“Stabilizing you,” I replied with a small smile.
She glanced at me, holding my gaze for a moment, and then looked away again when the elevator dinged. “Yes.”
We were silent on the way down, with Winter handing me the paper again when I mentally considered looking it over. I then skimmed through it while following her out the lobby, using my second-sight to watch my step while I tried to see if there was anything more.
But there wasn’t.
Obviously, it was a summary of what they’d looked into, so of course there wouldn’t be much other than short descriptions. It was like the abstract of a research paper – no data or extra information regarding how they came to their conclusions. Just a summary of the results.
When we got to the car, I wordlessly handed the paper to Winter and got back into the driver’s seat, letting her punch in the address. Oddly enough, seamlessly working together like this, without speaking a word, was super easy due to her ability. All I had to do was just think of a plan of action, and so long as she was willing to follow it, then it just happened as if we were in perfect sync.
Technically, we were, since there was active mind reading involved.
As we got onto the interstate, I decided to just put the car into autopilot, because it was going to be a freaking four-hour trip, and this car wasn’t fun to drive with it just being an automatic – no manual stick-shift option. Not that it would have been much fun anyway driving on the interstate.
First thing I did was then message Lily and Freya in our group chat to give them a heads-up on the basics, not getting into anything too specific, including neglecting to say where exactly we were going. Worst case, if they had to know, then they could ask Jackie – but that would only be necessary in a weird situation, like I disappeared.
After that, I leaned back in my seat, with us both remaining quiet for a few minutes. Winter seemed totally fine now, readjusting in her seat and settling in for the four-hour trip. However, I had my thoughts elsewhere, with me beginning to think of Lexi and our missed date.
Winter automatically spoke up.
“She was bummed, but she understands.”
I looked at her in surprise, prompting her to meet my gaze, her pale green eyes almost curious now.
“You’re a better alpha than I imagined,” she added.
Well, shit, that was a drastic change of subject. I immediately looked away, feeling a rush of complicated emotions, ranging from surprise to confusion to embarrassment. Shit, my face was flushed.
Did I like her saying that? Why? That was so random.
“We are not a pride of lions,” I tried countering.
She shrugged. “For humans, multiple females only flock to the same male for a handful of reasons. One reason might be because the alpha made them. Another reason might be out of convenience or because the alpha offers something, like safety, that they can’t easily get elsewhere.” She paused. “Obviously, all of those reasons are rarely enticing enough for human females to share the same alpha.”
Well, shit, she kind of had a point, even if she was framing it weird. I mean, that was why Lily and Freya first agreed to it, because they had a need that only I could fulfill. Not to mention that having Lexi and Heidi around was pretty convenient for our family, for a number of reasons, in addition to the fact that the sisters felt safe around me, and that was something they definitely needed…
“However,” Winter continued, prompting me to look at her again. “While alphas who make females join their pride are basically always evil, the other group is a mixed bag. Sometimes the male who fills a need for multiple females isn’t a good alpha, and the ‘need’ that’s being filled is the only reason why the females stick around, instead of choosing a different alpha. It’s because they can’t easily get it elsewhere. But sometimes the alpha male is very good. He protects the females, respects the females, and prioritizes the wellbeing of his pride over himself. That is the ideal alpha, because it makes for the strongest pride. It makes for a stable pride. A powerful pride.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, because I kind of felt like I knew where this was going. And sure enough…
She turned toward me, her expression almost endearing. “You are the ideal alpha.”
Damn this got awkward real fast.
“I…I’m not sure about that,” I managed. Shit, why was she looking at me so warmly?
Her expression became more serious. “Your alpha females agreed to allow you to fornicate with the beta females. Yet you haven’t yet. Even a decent alpha might have done so already, but you haven’t, because you prioritize the wellbeing of your pride over yourself. You are the ideal alpha,” she repeated.
I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “Umm, thanks.”
She shrugged, focusing out the window again. “It’s just an objective fact.”
“There are probably people who would disagree with you,” I commented.
She shrugged again. “That you are the ideal alpha? Maybe. Probably other males. But objectively you have a strong, stable, and satisfied pride. Any female looking for a pride would prefer yours over others. Yours is ideal, because you are an ideal alpha. And that’s coming from someone who can read minds.”
“Okay , new subject!” I said abruptly. Shit, this topic was way too awkward.
However, in my attempt to come up with a new subject, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Does your fur make you hot?”
Dammit! Why did I ask that of all things?
Her expression was serious. “Yes. That’s why I shave it.”
“You do?” I said in surprise, partly shocked that she even answered me, and also partly because it didn’t look shaved at all the few times I’d seen it.
“Yes. I do shave. It’s only about a quarter of an inch long right now, but it’s natural length is three times that.”
“Huh,” I replied, glancing at her from the corner of my eye. “So then, just wondering, why not shave it off entirely?”
She frowned, focused ahead. “For one, because it’s extremely itchy when I do. Second, it grows back too fast, like a man’s five o’clock shadow. At this length, it grows slow enough that I only have to shave once a month . But if I tried to keep it off altogether, then I’d have to shave twice a day.” She paused. “Trust me, I’ve tried to look normal. It’s just not feasible. I’ve even tried to put various things on my lips, but it doesn’t look right.”
