Mina had a pile of books next to her, her strength not up to holding the heavy pile throughout the by play.
Cade saw her face was split by a grin as her satisfaction with her mate radiated through their bond.
"Well done my love," Mina said through their mental link, her pride in him clear as her mate struck a balance between his new reality and his old sensibilities.
"Let's get back to work my little pixie, we will work through this one day at a time, together," Cade told his Eve as he helped her out of the back seat.
As she took his offered hand the hair around the neck raised as she looked down and away before stealing another quick kiss.
His mates corralled the young woman as they offloaded their first load of Beth's possessions, Cade returned the comatose dwarf to his grip and woke the lookout up.
Cade's smile at his mate's questions directed at Eve fell as the dwarf woke up slowly.
"Ah glad you could join us... What's your name?" Cade asked his captive as his neutral gaze grew piercing as he dared the dwarf to lie to him with his eyes.
"Harold Strong Stone and you human have no idea who you have angered with your interference. The Strong Stone clan will have that woman and her holdings." As the dwarf's threat to his new wife ended Cade was almost impressed by his stoic attitude as he hung in the air immobile.
"Well let's begin by dissuading you of that misconception, Beth is mine, isn't that right my little firebrand?" Cade's question was answered by a firm "yes my husband" as she and Sabine brought out another long chest.
"And if you would my giant we could use some more room back here." His newest wife asked with a smile directed at her husband.
Beth's request was completed as Cade added some dramatic flair to the simple task of widening and lengthening their ride by a few feet with a wave of his hand.
He almost lost his bad guy glare as the look on Harold's face almost caused him to burst out laughing.
"I'm not sure you and your frat boys know how you are messing with Harold but let me enlighten you." The dark look he was giving the dwarf changed to a cold smile as he finished.
Harold's indifferent look at Cade's statement changed to one of surprise which quickly devolved into pain as Cade lit up every pain receptor in the man's body.
Cade felt nothing at that moment as he kept the man's heart from seizing and his brain from shutting down.
After a minute of this Cade decided the message had been sent and let the violently shivering man fall from his grasp.
"Now you go get Karl and hurry I will know if you take any more time than is absolutely necessary to get him here." As Cade finished his mental ultimatum and flushed the man's shivering body with adrenaline he watched Harold jump up and tear off towards the northeastern gate like his ass was on fire.
"Are you sure that was the best idea, my giant, they are going to come back in force," Beth asked Cade as she stood next to Cade worry written across her face.
"As sure as I can be my Beth, they aren't going to leave us alone, whether we face them now or later. I, personally would prefer now." Cade explained as he leaned down for what should have been a quick kiss.
Beth had other ideas as she made it her personal mission to kiss Cade breathless. Her God of a husband was fighting for her, and as self-sufficient as she was the fact that this man who had gone up to bat for her, an unknown woman, excited her more than her stubborn nature would let her admit.
Even if she hadn't agreed to join his family and be his wife she knew he would fight for her just the same.
As the long kiss grew heated Cade had a small moment of panic as he cracked an eye and saw Eve standing along with his other wives.
Her smile and embarrassed nod settled his worries. The lithe young woman had accepted his limits and was happy with her place in his life, for the moment.
As Cade deepened the kiss further slipping his tongue into Beth's moaning mouth he hoped the dwarf would hurry up as Beth's moans and questing hands found a sensitive region to explore. He needed to get home, he had a red-headed dwarf to please.
Making friends
As Cade sat in a stone chair grown from the cobbled street beneath him his mood shifted from mild irritation to sharp anger.
The dwarves had left him sitting in the middle of the street for hours.
As he heard another pop song start up his leg began to unconsciously bounce to the beat. As the girls began to belt out the chorus Cade realized they had been there for far too long.
After the slaver and bandit gear had been sent off with a few of Beth's contacts, who took their anonymity very seriously, Cade had looked back at the empty shop after removing the walls he had raised.
Beth's house was a shell, everything packed away down to the last knick-knacks were loaded into Poppy the new name of their family car.
After Beth had loaded the last piece of her previous home she had climbed into Cade's lap in his street chair without a word and shed a few tears, answering "just happy" to Cade's concerned question of what was wrong. Cade had accepted that simple answer as he resumed his wait.
The name of the now 20 by 30 foot monster of a vehicle had been chosen as Eve asked what kind of music they had been listening to.
Cade objection to the silly name had been overruled by a unanimous decision by every one of his wive's including Promena's as she praised the young woman.
The blushing Eve had thanked everyone before she stiffened as Promena switched to a more formal tone and made it very plain that she and all the other women would be having a talk with her when they returned.
