by D. R. Rosier
She wiped the tears from her eyes, and she tried to fall back asleep. One thing she was sure of, if she was to ever take that risk and leap, she couldn’t bear to try at all if he was still twisting the purpose of his magic.
Chapter Eleven
The greenhouse idea had sparked a lot of other home projects as well, while they waited for Katie to get back with them on the balance issue.
He worked with Sy’lia and his zombies on getting the greenhouse up, they’d need to have it all set up and the pipes in before Cassie could do her enchanting part. His zombies did most of the work while he supervised the steel frame and glass going up. He had others tapping their water system and hanging watering pipes from the top of the frame which was coming together.
Sy’lia seemed colder and more out of sorts than usual, which was when he got the not so brilliant idea to cheer her up with a fight.
Honestly, he wasn’t even sure why he was fighting anymore, perhaps just the principle of it and the arrogance of the elves set his teeth on edge. It wasn’t like he hadn’t considered stopping draining and absorbing life on his own before. The enchantments mostly took care of it, and him letting a life force or two get away in an emergency wouldn’t be a critical loss. There were plenty of assholes, and all his zombies had centuries of life force in them by now.
Really, it was probably even worth it just to get rid of the sharp and sick tempting enjoyment he felt when he killed in that manner. Perhaps he was just being contrary, but elven arrogance made him clench his teeth and set his feet against it.
She’d even stopped mentioning his zombies at all, or the enchanted blades, which meant she was at least compromising on her point of view.
Regardless, when he’d brought up the old argument between them, in an effort to help her shake off her funk and put a little fire in her veins, it’d backfired in a major way. Instead of waking her up and putting steel in her backbone, it’d made her eyes tear and she’d fled from him.
Which… had him feeling like a major asshole.
He’d just made a beautiful woman cry, elven or not, one that he at least respected and was growing to like despite her annoying qualities. For some reason, the rules had changed, and he had no idea how or why and he felt a little angry about it too. Stupid hot elf, what was wrong with her today? Which of course, made the guilt worse as he stormed toward the house.
The bottom floor of the house was quiet as he got a drink from the kitchen and went looking for his mates. He needed a female point of view to figure out what’d just happened with Sy’lia. That’s also how he found out about the other home improvement projects.
It was when he went up to the second floor, that he heard some giggling and headed that way. When he stuck his head into the unused guest room, he found it completely empty of the furniture that used to be there. Mara and Kim looked over and smiled at him, they both had more than a few flecks of paint on them as they repainted the walls a baby blue.
Mara said, “We thought we’d get started on preparing the nursery, we’re going to need four cribs, and all sorts of stuff.”
Kim nodded, “You should send out a team to raid a baby store. Cribs, mobiles, cloth diapers of course, and baby powder. As many bottles as you can find as well, and baby clothes though I’m sure Lin will be making them some.”
He laughed, “I’ll do that. So, this is going to be a general nursery, for all of them? Boys or girls?”
Mara smiled, “Yes, for the first two years or so, then we can move them into their own beds, or at least girls’ and boys’ rooms.”
He sent out the orders, using the same team he used to loot windows and pipes last night.
“Umm, so if I picked a fight with a certain elf, and she ran off crying, that would mean what exactly?”
Kim snickered.
Mara frowned, “Why would you pick a fight with Sy’lia?”
He explained his fuzzy logic, “She seemed down and self-absorbed, not her usual arrogant self at all. Our fighting always gets her blood pumping, and puts life on her face, so…” he trailed off.
Kim sighed, “Master, did it occur to you to just ask her what was wrong, and listen? That’s what you’d have done for any of us.”
He nodded slowly, then shook his head, “Never even occurred to me.”
It hadn’t. It was obvious in hindsight, something he did for his mates often, but his and Sy’lia’s relationship, their friendship, revolved around their arguing, not mutual support. He snorted.
Mara giggled, “She’ll be fine, just give her a little space, then apologize in an hour or two. As for why she’s so upset, I think that’s because the argument is a lot more personal now.”
He frowned, “Elucidate, if you please.”
Mara smirked, “In the beginning you were the leader of the west coast, just another foolish and stubbornly violent human she was arguing with in her elven arrogance as an ambassador. She cares about you as a person now, and she’s even attracted to you as far as I can tell. That makes the argument personal, her heart has a stake in the outcome. It’s possible she was brooding about that very thing, and you bringing it up confrontationally was the worst thing you could’ve done.”
Oh, right. He supposed he could see that, sort of.
“Thanks, priestess.”
Kim giggled, “You’re welcome, master,” she said pointedly.
He smirked, “Thanks, Kim.”
He heard a loud scraping sound down the hall, and he looked in that direction.
“What are they up to in there?”
Cassie and Lin were up to something in the master bedroom, he could feel their lifeforces in there of course. The greenhouse idea had really set loose some changes. It’d sounded like shifting furniture, but he couldn’t figure out why or what.
