I shook my head and took a deep breath.

  June asked softly, “Sir?”

  I growled, “Nancy… discord, arranges to have Katerina, Allison, the twins, and Stephanie killed today. She’s arranging the first now. I was planning her slow painful death, but now I’m thinking no one is that suicidal or stupid.”

  Ironically, I probably had the disgust and jealousy over Stephanie to thank for that, an emotion that had poked holes in my rage long enough for me to think. Otherwise I may have just gone and incinerated that bitch and not looked back. Likely that would’ve had Nate on my ass again too.

  Lily tilted her head, “You think she’s been compelled to do it by someone wanting to hurt you and get rid of her in a way that won’t fall back on them, or something?”

  I nodded, “Something like that, yes. Unless they’re stupid enough to think I wouldn’t see it coming. But it’s more likely they expect me to kill her, and Nate to punish me for not taking the matter to him and in essence, murdering someone in a passionate rage.”

  I started to get dressed as I thought it through. It was another plot aimed at my quickness to anger that would get me killed, or at least punished. I didn’t think Nate was behind it, it was clever but it wasn’t nearly as clever as the shit Nate had set up. This was too… straightforward and easy to figure out, I’d almost missed Nate’s plan entirely as it’d been wrapped up in levels, while this one was too… linear to be Nate. Clever, but linear.

  “I need one of you to fix Carson, Katerina’s security head, while I deal with Nancy. I’m not sure how far she’s gotten with him.”

  June and Lily both jumped up and started to get dressed.

  The three of us teleported right next to Carson’s bed, and I gripped Nancy by the throat and suppressed her power to teleport. The compulsion on her was clear, which made this easier.

  “You are no longer under compulsion. Do not fight me or resist,” I compelled.

  She hissed, and then glared at me.

  I said, “You’re lucky you’re not dead. I’m saving you from that fate planned for you, to fall at my hand, and I’m giving you yet another chance to walk. So do us both a favor, just shut up and let me sort this out. Just know if you ever come after me or mine, or just a stranger I saved, ever again, I will end you.”

  I cast the memory spell and scowled.

  Brandon did this. I felt a sudden paranoia descend. Had Brandon done this and tried to set me up, because he’d been angry that I’d made Nate back off. Or had Nate ordered him to do it to try to set me up again using a simpler plan that he could pin on Brandon if it went wrong? My head started to hurt, because I knew Nate was clever enough and petty enough to do it, but on the other hand he’d never lied to me before. Not that I knew of, and he’d promised the grudge would be at an end. Clotho had all but spelled out he was doomed if I was killed, so I doubted it, but obviously I couldn’t trust him at all.

  But I had no choice but to let him judge this.

  My instincts were telling me Nate told Brandon to deal with Nancy and get her to toe the line, and Brandon had gone off script in his anger toward me on Nate’s behalf.

  June interrupted my thoughts, “He’s fine now.”

  “Thanks, babe. Backyard.”

  I teleported to our backyard, and I pushed Nancy none to gently into a lawn chair. Sure, she was innocent of this, but she’d also gone after Evette a second time, so was hardly on my Christmas list. I didn’t have to touch her to suppress her power to teleport, she just had to be within reach of my aura.

  I pulled out my phone as Lily and June arrived, and I texted Nate, asking him to come and bring tall dark and stupid with him. But not in those words. I also told him it was a matter of dispensing justice.

  Then we waited, which was reasonable, but I was stewing in my own juices.

  Okay, I admit it, I had anger management issues. At least I didn’t hold grudges or get petty over it though.

  Nate appeared in a flash with Brandon. Also a third god that hadn’t appeared in a golden spherical flash. He’d appeared through melting shadows. He was also a tier one god. So that’s how he did it, beat Nix, this was her brother Erebus, reborn. Perhaps he’d been here since the first wave, lying low, since I doubted there’d been three tier one gods in the second wave. It made far more sense that he’d arrived alongside Clarissa, but he had chosen to lay low.

  He was six foot two, with a medium athletically muscular build. Black hair, dark gray eyes. He looked… resigned.