Cade had used the next three hours making a counterfeit stash of mithril coins for them.
The first two and a half hours had been spent with Cade poring over a single coin, his nervousness making the task last many times longer than it should.
As he finally finished with the first coin, his wives had let out a sarcastic cheer as he showed them the fruits of his labors.
Their cheer as he filled one of Beth's empty chests from the relative seclusion of the back of Poppy was real as their money problems disappeared as he filled the chest with ill-gotten riches.
They might have gotten a little money happy and splurged on lunch and had what Cade could only describe as gyros.
The meat had come from the zebra skinned cows and he found out they were called Indu. Whatever they were called they were delicious Cade had decided as he took another bite of his Indu wrap.
As the late afternoon light began to fade, Cade and his wifes snacked on a few pastries from the bakery next to Beth's empty shop.
"Are they coming my Cade?" Mina asked as she walked toward Cade as he sat bored out his mind on the slowly emptying street.
The groups of people had contained a few curious ones who had been sent away with a few stern looks from Cade.
The most persistent of them had been a few children who had crowded around the monster of a vehicle as they had finished packing it down. Cade had been content letting them chat cutely with his wives and gawk at Poppy.
Those kids had left hours ago and his Mina's question was valid.
"I'm not sure, Harold arrived and delivered his message. The little snitch cursed our names and everything to Karl. He disappeared somewhere underground after that. I wish I had my little tracking tendril on him but I didn't think to use it due to my confusion over the whole Beth kicking him in the balls thing." Cade finished his report to his Dresk with a wave of his hand.
"Beth has no clue where he would have gone either, I asked her the most likely places and the dwarven embassy and the temple of Unbolge gave Promena no clues," Mina said as she lifted her hands in helplessness.
"We might have to wait until... Fucking finally the little shit shows up, right as we are about to leave." Cade said as shackles of stone suddenly captured his wrists and neck securing him to his chair.
"MY CADE!" Mina shouted as she lurched towards Cade's new arm wear.
"Calm down my love, they aren'
t anywhere near close to keeping me from kicking their asses just go get the other ladies. This little frat boy looks like the type who likes an audience, and I would hate to disappoint him. And who knows villains like to monologue, we might get some good information out of him if he thinks he has the upper hand."
As Cade's thought process sunk into his mate's panicking mind after his mental assurances she nodded at him and went to get their wives and servants.
Cade turned his attention to the black-bearded dwarf that was swaggering down the road towards him, along with his little posse of a dozen dwarves and a black leather-clad human.
Cade rolled his eyes at the smug look the simpleton was giving him. "Oh, I'm about to get an ear full," Cade said as he got comfortable.
The street cleared of the few last-minute shoppers of the day, as the crew of would-be bad guys made their way to stand ten feet away from Cade.
He grinned at the slightly hesitant looks on the faces of the dwarves, he had sent Harold off with his pants soiled and barely able to stand.
His plan so far was working wonders, if he guessed right the frat boy standing before him should have brought the majority of his crew.
The addition of the mind mage, because that is what he was, changed his plan little.
He had been playfully slapping the questing tendrils of the slaver's mental attempts to invade his mind when Karl decided to open his mouth.
"We are here..." Karl's gruff and superior tone trailed off as he looked at the mind mage.
Cade almost laughed in the confused man's face when his questioning look was met with a surprised shrug.
"Cade, my husband's name is Cade Willmartin, and you, Karl Strong Stone would do good to bow before him now and apologize for your insolence." Cade blushed at his firey dwarven wife's praise as she loudly proclaimed his name and inferred status to the group of dwarves and the huddled groups of families in their homes.
The fear and apprehension he had felt since he had sent Harold off to deliver his message to Karl intensified as their fears of losing their homes and lives spiked.
Cade sent soothing feelings through the tendrils of mental power he had been setting and removing from people as they entered and left his quarter-mile zone of influence as he kept a lookout for snipers in the form of crossbowmen.
As the citizen's fears settled Cade turned his gaze toward the target of his little firebrand's ire, his focused look turned to one of mild irritation as he listened to the dwarven man spew more words soaked in bluster his way.
"...We are here Cade Wilmartin, I see you have brought my delirious bride with you. If you hand her over I will ensure your death is swift." Cade's irritation turned to curiosity as he took in the last of the smiling Karl's declaration.
"Kind of curious why sending a message would require the death penalty. That isn't happening, by the way, I wanted you here to figure out why you wanted my Beth so badly she had to resort to violence to make you leave her alone. A more pressing but less important matter, to me anyway, is what we need to do in order to start our mining empire. And you Mr. Strong Stone are at the top of the list of competition, I think we are going to become very good frie..." As Cade was about to finish his explanation for the reason for Karl's summons several spears of stone pierced his body, quickly followed by Beth, Sharee, Nat, and Eve's screams.
