Auden.

“I literally do not wanna know.” My best friend laughed and shook his head. “Honestly, if you’d have told me the guy I met on my first day at Meloria would end up with four bombshell girlfriends, I’d have laughed in his damn face.”

“You did laugh in my face,” I reminded him as I sprawled myself out on the grass directly in the light of the sun. “You poked fun at me for having a crush on Indira, remember?”

“That’s right,” Auden sighed nostalgically. “I did. Happy times.”

We spent the rest of the early summer’s afternoon laughing, joking around on the quad, drinking more of Auden’s cocktails, and generally just enjoying the weather and the company.

As much as it frustrated me to think that Philo Geralds was probably plotting everyone’s demise right this very moment, it was admittedly quite refreshing to just… be for a moment. I’d spent so long with my foot on the gas that it was a welcome reprieve to park and kill the engine for a little while.

We spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the warmth of the sun and chatting about everything from new music to viral TikTok videos to how we’d route our trip to Europe, and we very purposefully avoided any discussion on the Atroba or Philo Geralds.

I ached to return to the fray, but that could happen tomorrow. I wanted to actually spend my twenty four hours off from being the savior of the magical world by relaxing, and after sinking several bottles of beer and maybe one or two frozen cocktails courtesy of Auden’s insistence, I had the perfect idea in my head of how to properly enjoy my time off.

The sun eventually began to set on Meloria Academy, and once there was more shade on the grass of the quad than actual sunlight we’d totally emptied Auden’s booze cooler and decided it was probably time to head in for the night.

Auden himself used his pusher telekinesis to hoist the colorful parasol out of the ground, and I laughed as it bobbed behind him like an eager puppy while he made his way back to his own dorms.

I watched my best friend go and then sighed as I looked around at my three waiting girlfriends.

Demi, with her twisted cornrows and caramel colored skin, just had a knowing half-smirk on her face as she noticed my expression. Charlotte, who was wearing an adorable pale green sundress that accentuated both the red tones in her hair as well as the gentle swell of her cleavage, noticed Demi’s look and giggled into the last few sips of her wine cooler.

And Penny, with her tousled dark hair and sparkling eyes, just looked up at me past hooded lids as her finger swirled the rim of her almost empty cocktail glass.

“Shall we go hang out in the dorms?” Demi asked as she nonchalantly climbed to her feet, and she looped her arm through Penny’s.

“Oh,” Penny giggled, and she subconsciously leaned into Demi and licked the salt from her fingertip. “Yeah, I guess we probably should, it’s getting kinda dark out already.”

“Let’s go, then.” I grinned widely and then helped Charlotte to her feet.

The redhead brushed the skirt of her dress down and smiled sweetly up at me as she leaned against my arm.

“Yes,” my telekinetic girlfriend purred. “Let’s go.”

My girlfriends and I left the quad and headed back toward the shifter dorms, though our giggling and joking was suddenly stifled by the unwelcome presence of Seth Weaver in the common room.

“Oh, god…” he groaned when he spotted the four of us stumbling through the doorway. “Just what I need… Like a hole in the head…”

He’d been curled up in the corner of one of the couches with his head buried in a book, and he looked at us all with comically raised eyebrows and his usual air of disdain.

“Seth!” Charlotte gasped as she tried to stop the giggle that had already made its way past her plump lips.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked with a lopsided grin.

“Last I checked, this is still my dorm, too,” my shifter classmate said pointedly, and his eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline as he looked us over. “Had a good day off from saving the world, have you?”

“It was deserved,” Demi pouted and stuck her tongue out at him, but then she sighed knowingly. “How’s your dad?”

“He’s okay,” Seth huffed. “Despite you guys grilling him.”

“Just doing our job,” I replied with a casual shrug. “We did save him from probably certain death, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess you did,” Seth muttered as he gently closed the book he’d been reading.

The gorilla shifter stared at it in his hands for a moment before he suddenly heaved himself to his feet and headed toward the corridor of bedrooms.

“For the love of all that is holy, do not keep me awake!” he called out over his shoulder.

“There’s a soundproof charm, apparently!” Penny called back helpfully and then fell into a fit of tipsy giggles as Seth just shook his head without even looking back.

“Okay, I’m making us coffee.” I laughed. “Our super healing should also help with the hangover.”

“Ohhh…” Charlotte muttered as she followed me into the kitchen area. “I can think of a pretty good way to sober us all up…”

“Oh, is that right?” I smirked down at my pusher girlfriend as I switched the coffee pot on and leaned against the kitchen counter. “What’d you have in mind?”

Charlotte pressed herself against me and lightly kissed my neck, and as her lips gently moved across my skin, I glanced across at the couches where Demi and Penny watched us with hungry eyes.

“I feel like it involves far less clothing than we have on right now,” Charlotte said innocently as she pulled away from me, and she twirled a strand of her red hair around her pinky finger and fixed me with a knowing grin.

Audiobook Release | Monster Girl Islands 16

Monster Girl Islands 16 is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

The time has come.

Ben and his army have dealt the Grand Gar a devastating blow by freeing the Shadow Dragon that was protecting the orcs’ island.

Now, Ben plans to invade Isla Gar and kill the bastard who has been terrorizing the seas of this world for too long.

This war will finally come to an end, and Ben plans to take the Grand Gar’s head.

Narration by: Alyssa Poon, Robert L. Bradvica
Length: 6 Hours, 49 Minutes

Backyard Dungeon 7 MAP

This one looks cool.

Backyard Dungeon 7 NSFW covers!

She's got a bit of fuzz.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDCMP9H7

Backyard Dungeon 7 is out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDCMP9H7

Backyard Dungeon 7 Chapter 4

Nileme was as happy as clam at high water. The warrior woman had picked up a few very nice pieces to start her gun collection, including a pearl handled revolver from the 1920s, a replica flintlock musket, and a derringer that had belonged to some obscure riverboat gambler.

“I guess she was quite the wildcat.” I grinned as I looked over the paperwork that came with the derringer. “Won a bunch of money, drank it all away, then won a bunch more.”

“Can such a small thing really do that much damage?” the Elven woman asked as she looked at the tiny gun.

“Maybe if you got up real close,” Nathan snorted. “But really they are better at wounding your opponent enough for you to leg it the fuck out of somewhere. More people probably died from infection after than the shot itself.”

“It’s so intricate, though.” Nileme smiled as she looked at the derringer. “That’s what I liked about it most.”

The small firearm had an ivory handle and delicate, floral etching along the barrel, hammer, and trigger typical of the Victorian era.

“Makes sense that it belonged to a lady,” Pearson replied as he looked at it. “Pretty well made, too. Even if it didn’t have a lot of killing power, it was definitely useful for self defense. Women used to carry these because they were easily concealed in a purse or something. Nice little historical piece, if you ask me.”

The three of us had left the gun show and gotten some food, and then we drove to a park by the lake to look over our hauls as we ate on the back of the Jeep.

It was a cool fall day, but still mild enough to comfortably be outside, even this close to Lake Erie. It was a rare, sunny afternoon, and the water sparked with a wreath of orange and yellow trees around it.

“I wish I had more rounds of this double barrel,” I commented as I looked at my new big game rifle. “I’d like to try it out.”

“Yeah.” The sandy-haired man nodded with an envious expression. “I could order some for you. But they’re not cheap, and it’ll probably take a minute to get them in. Might be worth it to look into some good old DIY. Just learn to load the rounds yourself if you got the space for it.”

“I do.” I grinned as I perked up. “That’s definitely worth looking into.”

And if I got the right shells, I could also have Tauric work up some of his special bullets for me, too.

Fuck yeah.

“Did you two see anything you might need some ‘help’ buying?” Nathan asked as I put my double barrel back in the case it came in.

“I’d like to get some ammo in bulk,” I replied, and I sipped some of my pop from its paper cup. “And I’m really interested in getting some of these night vision goggles.”

“You don’t need my help with that,” the eccentric man snorted as I handed him the card the sales woman had given me.

“No,” I agreed. “But I want to get five or six of them. So, if there’s a way you can get a bulk discount, that’d be nice.”

I was in a place now where money wasn’t really an object anymore, but I had grown up pretty poor, and some things just stuck with you.

Any money I could save was money I had for something else that I wanted to do. My pop would have called it good stewardship, but I liked the word frugal. Frugal sounds fancy, but it just means knowing a good deal for what it was. I had big plans, and the more I kept tucked away, the better off I’d be to see those plans through.

“Five or six?” Nathan chuckled. “Planning on taking your lady friends out hunting at night? Sure, I’ll check into that for you. Text me a list of the ammo you need too, and I’ll see to it.”

“Sweet.” I smiled. “This was a really good idea, Nathan. Thanks for inviting us along.”

“Thank you.” Pearson shook his head. “Don’t really have a lot of friends around anymore to take to stuff like this. Not to mention the possibility of you coming on as an investor. If we can get a website or something off the ground, the sky’s the limit for how much money we could make.”

“I like the sound of that.” I smirked as I gathered up our lunch trash and took it over to one of the park trash bins.

Then we drove home and dropped Pearson off at his shop, and Nileme and I went back to the cul-de-sac after that. I pulled into the driveway of Ibseth’s house and opened the back of the Rubicon so Nileme and I could take out our purchases. The Dolrath woman took hers back to her house to put them in the gun room in her basement until I could help her find some display stands. Meanwhile, I went into Ibseth’s house to show her my new gun.

As soon as I stepped into the living room, though, I took in all the shopping bags and boxes on the floor. Ibseth and Bolra were busy as they organized the items, but they looked up as I came in.

“You girls got quite a lot,” I snorted as I set my gun case down next to the door. “What all did you get?”

“We had a lovely time.” Bolra grinned. “We got Ibseth some new clothes and looked at some beautiful furniture for my new house.”

“And Amrila got some things for her home,” the white-haired woman added with a giggle. “Almost all of it from the Halloween section at the store. And all of this is for the yards like you asked.”

“Really?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and looked around. “Let’s take a look.”

“They had so much,” the pretty Orc remarked in an excited tone. “Such odd and wonderful things.”

“This one fills with air and almost looks like a Pit Wyrm,” Ibseth giggled as she showed me an inflatable black dragon, still in its box. “Amrila suggested it. She laughed so hard when she saw it.”

I looked at the box and saw it would be fourteen feet tall when inflated and had red eyes that would light up.

“Fucking sweet!” I grinned. “This is perfect. Oh, baby. What else did you guys get?”

The two women showed me all the things they’d gotten for the yard displays, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

There were skeletons, a couple of ghosts that could be hung from a tree and fly around in a circle, and a ton of bags of fake webs. I got more excited with each item as I pictured how I’d put it all together.

“There’s this big, hairy spider, and its legs move,” Bolra giggled as she pointed at one box. “And a gar-- gar-- what’s it called again, Ibseth?”

“A gar-go-eel?” the curvy Elf squinted as she tried to read the unfamiliar word. “Amrila said she thought it looked like a Troll.”

Wait a minute.

“It’s a gargoyle,” I laughed. “Amrila said it looked like a Troll?”

I stared at the resin statue, and sure enough, it kinda did look like a Troll.

A Pit Wyrm, a big-ass spider, and a Troll. Those were all monsters my Zencarri wife and I had fought together in The Gloom.

