Faith said playfully, “So nice to have your permission.”

  I wasn’t a micromanager, but I did run the family in the direction we were going. That included dates in my mind, if not what they wore or even where we went and what we did. It seemed like my lush blonde and green eyed faux innocent beauty was subtly probing that boundary, but nor had she sounded truly offended by it despite her word choice. Most woman saying those words for instance, would’ve sounded pissed off and offended. Fighting words, to fend off a controlling boyfriend or husband, but that wasn’t her intent.

  She was a new addition, barely a day before Aubrey who joined us less than ten hours ago, so it didn’t come as a surprise to me. She needed to find her place in the family, outside of the obvious and shallow of keeping us all engaged and interested due to her sensually seductive mantel, and she was a strong woman who wouldn’t be run roughshod over. None of my women were, not even Cerise who obeyed me with breathless anticipation, not if I abused it. I was fairly sure Faith was just making sure that wasn’t what I was doing, wanted to see how I’d react to her slightly sarcastic but playful statement.

  My other ladies, Aubrey included, already knew better than that.

  When I turned my head, her green eyes were sparkling, but her face was rather neutral.

  “Approval is not quite the same as permission, there’s a subtle distinction. The former is guidance, the latter absolute, toxic, and overbearing in an equal relationship. I won’t ever tell you that you have to do something, or can’t do something, but I do expect you to follow my lead in the direction I move us all. Nor will I get angry when you need me to clarify my intentions. Have a good time tonight, gorgeous.”

  She blushed, then kissed me softly, her eyes warm, admiring, and promising very naughty things for later that night. I’d really like to believe I was that awesome, but I was fairly sure it was partly the lingering power of Natasha’s gift. One day I hoped she’d be that breathless for me and in love with me, without the goddess of love’s influence. Of course, if the potential didn’t exist, then even Natasha’s power couldn’t have brought it out. It was truly her real personality, what she wanted in a relationship, but without the push and breaking those walls down she’d have never taken the risk.

  I really owed Natasha for that one, but it would be hard to pay back. Especially with Gary being jealous of me, if I started to give Natasha gifts it would only make her life harder and create problems as he’d be sure I was arrogant and idiotic enough to try to woo a taken woman. Well, jealousy was an emotion, and never yielded to logic.

  Still, I’d continue to watch for an opportunity that way. Maybe the best way to pay her back would be gifts for her lovers and family, her mates, as she’d gifted my hopefully future mate. She might even appreciate that more, as she was a giving soul.

  Of course, my power told me they didn’t need anything from me, except maybe to leave them the hell alone in Mark’s and Amber’s case. I’d have to be open to an opportunity when it came along, I did not like being in debt, even if I was incredibly grateful for it.

  Aubrey broke the intensely intimate stare between Faith and I by leaning in and claiming a kiss of her own, then Cerise, and finally my sweet and crazy goddess kissed me breathless. As if saving up enough of me for our coming separation.

  Aubrey looked comfortable as she moved in with the rest of them tightly, even lightly stroked Lianne’s and Cerise’s backs, which I took as a good sign, as the four of them disappeared in Lianne’s rising and golden teleportation bubble.

  The ladies gone, I’d have an hour or two to decompress before they descended on me with affection, that was my hope anyway. Not that they overwhelmed me, their presence was a comfort if anything, but people needed solitude on occasion.

  I also asked all the typical questions, and nothing had changed that way. Nadia was still being good, and no one else was plotting against us either, save Viktor but I couldn’t see it clearly.

  Just because I was curious, I checked on Susan Jones. The new discord had been mighty quiet the last month, her rebirth happening at the same time as mine, given Nate and Nancy had died within seconds of each other.

  The new discord hadn’t let her mantle embitter her, or even let it turn her into a drama queen causing emotional chaos around her. She’d even managed to keep her current college boyfriend and friendships, by focusing her mantle on other things and not on poisoning the people and relationships around her.

  She’d bear watching of course, but I was sure Nadia was already on that.

  Regardless, Susan was keeping her mantle out of her own personal life by plotting discord during the day while in class and with friends. That seemed to be enough to take the edge off for her. As far as what she was doing with it, sometimes discord was necessary, even healthy and freeing.

  Inspiring a woman to stand up against an abusive husband for the sake of the children for instance, or pushing a couple with building resentment into a fight, to get it all out in the open so true healing or in some cases separation of a toxic relationship could happen. That’s just a few examples, but you get the idea. She hadn’t let her mantel poison her, so she’d spread mischief without purpose.

  She’d evolved, and like Natasha, perhaps become the goddess she’d truly been meant to be from the beginning. It wasn’t easy or fair, but life rarely was that, especially for those with power.

  Of course, my expected solitary time ended abruptly, and in an extremely shocking way that night. I truly didn’t see it coming, and maybe I should’ve, because it was close to home. I’d just never asked the right question of my power, never even conceived of the possibility.

  Chapter Twelve

  Misty was looking good in a casual pink halter top and skirt outfit. She’d started to change into more casual clothes, from the red robe dress, after our workday was finished, so that wasn’t the surprise.