  Nate barked, “What is the meaning of this, I told you she’d been dealt with,” she waved.

  I nodded, “And Brandon went off script, and made you a liar. I had dreams of her targeting three of my witches and two humans that I claim this very night, all killed in cold blood by tomorrow night. I suspect Brandon wanted me to go into a rage, sound familiar? Anyway, after killing Nancy in cold blood for her despicable acts against me, you’d have had another opportunity to punish me. So…” I turned to Brandon, “How about it, want to confess, or wait for Nate to read Nancy’s mind?”

  Brandon moved fast. Much faster than I was expecting, and he was just suddenly holding a sword that was coming around for my head. Fortunately, I’d been ready for it. I figured this meant Brandon was done for, and he’d want to at least take me with him, the prick.

  Still, he got a lot closer to decapitating me than I’d planned for, as my body exploded with heat, plasma, and pressure. The sword barely missed my neck, and the tip started to run as the metal ran like liquid, as he went flying back onto his ass.

  Nate ordered, “Don’t move, Brandon,” and the compulsion took hold.

  I put my magic away, despite the desire to kill Brandon, letting Nate punish his trusted sidekick and lieutenant would hurt both of them. So, better.

  Nate said, “Tell me the truth now, why did you do this?”

  Brandon sneered, “He made you look weak, him and that fate bitch. He should’ve killed her, I’d had all of his outside friends and lovers targeted. Then you could’ve punished him.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  Nate asked, “How did you resist? Your even more possessive than I am.”

  I shrugged, “One of the circumstances dulled my rage long enough to think. Nancy is… not stupid, or suicidal. She’d have never come at me so hard or obviously, it was too straightforward. Clever, but linear and uninspired. It was… a man’s plan, not subtle enough.”

  Brandon growled.

  Nancy said, “Love you too, asshole.”

  I chuckled.

  Nate sighed, “Twenty years, Brandon. You may have meant well, but you betrayed me and made me into a liar. I can’t abide that,” he turned to the other guy and waved at the god of darkness, “Take care of it, Gary.”

  Gary nodded and billowing darkness crept toward a suddenly terrified Brandon, and the shadows swallowed him whole. Then the darkness faded, and Brandon was gone.

  “What happened to him?”

  Gary said, “Tartarus. Which isn’t actually a place, at least not a physical one like in the myths. In a lot of ways, me and my sister are Tartarus, our power.”

  I ignored the low hanging fruit of having Brandon inside of him, and turned back to Nate.

  Nate said, “Come with me, Nancy. We will have a discussion about stirring up discord between the races. It will not be acceptable to do so, screw with them all you want, but only intra-race discord. Once you understand that, you’ll be free to go.”

  Nancy shook her head, “Not going to threaten me to stay away from this jerkoff?” she waved at me.

  Nate smiled, but there was no humor in that cold smile.

  “No, because he now has my permission to do anything he wants you in retaliation, if you ever threaten him or his people again. Call it a gift, for Brandon failing to uphold my promise. So go ahead, attack him again, and see what happens?”

  The blood drained from Nancy’s face, and I gave her a smug wink.

  “Thank you, Nate.”

  Nate waved that off, “I’m afraid you’re not going to pleased at this next part, but I had little choice, she forced my hand. Amber completed her duties to me, without compromising her body by the way, so our grudge is at an end. That is the good news. However, she also has a sharp and acidic tongue, so she will be in custody for a while, until she learns to adapt and pays for her disrespect to me in front of my budding council.”

  I took a deep breath, then let it out. I could just imagine her giving Nate a piece of her mind, like she had freely with me. Had I failed her that way? Had allowing it led her to showing disrespect to others? I was angry at her, and I was angry at Nate, but doing my darndest to hide it. I still had everyone else to protect, from the goddesses at my side, to my servants, and my lovers. One of which was pregnant with my daughter.

  Nate was also being almost reasonable in tone, and he sounded like he actually regretted the need due to the position she’d put him in. At the same time, it wrangled that we really didn’t have first amendment rights. That she could be punished for her sharp tongue.