“Amrila thought we should find a way to put jewels on the gar-gee-oil,” Ibseth explained. “So, I asked the lady at the shop, and she said we could glue these onto it.”

The white-haired woman held up a big bag of little plastic gems in assorted colors, plus a hot glue gun.

Amrila had done this all as a little inside joke for me, and I loved it.

“Did we do well, husband?” Bolra asked with a smile as she looked at the expression on my face.

“This could not be more perfect, thank you.” I nodded as I hugged and kissed my wives, and they showered me with kisses of their own. “I’m going to go over and see Amrila real quick. Be right back.”

As Ibseth and Bolra finished their organization of the decorations, I stepped outside and crossed the cul-de-sac to my Zencarri wife’s house.

Since the only neighbors we had left were Brock and Tanya, I didn’t make any pretext about knocking on the door and just walked in. The beautiful Zencarri was in the living room, and she carefully placed a sparkly, black skull on her shelf between two new pillar candles. Then Amrila turned and smiled as she saw me.

“Hello, partner,” the horned woman purred. “Did you have fun at the gun show?”

“I did.” I nodded as I came up to the red-skinned woman and wrapped my arms around her. “And I came home to one hell of a surprise.”

Amrila giggled, got up on her tiptoes, and kissed me.

The kiss raised my blood, and the two of us ripped each other’s clothes off and had some very athletic sex, right there in the living room. The Zencarri woman was insatiable, and I always found it easy to lose myself in her rough brand of affection and her tight, wet pussy.

About an hour later, after we’d had our fill of pleasure, the two of us laid on the soft couch while naked and a little sweaty. I had to admit, the crushed velvet did feel really good on my bare skin. Much better than leather would have as it stuck to the skin. I could see now why Amrila went with this sofa.

“Mmmm,” the horned woman sighed as she laid her head on my chest. “How can life with you get sweeter with each passing day?”

“Same way that you just get hotter the more time I spend with you,” I rumbled as I let my hand trace the smooth, sensual line of her back. “I really like the theme you picked for Halloween, too.”

“So, you’re onto my game?” Amrila snickered. “I didn’t know if you would notice right away.”

“You picked out all the monsters we fought together when we first met.” I smiled. “Kinda a romantic gesture, if you ask me.”

“I’m so glad you noticed.” Amrila grinned. “A display of each of our conquests. But I couldn’t find any that looked like a Basilisk. Or any good Demons.”

“I think you did great,” I said as I took in the clean scent of her strawberry-blonde hair. “Maybe we could get little swords for some of those skeletons and make them look like they’re fighting the monsters.”

“I love that idea,” Amrila chuckled. “Oh, Ibseth and I had an idea while I was out today. We think you should take Bolra out, just you and her.”

“That’s a good idea,” I agreed, since I hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time alone with the willowy mystic since we’d gotten married.

“But I think you should take Ibseth out by herself sometime, too,” the Zencarri woman continued. “Nileme and I get so much time with you in The Gloom. I think it would be nice for them both.”

“You’ve got a point.” I nodded. “But don’t you think you and Nileme should get a date night, too?”

“I wouldn’t say no to that,” Amrila purred as she moved her head to look at me with her dark eyes. “But I have my nights with you, and our adventures. I don’t really need all that romantic stuff. But Ibseth and Bolra are different. They are soft and sweet and deserve the kind of romance they dreamed of as girls.”

“That’s surprisingly intuitive of you,” I teased.

“When I was a thief, I had to be good at reading people.” The horned woman shrugged. “It’s how I got by for years and years.”

“Well, then,” I snorted as I started to sit up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go ask Bolra out on a date.”

Amrila and I took a shower together at her place, and then I went back over to Ibseth’s house.

I found Ibseth in the kitchen, where she had started dinner.

“Hey, baby,” I growled as I came up behind her, lightly placed my hand on her round belly, and kissed the back of her soft neck.

“Hello again, my king,” Ibseth breathed as she smiled.

“Amrila told me about you two’s idea,” I said quietly as I looked around to see if Bolra was nearby. “But she added that I should take you out sometime soon, too.”

“Oh?” The white-haired woman blushed. “I’m not worried about myself. I have had the most time with you of all of us. But Bolra hasn’t had as much yet.”

“I know it’s not your nature to think about yourself,” I said as I looked down at the petite woman. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a little something special for yourself, too. I’ll take Bolra out tonight. But I also want to take you out soon.”

“That sounds lovely,” Ibseth sighed with a glow to her heart-shaped face. “I would never say no to you, beloved.”

“That’s not going to mess up your dinner plan is it?” I asked as I looked at the chicken breasts she’d set out to marinate. “If we go out tonight?”

“Not at all,” the white-haired woman giggled. “There will just be left overs for tomorrow. I can make them into delicious sandwiches.”

“You’re amazing.” I grinned as I rubbed her belly a little. “Have you felt the baby moving yet?”

“Not yet.” Ibseth shook her head with a smile. “That comes later. But I will tell you as soon as I do, so that you can feel your child kick and stretch in my belly.”

“I can’t wait,” I replied as I kissed Ibseth’s neck again. “Where’s Bolra?”

“She is out in the yard with Growler and Dread,” the curvy Elf answered.

With one last kiss for good measure, I left my first wife in the kitchen and went out into the backyard to find the lovely seer as she played with our garms.

The two big, white furred dogs chased after a fuzzy tennis ball that the beautiful Orc had thrown for them. The garm’s dark red ears flapped behind them, and they wagged their long tails with excitement before Dread got to the ball first and ran it back to Bolra.

“Looks like you’re having fun,” I commented as I walked up to the green-skinned woman.

“I do love them.” Bolra smiled sweetly as she threw the ball again. “All the animals we kept at Tors Bane were livestock, or working animals. I’ve never had a real pet before.”

“I can tell they love you, too,” I said as I watched the boys chase the ball.

Dread got the ball first again. The passive garm had gotten faster than his braver brother, but Growler was already bigger and had more muscle.

“I think they love us all.” Bolra’s smile widened. “But Growler has definitely chosen you as his person. And Dread’s world revolves around Ibseth. I think that’s sweet though.”

I couldn’t argue that.

“Hey,” I said as I looked at the airy woman. “You should go get your shoes on. I want to take you somewhere special.”

“Really?” the pretty Orc asked, and she blinked up at me in surprise. “Just me?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Go get ready. I’d like to get to the city before it gets dark.”

“Yes, husband.” Bolra blushed, dropped her eyes, and then headed into the house.

I took a moment to check the garm’s food and water bowls, but the seer had already filled them, so I went into the house, too. Nileme and Amrila were in the kitchen now, and they helped Ibseth set the table or cut vegetables. I stopped long enough to give them all kisses, which was one of my favorite duties as a husband to four women.

My life at home was a constant wheel of affection, thoughtful gestures, and love. Everywhere I turned was an amazing woman I got to spend the rest of my life with, and I’d decided long ago to never take that for granted. Best of all was how they loved each other, too. I couldn’t imagine a better way to make a family since I had found them.

I met Bolra in the living room, where she’d put on a pair of cork heeled wedge style shoes that completed her flowy, boho look. We got into the Jeep, and I drove us up into Cleveland as we listened to an oldies station that played the kind of folk rock the Orcish woman had come to love since she’d moved to the surface. I headed into the city, to a neighborhood called Coventry where I had hung out a lot in college.

There were old brick buildings from the industrial era, little boutiques, and odd little restaurants that served whatever trendy food was in style with hipsters and arty kids from the local college. I found a nice little Indian place and paid for parking nearby. It was in a good spot, and we’d be able to wander around without having to walk a mile back at the end of the night.

I got out and opened Bolra’s door for her, and the mystic smiled shyly and looked around.

“This is beautiful,” the pretty Orc breathed as she looked at the turn of the century architecture. “It’s so different from anything in Westherst.”

“I’ve always liked it.” I grinned as I looked around, too. “I used to come here all the time and sketch.”

I led Bolra to the restaurant, and a young woman in a bright sari sat us, handed us some menus, and then left to get us water as we decided what we wanted.

“Her dress is so beautiful,” the mystic said as she set down the menu, since she hadn’t learned to read in English yet. “What should we get?”

“I always get Vindaloo,” I replied. “But it can be really spicy. Is that something you like?”

“Oh, yes.” The seer nodded enthusiastically before she leaned in and lowered her voice. “Orcs always use many spices in our cooking. Xuag brought a pepper plant from Tak’Fett that he jealously guards. He only shares on very special occasions.”

Given what I knew about Orcs, that fact didn’t come as a surprise.

“Sweet.” I smiled. “When I used to come here on dates, I’d always have to get mild dishes, since they give you big portions to share. You’re going to love this.”

When the girl in the sari came back, she set our water down on the table and pulled out a pad and pen from somewhere in the folds of her long skirt.

“What can I get for you?” The Indian woman smiled as she spoke in an American accent, and to her credit, she didn’t even blink at Bolra’s green skin.

“Can we get some chai and poppadom to start, and then the vindaloo with basmati rice?” I requested.

“Do you want it hot or mild?” the young server asked.

“Hot please.” I grinned and started to get excited.

“I’ll have that out shortly,” the girl in the sari replied. “My name is Preet, if you need anything else.”

As Preet left again to put in our order, I turned back to Bolra.

“What other kind of stuff do you like?” I asked as we reached across the small table at the same time to hold hands. “I feel like I’ve always known you, but don’t know a lot about you at the same time.”

“I don’t know.” Bolra blushed again as her green eyes looked into mine. “My duties in the village always took up so much time. I never really had time to find my own interests.”

I looked around the little restaurant. There were other customers all absorbed by their own conversations, and we were in a corner far enough apart that I felt we could talk freely without anyone paying much attention to us.

“Well, tell me about that,” I said. “Like your abilities. Were you always a seer? Or was that something you were taught?”

“One has to be born a seer,” the pretty Orc replied. “I started to show signs of it at a very young age. Xuag was thrilled, because it meant I would have station in our clan.”

“What’s it like?” I asked. “I’m sure you get sick of people asking about it. But do you see stuff all the time? Or do you have to choose to do it?”

“Visions come on their own sometimes,” Bolra explained. “Those are always the most powerful ones, and they are often frightening. But there are things I can do to bring on smaller visions. Like the runes, or burning certain incense.”

“If you could choose to make it stop, would you?” I asked.

“No one has ever asked me that before,” the mystic mused as she cocked her head to the side and looked at me with a sense of wonder. “Orcs see it as a gift from the gods, and no one questions it. But I don’t think I would. It’s such a part of me. I don’t know what my life would be like without it.”

Just then, Preet brought out our chai and the poppadom and left again. Bolra took a sip of the sweet, spicy tea, and her face lit up.

“This is lovely!” The green-skinned woman smiled as she took another sip. “Scourge would love this.”

“I’m sure he would,” I chuckled. “What about animals? You seem to have a special connection with them.”

“It started as part of my duties,” Bolra replied as she munched on poppadom. “But as I grew older, it became less a chore and more of a privilege. The animals provided us with food and clothing, and in return I would make sure their lives would be as pleasant as they could be.”

I could feel myself fall more in love with the gentle, kind seer. Everything about her seems both mystical, but also earthy and solid.

When our food came, I made Bolra a plate of rice and vindaloo with some naan bread and showed her how to use the naan to scoop up the food. Bolra took her first bite, and her emerald eyes went wide as she looked up at me.

