They got coffees before joining us, Gary just short of glaring, while Natasha looked curious.

  “Natasha, Gary. Welcome to my office.”

  Natasha snickered, and Gary just grunted.

  Gary said, “You summoned us?”

  I shook my head, “I invited Natasha to share a coffee. No summoning was involved.”

  Gary snorted.

  I sighed, “I was trying to be nice, and not just show up in your backyard. But moving on. This isn’t official, which is why I didn’t call a council. I have a suggestion.”

  Gary shook his head, but Natasha looked curious at least, “What is it?”

  I took a sip of coffee, then said, “There’s a lot of minor repeat offenders in Tartarus for five years, because they break minor laws. You’ve all been following the three-strike rule for things like that, which Nate started.”

  Natasha nodded in agreement, “It’s a just ruling.”

  I nodded, “No doubt, but I think you could be doing more.”

  Gary said, “We do what needs to get done.”

  I waved at Natasha, “She could do more. Not you. Faith is a good example. You found her, got her out of a shitty life as a call girl, and put her somewhere she could excel and actually put her talents, mind, and master’s degree to work.”

  Natasha blushed, “She deserved it.”

  I nodded, “I think the majority of these idiots who can’t help but break the law because of their mantel, could be counseled. That’s what you do, isn’t it? Your calling?”

  Natasha nodded, “Yes, but how do you mean?”

  “I mean, sometimes it’s hard to see an obvious answer when you’re locked inside the box. If you counseled them on alternate and positive uses for their mantels, they just might take that advice. You’re also a business mogul so might be able to help with work too. So my suggestion is simply this, Gary is the jailor, Mandy is the executioner, and you could be the counselor.

  “Instead of just letting them off twice with a warning, make them attend counseling with you to get at the root of the problem and fix it, otherwise you may as well just skip the warnings and keep throwing them in Tartarus every five years after a short furlough outside. I’m sure Amelia would make that determination for some of them at least, if she knew it was an option.”

  Natasha nodded, “That sounds like a good idea.”

  I nodded, “You could also, of your own accord, counsel some of them now, so they’ll fly straight when they get out. Have your mate take you there. Just an idea, do with it what you want, just a trend I noticed when looking through the justice records.”

  Gary sighed in disgust, “What are you really up to?”

  Misty glared at the back of his head, which I’d have to ask about later. Maybe she was just picking up my annoyed reaction and going with it in her body language.

  I snorted, “World domination through social programs, obviously.”

  Natasha snickered involuntarily, then looked guiltily at Gary while she patted his leg, from laughing at my joke, no doubt.

  I shrugged, and looked directly at Gary, “I won’t be Nate, no matter how much you fear that to be true. You need to get past it, the man who enslaved you has been dead twenty-two years. I’m not him. He wouldn’t be having coffee with you, and he certainly wouldn’t have explained himself. So… get over it, before you make an enemy of a man trying very hard to be your ally.”

  He turned red in the face, and I took a sip of coffee.

  I sighed, “That’s all I had, really,” I turned back to Natasha, “I know you won’t argue with your mate, not on my behalf even if he is the jackass in this equation, nor should you have to, but I don’t really blame him either. What Nate did… was messed up.”

  Gary declared, “We’re leaving now.”

  I nodded, “Thanks for coming.”

  Gary glared at me like I was a bug he was considering stepping on, then got up. Natasha looked really uncomfortable as she joined him and left, obviously not wanting to be rude to me, but at the same time not wanting to work Gary up further by being nice.

  I of course, both enjoyed and hated the infamy I didn’t earn. At least, I didn’t earn it in this life.

  I asked Misty silently, “The glare?”

  Misty replied, “I was supporting you. You were angry, and your preferences were set to full on non-verbal interaction, body language.”

  I nodded, little bit angry, and that’s what I figured.

  Lianne asked lightly, “As fun as you’d hoped?”

  I sighed, “Little bit, also sad and annoying. Gary’s a decent guy, and normally would defer to his mate’s judgement in others without question. Natasha’s intuition is better than my nose, but in this case he’s not listening.”

  She snickered, “Suggesting you and his other mate, Kaya, get it on, probably didn’t help either.”

  My lips twitched, “Maybe not, but I wasn’t serious about it,” I leered her up and down playfully, “I already filled my exotic Asian quota.”

  She gasped, “You’re terrible.”

  I winked, “Sensitive subject? I’m just teasing.”

  She giggled, “I’m teasing too. I know you see me, not just the exotic beauty.”

  “Who?”

  She giggled, “We have fifteen whole minutes before Freda gets here.”

  I nodded, “We do. What are you suggesting?”

  She bit her lip and looked at me smolderingly.

  Fifteen minutes it turned out, was just long enough for a quick teleport home and a wild quickie, with witchcraft to fix our clothes and clean us up… anyway. She rode me hard, fast, and vigorously, cumming twice, before expertly extracting my pleasure. She really blew my mind sometimes.

  Freda was petite at five foot three, with dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes. She was also probably my type, since outside of being an inch taller she had the same perfectly proportional body measurements as Misty. She wasn’t mischievous looking though, she was cute around her heart shaped face. She also looked nervous, and she’d brought her good friends famine and pestilence with her.