“Why is that?” I wondered, sincerely curious even though I sort of had a preference for the black on her lips.
She shrugged. “When most women wear lipstick, you can often see the pink of their lips just past the inside of their mouth. It’s most noticeable when they talk, though most people don’t pay attention.” She looked at me. “Or, have you ever seen anyone wear black lipstick? It only looks right when they keep their mouth closed, unless they already have dark skin. Otherwise, the pink is obvious. It’s the same with me, except in reverse. If I wear red lipstick, for example, you can see the black the moment I open my mouth. And that raises a lot more questions than just leaving my lips as they are. No one thinks twice about my black lips, other than ‘goth,’ whereas they give me bizarre looks if they notice the natural color when I’m wearing lipstick.”
“Huh,” I replied simply, unsure of how else to respond. “Interesting.”
She nodded. “Mind if I take a nap in the backseat?” she unexpectedly asked.
I looked at her in surprise, suddenly imagining her curling up like a cat. Shit, she was technically a catgirl. A real-life catgirl, minus the furry ears and tail.
I cleared my throat, hoping she didn’t take offense to my unrestrained thoughts. “Umm, yeah, that’s fine.”
Without hesitation, she unbuckled and began climbing back there, her butt suddenly right in my face, before she was lying down and getting comfortable.
I felt kind of embarrassed that I’d reacted to her ass being right there , so I quickly tried to cover
my thoughts up, even though I knew it was probably a lost cause.
“Do you usually take naps?” I wondered.
“Depends,” she replied with her eyes closed, lying down like how a normal person would.
I waited to see if she was going to elaborate. But nope. After asking her to elaborate in my thoughts, and having her continue to ignore me, I finally tried prompting her verbally.
“Depends on what?”
She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “I wouldn’t be a good lookout if I slept all night.”
Shit. I had no idea. All this time, she’d been awake most of the night?
“Yes,” she agreed. “You didn’t know, because you kept your eyes to yourself, even though you could have looked at any time.” She paused. “Thank you.”
“Umm, you’re welcome. But you know, I don’t sleep at all, so you could have come down occasionally to talk or something.”
“No,” she replied. “I can’t do my job if I piss off your females and they kick me out of the house. Better to be out of sight, out of mind.”
Well damn, in a weird way that made me sort of feel better. All this talk about being a good alpha seemed to be implying something, especially with the way she was looking at me when she said it, but I supposed I was just getting carried away.
She was just trying to do her job. And that job involved her being sleep-deprived as she sacrificed her own wellbeing to protect everyone else. Damn.
After that, I decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the trip, as well as try to keep my mind as clear as possible too, so Winter could relax and get some good sleep.
She definitely deserved it.
17: Stabilizing Pride
Lily Dodson
April 20, 2735 – 4 Hours Later – Early Evening
As Lily walked into the living room, where Freya, Heidi, Lexi, and Rose were all clustered in a circle on the floor, she gasped at what she saw.
There was a little baby, with bright teal eyes, with her elbows on the floor, her head up and looking around.
“Eden’s lifting her head already?!” she said in shock and excitement.
Everyone looked up at her with wide grins.
Rose spoke up first. “She’s proud of herself too! She’s saying hi!”
Lily quickly sat down next to Rose and Freya, mesmerized by the adorable little Eden bobbing her head slightly as she tried to keep herself partially raised.
“This is the most alert I think I’ve seen her,” Lily commented, wiggling her finger at Eden, watching her teal eyes cross slightly, only to look like it made her dizzy.
“Yeah,” Heidi agreed. “Seems like all she does is eat, sleep, and fill her diaper.”
Lily laughed at that, because it was so true, and Lexi cracked a smile, only to speak up.
“It’s still really strange to me to think that this is the same little girl who was Sam’s daughter over a century ago. Kind of makes me worried how she’ll handle that when she’s bigger.”
Freya nodded in agreement, her brow furrowed.
Rose laid down then, so that her face was directly in front of Eden’s. She then lifted her head just a little to kiss Eden on the nose, prompting the baby to cross her eyes again and look dizzy, only for Rose to rest her head down again, with a big smile on her face.
“Oh,” Freya said, after a moment of silence. “Lily, don’t forget your surgery is on Monday. I got a reminder an hour ago, since I’m the one who scheduled you. I put my number down instead of yours.”
Lily’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, wow. I did forget.” She then sighed. “I’m glad the day is finally almost here.”
“For your implants?” Heidi wondered.
Lily nodded. “Yeah, after having them in for ten years, I feel naked without them.”
Lexi suddenly looked depressed, likely because she felt responsible for them being gone, as well as for almost getting the fiery blonde killed.
Lily quickly continued, focusing on her. “Not that I’ve minded too much. Losing them was worth it.”
Lexi immediately glanced up at her, her sorrow transitioning to more of a happy sadness. “Thanks,” she whispered.
Eden laid her head down again, her eyes suddenly looking sleepy.
