Cade had almost laughed in the man's face until he realized the slaver come city guard captain was serious. He had taken one step towards the soon to be dead city captain until Promena had placed a hand on his shoulder, the look in her eyes as Cade turned his head asked him to show some caution.
"So your slaves control your house do they, I want that one she looks like she could use a real man to put her in her place." The dead man said to a smattering of laughter from his flunkies.
Promena for her part just raised her hands in defeat and shrugged as she stepped back to where he had been before the idiot signed his death warrant.
Cade turned back to the group of fools before he asked, "who is second in command after the good captain?" Smiling looks made their way around the group until a muscular lizard man barked out "ME".
Cade inclined his head gratefully towards the helpful man, telling himself "see they aren't all bad now I know who to send this little message with".
As Cade looked at the smirking captain he revised his plan. He had planned on making the large man into his next infusion of energy but a more cruel idea in mind.
Picking the man up with a mental hand he found the man's equipment was far too small for his idea "those poor women" he thought to himself and with a thought gave the captain every man's dream.
As Cade increased Wroths pride and joy to the size he needed he implemented part two of his plan and inserted the captain's twig in his ass and fused the whole mess together.
Wroth for his part went through a range of emotions, surprise, confusion, smugness, then absolute terror as he screamed obscenities as Cade dropped him unceremoniously to the ground.
As they rode off, with Wroth laying on his belly behind his second in command Cade couldn't help but get the last word in as dust clouds masked the running guards "hey at least I made it bigger".
The city guards had been a lot more civil after that, even nice.
They had got him where I counted though and though they allowed them to use the space they charged Cade a very large storage tax, exorbitant in his opinion. Cade felt like they were being ungrateful, he had done Wroth and his soon to be ex-slaves a favor as he saw it.
His trip to the city to pay the tax and sign the paperwork had been enlightening.
The gates that had seemed huge from afar were truly gargantuan from up close. Cade, Mina, and Sabine had made the half-mile trip to the gates leaving the jaguar girls and Nat in the care of Promena, who was the only other person besides Cade who could move their floating home.
As he remembered passing the gates the memory of the smell that came flowing out of the small door he had missed in his flyover almost made him gag once again as he worked on a particularly tense muscle on Mina's lower back.
The fee had taken a massive chunk out of the Procs they had accumulated from their war on the slave camps.
Added to that was their dwindling food supply, the fridge and pantry might as well have cobwebs growing in them as far as Cade was concerned.
He amended his grim outlook as he remembered the muddy streets packed with people of all races begging for food and money and quite a few women of all races prostituting themselves for the same.
He had even caught a few thieves cutting purses and cutthroats shaking down an old couple in front of a stall covered in half-rotten vegetables.
Cade had ended the cutthroat's extortion by popping a blood vessel in each of the three street thugs' brains.
Their screams of agony as they dropped to the ground drew little attention in the bustling market they had been walking through.
Fixing the damage with a though, Cade left them to writhe on the ground but not die of a brain hemorrhage, the fools didn't deserve to die for trying to survive.
The rest of the city was just as bad, most buildings weren't being well maintained and the children he saw were either muddy little waifs with dead eyes that made Cade want to hold them and tell them that it would be ok.
The others were stealing what they could to survive and fighting one another for the scraps they could get.
Cade had a moment of weakness as he thought destroying this city would be easier than trying to save it. His growling stomach agreed with him as they made their way to an eyesore of a building.
The tax collector's office as decadent in a way that made Cade's eyes hurt. The roman-eske building was out of place situated between a run-down cafe and general goods store.
He had been tempted to visit the cafe and soothe the growling monster in his stomach but the fees and taxes had eaten almost all of their Procs.
A quick whispered question about the cafe directed at Mina had been answered with "we have food at home" to his dismay. And his pretty kitty was right, if they wished to survive then the last of their procs needed to go towards food, Cade cursed Havrai's name all the way back as his women giggled at their mate's frustration.
His pity party was interrupted by a swat to his face by Mina's long tail. "Pay attention, my mate I am not yet done receiving my reward," Mina said from her face down position on the massage table.
Cade grinned at his mate as he resumed his task. "I wonder what could distract you so from such a sight as your mate laid out before you," Mina said with a jiggle of her ass.
Smiling at his pretty kitty's attempt to bring him out of his funk Cade found he wasn't immune to her charms despite his frustrations as the ember of lust and love that had been held back at her request grew.