  Freda didn’t bother with a coffee, just joining us at the table while her friends loitered at the magazine rack.

  “What’s up, Liam?”

  I said, “I probably could’ve just called. There’s a problem in Germany, they’re doing tests on a couple of tier-fours they got a hold of, and it’s not on the spy section’s radar yet. A small portion of their government, you know how spooks can be. If they’re not trying to figure out how to beat us or contain us, they’re trying to figure out how to become us. Anyway, I wondered if you might want a crack at it, before Bruce, because if you don’t do anything I’m sure he will.”

  Freda waved, “I’ll take care of it, if I can, through diplomatic channels. If nothing else, a breakdown in communication will justify a breakout later on when the world asks why we’re attacking Germany. Details?”

  I pulled out a report and gave it to her, which had the gods, the address of the laboratory, and exactly what horrors they were doing to them in the name of science.

  She frowned, “So why didn’t you, just call I mean?”

  “Call it an opportunity to reach out without an official council. I mean, meet in a relaxed atmosphere, or at least as close as we can get.”

  She tilted her head, “To what end?”

  “I have no illusions, I inherited a shit show from Nate, my last life, but there has to be some benefit of the doubt given or earned, or I can’t help at all.”

  She sighed in disbelief, “Why would you want to after we all shut you down.”

  I smirked, “Because two gods are being tortured right now? It’s certainly not for your benefit, or mine for that matter, save a matter of conscience.”

  She snorted, “Well, whatever the reason, thanks for the information.”

  She got up and left, her buddies in tow.

  Lianne said, “That could’ve gone better.”

  I shook my head, “Freda’s the most paranoid of them all, I thought it went about well as could be expected. I mean, she took the lead and is running with it, so mission accomplished.”

  I had my doubts about Bruce taking my advice, but of the three of them, my advice to him was less impactful, except maybe in theory but without data to back it up like I’d had for the other two. I knew one thing, Nate wouldn’t recognize him at all if he still lived. Bruce had changed a lot once he took on responsibility, dropping the careless and outrageously confident act. So maybe he’d surprise me, but I doubted it.

  Lianne sighed, and then leaned into me a little, her fingers pushing a little deeper into my flesh as she ran circles into my legs.

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  I smiled, “None of them will believe I don’t have a deeper game behind all this, and I suppose I do, but they’d never believe it was just to get them accustomed to working with me without immediately thinking the worst.”

  Lianne asked, “Like Freda asked, why bother, given how firmly they all pushed back.”

  I shrugged, “Pack loyalty? To make up for being a royal ass in the last two lifetimes? Because it really isn’t them but the gods that they’re responsible for that will benefit from my interference? A little bit of all of that, plus on the petty side it has them all paranoid and craning their necks. Making them all a little nervous about my intentions is about all the petty revenge I can afford to take for how mortifyingly they shut me down in our first meeting, despite taking down a career criminal and murdering rapist in their midst. That’s how much they hate me, fear me, or a mix of both, they’d have all much rather Steven had taken me down, and me be reborn and powerless for another twenty-two years. So in short, honor, spite, and because it’s the right thing to do.”

  Lianne chuckled, “They don’t know you.”

  I nodded, “They don’t know you either, another reason they’re baffled by my choices.”

  She giggled, “The unpredictable crazy chick at your side?”

  I said, “I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes. They all underestimate you, and in more than just loyalty and warm kind energy which they all seemed to have completely missed.”

  She purred playfully, “Tell me more, sir.”

  I grinned, and I stole a very chaste kiss since we were in public.

  “They probably think it makes you unpredictable, that you might turn on a loyal ally, when nothing could be further from the truth. It makes you even more loyal, and you don’t jump to conclusions at all, you wait until the proof is in before losing your mind, no matter what it looks like on the surface.”

  She giggled, “More.”

  “You’re playfully shameless when it comes to fishing for compliments.”

  She snickered, and then said softly, “Needy, sir. The word you’re looking for is needy.”

  I said, “I also find it incredibly hot when a woman owns her faults, which is actually fairly new, not many do. Not that men are any different that way.”

  She kissed my cheek, then sighed playfully, “I guess you’re done for now?”

  I nodded, “Got to spread them out over the day, or you might forget how I love everything about you and go into a spiral.”

  She giggled, “Managing the crazy, good plan, sir.”

  “I noticed lately you’ve been calling me Liam less and less, and sir more and more.”

  She bit her lip, “I’m growing more and more secure in you, despite those occasional spiraling of doubts, like what prompted the Faith idea even though I like it for all the other reasons I thought of as well. It makes me warm inside and maybe a little bit naughty to acknowledge it freely, my place in the family, firmly and joyfully under you, sir. And always at your side. A thrill in showing you that respect, knowing you’ll always put me first and value my advice.”

  “Naughty?”

  She waved, “Feminist sensibilities programmed by society. I don’t mean the equality part which I believe in, I mean the part that says we don’t need men for anything. Men need us too, we’re a balance, neither side the total solution, and that’s how it should be.”