“Is it too spicy?” I asked in concern.

“Not at all,” the Orc breathed. “It is divine. I’ve never tasted anything like it before!”

I smiled, and the two of us ate every last bite of the delicious food as we talked and slowly grew closer.

It was one of the best dates I’d ever had. Conversation was effortless, and after we had finished, Bolra and I walked around the neighborhood. Most of the storefronts were what I’d expect. Gourmet pickles, small batch breweries, and vintage shops.

But then we passed a kooky little place that had bunches of dried sage hung out front.

“This looks interesting,” I commented, and I stopped and read the sign that said The Sympathetic Witch.

“It looks like an apothecary,” Bolra replied as she looked at the display window.

“I think it might be,” I chuckled as I noted the jars of herbs, a small rack of crystal pendulums, and a book that had the word “magick” spelled with a K on the cover. “Let’s take a look.”

As we stepped inside, the place had a strong smell of incense and at least one clerk who was a white woman with dreadlocks.

“Can I help you?” the slim woman with dreadlocks asked as we walked in.

The woman seemed skeptical as she looked me up and down. I didn’t fit into a place like this at all, with my old jeans and work boots. But then the clerk spotted Bolra as she came in behind me, and her whole demeanor changed.

“Oh my goddess!” the young woman with dreads cooed as she took in my wife’s green skin, long auburn hair, and delicate tusks. “You are just the most divine creature I have ever seen! Did you just get back from a LARP?”

“Yes.” Bolra nodded as she looked at me. “I enjoy the cosplay. Is that correct, husband?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “I already changed, but it takes ages for my wife to get off that makeup, so we figured we’d enjoy the evening first.”

“I’m Starlight,” Dreads introduced herself as she came over to Bolra and grinned. “Can I help you find anything special today?”

“Uhh…” The green-skinned woman paused as she looked around the store. “Do you have any incense for divination?”

“Of course!” Starlight exclaimed.

I sat back to enjoy the show as the dreaded clerk led Bolra around.

“I just can’t get over the makeup!” Starlight gushed. “It looks so real. I just love it!”

Soon, my wife had an armload of incense, candles, and little jars of herbs.

I didn’t know how much of it would actually work, since my only experience with occult stuff was a couple of spooky girls from art school who were always very concerned about Mercury being in retrograde. I didn’t really know what that meant, but they seemed to feel it was bad. I paid for the items, and Starlight put them in a nice paper bag that had the name of the shop on it.

Then Bolra and I left and continued down the street.

“Find anything good in there?” I asked as my wife looked through the bag.

“I think so,” Bolra giggled. “It’s all different then what I’m used to, but I’m interested to try it.”

As we turned a corner, it had gotten fairly dark out, and I saw what looked like the last remnants of a street fair. People packed up their tables, and the last of the food trucks got ready to move onto the bars further down the street. The pretty Orc and I passed the last of the hangers on who were still hoping to make one last sale. Then Bolra stopped and looked around as she wrinkled her brow.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I looked around too and wondered if I’d missed something.

“It’s just--” Bolra started to say, but then she took my hand and made a beeline to one of the last tables.

It was the Humane Society, and the volunteers were in the process of loading some animal crates onto their truck.

The mystic went up to a pen that had wood chips at the bottom and four puppies of different breeds in it. They all looked cute and sleepy, after a long day outside being petted and ogled by passersby.

“Ohhh,” Bolra breathed as she looked at the puppies. “That one is perfect.”

My wife pointed at a little wooly puppy curled up away from the others.

The small dog had brown, curly fur and looked more like a teddy bear with its short ears and mushed up snout. I could see the look on the seer’s face, and I knew she had to have the scruffy little guy.

“Excuse me,” I said to a man with a long beard and hair pulled up into the bun. “We’d like to adopt this little brown one that looks like a dust mop.”

“Oh, Eddie!” Bolra gasped as she looked up at me with a radiant smile.

Man Bun seemed less impressed.

“I’m sorry.” The bearded man shook his head. “We’ve wrapped up for the day.”

Bolra’s face fell a little, and I could tell the guy’s icy tone had bothered her. I suppressed a bit of protective anger and gave the guy a friendly smile.

“I know,” I replied in an apologetic tone. “But we already know the one we want. Could we just adopt it super quick? I can donate a little extra for the trouble.”

“Listen, man,” Man Bun said with a huff. “If you’d gotten here an hour ago--”

“Shut up, Greg,” I plump woman in a blue Humane Society t-shirt said as she came off the truck.

The lady had short, gray hair and a permanent scowl of a true midwesterner. But she came over to us with one last, withering look at Man Bun Greg and then gave us a smile.

“I’m Missy,” the woman said in a much more pleasant tone. “Which one did you want?”

“The little mop-like one right there,” the pretty Orc replied in a shy tone and pointed.

“Whoo, girl.” Missy smiled as she looked at the green-skinned woman. “You are really something. But I should let you know that one doesn’t really take to people. Or other dogs for that matter. Do you want to hold her a minute before you decide?”

“May I?” Bolra smiled a little as she perked back up.

“Missy, we really gotta--” the bearded man started to say.

“I said shut up, Greg!” Missy snapped back as she stepped into the pen and scooped up the brown ball of mostly fur.

The puppy opened her big, black eyes and started to wiggle to try to get away, but then the gray-haired woman handed the dog to Bolra.

“Shh shh shh, little one,” the Orcish woman said as the puppy looked up at her. “You are safe.”

The scruffy pup stopped for a moment, and then the dog wagged its stumpy little tail so hard its whole butt wiggled, too.

“Well, looky there,” Missy laughed. “She’s tried to run away from everyone else who wanted to touch her today. It’s almost like she was waiting for you.”

“Thank you so much.” I smiled at the older woman. “We’ll take her, obviously. And I’d like to donate an extra thousand on top of the adoption fees. For your trouble.”

“O-Oh, thank you!” Missy gasped as she grabbed her ample chest with surprise. “There’s just a couple papers you’ll have to sign.”

I had only planned to give an extra fifty or something, but the thousand was worth it for the look on Greg’s face when I made the offer.

I signed the forms, and Missy gave us a little crate with the Humane Society logo on it and a leash, but I doubted Bolra would put the little dog down any time soon.

“What are you going to call her?” I asked as we walked away, and the seer fussed over the adorable puppy.

“What’s the name of that princess from the film Ibseth and Amrila love so much?” Bolra asked. “The one with the man in the black mask and the large man who speaks in rhymes?”

“Buttercup?” I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes!” The willowy woman nodded. “I’ll call her Buttercup.”

“Buttercup it is.” I smiled and took Bolra to a park close by so we could walk Buttercup a little before we headed home.

It took a minute for the ball of fluff to take to her leash, but with the mystic’s gentle ways, we got to walk around a little. Buttercup had a little prancing gate when she walked, and anytime she got excited, her whole back half would start to wiggle with joy. The two of us stopped in a secluded spot, surrounded by trees so the puppy could rest her tiny legs, and we tied the leash to a bench so the dust mop could explore a little.

Bolra and I sat down and snuggled up in the cool evening air, and my wife sighed with contentment.

“This has been such a lovely evening,” the pretty Orc breathed. “Thank you so much. I didn’t know love could be like this.”

“I do love you,” I replied. “And I don’t just want to say that. I want you to know it from every action I take.”

“I love you too, Eddie,” Bolra replied.

As I looked into the big, emerald colored eyes, I felt pulled toward the seer.

I leaned down and kissed her as the stars started to come out overhead. As our tongues caressed each other, I could hear the green-skinned woman’s breath quicken, and it sent a rush of blood into my core. Bolra reached for me as our passion for one another intensified, and I pulled her onto my lap.

Buttercup settled down on the grass and covered her face with her tiny paw so she didn’t have to watch.

“Ohh, Eddie,” Bolra purred.

Backyard Dungeon 7 Chapter 3

I woke up early the next morning, and I was excited for the gun show in Sandusky. The drive would only be about thirty to forty minutes from Westherest, but Nathan wanted to get there early to get the best deals for items to stock his shop. What was most exciting of all was there would be areas of the show that Nileme and I would be able to get into because Nathan held a Federal Firearms License to buy and sell guns for profit.

Since some of the events were only open to legal firearms sellers, I could check out a much larger selection that was priced for wholesale. All I would have to do is discreetly let the wild-haired man know what I wanted, and he’d be able to get it for me. Maybe that wasn’t one hundred percent legal, but it was an opportunity I wasn’t about to let pass me by.

There would also be the private booths of individual sellers where Nileme would be able to find some fun stuff for her collection. Not to mention a whole list of workshops on topics from early gun safety for kids, all the way to navigating new and upcoming regulation on state and federal level.

I scrolled through the itinerary on the show’s website while I finished my first cup of coffee.

“This is fucking sweet.” I grinned as I showed my Dolrath wife some of the events throughout the day. “When Nathan said it was a gun show, I expected a few booths in a convention center and some private collectors. Those are the kinds of shows I used to go to with my Pop. But this is more like a big convention.”

“A convention?” Nileme asked as she looked over my shoulder at my phone. “Like the ones Ibseth looks up with cosplayers?”

The dark-haired Elven woman had gone all out today.

Nileme had let Ibseth curl her long, chestnut colored hair, and my Dolrath wife wore tight, high rise jeans tucked into a pair of combat boots. The look was completed with a black t-shirt tied at the waist and an olive drab jacket that had been made to look like army surplus but better fitted to a woman’s curves. I couldn’t wait to sit back and enjoy the looks on men’s faces when they got a load of her in Sandusky.

“Kinda.” I nodded. “But instead of focusing on pop culture, and fun costumes, this one is all about guns. I got our tickets last night, and given the price of the VIP tear tickets, I think there’s gonna be some crazy stuff there. Way above what we usually find at Nathan’s place.”

“That’s exciting.” Bolra smiled as she helped to clear away the dishes.

The pretty Orc looked sexy and effortless in one of her flowy dresses as she glided through the kitchen and helped Ibseth with daily chores.

“I’m almost sorry I’m not going,” Amrila joked. My Zencarri wife was decked out in a red crop top, frayed daisy dukes over fishnets, and an oversized red flannel that did more to draw attention to the skimpy outfit underneath than to conceal it. “But we’re going to go out shopping and get some ideas for Bolra’s house.”

“That sounds like fun too.” I grinned. “You ladies should look around at some of the Halloween decorations that are going to be out, too. Oh! And maybe pick up some stuff for lawn displays. I really want to go all out for trick or treating this year.”

“Trick or treating?” Ibseth asked as she rinsed dishes at the sink. “What’s that?”

I smiled as I looked over at my first wife.

The curvy Elf’s pregnancy had started to show, and she’d borrowed one of Bolra’s flowy dresses with the waistline just under her impressive bustline.

“Trick or treat is the best thing ever,” I explained as I looked around at my wives. “It's where human kids dress up in costumes and go from house to house in their neighborhoods, and people give them candy. Halloween is the best holiday ever. People decorate their houses to look all spooky, and you watch horror movies or go out to costume parties. And trick or treat is the big finish.”

“People are just expected to give out candy?” Amrila asked with open skepticism. “That’s a strange tradition.”