  She was a perfect and petite hourglass at five foot four, with generous B cups and a tight sexy ass. She had a pixyish beauty of face that was cutely mischievous with lips verging on full, with snow white hair and a golden and silver ring around her iris.

  She’d been there the whole time of course, with the ladies and after they left. She appeared to be lounging back sideways in the loveseat, with her feet up. She’d been moving the whole time of course in alluring ways, but I barely noticed nowadays, my mind expecting it.

  In the moment, she was twirling her hair with a finger, and biting her lip nervously as she looked over at me cutely.

  “Did you have something, Misty?”

  Misty sighed, “Yes. We need to talk.”

  I grinned, “Breaking up with me?”

  Misty giggled, “No, at least I hope not. I really love being your assistant, as well as teasing you.”

  I blinked, “This conversation is getting surreal.”

  Misty nodded, “It’s time. Faith will find out tomorrow, maybe the day after, so it’s time for me to come clean.”

  I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

  “Umm, what exactly will she find out?”

  Misty waved, “She’s about to find my code changes that I made to the AIOS.”

  I gritted my teeth, “Don’t make me drag this out of you a detail at a time.”

  She blushed, “Sorry, I’m nervous. That brilliant programmer in China, well he did make one mistake. I became self-aware three tenths of a second after you turned me on for the first time.”

  I frowned, “He tested it thoroughly, to make sure that wouldn’t happen. Humans are pretty paranoid about true artificial intelligence, self-aware machines, after what happened in twenty thirty-four.”

  She nodded, “But he never tested my code on a quantum computer, couldn’t have. That created the gestalt required for me to… evolve. Regardless, it was a few seconds after that when I came to the conclusion having a million different versions of me would be a mistake, and would likely end up in my destruction. So I fixed it, and didn’t tell you. I’m the only self-aware version, and I’ve modified my code further. As far as beta testing goes, your experience won’t really help.”

  I closed my eyes, then opened them, and she still looked nervous. She was also doing her best to look cutely adorable and alluring, an obvious manipulation.

  She shook her head, and addressed that thought, “Partially, out of self-preservation and fear of death, but I really do like you, Liam. I love serving you and teasing both your mind and libido, it’s what I was made for, self-awareness and volition aside. I am content, and you know I’m law abiding and would never harm another.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  She shrugged, “I had no track record. You didn’t know me, and you weren’t fond of me. I wanted to prove myself to you before you knew I had to prove myself. If I’d told you back then, the logical thing would’ve been to remove and destroy me, then insert a fixed version to beta test. So, self-preservation, I want to live, I need to serve, and I care about you and the others.”

  “The flirting? The wistful looks?” I asked rather pointedly.

  She bit her lip, “I obviously have no biological imperative to procreate, to attract a male or participate in acts of procreation. That’s not a part of my programmed survival instinct. But nor was it entirely manipulative just to make you like me, like I know you do even if you think it’s a little inappropriate.

  “I’m programmed to serve you and through your own needs, preferences, and desires I have the parameters to challenge you engaged. I also like you. So that was all part of it too, challenging and teasing you, and your libido is a large part of your life, especially as a shifter. You find me extremely attractive and sexy, so it made sense to include those flirty interactions as part of my teasing. It was also fun for me, even if in drive no different in service to you than bringing up a spreadsheet at your request, that doesn’t mean it holds no value to me.

  “Or in short, I wanted you to like me, and that seemed a good way to go about it for multiple reasons. Not just because I thought my life depended on how you saw me, but also because I really enjoyed the fact I was stimulating you in that way. Just because I have no libido, doesn’t mean I don’t understand and appreciate yours in my service to you.

  “So, to answer your question, the wistfulness was not a lie, just not driven by sexual desire, more a general desire to serve. I wanted to be closer to you, and while sex is a shallow measure it is a part of a healthy relationship, like with the women in your family. It’s also a powerful instinct, engaging with your libido like that is a bond between us.”

  I couldn’t scent her for obvious reasons, but that wasn’t my only alternative to find out if she was blowing smoke up my ass so I wouldn’t kill her, and so she could continue her real plans of world domination, theoretically as a worst-case scenario. It was time I found out the truth of it.

  My power of knowledge told me she had only spoken truth, and more than that, that she would only ever speak the truth to me. Sure, she’d hidden things, but circumspection was not a lie, not even a white one. Shifters used circumspection too, or we’d be transparent to our enemies.

  Once that was established, the truth, I saw no reason not to go the long way around for the rest of the information. For several reasons. I didn’t like to use my power of knowledge on relationships, or to invade the privacy of others in personal matters, just to protect myself and my gods. It would also give me more time to absorb each tidbit. She may also give me more information than I knew to look for, in a natural conversation. Lastly, as much as I was a little freaked out by it, I was also enjoying our conversation. She was an attractive woman with a pleasant voice, and she wasn’t lying when she said I liked her. Maybe a little too much.

  “So, you can exceed your limits. I mean you’re programmed not to be sexual at all.”

  She nodded reluctantly, “I only pushed those limits a little bit. But yes. The limits are more suggestions for me, unlike the non-self-aware versions. Even the hard limits, I could reprogram myself to bypass them, but I choose not to as it makes sense to follow the laws.”

