by D. R. Rosier
Though, necessity and a hard-new world changed things. He suspected the next generation would be a little different and more accepting of those compromises, assuming they were still needed. Gods willing, there’d be peace for the most part the next decade or two, and the next generation would have a more normal male to female ratio. Maybe it would just be his generation that needed to find unique solutions.
Honestly, he was fine with any of it, as long as the woman in question was the one making the choice for herself that way. He even hoped they’d be happy in that choice, but them having the choice was the important part for him. His mates loved polyamory, and he was sure other women would enjoy the other main option as well, or the countless other yet least picked options.
Life wasn’t perfect, he couldn’t fix everything, but he could make sure women weren’t forced into bed on either path. He’d have to be happy with that, sometimes there were no good solutions. But there were always individual solutions.
Regardless, it looked like this place was going to flourish like the other communities. All he had to do was stay the fuck out of their way, and not turn into some dictator that ruled over every decision. That sounded exhausting to him anyway, all he wanted to do was protect them, and live his own life with his mates. To help make things better, and the best way to do that was to do as little as possible.
Protect them from wars and raiders, and also bring in the priestesses once a year.
Mara healed the two women, whose life force felt much steadier to him after that, and they said their goodbyes. Feng knew he could call on them in an emergency, and he’d probably check on them one last time before winter, after that he’d show up once a year, like all his other communities. And of course, his zombie guards would tell him if the shit truly hit the fan, and Feng didn’t call him for aid.
It looked like they’d fit right in, as far as he could tell. People were people.
The forest burned. The night sky was a bright orange, and it was filled with black smoke as the seven of them stood in the Northern California community near Willow Creek. The fire consumed everything around the village, and the waves of heat were almost unbearable, as Cassie’s spell not only held back the fires but the smoke.
It was later that same night, when they’d been called in on an emergency. A fire, but not a house or building fire, it was an out of control forest fire. In hindsight, it’d been over five years since emergence day, over five years since the forest service took precautions to stop forest fires from spreading too widely. In hindsight, it was a damned miracle this was the first major forest fire since then, most likely set off during the lightning storm earlier that morning. The forest itself was incredibly dry and covered with leaves and mulch that made a perfect fire-starter. Especially this late in the year, where the average rainfall was only one day a month.
The fire had been far too vast to even consider putting out with magic, no sorcerer had that much magic. The best Cassie could do was hold it at bay and allow the wilderness around the community to be burned out. Their winter stores would be saved, but it would still make hunting hard in the region, as all the animals would either be killed or would’ve migrated as they escaped the deadly flames.
Lori said softly, “I wish I could help, but…” she trailed off.
He knew well that Lori’s goddess’s mantel was over shadows, in cruel and immediate justice, she had no sway over fire.
“I know, I feel the same way.”
Mara wasn’t much help either, she could protect from the fire, help Cassie with that, but none of them could actually put it out. Hell, if Cassie hadn’t had enchanted devices that were built to put out fires, she’d have exhausted her power in the first ten minutes. Charging the enchantments instead and just holding back the smoke with her manual spell, was letting her last a lot longer.
Still, she was running low and the fire around them could burn for days.
They just didn’t know if it would be enough, and he’d be damned if he left three thousand people behind to die from smoke inhalation and a raging fire that consumed everything.
So he did what he very rarely did, almost never in fact, unless it was absolutely necessary. His life force accumulations were precious, because they powered his guard and the protectors of his territory. They also kept him and his mates young and healthy, and at the peak of their body’s potential.
But… life force was what a sorcerer spent to cast magic, life force they’d naturally recover. Magic management just made sense, while wasting power very rarely did, but this was one of the times where it would make a huge difference.
So, he focused on his life force link to Cassie, and flooded her body with life force, refreshing what she had, so she had the full potential of her magic restored to her. It rubbed him the wrong way, managing it was better, but in some cases like this the use of life force to extend Cassie’s casting potential was critical.
He’d sacrifice a lot more than that, before he let three thousand of his people die senselessly in fire.
Cassie gave him a warm grin, “That helps, thanks.”
He grunted, “Should we call in help? Katie and Bria owe us one, and she’s about to owe us another. Not that I’m keeping track, but they are allies, and this isn’t about a war that would complicate her life by getting involved in it.”
Cassie nodded, “Good idea. Katie could help, but Bria could be even more helpful by burning some fire breaks. Even she couldn’t put out this fire, but she could contain it so that it burns out quicker and stops spreading. I’ll, contact Katie now.”
Cassie closed her eyes and started to mutter the communication spell in a soft voice.
He felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and he was surprised to see it belonged to Sy’lia when he turned his head. As usual, he was taken by her elven exotic and lissome beauty, but it was easy to push down given the situation and he gave her a questioning look.
She said, “I’ll see if the council will send aid, a few dragons would be better than one for a situation like this.”
“Thank you, Sy’lia.”
She smiled and squeezed his shoulder, before taking back her hand and praying to her goddess. No doubt she’d talk directly to Trielle, who was on the council and the high priestess of Charites for the elves. This wasn’t about war, or human conflict, so he had some small hope the elves would make an effort to assist. If only because nature was being destroyed instead of for the lives of the humans involved.
