Chapter 606: Domestic bliss

Mason found the guest rooms of the palace and soon realized why Haley chose them. Like the touristy areas of an old city, it was the cleanest, prettiest section of something less wholesome everywhere else. But the excitement of spending the night with his wife and no problems wiped away any distaste.

He had some message from Haley explaining exactly where to go, but he just opened his Wayfinder to find the room. Several dots on his map made him pause, then rush to the right bedroom with a quickened pulse.

He opened the elaborate, carved white door that might have belonged on some Parisian hotel, grinning as he heard whispering, feminine voices.

With superhuman senses and a video-game map overlay of the world, it wasn’t easy to surprise him.

Haley heard him and raced back towards a table covered in food as he stepped inside. She tossed her hair over a shoulder with a casual flick, breathing a bit hard as she smiled and waved a hand over the plates like that woman from Wheel of Fortune.

She’d changed into a long, formal, red dress, one strap hanging off a slender shoulder. Her hair was loose, her beautiful face touched with a little make-up, her very exposed cleavage a cruel understanding of men’s attention.

“I’ve wanted to wear this for awhile,” she said, frowning as she adjusted her chest. “But I’m getting bigger, and well…” she waved her hands like ‘you can see the problem’.

Yes. He certainly could. He managed to turn his eyes and raise an eyebrow when he saw Streak laying in the corner. The wolf’s tongue was out, his head lolling as he rolled over and tried to look like he was doing his guard job.

“I was cooking, and he was pathetic.” Haley giggled. “We had to let him eat.”

“We?” Mason took a few steps forward, looking between the food and Haley’s tits, not sure where to start.

“Oh.” Haley took a few steps away with that mischievous grin he couldn’t get enough of. “I meant the royal we. Because now I’m a queen.”

“Don’t bother. He could smell us from the hallway,” Demi said, standing up from behind a couch with a stretch. She was back in ‘regular’ clothes instead of her plant-like covering, a simple flower dress that suited her perfectly.

Mason met her unnaturally green, immortal eyes and smiled. She returned it, but he could see the fragility there from his near death, the fear and desperate need to spend a night in his arms. He had every intention of giving her exactly that.

“Greetings, husband,” came the melodic, familiar voice of his elven bride. Naya stood from behind the couch, too, wrapped in formal silks. She touched her fingertips to her forehead and bowed in the elven way, looking much more awkward than the other women.

He’d thought he’d smelled her but figured it was some kind of perfume Haley was using.

“How did you…” he trailed off, assuming she’d come through the teleporter. The real question was ‘how did Haley convince you to come?’. Because elves were basically terrified of everything, and for good reason. The system seemed to make them some kind of ‘prize’ for every living creature on the planet.

“I missed you, husband,” she said, her face pink. “And my sister-wife said you needed us. That we three…” she glanced at Demi with a kind of still-unsure look. “That you needed all of us tonight.”

He looked between the three beautiful women, hardly sure what to say. Naya (and really Haley) was right—the three of them were his real ‘wives’. Haley and Naya officially, Demi unofficially.

In any normal world he’d have been happy with any one of them, different as they were. But in this strange, amazing and terrible world, he got to experience all, and a handful of girlfriends besides.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care for and even love the others. He did. But they weren’t his partners like Haley and Demi, or his sworn responsibility like Naya. At least not until they started having his children, then the math might change again. He took a breath, looking between his wives.

“There’s not a single place I’d rather be,” he said honestly, holding out a hand.

All three women took their time, still getting used to the dynamic. Haley eventually came first, clacking on high heels, the other women’s bare feet almost soundless on the thin rug. One by one they came into his arms, until he had all three pressed against him, eyes closed as he breathed them in.

“I figured you’d be hungry,” Haley said, sighing against him.

“Starving,” he confirmed.

“Sit and let us serve you, husband,” Naya said, getting a little scoff from Demi. The elf turned and stared, and the new Avatar of Gaia looked between them and rolled her eyes.

“What? You might as well give that wolf a fancy dinner. I mean, he’ll eat raw meat off the floor. I doubt he even tastes it on the way down.”

Mason shrugged because…yeah, that was fair. Naya shook her head like she was scandalized, looking up at him with a ‘do you let her speak to you like that?’ kind of face. Haley was just pushing her chest into him with a ‘all of this is turning me on’ expression. He watched them and had to fight the smile.

In that moment, figuring out how to please the three very different women seemed like the smallest, greatest problem in the world.

“Why don’t we all sit and eat,” he said, running his hands up Haley and Demi’s backs as he kissed Naya’s head. “You can take turns telling me about Nassau and how your people are doing. About life in a swamp. Or some French town with a dumb name. Anything. I’m easy to please.”

It was the wrong choice of words, since Haley looked ready to drop to her knees and test that theory. He gave her a ‘down girl’ look and gently pushed them all towards the table.

Not that he was

opposed

. But he wanted to talk to them. To sit and look at them. Just to remind himself what good and beautiful things were and how many he had. And

then…

well,

then

he’d probably take turns banging their brains out.