  “I am… not pleased by the situation, but I do understand. Her tongue can be waspish, but she was still adjusting to her reality. I request that you show leniency for that reason, and to release her when she has come to her senses.”

  In my head however, I was renewing my pledge to see Nate get his comeuppance. If he hadn’t stole her to begin with, then this wouldn’t be happening. Yes, I did see the parallel in that to the logic he used to blame me for the war, but it was different. My mistake had been honest and done in loyalty, his mistake had been petty and done to harm.

  Nate rubbed his chin, “I will consider it. Perhaps if she apologizes to me in a similar public setting among the powerful of our kind, I can afford to show mercy.”

  Oh crap, that would never happen.

  Nate nodded, gestured at Nancy who got up sullenly and walked over to him like a whipped puppy.

  Then the three of them disappeared, Nate and Nancy in a large bubble of golden light, and Gary in a smoky billowing darkness.

  I felt empty again, knowing Amber should’ve been back with me, but that Nate had her still against a time her behavior improved. Who knew how long that would take? It was a bit shallow, but a part of me was pleased she’d managed to take care of it all without sleeping with anyone, which of course made me feel horribly guilty. That truly wasn’t the important part, the important part was I missed her and wanted her back.

  When we went back inside, Lily did her best to distract me by putting on a slutty and short Catholic schoolgirl stripper outfit, including pigtails and pink lip gloss. She was a hell of a distraction when dancing for me, exotic and lap dance, so much so that we’d already ordered all the toys and props for our adult playroom in the new mansion. Including a stripper pole.

  None of us were really into BDSM, so nothing crazy, but we also picked up a sex swing, a wide variety of dildos and vibrators, a Sybian, a massage table, and a very large bed. I’d also purchased an electronic keyboard bolt lock, if I had my way the kids wouldn’t see the room until they’d turned eighteen, and probably not even then.

  Time passed, and we got back into our routine, and life went on. Life was truly fantastic actually, a dream with many women, love and respect, and non-stop amazing sex that I tried not to take for granted. But the hole left behind by Amber would always be there too, in all of us. It would also go on far longer than I’d ever imagined, even in my nightmares, but I’d endure it, and flourish despite it.

  Chapter Twelve

  The twins looked amazing as I appeared in Kelsey’s bedroom. They were five foot five, bright red hair and warm light blue eyes. They had a tinge of exotic in their sharply beautiful mostly Irish faces, with pouty lips. Their bodies slightly on the lithe side, but with sexy and meatily firm bubbled asses and gorgeous B cups. Bright pink nipples on their lightly tanned skin. Their pussies generous on small petite mounds, their folds mouthwatering.

  And unlike Brenna, they were in truth hot barely legal teen redheads, with an appetite for naughty sex that blew my mind.

  At the moment Kelsey was in white lingerie, and Meara in black, and if they were going for angel girl and bad girl they pretty much had the right outfits on the right person. They’d worn those colors for me more than one time, even the first time, but each time the designs were different.

  Meara gave me a come fuck me look that was full of wild licentiousness and wickedly and smolderingly hot desire. While Kelsey’s come fuck me look was all sweet submissive surrender, adoration and honeyed lustful desire. One tempting me with adoration, the other with wickedness, but both of them with the promise of untold pleasures offered freely in their eyes.

  “Your both so tempting, kitten and wildcat.”

  They preened under my hot eyes and sighed softly at my nicknames for them. It was really good to see them too. I knew I was growing attached, and I didn’t care. I even loved them in a way, my steady lovers with our weekly tryst, long-term affair. They were painfully beautiful and sexy as hell, extremely obedient and wickedly joyous in me taking them, and most of all they were good women. Outside of bed they were responsible and kind witches, if flirty and playful, but then they were just eighteen. That was normal, wasn’t it?

  Point being, it was going to suck letting them go. I wanted to keep them, but I wouldn’t do that to Brenna’s granddaughters, they deserved more than that, and more than I could give them. They deserved to be the center of a man’s world, the father of their future children, and to live a life in the coven.

  Then if they still wanted me, in sixty years after that husband had passed and they had grandchildren of their own, I’d take them then, just like I’d taken Brenna. But a lot could change in sixty years, all three of us would be very different, but who’s to say it won’t work out? I loved them.