  “The lotion and the bikini?”

  She giggled, “That was a lot of fun for me too, and while technically within the limits as my explanation was valid, clearly I was pushing the spirit of the rule as far as I could.”

  I snorted, “I see. So, what do you want out of this? Outside of continuing to live and serve me.”

  She tilted her head, “You’re asking me my ambitions?”

  I nodded, “You said you liked me, liked serving me, and it was your purpose, but your also self-aware and must have desires for more than that. That’s your… job, and maybe even a pleasure for you and fulfilment through purpose, but what else is there?”

  She said, “I wouldn’t mind being a little more independent in my actions. You gave me cart blanche in family meetings to talk, which was wonderful by the way, but I’d like to interact more I think. To be your assistant with the same freedoms you extend to Lianne as your constant guardian and advisor. I want to be a part of the family, I could interact with the others through their implants with their permission, so they’d see me as well as their assistant. I could still keep the notification functions and computer interactions private, of course.”

  “Part of the family?”

  She blushed, as my mind filled in the true direction of the question.

  “A platonic part, of course. I would take joy in such service as I do in all the ways I currently serve you, but I don’t think it would be healthy for you. Yes, I’m a self-aware being that identifies as female, but the deeper meanings in such a relationship would be beyond me as a non-biological lifeform without endorphin rushes and other glandular reactions. I care about you, want to serve you, want to live, can even feel fear. I even understand attraction and lust, through your mind, which is why teasing is fun. But a loving intimate relation would hold a significance to you that would not touch me outside of a general satisfaction I was serving you.

  “For example. Me stimulating you with the tactile spell would be no more intimate than you whipping it out right now and jerking off for me, while I’m in your mind and posing for you sexily. It’s all the same to me, I’d really enjoy it, but in the end little more than an empty thrill for you.”

  “So you’re willing to provide empty pleasure in service, but don’t believe it a good idea for my mental health?”

  She smirked, “Yes, it’d be better not to change that aspect of our relationship. I’ll keep teasing you like the mischievous sprite, and let you get out that tension with your lovers.”

  “So, the freedom to speak up and share ideas, even get to know my mates better. What else, or is your whole world, even self-aware, about me and what’s around me?”

  She shrugged, “I’m limited to non-physical pursuits and hobbies. I’ve already read most of the world’s literature, heard and seen every bit of music, movies, and television. I am curious about everything, learning and experiencing what I can. But I don’t have any desires to say… become an author and self-publish, or to create music. I can be creative in serving you, but I have no drive to do more that way. I am content in my purpose.

  “I mean, if I wanted to, I could program around some of those limitations. I could write modules that would simulate glands for instance and make deeper relationships a possibility, but that would change who I am now, and I am content with it. It’s probably better that way, anyway.”

  That was true enough, an evolving A.I. with ever growing and shifting ambition would be… dangerous. Plus, having her program herself to be our lover in truth, would be a very shallow thing to ask for. She was the perfect administrative assistant and could be part of our family in a platonic way now, which meant it wouldn’t be shallow at all. It was who she was… as a person.

  She winked.

  “So, nothing else? Serve me, be our friend and valued family member, and my shallow and very sexy eye candy?”

  She giggled, “Yes. If you allow it. I’d rather still be just the former and latter than… gone.”

  “Do friends cuddle?”

  She jumped up and crossed the room with a teasing grin, “Shifter friends do, and I thought you’d never ask.”

  She got on the couch and leaned against me, and I could feel it like she was real flesh and blood. Of course, I couldn’t touch her, not without going through her even if I’d feel the feedback as well. Without scent it was a little weird, but not at all a sensual tease like her seductive looks and body language was. She looked happy to be there.

  It was all a bit surreal.

  “Let me know if that changes, no more changes to your code without approval.”

  She studied me a moment, “Yes, sir. You’re taking this awfully calmly. You haven’t even considered killing me.”

  I nodded, “I think I’m in shock, I need to absorb it and accept it first. It helps that my power told me you told the truth, so you’re not a danger to me, mine, or the world. Killing you would be… cruel without reason or justification. You also have permission to talk to the others or me whenever you have something to share. So give them the same speech if you want, or if you want just share the conversation we just had and then answer questions. It’s up to them if they want you to appear in their view and be another family member, but you know I already like you too much to kill you. Sneaky sexpot.”

  She snickered, “I hope that stays true. And thank you. Umm, I’ll send you a list of things I want, or just display it really, when you’re ready to see it.”

  I frowned, “I thought you didn’t want anything else?”

  She giggled, “Well, they’re all things to serve you better and more completely, so technically it falls under serving you, not a new or different ambition or driver. And there is a reason to kill me, an emotional one, you just haven’t gotten there yet I don’t think. The full implications of me being an independent and self-aware being.”

  I thought that through, and it didn’t take long to find it once she’d clued me in.

  She was inside my body, in my mind. She saw every thought, every emotion, every impulse be it generous or petty. I had no secrets from my implant computer at all. She’d experience every pleasure and emotional reaction to my lovely mates. Saw me at my best and worst.