Placing a gentle-ish smack on her pert behind he vented to his pretty kitty. "They are trying to freeze us out my love, Promena has eyes in the throne room and reported they said as much. Sabine has tried to sell the slaver and bandit gear but after the fourth slaver she had to kill that tried to capture and kill her I just gave up on her trying to sell her on her own. We have an outing in a few hours at some of the more disreputable markets. I'd call it a date... you know what our little snake has been known to get a little dirty and enjoy it. So, date night it is. The other ladies have had just as bad of a time. Sharee, Eve, and Nat both have had the cold shoulder as the best response from the shop owners, and the worst ones called the city guards on them as escaped slaves. I had to send a few platforms their way and rescue them, And how do you think Eve reacted to that? She KISSED ME, that girl is trying to put me under the jail. And speaking of jail I have had no luck in finding Laurith. You would think finding a freaking dragon no matter the size of the city would be easy, but nooo I have to deal with Chief: keeps his guests waiting to even see the woman." Cade ended his rant as he rubbed his hands down his face as Mina cackled, almost tipping the table over with her laughter.
"I think that is all of our current problems my love," Cade said sarcastically.
"We will make it through this my love. The sale of our excess equipment will take a little more work than we thought to make happen. I'm sure there are more than a few less than honest merchants that would be glad to sell the slavers their gear back, and our little snake would love a date night so make sure you do too. One very unsavory answer to the problem of sending the other girls out to purchase necessities. Most slaves that are sent out on their own have some sort of identifying mark or article, be it branding or collar. I'm sure you could throw a collar together that would be quick release or something. If you aren't agreeable to that then you could always go with them, my love. And I have been thinking about the issue of Laurith." Mina offered after she has recovered from her fit of laughter at her mate's expense.
She didn't see the problem with Eve joining them. Not in the bedroom of course she hadn't earned that right, and wouldn't until her majority was reached. Mina would ensure she would be occupied with her duties, much too busy to bother her mate until she was ready to join their family.
Mina was happy though with the kit's progress so far, she had even shown relatively rapid growth in her training.
She chuckled softly gaining a questioning look from Cade as he stopped for a moment halting the amazing work he was doing
on her back.
Shaking her head and using her tail to put her mate's hands back to work on a tense muscle in her back she sighed contently.
The fierce little kit had even bested her mate a few times, one such occurrence had brought upon her small bout of mirth.
Eve had caught Cade with a roundhouse kick to his metal skull, laying her taller opponent out on the training mat, after they had exchanged a few glancing blows that to her pride Cade had matched, staggering the shorter woman initially.
Her mate had gotten a little full of himself though and hadn't brought his guard back up, Mina had smiled as her student had taken advantage of that.
A small snort escaped her as she remembered the shocked look on his face, the kick not doing much damage to his head, that over-inflated ego had taken some damage though as he looked up at the unapologetic Eve.
That little bought had cemented the girl's victory in her head and had also thankfully pushed her mate to become more involved with their training.
Mina couldn't be happier with Eve, what the girl had accomplished would have her fighting for her mate sooner than she had initially believed.
Her mate on the other hand had his very strong opinions about the young woman. The ideals from his old world were firmly ingrained in who he was.
The fact that it led to him spoiling his mates more than any other male on Curset vastly outweighed the little eccentricities. His reactions to the eager Eve gave her laughing fits regularly which was a plus.
Mina felt her mate's anxiety grow through their bond and moved to the end of the table to be closer to her worried mate.
"Laurith is a prisoner as you know but Qetch, Sabine's uncle, isn't as welcome here as you think. I would suggest reaching out to him, and soon." Mina finished her statement with a smile as she hugged her mate to her.
"I think I can make most of that happen, my Dresk," Cade said as he returned his amazing mate's embrace rubbing his face in the soft fur at the top of her head.
He had begun to relax, his problems may have been varied and seemingly insurmountable through normal means but his wives were smart, resourceful, and powerful women.
Cade was amazed every day that they wanted him and only him, it was a responsibility he took to heart. He loved them deeply and even his Promena he realized suddenly was included in that feeling.
He decided to tell her that he loved her and would make it special for his goddess, she like all his other wives was worth the effort.
As a triangular ear flicked against his nose he placed a kiss on the crown of Mina's head before beginning to turn to make his way to their room and scrounge up something presentable to wear.
He was stopped by Mina as she tensed her thighs on his waist. Looking her in her golden eyes a smirk grew on his face.
"What can I help you with my Mina? I need to get ready for my date with our sweet." The look of need and frustration on Mina's face was more than worth the willpower it took to not just give her what her eyes were asking for.
"You are going to make me ask for it my Cade," Mina asked incredulously.
"Beg for it, my love. I believe that was our agreement if I am not mistaken. Am I?" Cade asked as he kept his smirk in place.
"Fine, give it to me," Mina said in a quiet tone.
"I'm sorry my love what did you say?" Cade asked, holding back his shit-eating grin with a massive force of will.