“Not everyone does it,” I replied. “But most people do. And honestly, it’s way more fun than it sounds. Especially if you’re the house that gives out the good candy. My friends and I used to know exactly which houses in town gave out the best and hit those up first. I want to order a shit ton of boxes of full size candy bars and give those out. You’ll see what I mean when you hand out a king sized Twix bar to that first kid dressed like a superhero, and their face lights up. It’s gonna be the best.”

“I think that sounds like a wonderful tradition,” my pregnant wife sighed wistfully. “Neighbors just being generous toward children. It sounds so sweet and adorable. I’ll make sure we look for some decorations for the houses. This sounds like great fun.”

“Spare no expense, baby,” I said. “I want our places to be the talk of Westherst. But we should probably get going. We’re supposed to meet Nathan at his shop and drive up together.”

I kissed my wives, and then Nileme and I got into the Rubicon and drove to the army surplus store.

When we pulled up, I was surprised to see Nathan Pearson waiting out front for us. The eccentric man usually wore some mix of a Hawaiian shirt and old fatigues, but today he had washed and combed his crazy mop and pulled it back into a stylish man bun. The gun store owner had also put on a slick, long sleeve polo with his store name embroidered over his heart and a pressed pair of Dickies, and the sleeve over his missing arm had been folded and sewn shut to cover the stump just under his elbow.

Nathan almost looked respectable dressed like that. He even had a leather messenger bag slung over one shoulder, which made him seem like a proper business man.

“Hey, Eddie.” Nathan grinned as we stepped out of the Rubicon to greet him. “Ready for a day filled with guns and free swag?”

“You know it,” I snorted. “You looked nice today.”

“Flattery, flattery,” the sandy-haired man chuckled. “I like to go in looking a little more professional to these things. I find fewer people question my credentials if I look like a regular Joe Schmo.”

“I think I like your usual look better,” Nileme teased. “It suits you.”

“Kind of you to say so.” The conspiracy theorist blushed a little at the compliment. “But when in Rome, as they say. Also, I have some passes for you, too.”

“Oh.” I blinked in surprise. “I got us the VIP tickets last night.”

“Those’ll get you into all the good areas of the show with the high end stuff.” Pearson nodded. “But these passes I got will get us into the early events for just the dealers. If anyone asks, you two work for me.”

He handed us some laminated badges on lanyards from his bag. At the bottom of each badge it read “Nathan’s Arms and Surplus, Staff,” but the sandy-haired man’s badge read “Nathan Pearson, FFL.”

The three of us got into the Jeep, and Nileme chose to get into the back seat so Nathan could sit in the passenger seat next to me. Then we started out west, toward Sandusky, and during the drive, Nathan talked about the show and all the events he wanted to check out.

“If it goes well this year,” the eccentric man explained, “I could see it becoming a yearly thing. Which would be nice for me. Save me a ticket to Vegas every year for the big convention out there. And if you see anything you like, just let me know on the DL. Straw purchases aren’t exactly legal, but we can say it’s a gift on paper and avoid any trouble.”

“I can imagine there’s all kinds of rules and regulations you have to deal with running the shop,” I commented as I pulled onto the highway.

“Yes and no.” Nathan shrugged. “Ohio has some of the most reasonable rules, and I try to keep my nose clean enough that the ATF doesn’t pay me any mind. But at times, it’s a hell of a lot for one man to keep up with. I’d like to expand into some internet sales and grow my business that way, but it gets a little murkier when you gotta navigate laws state to state.”

“Don’t you have a lawyer or something to help you with that?” I asked.

“Nah.” Pearson shook his head. “Until now, I’ve kept it small and close to home. Never really needed one before. Do my own taxes and everything.”

“I could introduce you to my guy,” I offered. “He’s not exactly cheap, but he’s the best. And a whiz with investments.”

“Could be worth looking into.” Nathan nodded. “But without a little more capital, I’ll probably have to save up some, or bring on a partner, or a couple of investors.”

“Well, that’s an interesting idea,” I said thoughtfully. “If you’re serious, maybe we could sit down with my guy and work something out. I have a chunk of change stashed away. If I invested in your business, you could cover legal fees, get a website up and running, and maybe even hire someone to help you with the technology side of things.”

“Really?” The sandy-haired man gaped at me and seemed caught off guard. “I was just making conversation. But if you’re serious, I’d be very interested in that. Honestly, that would be kinda huge for me.”

“I’m very serious,” I told Nathan. “I’m not sure how all that works. Meyer will probably want a business plan or proposal. Whatever it’s called. Just to be sure all the bases are covered.”

Nathan was kinda a wild guy, but he was also very knowledgeable about his work.

I figured with Travis’s help, we could either work something up that could benefit everyone, or else the lawyer would be able to spot if it was a bad idea out of the gate. But it’d be nice to help Nathan out and maybe be able to get ammo and stuff a little cheaper.

“Well, then I’ll write something up.” Pearson grinned. “I had no idea today would be so fortuitous.”

Soon, we arrived at the convention center, which wasn’t very packed yet since the first half of the day was closed to the general public. At the doors, the event staff checked our ID and badges, and we followed the signs through the building to the specialty area.

Then the three of us stepped through the doors of one of the larger rooms, snf it was like being a kid on Christmas.

Major manufacturers all had interactive booths with replicas of different guns and rifles on display. Huge LED screens played promotional videos with high quality production values that showed off new features and accessories, and spokesmodels in miniskirts and bikinis wandered around the showfloor and handed out branded merch.

“This is why you always bring a bag,” Nathan snickered as he clocked a woman in camo daisy dukes who carried some baseball hats in her manicured hand. “Top shelf swag.”

By the time we’d followed the sandy-haired man once around the show floor, Pearson’s leather bag was filled with all the usual pens, travel mugs, and keychains. I also noticed not all of the sellers were for firearms or other items that would require an FFL to buy. There was all kinds of tactical and survival gear on display, too, and those companies had clearly wanted in on this event to court retail buyers.

But because this was where companies courted new buyers, there were also t-shirts and hats, as well as more specific items, like branded, travel sized gun cleaning kits and survival knives. Nileme and I had gotten tote bags that were also filled with “swag.”

“Excuse me, miss,” a middle aged man at one of the booths said as he looked the Elven woman up and down. “I hope it’s not rude of me to say so, but that’s some look you’ve got going on there. You do any modeling?”

“No.” The Dolrath woman shook her head as she glanced over at me.

I smiled at my wife’s surprised and unassuming expression.

“Can I give you my card?” the man asked. “We’re about to launch this whole ‘discover the unknown’ campaign ahead of the fall hunting season, and I think you’d be a great spokesmodel for that.”

“Thank you?” Nileme smiled as she took the business card from the man, pretended to take interest in something at another booth, and stepped away.

I tried not to chuckle at the gentleman’s confused face as I followed my wife.

The man at the booth was clearly expecting to have a conversation about his potential offer and seemed surprised Nileme had just left without any further questions.

“What is a spokesmodel?” the Dolrath woman asked me in a whisper. “And what did he mean by campaign? Does he plan to wage war on some hunters?”

“No,” I snorted as Nathan moved to the next booth to listen to the sales pitch from an ammo manufacturer. “You know those good looking people on billboards-- on those huge signs you see along the highway?”

“Yes.” Nileme nodded.

“Those are spokesmodels,” I explained. “They don’t really work for those companies. But they get paid to pose for the pictures or videos the companies use to try to get you to buy their products.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” the Dolrath princess replied as she scrunched her eyebrows together. “Why would a picture of a pretty person make anyone buy anything?”

“It’s a kinda trick, I guess.” I shrugged. “You see a bunch of hot people enjoying a brand of beer and having a good time. Then you think, ‘I want to be hot and have fun. Maybe I should buy that beer.’”

“But the beer won’t make someone ‘hot,’” Nileme laughed at the ridiculous idea. “You might have a little more fun if you drink the beer, though.”

“It’s silly,” I agreed with a chuckle. “But it does work, even though most people are aware that it’s a trick.”

“Humans are strange,” the princess giggled as she lowered her voice again. “But I supposed it’s the same back home. Some noblewoman styles her hair in a new way, or wears a particular color, and then suddenly it’s the new fashion.”

My practical wife clearly thought that was just as absurd, but I wondered how many Dolrath women wore their hair long and loose because Princess Nileme did, or if she shaved it all off would there suddenly be a plethora of bald Dolrath women? I was sure that wouldn’t even occur to the muscular woman. Nileme saw herself as a military leader, but it would be interesting to see how Dolrath fashion changed after she became chief.

Would all the young women in the Encampment suddenly have toned arms and six pack abs?

Nathan collected a few more business cards and networked a little more. The eccentric conspiracy theorist actually seemed pretty good at that. Once he talked to the staff at a booth for a minute, they’d warm to the sandy-haired man, or even offer him a little extra swag, or some more exclusive promotional item. Pearson even got a free leather shoulder holster from one guy.

As I watched the one-armed man in action, I started to feel even more confident in my offer to invest in his business. Nathan had the charisma, but maybe he just needed more help on the administrative end of things. With Travis Meyer’s business savvy in the mix, we could probably make a lot of money. I even wondered if I should get Owen in on the deal.

The next booth was a display of high end night vision goggles, and that caught my interest. As we stepped up to the booth, Nathan grabbed one of the freebee key chains off a table and stuck it in his bag.

“Morning gentleman and lady,” a severe looking woman in her late twenties greeted us as we inspected the high-tech goggles. “I’m Bea with Tracticgear, and this is our new line of night gear.”

Bea was about five two and maybe ninety pounds of lean muscle. The saleswoman had jet black hair that was tightly pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck, and her outfit looked like a modern version of 1940s French paramilitary uniform.

“I don’t know a whole lot about night vision goggles,” I replied as I glanced around. “Can you tell me a little bit about these?”

“Of course,” Bea replied with a self confident smile. “Ours are all white phosphor, which is better for extended use. If you plan to use them for more than an hour or two, that’s what you want to go with. We make double tubes and quads, and have infrared light attachments for near black out condition.”

Fucking sweet.

“And what’s the difference between the double tubes and the quads?” I asked as I thought about the darker areas of The Gloom and the deeper caverns.

“Range of vision,” the slick saleswoman explained. “The doubles will let you see what’s right in front of you. But the quads will give you a little more range. Not full periphery vision. But if you’re out hunting or on patrol in the dark, that extra few feet of vision on either side can make all the difference.”

“That is interesting.” I grinned.

Right now, I used my headlamp in dark conditions. It was fine but had definite drawbacks. I always ran the risk of accidentally blinding one of my friends from The Gloom, or the beam of light could give away my position to an enemy. But with infrared, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of that. It was a lot to have to wear around, but it wasn’t like the headlamp was a particularly sexy fashion statement.

“Is there any way I could try one out?” I asked as I looked around the well lit show floor.

“Sure,” Bea nodded. “We have a blackout booth right over here. You can try one of the quads with the infrared light attached.”

The raven-haired woman led Nileme and I to the back half of her booth. I looked around for Nathan, but he had moved onto the next booth. The sandy-haired man was talking to a redhead in an army green bikini who lightly touched his damaged arm with a concerned look, and Pearson had put on a long face as he pointed to it and said something.

It seemed he would be more than fine on his own for a minute.

I turned my attention back to Bea as we reached the blackout booth. It was big enough for two people and had a dummy dressed up like a soldier in the middle.