Cade heard the screams and the subsequent calming words of his two oldest wives faintly as pain radiated through him.
"Gonna have to charge you for a new outfit, I hope your good for it," Cade said wetly as he adjusted the size of the dozen spikes that we're poking out from various places in his body.
Removing them and standing up his mild irritation at the dwarven crew grew to simmering rage. Not because the dwarves had tried to kill him, no one of them had decided to take offense at his claiming of Beth.
One of the short fuckers had pierced his dick. "Ok, who decided that was a good idea?" Cade said as he adjusted his torn clothes and pointed to the hole in his pants before he fixed the damage with a thought.
The culprit of his involuntary piercing was clearly Karl if the look of irritation on his face was any clue as the rest of his merry band laughed at Cade's expense.
As he returned to his seat Cade looked at the fuming dwarf with neutral eyes appearing to do nothing. In reality, he had taken control of every piece of inorganic matter in 100 yards.
He finally got control of his area of influence after a few seconds of intense concentration, the need to not flinch every time a cockroach or rat moved worth the extra time.
Content that the dwarves were made aware of the futility of attacking him and removing the ability to do so should negotiations fail Cade spoke to Karl.
"I think we got off on a bad foot my name is Cade and you are Karl. We have a few things clear up before you tell me everything I want to know. One: Beth is mine, isn't that right honey?" Cade's question was answered with a cheerful
"Yup" before he continued.
"Two: you mind mage need to stop before I put you to sleep, the only reason I haven't is so your boss will finally acknowledge my request for a meeting with the high chieftain. So sit down and keep your mind to yourself, ok?" Cade said firmly before he created another stone chair for the mind mage to sit in.
With a hesitant nod, the tall human did just as Cade had requested and removed his probing from Cade's mind and sat in his designated seat.
"He's out of ours too love." Mina sent over their mental bond. A round of phantom kisses brushed his cheeks as all of his wives plus one extra he assumed was from Eve.
Cade had a moment to wonder how the lithe woman had been able to do that. Promena's answer was tinged with mirth as she explained.
"She is one of us, my love. In so much as she can be with your restrictions, yes very very stringent restrictions that will not be modified an inch for at least two years, yes my love but this is something I think she can handle." Cade was glad to have Eve so quickly accepted into their family, even with his misgivings about how much his wives would overshare with the young jaguar woman.
Accepting that the powerful women that were his wives wouldn't steer him wrong let him drop his worry and respond with a nod and a quick kiss to his goddesses mental lips.
As he released her lips his love and appreciation for the woman flowed through their bond. A promise of a more thorough kiss and more once he got home was more than enough of a reason to return to his current problem.
Returning from his internal conversation Cade finished his ultimatum. "And three: the rest of your group are only alive and conscious because I feel we might need witnesses."
"They don't answer to you. Clan Strong Stone protects its own, which could have included you, foolish woman. I could murder every one of you in broad daylight and I would walk away with a stern talking to about doing it where no one could see next time." After Karls's announcement of solidarity Cade implemented the next step of his plan.
"I suck my thumb when I sleep." One red-bearded dwarf said in surprise. "I kissed my sister when I was fifty." Another blonde one said the same surprise written on his face.
As Cade made the rounds forcing the dozen dwarves to divulge embarrassing but harmless secrets, Karls's expression grew more shocked and fearful.
Cade threw a glance at the human mind mage and held back a guffaw as the tall man dropped to his knees facing Cade and bowed till his forehead touched the ground.
Cade's shoulders dropped a fraction as his relief at the man's actions. The problem of how the mind mage would react after Cade turned on the truth juice had worried him.
If the slaver's reaction had been anything less than pants-shitting fear Cade had been ready to give up the whole mining venture.
If having truths brought to light didn't worry one who could do the same, he assumed, he wasn't about to play the corrupt political game that the chieftain and the slaver's head mind mage were.
"Now that we have that out of the way have a seat, Karl we have much to
talk about," Cade said as he made a seat for his guest and watched neutrally as the raging man took the offered seat.
Cade gave an internal relieved sigh, his battle to have the heir of the Strong Stone clan awaiting his next move had been won, now he began the next battle to get the information he needed from him to win the war to avoid one.
Proposal
As Cade sat across from the irritated Karl he began his speech hoping the dwarf would respond to the carrot and if not Cade had plenty of stick.
"I want something simple from you Mr. Strong Stone, it will cost you nothing and I might even be able to help you with your labor problem," Cade said in a civil tone.
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