"Give me your seed and put your kits in me, are you pleased now, my love?" Mina said in an exasperated tone.
"Not as pleased as you will be in a few moments my Mina. Now my beautiful mate has asked for something and I must deliver if you will excuse me." Cade said as he disappeared his clothes to their closet for retrieval after he sated his begging mate.
Sliding into Mina's wet paradise with the erection he had been keeping in check for far too long, he pulled his mate to him with the ass he had been lusting after for the last half hour as he sheathed himself in her with a moan.
Beginning the mind-blowing task of pleasing his mate he placed the problems of the city of Opect aside for the moment, they would still be there when he took his little snake out for a date.
As he sped up his plundering of his pretty kitties depths he vented the frustrations of her blatant teasing during her massage on her glorious body.
Grabbing a pert nipple between his lips as Mina's orgasm caused her to flop back on the table he grunted as her rippling channel tore his own bliss from him.
As his pulsing dick filled his mate Cade spared a thought for Opect, he was going to vent his other frustrations later tonight and he almost felt sorry for those who would rightly suffer, almost.
Stepping out of the house onto the muddy path Cade felt sorry for his Sabine as he looked at her in her violet dress that matched her glimmering eyes.
He was clothed in the nicest leather armor that he could find that wasn't black. His attire included boots to protect his feet from the wet muddy ground.
Cade's concern grew as he saw an old pleasant woman clothed in an ankle-length dress of muted earth tones sling the contents of her full chamber pot onto the morass of mud, clay, and evidently human waste and he was sure not an inconsiderable amount of horse shit.
Shivering in disgust he stopped with an arm around Sabine's toned middle and with a thought lifted his mate with his power and placed a platform under her belly scales.
"Ooh, the royal treatment. To what do I owe the pleasure, my love?" Sabine said as she looked up into her mate's grey eyes.
"Just treating you like the Queen you are my sweet, now onward to start our business date," Cade responded after a moment, the thought of telling his mate that he had put her on a pedestal per se was to keep her from having to travel through literal shit, though sweet wasn't the best way to begin their date.
"Oh, so many babies," Sabine said in a hushed tone. As she began to extend her arm towards Cade he quickly got the idea and floated her close enough for her to slip her deceptively slim arm into his.
Beginning their trip into town Cade stole a quick kiss with his sweet Sabine ready to begin their date night and hoping this idea of Mina's would work.
"Fucking, shit, damn FUCK!!! Cade screamed through clenched teeth as the nimble black-clothed slaver surprised him once again impaling him with the spear point of a halberd.
Grunting in pain he gripped the sneering slaver in a mental fist and like the hundreds of others in the slave camps he had wiped from Curset he broke the man and his weapon down into pure energy.
Cade had a moment of horror as he saw the process from up close for the first time. The pain and confusion on the unknown man's face would stay with him for a while he knew.
As the clash of weapons sounded behind him Cade came out of his dumbstruck surprise with a groan. Placing a reflexive hand over his abdomen he quickly healed himself with a relieved moan.
Turning around with only a twinge of phantom pain he took in the rest of the skirmish his little snake was in the middle of.
His slowly fading horror from his elimination of the slaver was replaced by pride as his sweet Sabine gave in to her baser urges and soundly whooped the scrambling slavers' collective asses.
Sabine wore an elated smile as she bit into the arm of a slaver that had tried to run her through with a longsword.
The man's high pitched scream was quickly followed by one of his companions as Sabine used the same tactic with a better result and stabbed the slaver who had tried to rush in from behind her with her tail blade.
The unfortunate man was sent flying into the stone wall of the alleyway they had walked down in their search for a fence to pawn their goods off on. As the flying slaver's scream of pain ended with a crunch as he hit the wall Cade turned his attention to the last of their attackers.
The last two men of the five-man squad tried to attack his mate from her sides as she drank down the one in her grip.
Cade broke down and absorbed them both, ignoring their quickly ended screams, as Sabine finished her
meal with a moan that had Cade wondering if there were any laws against public indecency in this city.
Adjusting himself Cade walked over to his shivering mate.
"That was invigorating my love, I almost wish there were more of them. I have never felt so powerful since I started on my Cade diet." Sabine said breathlessly after her mate kissed her thoroughly.
"And I never thought I would be happy to be a walking blood bank but here we are my love," Cade said before his sexy basilisk wife dropped down and freed his length a split second before she took him to the base with an urk that had his knees weak.
"I love you my Cade, my mate, my love, now I find I am still a little thirsty and require a stiff drink. And look my mate has my favorite on tap." Sabine said in a sweet tone after she released his length from her lips that caused his knees to lose all strength.
Atomic Mage 2 Page 6