“Here you go.” Bea smiled as she handed the Elven woman and I each a set of goggles. “Press this to turn on the infrared flashlight. But obviously wait until I close the door.”

Nileme and I put the helmets on, and Bea helped to adjust the straps for us.

“Girl,” the confident saleswoman chuckled as she stepped back and looked at Nileme. “I’d kill for those arms. Do you do deadlifts or bench?”

“Why would I lift the dead?” the Dolrath woman asked in a curious tone.

“No, I-- uhh,” Bea stammered as she blinked at the Elven woman, but then she just shook her head. “Looks like you’re all set. Let me just close the curtain and give you a few minutes to try out the quads.”

The slick woman stepped out of the booth and carefully closed the curtain behind her so almost no outside light came through.

I found the button and clicked on the goggles, then the special flashlight. The dummy and Nileme appeared in grayscale, and I moved my head around to get a sense for the range of vision the goggles had.

“Oh.” I grinned. “I like these. What do you think?”

“It feels strange without any color,” Nileme replied as she also looked around. “But I can see their usefulness. What’s that phrase you use? Cool? I think they’re very cool.”

I could see the beam of infrared light from my wife’s helmet as we both looked overy the dummy. The detail was good, though maybe not as clear as it would be with my headlamp, but I was one hundred percent getting some of these.

The two of us turned off the goggles and exited through the curtain.

“Do you have a card or something?” I asked as I handed Bea back her goggles.

“Sure do,” the severe woman replied as she set the goggles back on the display. “This is the website and the number to our corporate office. But do me a favor. If your company puts in an order, give them my name so I get part of the commission.”

Bea wrote her name down on the back of the card and handed it to me.

“I will definitely do that.” I nodded. “Thank you so much.”

As we walked away, I saw that Nathan was still with the redhead. I watched as the woman in the bikini handed Pearson back his phone, and the sandy-haired man had a big grin on his face.

Then Nathan turned and saw us as his booth bunny returned to her work

“There you two are,” the eccentric man said. “You ready to check out the rest of the show? The private sellers are always worth a look.”

“Did you just get that girl’s number?” I asked with a sly look at my friend.

“You mean Amber?” Nathan replied with a self satisfied look. “Hell yeah I did. That woman could melt ice cream in the Arctic. Told her I lost my arm saving a kid.”

“Is that actually how you lost it?” Nileme asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

I realized I’d never asked Nathan about his arm. I didn’t want to make him feel weird or uncomfortable, and he’d never brought it up before.

“Well, kinda,” Pearson said in a sly voice. “Grew up out in the country, and one year my daddy brought home some real humdinger fireworks back from West Virginia. Me and my buddy were setting them off one night, and one went off sooner than I expected.”

“Damn.” I winced and remembered back to dozens of similar close calls from my own childhood.

“Learned a valuable lesson that day.” The sandy-haired man nodded. “Anyway. The way I see it, if I hadn’t picked up the faulty rocket, then my buddy would’ve set it off and lost his arm. So I figure I did save a kid that day, so to speak.”

“I can’t argue your logic,” I chuckled. “Let’s go check out the rest of the show.”

The three of us started in the VIP rooms, which were smaller conference rooms with five or six seller tables.

Mostly, there were people selling antique and collectables, so there was memorabilia from WWI through Desert Storm. I even saw a group of Civil War reenactors trying to recruit volunteers. There were lots of old, very well kept rifles, flintlock muskets, and embellished revolvers that all came with papers to prove their history and value.

Nearly all the sellers were older men, and they loved Nileme. The Dolrath woman asked questions and got back a crash course in American history each time. Most of them weren’t used to a young woman who showed interest in their hobby, let alone a woman as hot and exotic as my wife. But as a man with a handlebar mustache explained how a pearl handled six shooter worked to the Dolrath princess, something at the next booth over caught my eye.

The man at that booth didn’t look like the paunchy, midwestern history buffs at the other tables. He was tall and trim, with white hair that still had patches of deep brown at the temples. His display was nicer, too. Locked cases with the most beautiful double barrel rifles I’d ever seen. There were only four of them, but each one had a beautiful custom inlay on their wooden handles.

As I looked at the long, high caliber barrels, I realized they were big game rifles, and when I stepped up to the table, I noticed small, framed pictures of a young man in safari gear, maybe taken somewhere in Africa in the 80s.

“Hello there.” The fit, older man smiled, and he had a sophisticated British accent. “Enjoying the show today?”

“Yeah… is this you?” I asked as I pointed to one of the pictures where the young man stood next to two dead lions.

“It is indeed,” the Englishman chuckled. “Or it was, half a lifetime ago. Those two brutes had been terrorizing a small village for about a week, so some friends and I stepped in to take care of it. I’m Reggie Brown.”

The man held out his hand, and we shook.

I was surprised more people weren’t at his table. Most of the guys I’d met so far were just collectors, but Reggie seemed like the real deal.

“So, are you selling these?” I asked as I looked at the rifles in the cases.

“I intend to.” The posh man nodded. “But not many takers so far. Each one of these are handcrafted, one-of-a-kind rifles. But they’re not terribly historical, which seems to be what this crowd is most interested in.”

“So, they’re all in working order?” I asked as I thought about Trolls, Basilisks, and other thick hide monsters in The Gloom.

“Are you interested in big game hunting?” Reggie asked as he looked me up and down.

“I know I don’t look the part,” I snorted as I glanced down at my jeans and work boots. “But, yes. I have a Galil and a Kriss Vector at home. But say I was interested in hunting something like an elephant or a rhino? I’d have a hell of a time bringing something like that down with my current hardware.”

“I should say so.” The Englishman nodded. “Have you ever read Orwell’s essay, ‘Shooting an Elephant?’”

“I’m afraid not.” I shook my head. “Like George Orwell, the guy that wrote War of the Worlds?”

“The very same,” Reggie said in a reverent tone. “He spent some time in the Forgien Legion in his youth and had a situation where he needed to kill an elephant that had become a man killer. This happened in Burma. Only had a 44 Winchester and made a mess of the job. These rifles are specially crafted for a big job like that, but since you only get two shots at a go, you have to choose your shot wisely.”

I knew all about that from the Pit Wyrms I’d killed. But a rifle like one of these could do the trick a fuck of a lot faster, especially with the help of my warrior wives.

“How much?” I asked in a deadly serious tone.

“Really?” Reggie grinned as he scanned me again and recognized something in me. “They vary, since they are custom made, but the average is about forty thousand. Are you still interested?”

“Hell yes, I am.” I nodded.

“Well, then,” the Englishman said in an impressed tone as he turned, unlocked one of the cases, and pulled out a rifle with an Indian style inlay of elephants and tigers. “This is a .450 caliber that I used in Indonesia, back in ‘86. Still in perfect order. But I should warn you, it’s not easy to get a hold of the solid rounds recommended for game like elephants. And it kicks like a mule.”

Reggie handed the rifle to me, and I broke it open to look down the barrel.It was clean and well cared for, but had clearly been fired a time or two.

But fuck did it feel good in my hands.

“I’ll take it,” I replied as I handed it back to the trim, older man. “You said forty thousand dollars?”

“Normally, I’d charge fifty for this one.” Reggie smiled. “But there’s something about you that reminds me of myself when I was young. Most of the offers I’ve had in the past have been spoiled rich boys looking for a thrill. You’re different, though. I’ll sell for forty and throw in a couple of boxes of rounds. But I’d like you to take my card and send me pictures of your first big hunt. Agreed?”

“Sure,” I lied, because there was no way I could send this posh man pictures of a dead monster in a deep cave.

Then I handed Reggie Brown my card and finalized the sale of the most beautiful gun I’d ever seen.

Fuck, I couldn’t wait to use it.

Backyard Dungeon 7 Chapter 2

The rage I felt toward Brock Stanton wasn’t the same burning hatred I’d felt toward Ursenger. The Mad Chief had been a literal monster who’d killed or imprisoned anyone who got in his way. Stanton was just a pee-brain wrapped in a swinging dick, who couldn’t stand that he wasn’t king of his pathetic little hill anymore.

But just like Ursenger, Brock needed to be brought down a few pegs.

As the bull-necked asshole’s fist sailed over my head, I came back up with a right hook of my own and caught Brock right on the jaw. I could hear my wives and the delivery men shout behind me, but my ears rang from the rush of adrenaline that pumped through my veins. Stanton’s head snapped back as he stumbled back a couple feet, and a dumb look of surpirse flashed across his fat face.

“Go home, Brock,” I snarled as I turned my body to the side and raised my fists, ready for the next round. “You don’t want to do this, trust me.”

“You arrogant little prick!” Brock growled as his wide face went beet red, and he came at me again.

The bald man threw another haymaker, but I blocked it with my left arm as I brought my right around and hit the bastard hard in the gut.

Stanton had probably been a force to reckon with ten years ago. There was definitely muscle somewhere under a layer of blubber from the years Brock had spent behind a desk. The type A dickbag was slow and a little out of shape, but he was still strong as fuck. Stanton started to double over as my fist connected with his trunk, but he immediately brought his head back up so the back of his skull smashed into my lower jaw and caused my teeth to clank together painfully.

I was stunned for half a second by the impact, and the bull-necked prick got in a gut punch.

“Urgh!” I growled as I gritted my teeth, but then I slammed my right fist into the side of Brock’s head.

I noticed a slight coppery taste of blood in my mouth and realized the back of Brock’s head must have busted my lip. But as Stanton reeled back from my head shot, I gave him a quick left jab right to his pug nose and felt a crunch as it broke.

“Arrrgh!” Brock grunted as he brought a hand up to touch his face and brought it away bloody. “What the fuck!”

Then Stanton lowered his shoulder and made to spear me to the ground, but I was ready for that.

Brock had maybe thirty pounds on me, but I had almost half a foot on him. As the wide bodied man tried to drive his shoulder into my trunk, I wrapped my arms around his torso and twisted as we fell to the grass. We hit the ground hard, but I quickly got on top of Stanton and swung at the side of his head so hard I rang his bell.

Brock’s eyes glazed over, and the lower half of his face was painted red from the flow of blood from his ruined nose. Then I felt hands on me from behind and nearly swung on one of the delivery guys as he tried to pull me off Brock.

“You rat bastard!” Stanton shouted as he started to recover his senses and reached for me, but two more of the guys from the furniture store moved in to grab Brock’s arms and dragged him away from me. “Get the fuck off me!”

I panted a little as the ringing in my ears started to fade, and I looked around.

“You good?” the young guy who held my arm asked.

The delivery guy who’d pulled me off Brock was probably nineteen and looked like a linebacker. He had a tight fade and wore a company polo and a lifting belt to match.

“Yeah.” I nodded, and then I glanced at the name embroidered on the kid’s shirt. “Thanks, Darryl.”

“Your lip’s all fucked up,” Darryl mentioned as he pointed to my face.

Then my wives were around me, and their expressions went anywhere from concerned to pissed.

As Brock swore at the two movers who still held him back, Ibseth took my face in her hands and gently dabbed at my busted up lip with a clean paper towel she must have gotten from the house.

“That stupid brute,” my first wife fussed, and Darryl walked over to help his co-workers with Stanton. “You showed him, my king.”

“Nileme and Bolra held me back,” Amrila complained as she glanced over to where the bald man sat on the grass. “Or I would have helped you beat the shit out of him.”