“Naptime again,” Rose chimed.
“Rose, sweetie,” Freya said. “Do you want to go ahead and put her in her crib like last time?”
Her face lit up, slight dimples appearing in her tan cheeks. “Okay!” She then carefully collected Eden in her arms, just as the tiny little girl’s teal eyes fully closed, and walked with her to the bedroom.
Heidi spoke up then. “Umm, just wondering, but do you think Sam would like something like that on me?”
All three women looked at her in confusion, prompting Lexi to respond. “The implants?”
Heidi’s face flushed, looking down in embarrassment as she nodded. Lexi and Lily both looked at each other, only to look at Freya.
“It doesn’t really matter that much to him,” Freya explained simply. Heidi looked up at her in surprise, prompting her to continue. “Like, Sam isn’t dissatisfied with Lily’s appearance now.” She paused, getting a big grin on her face as she glanced at Lily. “Even if she’s as flat as a pancake.”
Heidi and Lexi both burst out laughing, and Lily glared at her playfully.
Freya continued with a grin. “The implants are more for Lily’s sake than his. She personally likes them.”
Lily nodded. “Yeah, and honestly Heidi, you look perfect how you are now.” She then grimaced slightly, looking a little embarrassed as she glanced at Lexi. “I have to admit, I’m a little jealous of both of your body types. Even if I gained ten pounds, I still wouldn’t have boobs, whereas the two of you both are, well, very well proportioned even when super skinny.”
“You really think so?” Lexi wondered.
Lily rolled her citrine eyes. “Oh, come on, Lexi. You know you’re hot and busty. You weren’t the most popular superhero for several years for no reason.”
That prompted Lexi to grin. “Thanks. You’d think that was reassuring to me, but I guess none of that matters when there’s only one guy whose opinion I care about.”
Heidi and Lily both nodded, only for everyone to look at Freya again.
She rolled her crimson eyes. “Sam likes us all equally. Obviously, he views Lily and I as his primary women, but in terms of attractiveness, he doesn’t rank us in any particular order. That’s why he wanted to talk to you both at the same time last weekend.”
“Yeah,” Lily agreed. “He didn’t want one of you to think he liked the other more.”
“Because he doesn’t,” Freya added. “He loves us all the same. We all matter to him.” She focused on Heidi. “He finds you just as attractive as he does Lily.” She looked at Lexi. “He finds you just as attractive as he does me.”
Lily leaned over, wrapping her arm around Freya’s neck. “And even though clearly the two hottest women here are Freya and Heidi, he somehow finds me just as attractive as he does Freya.”
Both sisters grinned, picking up on the obvious implications.
Heidi spoke up again. “Thanks, by the way.”
“Yes,” Lexi immediately agreed. “Thank you.”
Lily and Freya exchanged a glance, with Lily’s arm still around her neck, before they both smiled.
“You’re welcome,” Freya said, both of them having a warm smile.
“We’re happy to officially have you in our family,” Lily added. “And together, I think we’ll be able to handle anything life throws our way.”
“Together,” Freya agreed, giving Lily a small squeeze.
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
April 20, 2735 – Current Day – Early Evening
I wasn’t sure how Winter felt about eating the same thing twice in a row, but figured that the safest option was to get what I knew she would eat. Not that I didn’t try to ask her first. When I first pulled off an exit to grab some food, sin
ce we were getting close to our destination, I did attempt to gently wake her up, but she was completely out of it, with a week of sleep-deprivation having finally taken its toll.
It wasn’t until we were back on the interstate, with the bags of fast-food having been sitting in the passenger’s seat for a good ten minutes, filling the interior with its intoxicating scent, that Winter finally roused.
Or rather, she went from sound asleep to her pale green eyes popping open almost in alarm. She immediately sat up, looking around for a second before she focused on me staring at her with a half-eaten burger in my hand.
When her gaze abruptly shifted to it, obvious hunger sparking in her eyes, I gestured to the seat next to me. Her eyes widened in surprise, followed immediately by her looking emotional for half a second, before she reached forward to lift the bags in one hand and gracefully climbed back into the front seat, placing them back on her lap.
Again, I had a face full of her tight ass, and it was nearly impossible to not react to it. And shit, was she wearing latex panties?! Shit, she was! I saw her panties peeking out! I could only imagine it must be just in case I used my newly obtained pyrogenesis, but damn! She was wearing her fireproof underwear!
Except for me, I didn’t think about it primarily as being ‘fireproof.’ I thought about it as something hot and sexy. The fact that it was fireproof was a completely ancillary feature to an otherwise seductive, enticing, sensual article of clothing.
Dammit, Sam, pull it together!
As I tried to think more analytically about it, I realized that one of the reason latex panties were impractical for most women was because it didn’t let the skin breathe, resulting in them getting very sweaty in places they’d prefer not to be. However, the fact that I’d never seen Winter break a sweat, despite the fact that she had fur, made me wonder if it took more for her body to react to the heat.
At the very least, she didn’t seem uncomfortable…
And I probably shouldn’t be focusing on it, when she could hear every perverted thought that popped into my head.
The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Page 26