  They giggled, “You don’t want to pick and take what you want?” challenged Meara.

  Usually they made it obvious which one went first, like my ladies at home did so favoritism could be avoided. Today they were messing with me for some reason.

  “I can’t do that, or play this game.”

  Kelsey blushed, “What if we want to know, which one of us you want more?”

  I sighed, and I crossed my arms with a stubborn glare.

  They both giggled, then shared a look, then turned back to me.

  Kelsey caressed her sister’s stomach, then peeled the black panties off of Meara slowly, in a sensual manner that made me incredibly hard, then she laid on her side and propped her head up, while her other hand spread her sister’s legs for me.

  That was all I needed and I started to get undressed.

  “Kelsey, sit on the floor, at the end of the bed.”

  She smiled in confusion, but nonetheless moved quickly to do it.

  I winked at Meara and walked over to the bed, until my cock was right in front of Kelsey’s lips, then I bent over, grabbed Meara’s legs and pulled her forward to the edge of the bed, and put her legs over my shoulders. I sniffed her gorgeous pussy, and my nostrils flared at the scent of her arousal as I dove in.

  Kelsey got the point almost immediately, and she moaned sweetly and joyously as she took my hard eight inch and fat cock into her talented mouth, sending shivers of pleasure into me. The heat, soft lips sucking, and her nimble tongue already blowing my mind.

  Meara’s moan was a little sharper, as I started to feast on her sex, while gripping her ass cheeks tightly to keep her from squirming so much and ruining my rhythmic sensual attack.

  Kelsey was just as amazing at sucking cock as her sister now, and she fought to get the right angle, pulling down on me slightly and tilting her head back, as she moaned wickedly and swallowed me into her throat. Her lewd squelching and gasping sounds reached my ears, as she started to fuck her throat onto me, massaging and vibrating her throat with moaning and swallowing, as her tongue did a dance on my cock’s sensitive bottom. She was also teasing my balls, taint, and running the middle finger of her other hand over my sphincter, which felt as amazing as it did wickedly wrong.

  At the same time, Meara’s sweet breathy pants and cries, her writhing and jerking body under my tongue and lips assault, as well as my hand playing softly with her breast up above while the other one continued to squeeze her ass cheek firmly to control her, was driving me wild.

  I moaned deeply, “Delicious, wildcat.”

  She moaned, ran her fingers into my hair, and arched her back to grind on my face, “Harder, play with my naughty tits harder.”

  I pinched her tightened nipple firmly through the silk, and the silk also made it easy to roll them as I dug my other three fingers into her firm breast.

  I heard a muffled something from down below.

  “What?” I muttered dreamily into Meara’s sex, beyond turned on at my wildcat’s taste and her enjoyment of my mouth, while Kelsey blew my mind below.

  Meara said, “She asked you to fuck her face, she wants to try it. Shove it into her throat and use her like the cock sucking naughty girl she really is. I should know… I feel the same way.”

  Then she screamed for me, as her body came undone. I slipped my hand under the bra, to pinch and twist her nipple, even as I sucked in her folds and started to lavishly stroke her clit with my tongue. It was like hitting a turbo button, as her orgasm jumped up several levels in intensity, and she squirted all over my face while screaming my name.

  I was also rocking my body, shallowly, just popping the tip in and out of her throat, and Kelsey adjusted so beautifully and wondrously, as she timed her swallows and kept her throat relaxed. Her sweetly wicked moans of enjoyment as I used her mouth drove me crazy, and it was the mental fodder that pushed me over the edge that the pure pleasure of her hot talented mouth had brought me to.

  I won’t lie, being squirted in the face as Meara squirmed and trembled on my tongue was also a part of that equation.

  “Kitten!” I roared, and pulled back out of her throat.

  Her soft dexterous hand wrapped around my base, as her lips tightened for me. She moaned wantonly in enjoyment at my pleasure and taste, as she milked me so hard with her jacking hand and milking suction, and the sensation of her fingertip teasing my sphincter didn’t hurt either.