“This was Eddie’s fight,” Nileme replied in a quiet, calm voice. “And it’s not as if he can handle that-- what was that word?-- blowhard by himself.”

Then I heard the siren in the distance and inwardly cringed.

God dammit.

“Did one of the delivery men call the cops?” I asked with a sigh.

“Yes.” Amrila nodded as she continued to glare daggers at Brock. “About the time that Stanton hit your face with the back of his head. I told them not to.”

Once the bald man also heard the siren, I watched face sober, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

At least Brock finally calmed down.

A minute later, a squad car pulled into the cul-de-sac with its lights flashing, and it stopped right in front of my new house. I considered whether or not I should try to call Jack, but I figured he and Ertha were still on the road. Plus, I wasn’t in the wrong. Brock had come onto my property and started shit.

Two officers got out of the squad car. Both of them were women, and I recognized one of them.

“Hey, Officer Keller.” I smiled, and my lip throbbed a little. “Good to see you again.”

I recognized the black, female officer from the time when Triston Stanton had peeped through the trailer window at Ibseth and me. But Keller hadn’t met any of my wives on that occasion.

The look on the two officers’ faces as they walked toward us was priceless.

“And you didn’t want to take this call,” I heard the shorter, dark-haired woman say quietly to Keller.

“Mr. Hill.” Keller nodded at me with a hint of a smile. “I presume you’re not armed this time?”

“No, ma’am.” I shook my head. “You got a new partner, I see.”

“Yep,” the professional woman said as she looked at the brunette next to her. “This is Officer Ridenour. Rosie, why don’t you go get Mr. Stanton’s statement?”

“Sure thing.” Officer Ridenour nodded as she strode over to Brock and the delivery guys. “You men can go stand next to your vehicles. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Now,” Officer Keller huffed as she pulled out a small notepad and pen, “please tell me what happened?”

“This is my property,” I explained and tried to be as brief as I possibly could. “Ms. Sidorov here rents from me, and we were helping her move in. Then Stanton came over, yelling and causing a scene. When I asked him to leave, he swung at me.”

“Mmhmm.” Keller nodded as she wrote down some notes. “And what was Mr. Stanton yelling about when he first walked up?”

“He was mad that my husband has bought the house next to his house,” Ibseth replied.

The officer looked up at the house next to us, then over at the McMillian place with a surprised expression.

“How many houses do you own?” Keller asked, but her tone was more curious and casual than before.

“Four,” I replied, since I knew she’d be able to look it up if she wanted to anyway. “And one is in escrow. I figure they’re a good investment, and a source of passive income.”

“And all you ladies rent from Mr. Hill here?” Keller asked, and I could feel my stomach tighten at the line of questions.

“No.” Ibseth shook her head. “I am Eddie’s wife. That is our house over there. These are my friends, Amrila, Nileme, and Bolra. We are all cosplayers. We do the ‘live action role playing.’”

I held my breath as my first wife spoke and watched Officer Keller’s expression go from curious to “not my problem” in a flash.

“Oookay,” Keller said and put her pen away. “I’m just going to ask these workmen a few questions. You all sit tight.”

The policewoman walked over to the delivery trucks where the furniture store employees waited, and Ibseth looked up at me.

“Did I do alright, beloved?” the white-haired woman asked in a quiet tone.

“I think so,” I murmured as I let out a deep breath. “Good job, baby.”

I was pretty sure Officer Keller realized that whatever was between these wild looking women and I was far more than she wanted to deal with today, and I hoped that would compel the officers to wrap this up quickly.

My wives and I waited for a few minutes more, and then Officer Keller and Ridenour came back over to where my wives and I stood on the lawn. I glanced over to where Brock fumed a few yards away, and I took it he wasn’t happy. Stanton looked like he had to take a massive shit and couldn't.

“So,” Keller said in a brisk tone, “the gentlemen over there corroborate your story. They say you acted in self defense. Do you want to press charges?”

Yeah, I really did.

It would feel good to see Brock dragged away in handcuffs. Maybe sue him in small claims court, too. But I really didn’t want any further legal scrutiny on my life. Meyer was good at what he did, but there was no sense in drawing attention to myself that could lead to questions about where my money came from, or my wives’ citizenship.

“No.” I shook my head and said it loud enough for Stanton to hear. “As long as he promises to let whatever grudge he’s got against me drop. I don’t see any reason to press charges that could hurt Stanton’s business or standing in the community. That just wouldn’t be neighborly. I’ll let this drop if you will, Brock?”

The bull-necked man looked furious as he pressed a tissue someone had given him to his bloodied nose.

I knew why he was pissed too. I not only got to be the bigger man right now, but if he said no, I also had the power to affect his life in a way he’d failed to affect mine. I had him by the balls, and he knew it.

“Fine,” was all Stanton said.

“Well, then…” Officer Ridenour smiled as she stole one last look at the ladies. “Since Mr. Stanton has refused an ambulance, looks like we’re done here.”

“What the fuck is a cosplayer?” I heard Keller ask Ridenour as they walked back to their prowler.

The officers pulled away as Brock walked back to his house with his tail tucked between his legs.I was pretty sure the bald man would have to avoid the office for a week or two, because he already had two black eyes.

Good.

The delivery guys recounted my fight with Brock, blow by blow and seemed pretty impressed by the whole thing as they finished unloading the furniture.

“I thought for sure you were going to wreck that guy.” Darryl grinned as he handed me the clipboard to sign for the delivery. “I mean, more than you did.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Sorry to put you and the other guys in the middle of that. I don’t usually get into fist fights in the middle of the day.”

“It’s cool.” Darryl shrugged. “Most exciting thing that’s ever happened on a delivery.”

Once the furniture guys were gone, we walked through Amrila’s new house.

The whole place had a lux, sexy kinda quality to it, and the soft gray walls kept the red accents from being too oppressive.

“I love it,” the Zencarri woman purred as she put her arms around me. “Thank you, partner.”

“My pleasure, partner.” I grinned and kissed the horned woman.

Just then, my phone went off in my pocket, so I pulled myself away from my smoking hot wife and looked at the display.

It was Owen.

“Hey, man,” I answered the phone as the ladies walked around the rest of the house. “How’s it going?”

“Morning to you, Eddie,” I heard McElfresh’s deep brogue reply. “I’m having a hell of a good morning, and you’re about to be the same.”

“Really?” I chuckled as I sat down on the crushed velvet couch. “What happened?”

“Well,” Owen said in a cheery tone, “sounds like Mr. Brent Taylor managed to evade the authorities after all. Bless his cotton socks.”

“Oh, shit.” I was surprised. “Do we know where he is?”

“Of course,” the Irishman snorted. “I’m not about to let a little shit like that out of my sights. Turns out he got all the way to Venezuela. He must have spent at least half of what I left in his account on bribes getting into the country.”

“And we’re sure he can’t do any crazy tech shit to get back at us?” I asked as I got up and started to pace to clear my head. “He did make his initial fortune in Silicon Valley.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s some kinda genius,” Owen replied. “He just made some file sharing app that got popular for a minute and sold it to the highest bidder. I’ve got some boys keeping an eye on him just in case, though.”

“Alright.” I nodded. “What about the investigation? Do you know what the cops think happened out at the lakehouse?”

“Since Taylor fled,” McElfresh said in a more serious tone, “he looks suspicious as fuck. There’s a couple theories going around, and the Feds are fighting with the local boys over jurisdiction. Since Taylor skipped the country, a couple agencies say they’ve got a claim to the case. It's a big mess right now, which is good for us.”

“But what are their theories?” I asked, because I wanted to be sure none of them would lead back to Owen or me. “Have they found any evidence at the house on Lake Erie?”

“Nah,” the Irishman snickered. “Taylor was smart enough to erase the harddrives on his and Mancini’s computers and grabbed up all the cellphones from the dead gangsters. No physical evidence I’ve heard about. Right now they think either Taylor did it all himself and ran off with some money, or maybe fled for his life. The other theory is Taylor maybe hired a hitman or two on that dark web.”

“I’m sure the second theory will get some traction,” I speculated. “They had to have found the cut phone and internet lines. And some forensic team will probably be able to put together our path through the house.”

“Life isn’t like it is on those cop shows,” Owen remarked. “The fuzz only cares as far as making sure that whatever happened is over now. They just see some dead, career criminals and some kid who wanted to play cops and robbers. No corporation lost money. There wasn’t any drugs, weapons, or human trafficking. No civilians are going to complain. There’s just nothing sexy in it for them.”

“Then why are all these agencies fighting for the case?” I asked since I was a little confused.

“Pissing contest?” McEflresh said in a dismissive voice. “Or maybe they all want dibs if the investigation does turn up something sexy. But as far as I can tell, there isn’t anything to connect us to it. But I’ll keep an ear out all the same.”

“And this is what made your morning so good?” I chuckled as I looked out the front window to my houses across the cul-de-sac.

“I haven’t gotten to the good part yet,” Owen replied. “You should check your bank accounts. Meyer’s sprinkled his fairy dust on our ill gotten gains. We’re rich as fuck now, love.”

“How rich?” I asked and was now intrigued.

“About three point five million richer,” I heard the Irishman chuckle. “Doesn’t that just put a spring in your step?”

“Fucking right, it does.” I nodded.

“You enjoy the day, now,” Owen said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “Treat yourself to something nice.”

“You too, Owen.” I grinned, and then I hung up the phone.

Three point five million dollars.

That almost doubled my current liquid funds.

I walked through the house to find my wives where they had gathered in the back bedroom.

“This will be a wonderful room for a baby one day,” Ibseth said as she looked around the spare room.

There wasn’t any furniture in there at the time, since Amrila hadn’t decided what to do with it yet.

“That is true.” The Zencarri woman nodded as she looked out the window into the small backyard. “Or a place for another wife when Eddie takes a few more. I’ll be a wonderful mother, but until then, I’d just like to see it put to good use.”

“You sharing your house willingly?” I snorted as I walked into the room. “That's quite a change.”

“Time with Ibseth has made me soft,” the horned woman joked as she put an affectionate arm around the curvy Elf. “How did your call with Owen go?”

“Really good,” I replied as all my hot wives looked around at me. “Looks like I’m in the clear for now, and I came out richer, too. I’m thinking about what to do with some of this money. The McMillian place is already paid for, and the money for any renovations that Bolra might want is in her account. Is there anything you ladies have been wanting?”

“I think it’s time you give yourself a gift.” Nileme grinned at me.

“I agree, my king.” Ibseth nodded. “I have everything I could possibly need or ask for. It’s okay to be generous with yourself as well.”

“You’ve already spoiled us more than any husband in all The Gloom could,” Bolra added. “I agree with my sisters, it’s your turn to be spoiled.”

“I don’t even know what I’d do,” I mused. “You four give me everything I could ask for.”

“You haven’t gotten a new gun in a while,” my Dolrath wife pointed out. “Maybe you could get a few new ones.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” I nodded and stroked my chin. “Maybe I can call over to Nathan and see if he’s got anything new in. Or we could go up to a place in the city and look for something more exotic.”

“I think that sounds like a perfect idea, partner.” Amrila grinned.