Mara said, “Go take a look.”
He nodded, and he winked before he set off down the hall. The two women behind him got back to painting and giggling. He wondered what kind of naughty conversation he’d interrupted, because he knew those wicked giggles well.
He froze in the doorway at the scene. Their already fairly large bed for five was being replaced by one even more ridiculously big. It looked like two king sized beds melded into one bed, and he was sure there’d been magic involved. His ladies had been very busy while he’d been supervising the construction outside. Actually, he was fairly sure the bed that used to be in the guest room that would shortly become a nursery was somehow involved in this.
Cassie sent him a teasing smile when she saw him there, and Lin winked.
He remarked neutrally, “Looks like seven or so people would fit on there just fine.”
Cassie raised an eyebrow, and said mock sincerely, “Really? I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, I do believe it might.”
He asked, “Subtle hint?”
Lin snickered, “Subtle? Master doesn’t do well with subtle.”
He laughed ruefully, “Fine, painfully obvious hint?”
Lin touched her nose cutely.
He was starting to really get the idea they probably weren’t wrong. He just found it hard to believe that Lori would be interested in any man after what she went through, at least not anytime soon. Still, he trusted their judgement over his, gods knew women were a mystery to him, always had been. As for the hot elf, that was even more confusing, at least his feelings and admiration for Lori was unfettered by other conflicting emotions, outside of his empathy for her past that is.
Cassie said, “We’ve planned this for a few days actually. Lin just got done making two sets of custom sheets. How’s the greenhouse coming?”
“Good, it’ll be done assembling later today, or tomorrow morning latest.”
She nodded, “I’ll get the enchantment done then.”
“Do you two need help?”
Cassie grinned, “I think we’ve got it,” then tilted her head, and looked in the corner.
Cassie said, “Hi Katie… okay… we’ll be ready,” he only heard half the co
nversation this time.
She turned to him, “Whatever is going to happen, it’s happening tomorrow. She’ll come and get us at first light. She also is going to brief us on chaos magic, it sounds pretty serious. After we get there and meet up with Emily.”
Lin brought up her idea then, that she’d had the last night, about additional nannies who could also double as guards. He rather thought it was a good idea. They’d be raising their kids for the most part, pawning off that responsibility didn’t appeal at all, but having them guarded when they got a little decompress and private intimate time would really help. He also knew Lin was worried about her and Kim spending time away from him, if he’d be unguarded, even if she didn’t say that part out loud.
The best part of the plan was the other three females he still had looking for trash served him but didn’t love him the way his twins did. Four mates were enough, six would be the absolute limit for him, it was already a little hard to keep up with them all, even if his magic and them helping each other out too made him equal to the task. Still, it was a labor of love and hardly difficult. Point being, the last thing he needed was two or three more women looking to join his bed as mates, but that wouldn’t be an issue he didn’t think.
He nodded, and then headed back downstairs to the greenhouse leaving his mates to their own projects.
He cleared his throat a little awkwardly when he saw Sy’lia working on a couple of plants. If he didn’t really understand women, that went double for elven ones.
“Sorry about earlier, do you want to talk about it? What’s bothering you, or what a knucklehead I am?”
She didn’t answer for a long time, then finally said, “I’ll be fine, I just want to be left to think. If you don’t mind.”
“The zombies?” he asked, they were still working on the frame though a lot of it was already up if incomplete.
She waved, “They’re not bothering me.”
Right, but he was, “Alright,” then didn’t know what to say, so he just walked away and found himself at loose ends.
He gave a little thought toward seducing one of his mates but doing so out of boredom was a terrible reason, and they were all busy with their own projects. He was still fairly sated from their morning wakeup orgy not two hours ago. He could supervise his zombie construction workers from anywhere as well.
At least it was warm and sunny again that day, so he worked out and then swam some laps in the pool. He’d have offered to help his ladies paint, but he knew although they loved him to pieces and would do anything for him and never turn him away, at times they needed female bonding with each other as mates too. It was also healthy for him to be alone at times, so it was all good, if a little boring as he swam laps.
He’d just laid down after the laps to dry in the heat of the sun, when one of his border birds got his attention at the Arizona - Southern California border. He scanned through the bird’s simple memories, as he looked out of its eyes. There was a small group of eleven men on horseback that looked well-armed and armored, they were wearing the same uniforms as the invasion of two thousand soldiers from months ago.
He’d sent back that army as his undead zombie warriors, and he had butchered the general that’d sent them as well as his staff, before pulling the left-over life force back and out of them. So, whoever these people were, they weren’t sent by the same people even if they were from the same military. Far as he could tell, Arizona was run under the old U.S. state authority, at least in name if not in fact.
There was a community not far from the border there, and he commanded two of the ten guards for that community to intercept the eleven men, and to question them. It’d take about a half an hour for them to run the fifteen miles. He’d be able to see and hear through their eyes, and two of his zombies could take even eleven well-armed normal men quite easily if they had to. Still, he was trying not to jump to conclusions.