  I chuckled, “And it turns you on to submit to my lead,” I said teasingly.

  She blushed, “Yes, sir. That too.”

  I winked, “You also have initiative within that, that’s why our sex life is so healthy and not one sided. A give and take in bed because there’s a give and take out here. You don’t have to be in charge all the time outside the bedroom so don’t feel the extreme need to be outrageously submissive in an attempt to find mental balance.”

  She smirked, “That’s true, sir. I like blowing your mind as much as I like being thrown down and ravished. I also had a few conversations about it with Cerise, my ideas are as old fashioned as yours, and we get along pretty well. She’s even more submissive than me. I’ll follow your lead, but feel free to make suggestions whenever I want, where she will just happily submit period, and only offer her thoughts if you ask. I mean, outside of her business responsibilities, on the personal family side of things.”

  I nodded, “I noticed that, she’s more submissive in bed too, by a similar degree. Same balance and challenge, but she has a far more serene outlook on life and is grateful in nature.”

  She smirked, “That’s the nicest way anyone’s ever told me, because she’s not crazy like you are.”

  I laughed, “Stop dissing your crazy, that’s one of things about you I love. You also have a grateful personality, but your also full of that warm manic energy.”

  She blushed, “So you find my neurosis captivating?”

  I teased, “Couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s it exactly.”

  She stuck her tongue out, then took a sip of her coffee, almost choking on it as she suddenly giggled, not able to hold her faux haughty and offended demeanor a moment longer.

  I added, “All of you of course, not just that.”

  She winked, “How do you think it’ll go? He should be here any minute.”

  “Depends on his pride. He’s actually doing a hundred times better with enforcement than Nate did, but I know he’ll close up if I try to butter him up first with a compliment, even a genuine one. He’s also bringing Darrel with him, another god wary of me, partially justified.”

  She asked, “How so?”

  “Well, my last incarnation did drive his last incarnation crazy. Nate was methodical in his planning and plotting, running it all through his mantel of ruling. But he was far more off the hip when it came to daily interactions, with an entitled and short-sighted thought process. The idiot compelled Brandon and gave him standing orders that directly opposed the man’s mantle. It tore his mind apart over a short time, and he was nothing but a muzzled and vicious attack dog on a very short leash there at the end.

  “He probably doesn’t know that detail, but someone told him Nate had compelled, enslaved, and driven him crazy in his last life. No doubt in an effort to turn him against me and make sure he was squarely in Bruce’s corner. Which while annoying isn’t that horrible, he’d make a terrible second, unlike a certain crazy Asian hottie I know.”

  She blushed, “That’s so wrong.”

  I grinned, “That I said it, or that it turned you on?”

  She blushed harder, “Both.”

  I grinned wider, “Because you know it’s true on a shallow level, and yet it has nothing to do with why I think you’re an amazing second and partner. Anyway, my point is Darrell’s mantel makes him a great general. Full on follow orders, ends justify the means, victory is all no matter the cost. Those qualities also make him a horrible advisor, the best advisors are principled and have strong beliefs, to help keep the leader’s ambition in check.”

  She bit her lip, “So I’m a crazy Asian hottie?”

  “Totally and insanely hot, yes. You heard the rest, right?”

  She giggled, “Yes.”

  I winked, “And it totally turns you on to be objectified by me.”

  She bit her lip, “Yes, it makes me feel sexier than I ever have before, but only because I know you value the deep too. All women want to be sexy for and desired by their man, and seen and valued, cherished as a whole person. The first part is only bad when that’s all there is. At least, to me and some women. So that’s why Nate picked him? Because he’s an order follower without a moral filter.”

  I nodded slowly, “That was part of it, yes. He doesn’t make a poor second in command on the duty side with clear rules of engagement to guide him, just a poor advisor. The other part was Nate disregarded anyone else that disagreed with him.”

  She asked, “Anything else planned today?”

  I shook my head, “Casual testing of Misty through everyday use. I have a very long checklist, but I’ll only be doing twenty or so a day for the next week.”

  She asked, “So, you really won’t tell me what she looks like?”

  I gave her a teasing look, then nodded in Misty’s direction with a thought as I took out my cell phone.

  Misty put a picture of herself on it. Creating an illusion of sound in a room for everyone to hear her talk would be a lot easier than projecting a second visual illusion into Lianne’s eyes, there was only one spell for the augmented reality vision aspect, and it was focused on me.

  Regardless, Lianne snapped up the phone and let out a cute sound, “She’s adorably mischievous looking, and I totally want that dress.”

  Misty looked smugly playful at Lianne’s reaction, and with a thought of permission from me she texted Lianne where she could buy the red robe dress.

  She bit her lip, “This is from an automated setup?”

  I nodded, “Why?”

  She said, “Just curious, so your idealized woman is petite?”

  “I don’t think it’s that simple because of the limitations involved. I like a challenge, and a woman not afraid to speak her mind or take initiative in the small things as much as she takes my overall lead in the large things. My A.I. is designed to serve, and not take initiative outside of narrow assigned ones. I think my desire for a challenge in a woman made the system do the best it could, so they made her petite, peppy, and teasingly playful in her body language and voice.”