We all left the Zencarri woman to enjoy her home and went about our daily chores. First, I went into the big backyard behind the trailer and Ibseth’s place and looked after Growler and Dread. Then I got out the rake and started to take care of the leaves as I thought about the kind of guns or other weapons I might want to buy. There was always the HK-416, which seemed like a fun option. I could also get some upgrades for my current firearms, or even see if I could get some extended mags.

I started to get excited, so I pulled out my phone and looked up the number for Nathan’s Surplus and Arms.

“Nathan’s Army Surplus and Arms,” I heard a familiar voice answer. “This is Nathan. How can I lend a hand?”

“Hey,” I snorted at the series of arm and hand puns, since the wild-haired store owner only had one arm. “This is Eddie Hill. I just wanted to check and see if you have anything new or fun in the store?”

“Oh,” Nathan replied, and I could almost picture him as he looked around at his crazy, but creative displays. “I’d say I have about the usual, standard fare. But I can always order something special in if you have anything in mind?”

“Do you still have that HK?” I asked as Dread brought up his favorite stick for me to throw.

“I sure do,” the sandy-haired man said. “Got a couple of ARs, too, but I know you’re not partial to them. Let’s see… got some Vietnam era stuff in an estate sale I still have to go through. But that’s more on the collectibles side. But I don’t suppose you’re free tomorrow?”

“What?” I was caught off guard by the question. “I don’t think I have any plans. Why do you ask?”

Nathan and I were friendly, and I liked him. But it wasn’t like we hung out ever.

“Would you and your buff, gun-nut girlfriend like to come to a big-ass gun show in Sandusky?” Nathan asked. “It’s gonna be the event of the season.”

Fucking right I wanted to go to the Sandusky Gun Show.

Backyard Dungeon 7 Chapter 1

Two days had passed since that magical night in the Dwarven Baths. My four wives and I felt closer than ever, and we’d spent the last couple of days in domestic bliss. Ibseth fussed over all of us as her baby slowly became more obvious. Amrila slept in and ran sword drills in the big backyard. Bolra started to settle in and find her place with the others. And Nileme started to work on converting her basement into the workspace and storage for her gun collection.

As the sun came in through Nileme’s bedroom window, I got up out of bed and went over to the dresser. I had started to keep a few clothes in each of my wives’ houses. I didn’t have a lot of clothes, so my things were spread out pretty thin. Maybe it was about time for me to get some new clothes anyway. Most of what I had was still from college.

“Mmmm,” I heard my Dolrath wife breathe behind me as I changed my boxers. “I will never get tired of waking up to that sight.”

I looked around and saw the dark-haired woman on the bed, propped up on one elbow and unselfconscious as the sheet slipped down her full, perfect breasts.

“Pretty happy about my view, too.” I grinned as I pulled on a clean shirt. “Do you want to do breakfast here? Or go over to Ibseth’s place?”

“We should go over to Ibseth’s,” Nileme replied as she pulled the covers off her muscular body and walked up to me in nothing but white, cotton panites. “Since the Tinors are moving out today, she’ll be sad. I think it will be good to all be together.”

“That’s a really good point.” I nodded and then put my arms around her tight waist as she pressed her bare breast against me. “Shame you have to get dressed, though.”

“Next time, we’ll eat here, naked as the day we were born,” the dark-haired Elf giggled.

“I like the sound of that,” I snorted.

Once we finally managed to get dressed, the two of us went through a gate I’d made in the fence between Nileme’s yard and the big yard behind the trailer and Ibseth’s place.

Nileme went on into the big house, dressed in tight, boot cut jeans and a heavy flannel over a little white crop top, while I stopped to feed my dogs. Growler and Dread looked much better than when I’d first rescued them. They were both about three feet tall on all fours and probably weighed over a hundred pounds each. I filled their food and water bowls, and then I stopped to throw their favorite stick a couple of times before I went in for breakfast.

As I stepped into the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee and fried ham filled the air. Ibseth had on an adorable sweatshirt with big, pink and blue roses printed on it, and it showed off her large breasts and baby bump. The skinny jeans my first wife wore also hugged her round hips and cupped her supple ass as she placed plates of food on the table.

I was surprised to see Amrila was already up in torn jeans and a long sleeve, black band shirt that had been cut into a crop top. I figured she was excited about getting her own house today and had gotten up bright and early.

Lastly, Bolra was dressed in high waisted jeans, a tiny powder blue tank top, and a cozy cardigan.

I grabbed some coffee and sat down at the table.

“I can’t believe Jack and Ertha are moving already,” Ibseth said in a wistful tone as she passed me a plate of eggs, fried ham, and buttered toast. “It feels like you only just made the offer to buy their house.”

“Time went by pretty fast,” I agreed. “We should hurry up and eat. I think Jack said he’d pick up the U-Haul around nine, and I promised to help him load in the heavy stuff.”

“With his bad back, he shouldn't be lifting anything.” The white-haired Elf shook her head.

“I can help, too,” Nileme offered. “Maybe between Eddie and I, we can keep the old man from hurting himself.”

“Ibseth and I promised to help Ertha pack the last few thing up as well,” Bolra mentioned as she sipped her coffee. “I really like Ertha. I wish I could have gotten more time to know her.”

Jack Tinor was a retired police officer, but his wife, Ertha, was arty and had a strong hippy vibe to her. I was kinda sorry to see them go, too. They were some of our closest friends in the cul-de-sac. But I was still happy that Jack had sold me his house. And once Lucy McMillian’s place was out of escrow, each of my wives would have their own place, and I could make my grandpa’s old trailer the mancave of my dreams.

After we all ate, the five of us headed over to help the Tinor’s load up their moving van.

“I noticed you were quiet at breakfast,” I said quietly as I walked next to Amrila. “You okay?”

“I’m bubbling over with joy,” the Zencarri woman confessed with a sly smile. “I get my own house today. But I didn’t want to gush in front of Ibseth when her friend is leaving.”

“Good thinking,” I snorted. “But I’m sure Ibseth is just as happy for you. But maybe give it a day before you ask her to help you put together a Pinterest board to decorate.”

“It’s already done,” Amrila replied with that greedy little glint in her dark eyes. “It’s going to be dark and luxurious and sexy. I can’t wait.”

As we walked up to the small house across the cul-de-sac, I looked at the brick, mid-century home. It was only one story, but it had two bedrooms and a full, finished basement. Jack and Ertha kept it nice, and I wouldn’t have to worry about water damage or mold. The roof had even been replaced two years ago.

Ertha had already packed up her lawn ornaments, and the front of the house looked bare without all of the iridescent, glass balls, wind chimes, and bird feeders. The stunning, older hippy woman stood on her porch as she looked up at the sky and sipped some tea from a travel mug with a huge mandala on the side, and then she smiled at my wives and I as we came up to the porch.

“Hey, Mrs. Tinor,” I said in a respectful tone. “How’s the morning treating you?”

“It’s just Ertha, my dear,” the older woman laughed lightly. “And I’m all at sixes and sevens today. Mercury is in retrograde.”

“Really?” I nodded as if I knew what any of that meant. “Well, hopefully the morning improves with our help. Did Jack go to get the moving van already?”

“He did indeed,” Ertha said. “But he should be back any moment. Come inside. Eddie, you can plan how to get the big things in the van. My Jacky will try to do the heavy end of everything. But maybe you can convince him to just direct you and Nileme around corners. He loves to be in charge, and he can’t hurt his back if he’s just giving orders.”

The ladies followed Ertha into the house to help finish up the packing, but just then Jack pulled into the cul-de-sac.

I turned and walked toward the driveway as the retired officer backed the Uhaul into the drive and got out the truck. The older man had on dad jeans, a long sleeve Carhartt shirt, and a padded vest.

“Hey, Jack.” I smiled as I walked up. “Hope mercury doesn’t have you messed up today.”

“Nah,” Tinor chuckled as he shook his head. “That’s more the wife’s thing. Personally, I don’t see how a giant rock millions of miles away can make much difference in my day to day.”

“Me either,” I snorted. “But I’m sure you’re ready for some dry, warm weather.”

“Don’t you know it, son.” Jack nodded. “I can’t thank you enough for buying the old place. I wasn’t looking forward to dragging these old bones of mine through another cold, wet winter.”

“I’m getting a house out of it.” I grinned. “So it’s not like I’m losing anything.”

“I’m serious, Eddie,” the old man insisted. “You’re a rare man. Take care of your neighbors. You care about others. Not a lot of people like that around anymore.”

“Thank you, Jack,” I replied, but I was a little embarrassed by the kind words. “Just the way I was raised, I guess. But we should get inside, so you can show me how you want to arrange things in the van. Nileme and I can get things on the truck while you direct us on which items should go in first.”

“Nileme,” Tinor repeated with a thoughtful expression. “Is that the taller fit girl with arms like a prize fighter?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I think she played a lot of sports in school. Likes to keep in shape.”

“I’d say,” the old man chuckled again with a sly smile. “Looks like she would crack a watermelon with them thighs. Hell of a looker, though.”

Tinor gave me a knowing wink but didn’t press the topic any further.

There weren’t a lot of secrets in a cul de sac, I guess. But I suspected it was enough for Jack to let me know that he knew what was up. He’d been a detective after all, and I was sure he’d observed more than enough to know the ladies and I were more than just friends. But I didn’t get the impression he cared.

Mr. Tinor took Nileme and I through the house as he decided what would go on the truck first, and thankfully, it wasn’t hard to keep Jack from physical labor. As I picked up one end of the mattress in the master bedroom, all wrapped in plastic for the move, Nileme grabbed the other end before Tinor could get there.

“Could you guide us through the hall?” I asked Jack as I craned my head around one side of the memory foam. “It's a little hard to see.”

“Oh,” Tinor replied as he looked at the mattress. “I was going to-- uh-- sure. Just come straight back through the door and then try to angle left.”

And just like that, Nileme and I carried all the furniture to the Uhaul and loaded it in as Jack guided us with brief, practical instructions.

The Tinors had a lifetime worth of things in the house, but Jack was the world’s most organized packer/mover, and we got everything loaded quicker than I would have thought possible. With all the big items securely packed into the moving van, everyone pitched in to load up the smaller boxes and whatnot before Jack pulled down the back gate of the truck. Then Bolra and Ibseth helped Ertha pack some suitcases into the Tinors’ car that the old woman was going to drive behind the van.

“I’m going to miss you girls,” Ertha said in a warm, maternal voice as she hugged my wives. “All of my new neighbors are going to feel boring compared to you.”

“I will miss you too, Ertha.” Ibseth smiled. “You will have to send me pictures of your new home in Bisbee.”

“Thanks again, Eddie.” Jack grinned as he shook my hand. “And if you’re ever in Arizona, know that we’d be happy to have you. And if Brock keeps harassing you, you let me know. I’ll put in a call to my friends on the force in town.”

“Thanks, Jack.” I smiled back as we shook hands. “I’ll keep that in mind. You two have a safe drive out.”

With a few more goodbyes, the older couple got into their vehicles and slowly pulled out of the cul-de-sac.

“Come on, sister,” Bolra said in a soft voice to the petite Elven woman. “Let’s have some tea.”

“I’d like that,” Ibseth sighed and looked a little sad.

“I’ll see you at home in a bit.” I smiled as I kissed Ibseth on the forehead. “I’m going to walk around the place with Amrila and make some plans. But maybe we can all go out for a bit later.”