Eleven men were hardly an attacking force. They could be scouts, deserters, spies, assassins, or any number of other things he couldn’t think of offhand. None of the eleven men were decorated in an over the top fashion, and according to their rank insignia there were two sergeants, six private first class, two privates, and a butter bar lieutenant. One of the sergeants were on point, while the second-lieutenant and other sergeant rode at the rear.
That made him doubt the desertion idea, since they were well mixed for a normal squad he thought, led by the lowest ranked officer possible which also fit the force’s small size.
It was a good distraction for boredom, but he dismissed the idea of going there himself. His mates were busy, and it was hardly an emergency. Better to just relax in the sun and deal with them through his zombies. The horses they were on appeared to be in good shape, as were their saddles and bridles. Their saddle bags looked to be stuffed full and had several water skins or canteens dangling from them, and each of the men had a canteen on their waist.
They looked mostly clean and presentable which also argued against the desertion idea, they’d obviously showered recently, within two or three days. He showered every day or Cassie cleaned them with a spell, mostly because they could, but that was rare in the new world, and impossible for those travelling for days or weeks on horseback. A cold creek and a cake of soap was about as good as it got for most travelers these days.
His front was dry outside of his swimsuit, so he turned over and sighed at the warm sensation of the sun on his back, and the back of his legs. The cool damp towel below him felt good on his warmed front as he continued to mark the squads forward progress from his bird’s eyes.
Lori’s life force hit the edge of his fifty-yard reach, and he suppressed the surge of annoyance and protectiveness that filled his chest. He’d been wondering where the shadow priestess had gotten off to, and he hated when she just left on a walk without asking for an escort.
At the same time, he knew there was a fine line between protective and overbearingly protective. She might be attracted to him, might even want him, but she wasn’t his mate yet. Still, it was annoying, why couldn’t the graceful beauty grab one of his zombies if she wanted a walk. The guards around the property had been instructed to obey her, save against breaking his own orders.
She was exceptionally beautiful around the face after all, with a hot lissomly graceful and flexible body, and just eighteen years old. Any asshole would see her as a prime target. Of course, she was also an extremely powerful priestess, a high priestess he wouldn’t want to fuck with if he could help it, so she was hardly defenseless.
So, he suppressed that annoyance and male instinctive need to keep her safe, even if being alone for anyone was foolish. After all, his twins wouldn’t let him wander off alone either, despite his power. So, it wasn’t just him being a guy. It was a dangerous world and just made sense to take easy precautions. The worst part was he was almost sure she did it merely to get his attention and annoy him.
He turned his head toward her as she walked into the yard, and he was rather distracted by her legs. She was in a pair of short jean shorts that left her legs bare, all the way down to the brown strappy sandals, and she was wearing a light blue half shirt up above showing off her darkly tanned and flat stomach. The skimpy outfit was far less revealing than the yellow bikini she wore around the pool, but at the same time it was also far sexier and alluring because of that.
She smiled at him in greeting in a way that woke up his libido, and that he mostly ignored.
“Hey, Lori. I’m probably wasting my breath, but you know you should grab a guard when going for a walk.”
She grinned at him in a way that made him think he’d reacted in exactly the way she’d hoped he would. Like, she really was doing it just to get his attention, and to get his back up in an overprotective way. Thing was, that just made it worse, it made him want to put her over his knee, and that gave him other ideas.
“I know, I just like to be alone sometimes, while I commune with my goddess. I wasn’t all that far away, and I can take care of my
self. I’d have still been in Cassie’s range, she’d have sent the twins running if anyone else showed up or she thought I was in trouble.”
He nodded in easy agreement, that was actually a good point, except it wasn’t the same as him knowing she was safe and watched out for. He changed the subject.
“What’s she like, Myzasis I mean?”
Lori grinned, “My favorite subject,” she knelt beside him just a few feet away, “Her mantel influences her demeanor to a great extent, I think. Her voice is coldly seductive, almost cruel while being sensuously alluring at the same time. Punishment and blind justice, and the mystery of the dark shadows.
“Under that, she’s very much a woman, just like the rest of us, I think. If with power and influence far beyond our understanding. I think she’s proud of me, and I just got some new spells recently which means I’m in her good graces and growing in power. I suppose she’s a lot like me, she enjoys punishing those that deserve it through me and her other servants, but at the same time we’re much more than that. I’ve found joy in life again here, and I want much more out of life than just punishing the guilty, even if that will always be my passion and calling.”
He nodded, “I think I get that.”
Lori also had one of the most naturally seductive voices he’d ever heard in his life, another way she was like her goddess he supposed, even if it was more warmly than coldly seductive recently, but he didn’t mention any of that.
Damn, she was so beautiful, her dark brown eyes were so expressive now, such a big difference from the cold emptiness there when they’d first met.