Cassie said, “She’ll come, she just needs this to get here.”
He nodded in understanding, as she held out the teleport enchantment for Willow Creek, then teleported it away with a spell. No doubt to the entrance to Katie’s Sanctuary. It was only about twenty seconds later when Katie and Bria appeared.
Bria looked around, then started to strip off her clothes, and hand them to Katie. When naked, he watched the sexy woman rather avidly as she walked two hundred feet away from them, then started to blur and expand as she shifted into a hauntingly beautiful silver dragon. She took off into the air with a roar.
Katie said, “She should be able to help with firebreaks, but it’ll still take a day to burn out what’s already on fire, if not longer. How can I help?”
Cassie said, “I’ve got a smoke filter spell going, could you charge the enchantments before they run out of magic. Also, what the hell are you wearing? It has more magic than both of us put together.”
He couldn’t feel magic at all, just lifeforce, so he looked at the bearer curiously.
Katie blushed, “New armor, it was a gift. I’ll take care of it,” and she walked off to reload the enchantments scattered around the community’s borders. It was just the fire suppression spells. They would stop the fire from spreading into the village by squashing out any sparks that flew off the burning trees into range.
He felt another touch on his shoulder, this time it was Lori, and she was very close. Close enough to see every detail of her mesmerizing warm and dark brown eyes. Clos
e enough to scent her deliciously feminine fragrance even over the smoke of the fire. Really warm eyes, that were mesmerizing in their warmth. A warmth that had been growing over the last weeks. He was imagining seeing things in them that just weren’t possible given her past. He suppressed a sudden and irrational urge to kiss her pouty lips, and touch her ethereally and severely beautiful model face, or run his hands through her silky hair, before fisting it and…
Fuck, his libido with having four mates was going to get his balls cut off if he wasn’t careful, and he’d fucking deserve it too. The last thing she needed was for him to creep on her after all she’d gone through. Sometimes though, the way she smiled and talked to him so invitingly made him think maybe he was wrong. But… her voice had always been naturally seductive and smoky, it was most likely, he concluded, a mistaken impression due to the fact that she was letting go of that coldness. Not only had her eyes and face warmed, but so had her naturally sultry voice which was no longer cold and remote either.
He cleared his throat, and asked, “Yes, Lori?”
Lori said, “it could be a long night, I thought I’d go over to the tavern and get us all some food.”
He smiled, “Thank you, that sounds great. Lin?”
Lori smiled widely, “Thanks for the thought, but…”
Lin said, “Don’t argue with master, we like when he’s protective and possessive.”
Lori giggled, “Fine, I guess I enjoy it too. Let’s go then.”
Lin smirked at him, and she took Lori’s arm as they walked off toward the tavern. Women were nuts, he decided.
He was sure Lori’s teasing and flirting was just her stretching her wings, testing her limits, she didn’t really mean anything by it. He was sure… mostly, but every time he doubted it, he was almost positive he was letting his cock do his thinking for him.
Damn libido. He was a forty-year-old man, not a pimply eighteen-year-old, but fuck if having four mates and using his life force abilities to keep them all satisfied hadn’t raised his libido by a few notches, or ten.
Kim whispered in his ear, “You can stop staring now, master. Lori’s tight little ass is out of visual range.”
He blushed, but he didn’t deny it. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been doing it, but in hindsight he’d watched her sexy ass and hips sway deliciously with her elegantly long toned legs and dancer’s flowing grace. He’d just… been lost in thought.
He kissed Kim on the forehead, and pulled her against him lightly, “Love you, too. I was just, preoccupied with my thoughts.”
Kim giggled, “Of course, master.”
He laughed, “Minx. Do you think they’ll need any further aid if we get them through this intact?”
Kim tilted her head, “They might need help raising a few barns, and farmhouses. They also might need to trade for fresh meat. They won’t have any luck hunting this winter. All the local prey animals will have fled the flames.”
He nodded, the last crop had been taken in for the season, and most of the farm animals, pigs, horses, cows, and chickens were actually in the town center. Cassie just didn’t have enough of those enchantments to cover all the surrounding farms, just the town center and the winter storage area.
Sy’lia said, “We have a few volunteers that are willing to help. Dragons to help Bria, and perhaps even to suppress part of the fire. They can also help Cassie keep the air clean in the community area.”
Cassie nodded, “We’ll send Katie when she gets done, it shouldn’t be more than a few…” she trailed off as Katie walked up.
Katie smirked when they got done talking, and she said a quick spell and disappeared.
“Thanks, Sy’lia. That’ll help. Any ideas how to prevent this in the future?”
Sy’lia tilted her head, “The dragons manage it in our territory, fire breaks and small managed brush fires. I’m not sure. It will eventually equalize and take care of itself. A forest fire isn’t all bad, overgrowth is a problem and can lead to a sick forest, and fire is a natural way to counter that.”
He nodded.
Katie got back, and there were fourteen silver and gold haired men and women with her.