“You are the best husband a woman could ask for,” the white-haired woman said, and she rose up on her tiptoes to press her own kiss against my cheek. Then she turned to Amrila and smiled a genuine smile. “It is a lovely house, sister. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you!” Amrila couldn’t stop grinning.

With that, Bolra and Ibseth crossed the cul-de-sac arm in arm and headed for the big house, while Amrila, Nileme, and I walked into the newest house and looked around.

It was a nice, cozy ranch style house. We entered the living room, and a big archway led into the kitchen/dining room. On the right, a hallway led down a hall where there were two decent sized bedrooms and a full bath. All the walls were painted a subtle off-white, and there was wall to wall, cream-colored berber carpets.

“It’s like stepping into an egg,” Amrila commented as she looked around. “A giant, boring egg.”

“At least Jack patched up all the holes in the wall for us,” I said as I counted the small, white plaster spots on the walls. “That was nice of him.”

“What color do you want the walls to be?” Nileme asked. “I sorta like the white. It feels clean and open.”

“Clean and open is fine.” The Zencarri woman shrugged as she walked around the open floor space. “But I want something more sensual. Would red walls be too much?”

Oh God, no.

“That does sound like a lot,” I snorted. “Bright red would look like blood, and dark red would make it feel like a cave in here.”

“I just don’t want it to be boring.” Amrila grinned.

“What about a soft gray for the walls?” I asked as I thought back to the color theory I’d learned in art school. “Then you could have a black, or dark gray carpet, and add color with your furniture and some accent pieces. It’ll give you a fairly neutral base to build off without being so stark.”

“I kinda like that,” the red-skinned woman hummed and thoughtfully tapped her lips. “And lots of soft, luxurious fabrics.”

“I like the sound of that.” I smirked, and my feisty wife shot me a wink.

Then we walked around the rest of the house as we talked about what my Zencarri wife wanted.

In the kitchen, there was a set of stairs that led into the basement, with a wrought iron guardrail around it for safety. The three of us went down and looked around at the finished basement. There wasn’t a lot of natural light from the well windows, but it still had a nice feel to it. There was a laundry room on the right, plus a small utility room where the furnace and water heater were kept.

To the left, there were two rooms that could be used for anything really. One had a lot of built-in shelves, and I guessed it was either a craft room or a pantry of some kind. The other room could easily be used as a bedroom, or a rec room, and had a small half bath off the side of it.

“What do you want to do down here?” I asked Amrila as we stood in the large, bare room. “It could be anything really.”

“I think I’ll use it as a sort of small armory,” Amrila replied. “I could get a form to place my armor on. Some brackets on the walls for swords, daggers, and my rifle. Perhaps a cabinet where I can keep my whetstones and--”

The red-skinned woman’s thoughts were interrupted as the doorbell rang.

“Who could that be?” Nileme asked with a confused look as she glanced toward the stairs.

“Fuck if I know,” Amrila muttered as she turned and went up stairs with me behind her.

My wives and I went back into the living room, and the horned woman checked the peep hole before she opened the door.

Tanya Daniels was on the other side with a store-bought pie and a bottle of wine in her hands, and the waitress looked a little awkward as she saw Nileme and me behind Amrila.

“Oh, hi,” Tanya said with a shy smile. “I just wanted to bring these over as a housewarming gift, since we’re going to be nextdoor neighbors now.”

“Thank you.” The red-skinned woman blinked and was clearly caught off guard as she took the pie and the wine. “I’m still getting used to hu-- uh, American customs. Am I supposed to give you something in return?”

“Oh, gosh.” The waitress blushed and shook her head. “No. I’m just trying to be neighborly. But, you know, if you’re ever bored or anything, maybe we could hang out sometime.”

“Sure,” Amrila replied as she looked at the pie with a mildly suspicious expression. “We can hang out. But nothing girly. No shopping trips or getting our nails done.”

“R-Really?” Tanya asked as her face lit up a little. “That’d be great. Sometimes the bar I work at hosts amature wrestling. Maybe we could go to that?”

“Wrestling.” The horned woman grinned. “I like the sound of that. Very well.”

“Okay.” The bleach blonde woman grinned back. “I’ll let you know when the next match happens. Talk to you later.”

“Good bye,” Amrila said as Tanya stepped off the small front porch, and then my wife closed the door.

“Looks like you made a friend,” I snorted.

“She did bring me booze.” The Zencarri woman smiled as she looked at the wine in her hands. “So she’s off to a strong start.”

“Come on,” I laughed. “Let’s get some showers and go find you some furniture in the city.”

After we all had a chance to get cleaned up, my wives and I got into the Rubicon and headed up to our favorite furniture store in Elyria.

I’d been there a few times before, and because of my extraordinary wives, we were instantly recognized by the sales staff. Three different sales people rushed toward us when we entered, but a younger man shamelessly broke out into an all out run to get to us first. The two older women who’d also seen us cursed him under their breath and gave him dirty looks across the sales floor.

“How can I help you, Mr. Hill?” the salesman asked as he all but skidded to a stop in front of me.

The guy was probably a few years older than me and had short, light brown hair. His name tag said “Cliff,” and he had the energy of a motivational YouTuber.

“Actually--” I started to reply as I looked over at Amrila, but my feisty Zencarri wife was more than ready to speak for herself.

“I’m here to furnish my new home,” Amrila said in a proud voice.

And that was kinda true.

Travis Meyer had set up accounts for all my wives and made it look as though they worked for a shell company funded by my money. The furniture would technically come out of Amrila’s account for tax reasons, and Amrila had definitely earned that money after fighting alongside me in The Gloom.

“Yes, ma’am.” Cliff grinned and winked. “I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

“Wink at me again, and I’ll poke out your eye,” Amrila replied with an arched eyebrow. “But you may show me to your most lavish couches. I want to feel as though I am sitting on a cloud.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” the salesman stuttered with a touch of fear and respect in his voice. “They’re over here.”

Poor Cliff showed Amrila and I around the sales floor as my other wives helped Bolra get ideas for her house, once it was out of escrow.

“This is one of our more popular models,” the salesman said as he gestured to a dark gray, overstuffed couch with built in recliners. “It has cup holders and a compartment for your remo--”

“No.” Amrila shook her head and thoughtfully placed her hand on her chin. “I want something… sexier.”

I could have busted a rib as I tried not to laugh at the clerk’s expression.

Cliff’s eyes went wide, and he looked to me for help, but all I could do was shrug.

“O-Okay,” the brown-haired man stammered. “W-We have some leather living room sets. Would that be more what you had in mind?”

“No.” Amrila shook her head again after a pause and looked at me. “I want something my ass won’t stick to where I’m not wearing pants. That just sounds uncomfortable.”

“What about something plush?” I offered as I tried to help Cliff out. “Like velour or something?”

“Yes, of course.” The salesman nodded with a grateful expression. “Right over here.”

Eventually, Amrila picked out a really nice, red sofa upholstered in fabric that looked like crushed velvet and had clawed, black lacquer feet, and as we went through the rest of the store, that red sofa informed the rest of my Zencarri wife’s choices. All of the furniture she picked out had a modern gothic feel. Mostly black and dark gray, with bold pops of red, but Cliff and I did have to talk pretty fast to convince the horned woman not to buy a king size waterbed.

“But it’s so comfy,” Amrila said in a stubborn tone as she crossed her arms.

“I’m not arguing that, partner,” I snorted. “But think about it. If the mattress springs a leak in the middle of the night, and we wake up all wet and have to take care of it right then, before there’s water damage?”

“It’s the only furniture we sell that comes with an insurance plan,” Cliff added. “Not a warranty, but insurance to cover damages if that happens.”

“But wouldn’t it be fun?” Amrila pouted as she looked at me with a suggestive expression.

“Probably,” I agreed as I started to blush a little, since the salesman was right next to me. “But I think we can have fun without buying flood insurance.”

“Maybe you’re right,” the red-skinned woman finally sighed. “What else do you have, Cliff?”

Amirla shopped around for a while longer, but eventually we paid for the furniture and set up a delivery for a few days from then.

Then my wives and I spent the rest of the day just enjoying the city, and we shopped and ate dinner at a small arcade and restaurant. When we got home, we were all pretty worn out, and I climbed into bed with Ibseth. Even though she was my first wife, I hadn’t lost my sense of wonder when I was around her. We were still like teenagers together, and her being pregnant had only made the curvy Elf more amorous.

Despite how long the day had been, we still had enough energy left in us to fool around, and after we’d satisfied our desire for each other a couple of times, we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The next day, our family ate together, like usual, and then we walked over to the new house. I took some measurement to get an idea of how much paint we would need, and we went to a big box hardware store and got all the supplies we needed. Amrila picked out the carpet she wanted and selected new tile for the kitchen and upstairs bath, and I even paid a little extra for a rush order of carpet installation.

Since the house was in my name, and Amrila was renting it on paper, I figured I could maybe have Meyer write off the remodeling bill at the end of the year.

Over the next couple of days, everyone pitched in to help get the new house ready ahead of the furniture delivery, and I had to admit, it looked really good. The dove gray on the walls, with the deep pile black carpet, gave the whole place a kind of sophistication, but it still looked edgy.

Then the furniture was finally delivered, and as the workmen unloaded items from the truck, my Zencarri wife directed them where everything should go. Meanwhile, I stood out on the curb and looked around at the fall foliage in the neighborhood. It was October now, and Halloween was around the corner.

And I couldn’t wait.

I’d already started to think about putting up lawn displays and jack-o-lanterns. It was my favorite holiday, and nothing could ruin it.

“You little shit!” I suddenly heard Brock Stanton snarl behind me.

I guess there was one thing that could ruin it.

“Morning, Brock,” I sighed as I turned to face my dickhead neighbor.

“You fucking bought the McMillian place?” the bull-necked man fumed. “What the hell are you playing at?

“It’s none of your business, Stanton,” I snapped back, since I was tired of the prick’s bullying. “Calm down and get off my lawn.”

“Fuck you!” Brock shouted and abruptly swung a meaty fist at my head.

I ducked, and something in me broke.

I was about to kick Brock’s ass.

September 2022 audiobooks!

Monster Girl Islands 16 (last one!)

The OP MC 11

Res as a Drow 01

Survive the Monsters and Breed

If you join the audiobook tier late, my assistant will deposit it into your account the next business day.

Made in Hell 6 NSFW covers!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCGXLZ88

Made in Hell 6 is out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCGXLZ88

Make sure you get your reviews in as quickly as you can!

Survive the Monsters and Breed 6 cover poll

Some great poses here.

Dungeon in my Closet 2 Cover poll

Audiobook Release | Werepanther 7

Werepanther 7 is in your BF library ABLs.  For everyone else, pick it up on my website or on Audiobook Guild

Overview

Things have definitely changed since I discovered I was a werepather.

I went from being nobody, broke college kid to the owner of a booming business practically overnight. And now my women and I are looking to expand my business and empire.

But there’s still the problem of the Ancient Order of the Nile.

They’ve tried to kill me several times already, and I think it’s time to repay the favor.

By sneaking into their Confluence of the Mind and taking them all out from the inside

Narration By: Alyssa Poon and Robert L. Bradvica
Duration: 6 Hours, 46 Minutes

Court of the Shifter 6 cover poll

Artist is taking a vacation next month, so we need to start on this cover earlier.

Court of the Shifter 5 NSFW covers!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBKPBG9W