Haley got the subtle message as always, reading him without any need for magic powers. She let out a breath as she sneakily gave his package a squeeze, then clacked back towards the table.

Naya went next, arranging cutlery and chairs. Demi lingered and hugged him like she didn’t want to let go. He kissed her hair and face until she took a breath with watery eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, pushing at his face as she recovered. “I’m fine. Come gross us out by eating like a starving pig.” She was trying to look fine, but he could tell she was still fragile. She looked down and shrugged. “And…there’s a fireplace. Maybe we can start one? I miss that from my ‘swamp’.”

He smiled and kissed her hair again, then took her hand as he walked towards the table.

**

“I put Rosa and Lexi in charge of getting food gathered,” Haley said once they’d all taken their seats. “Rosa was mad until I told her she’d be in charge of that…oh I forget her name, the annoying blonde girl from Sanctuary. Sylvie told me bossing her around would make Rosa very happy.”

Mason laughed, remembering the woman from his time in their settlement those months ago. Rosa had told her off and quit her kitchen job after they’d given him a meal. She’d definitely seemed like…a challenge to work with.

He did his best to listen and not shove the gravy-covered mystery meat in his watering mouth. He even felt Streak twitch, looking over with longing and regret that he couldn’t eat more.

“Tell him about the tea house,” Haley said, bumping a shoulder into Naya beside her.

The elven princess flushed as she sipped her cup and put down an untouched pastry.

“He won’t care about that. And there’s not much to tell.” She looked up at the other woman, taking a breath when Mason smiled encouragingly. “Haley started it, really. She and Lexi and a few others, I mean. I forget what you call it…a spa, or something?”

Haley gestured to hurry up with a hand, and the elven princess took another breath and shrugged.

“She said it would be alright, husband. If we used some of your incredible human settlement magic. It’s more like an attachment.” Here she finally perked up with some excitement. “It created it almost

perfectly

. The construction, I mean. And many of the ingredients inside. Everything we need to make a proper tea house just like in Sharisse. Even the herbs! It has calendula, and sesheesh. We’ve decorated it more…appropriately now. It really is like a piece of home.”

She looked at him and the women and blushed again, the pink color showing even on her brown skin, running down her neck to her chest. Mason had the urge to rip away every piece of fabric between his eyes and the beautiful creature’s glowing skin to follow that line.

“I’m glad,” he said, taking her hand. “When there’s time, we should go through every option. I bet there’s more pieces of home we can make for you. I have a lot of…’human settlement magic’. There’s no problem. I want your people to feel comfortable.”

Naya gave him a still shy but bigger smile and squeezed his hand, again looking nervously at the other women. It was like touching him in front of them was some kind of cultural fopah she couldn’t get used to. He wasn’t sure why it was hot, but it was. Especially because of just how much more touching he wanted and fully expected before the night was over.

“So you have your spa,” he said, glancing at Haley. His blonde beauty grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’ve had it awhile, you’ve just been busy. But it’s incredible. I was able to make a…” she gave him another mischievous look. “A Gaia themed bathhouse. It has water like our fountain except it’s some kind of hotspring. It’s so clean and warm and beautiful. The women are already lining up.” She laughed. “I’ve not charged anything. But I’m tempted! And if they want

massages

the girls don’t work for free.”

“The girls?” Mason smiled and kept Haley talking, then did his best to shovel meat in his face without looking like it. Fortunately, Demi had perked up about the spa, too, and the women were excitedly explaining more about it while he gorged.

“I told you,” Demi said. He looked up to see all three women watching with grins. “Like a starving pig.”

“A sheep dog-man-pig,” Haley said, which made Naya cover her mouth as she snorted. He swallowed and skewered another piece of Haley’s cooking with a knife, shoving it in his mouth to stare back and chew in silence.

“Don’t judge me,” he said around a mouthful, looking at Demi. “She lived in a swamp.”

“And look at me now,” she said, daintily slurping from a spoon. “Back to civilized in a week. What’s your excuse?”

“He was a wolf when I first met him,” Naya said. “He jumped on a centaur.” She looked back and forth like she was about to do something naughty. “He basically bit it on the ass.”

The other girls looked surprised that the elf would swear, then howled. He looked between them with narrowed eyes, still chewing.

“You mean when I was saving you,” he said around his food. Naya stuck out her cute little tongue, which didn’t help at all with the part of his brain held back from sexual depravity only by eating.

The girls got back to talking about Nassau, and the house they’d all be living in, and how things were getting colder and how they’d all need new clothes. Mason just chewed and filled his stomach as the occasional foot slid up his leg. Or a hand crept over to touch his knee.

He could feel the women getting more comfortable, realizing they were all reasonable and cared what the others thought. That they could get along and figure this out. It was the simplest, most wonderful moment he’d had in…well, who even knew how long.

A part of him didn’t want it to end. But a part of him knew what might be coming next, and couldn’t eat fast enough…