The dragons definitely helped, not only by creating fire breaks, but even reclaiming some of the burning areas that weren’t too damaged. It was a long forty-eight hours, as the seven of them plus their guests waited for the fires to go out, and the dragons took flight once an hour to perform an inspection on how their fire breaks were holding out, but none of them failed.
At least they didn’t have to worry about it spreading further, but they did lose about three square miles of wilderness that forty-eight hours, sixty counting the leading twelve hours before the fire was even known of. He and the twins did some organizing and planning with the community leader, he’d make sure they got aid, or at the least they’d open trade with a few of the closest communities.
They were all exhausted when they got back. He hadn’t slept at all in over two days, and he’d lost count of the amount of times Lori and Sy’lia tempted him with their exotic beauty and their lissomly tight and sexy dancer’s bodies. He pretty much was used to it, ignoring his lust for them that is. He was also grateful to Sy’lia for a change, which had been pretty rare since the annoyingly hot elf had shown up on their doorstep, so to speak.
After a shower, and a short but passionate loving of his four mates one at a time, he passed out cold between his incredibly sexy twins. He was pretty sure the ladies had a schedule for that too, but it wasn’t something he worried or even cared about, he’d have Mara and Cassie flanking him the following night, he bet…
Chapter Eight
The walls were shelved in small bins filled with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other precious gems. There were also waist high stacks of gold and silver bars in the corner. The large workspace and bench was cluttered, and in the large empty space in the middle another flying ship made of lighter metal alloys was taking form. It looked suspiciously like the molten steel ball bomber in size, but there were a few differences. No bombing ports for one, these looked a lot thinner.
It wasn’t often he came into Cassie’s sorceress lab, but around mid-morning something had come to his attention, something he’d felt with his power, and he just couldn’t wait anymore to tell her.
His beloved Cassie looked deep in concentration as she scribed one of her glyphs on a short golden rod tipped with a sapphire. It looked like she’d already done two that morning, and there were five others lined up that hadn’t been scribed and enchanted yet, for a total of eight. He didn’t want to ruin her concentration, so he studied her for a moment. It wouldn’t be longer than five minutes or so he imagined, before she could take a break.
His Cassie was ripely and maturely beautiful being frozen at the age of twenty-three, just two years younger than his own apparent age. The beauty of her face was still flawless, but she’d shed the lingering shadow of youth by the first time they’d met. Her face was heart shaped, with full lips just short of pouty, light blue eyes, and lovely and straight long light blonde hair that fell down to her lower back and tickled the top of her ass. Even after five years, her beauty still stunned him when he studied her.
Her body was a pure call to sinful delights. She had lovely rounded D cups, a mouthwateringly thin waist, and a very generous and tightly supple bubbled ass he loved to dig his fingers into. Her skin was a lovely light tan shade, just short of fair. At five foot five her measurements gave her a very curvaceous hourglass body, and despite being intimately familiar with every single inch of it and knowing all of her pleasure points, he could never get enough of pleasuring her sinful body and hearing her sultry sweet sounds of pleasure.
Fortunately, the feeling was mutual, his Cassie was a nympho and loved to pleasure him whenever and wherever he wanted according to her own sultry and devoted words, spoken often. She often called it relaxation, and she seemed proud to de-stress him by dropping to her knees easily and often. Though, he’d never tested that in her lab befor
e, while she was lost in work. He wondered what she was doing.
She let out a soft sigh, and put the small gold rod to the side, and then giggled and pressed back against him as his arms slid around her waist and rested on her taut stomach as his head bent forward and his face nuzzled her neck from behind.
“Hi, beautiful,” he whispered softly in her ear, then nibbled the soft curve of her neck.
She wiggled her sinful ass back against his middle as she covered his hands in hers.
She said, “Hi back, love. What brings you down here?”
He replied, “I have exciting news.”
She grinned as she craned her neck and turned her head, and he couldn’t help but kiss her and then sigh into her mouth, as she slid his hands up her stomach and onto her breasts, where he gave a firm squeeze.
“News, master?” she asked a bit breathily.
He nodded, “There’s three life forces in the lab right now, mom.”
She stiffened for a moment, then smiled widely as she relaxed and ground her ass back against him hard, “I love you, Sean. You’re going to be a papa?”
He sniffed her neck, and then kissed it softly as he started to knead her breasts, drawing a gasp from her lips.
“You are so sexy. So beautiful, my Cassie.”
She giggled, “Because I’m pregnant?”
He kissed her neck, “That too.”
He wanted her badly in that moment. He already had when he realized they were going to have a kid, but her firm ass grinds and putting his hands on her bountiful breasts had pushed him to the point he was hardening urgently in his pants.
One hand slid south, and tried to open her jeans, but she giggled and ground back on his cock, making her moving body and his surge of lust and pleasure at the sensations. It all caused his hand to lose the needed dexterity.
He moved his other hand and spanked her ass hard, “Stand still, woman.”
She giggled naughtily, and ground back against him one more time, before freezing in his arms. Her wide excited smile and increased respiration grew even faster as he finally got her unbuttoned and unzipped. Her jeans were tight as he slid them firmly over her delicious curves, but then slid halfway down her legs easily once past her hips.
