The kiss ended, and I replied, “Lunch sounds good to me.”

  She bit her lip, then turned and led me up the stairs, where we joined the others for lunch.

  Chapter Twelve

  It was later that same day at dinner. We were having bacon cheeseburgers, with lettuce, tomato, and onion, along with French fries. Best damned burger I’d ever eaten, despite the fact they didn’t have ketchup, just mayo and mustard, and a sauce similar to hot sauce for the fries.

  After blessing the food and everyone digging in, Astra said, “My mother contacted me this afternoon. Our secret is definitely out, and a few of our enemies are trying to spread fear in the hopes of forming an alliance to take us down, but most aren’t buying what they’re selling. I don’t think we’re in danger of being attacked yet. Thanks to our reputation, as long as we keep a defensive stance and don’t act aggressively, people will warily watch us even as the raids against us will stop.”

  I said, “Reputation?”

  Astra nodded, “We don’t raid our neighbors like some of our enemies do. We’ve always just defended and tried to deal fairly with others in matters of trade. As long as that doesn’t change, most will accept we have no intentions of building a super coven of our own and becoming conquerors.

  “At the same time, the ones wanting to take us down have a reputation for aggressiveness, and for taking whatever they can get away with, so the other covens will be wary of trusting them or allying with them even temporarily. It’s a manageable risk, and a worthy risk, but one we’ll need to keep an eye on as it develops.”

  Astra paused for a moment, then said, “Two more things. Violet has twenty bolts of cloth for sale. Six silk, six wool, and eight cotton,” she turned to me, “Celestine noticed we were running low on stock when making you several more sets of clothes today, and we don’t make our own save Rue’s leather outfits,” she turned back to everyone else, “So I bid twenty crates of apples, I’m still waiting for her to get back to me on it.”

  Blossom nodded, “It’s my turn to go, I think.”

  Rue interjected, “It is, Carline will go with you if it goes through.”

  “They don’t deliver?” I asked, a protective impulse going through me that made them all smile my way.

  Astra chuckled, “The buyer always travels, that’s the rule out here. Just like when we sold our oranges for bananas, the winning bidder came with bananas. It’s a seller’s market for the exports, so we don’t have to take the risk, and Violet’s coven is one of the only decently friendly ones in reasonable range that sells cloth. You saw the horses downstairs, and we have wagon inside the high school. Where the third winding ramp exit comes out.”

  I didn’t like that, it sounded like Blossom and Carline would be vulnerable out there alone, but intellectually the rule made total sense. We’d also need to be able to make clothes, even if I wasn’t living with ten women, clothes didn’t last forever even with repair magic. Our caves had a lot of stuff, but there were no cotton fields or sheep, and only Rue preferred leather clothes.

  Celestine interjected, “I also made you those new leather boots we promised you when you joined the coven, along with five outfits so you have one for every day of the week. Why don’t you come by my cabin after dinner to pick them up?”

  That invitation was fairly obvious in its intention, a friends with benefits request for a wild assignation, but even more so now that I could feel her emotions. She was feeling needy, had been all day really, after the teasing amount of my cock she got during the rite earlier that morning. We only got together about once a week, but she was always up for multiples when we did. Hers in the double digits, and three or four for me, and we took our time with it. One orgasm around my cock was just a teasing start for the lush blue eyed and platinum blonde beauty.

  I smiled, “I’d love to give you a proper and extended thank you. Five sets did you say?” I asked suggestively.

  Celestine blushed at the implications in those last words, five rounds to pay thanks for five sets, and a few of the others giggled naughtily at her attendant surge of lust.

  Astra grinned, “He can play with you a little later. The second thing I had was I want to do the new spell after dinner. It’s Glen’s first day in our coven, and it’ll be his first joint coven spell,” she turned to me, “I’ll be the one casting it, but we’ll form a circle so everyone will be powering it. It’s complicated, but it’s not one of the spells that require two casters. Just… a whole lot of magic.”

  I nodded, “Sounds like fun. What spells do require that?”

  Astra said, “Complex ones involving subtle mind and body magic sometimes require a yin and yang element to the spell. It honestly won’t come up much I don’t think, given how impossibly rare it is for a coven to have a warlock. We have a complex ward spell for instance, in our library, that would make a building or area unnoticeable to passing humans while urging them to go around it, and for them to ignore magic. That kind of subtle influence requires a yin and yang mental map of sorts, since we think differently. What works for a woman wouldn’t work for a man, and vice versa, so the spell needs both.

  “But in our new world there’s absolutely no purpose in using such a spell, humans know about us now, and we rule them. The only humans left are sheltered by and serve the great covens in the cities, and mature covens in the waste might have a family or two of humans along with their own spouses. At least, no human only settlements that I know of. Point is, that those kinds of subtle spells have fallen out of use since we no longer need to hide the supernatural world or subtly influence human civilization.

  “Tonight’s spell is purely elemental in nature, outside of our bodies and minds means that it’s neutral to gender. Even if it was complex enough to require two casters like a thunderstorm is, which it isn’t, two witches could cast the parts with enough partners feeding them magic. Regardless, Pepper and Juniper worked hard today, and because their magic is doubled, they were able to create enough water to completely fill our underground cisterns for the first time ever. Which we’ll use half of for the spell. It’s also a two part spell.”

  We finished up dinner, then we all got up and headed outside.

  It was late evening, the sun low on the western horizon, but it was still ridiculously hot and dry. We moved away from the cabins and grove of trees which was on the football field inside the quarter mile track, in the opposite direction from the school into the larger field that used to be for high school baseball. The large fence backstop was still there, all the way on the other side of the field, though completely rusted.

  We stopped right on the edge of the field, and Astra and Rue took my hands and extended their other ones. The other seven witches in the coven joined us, and formed a circle. It was subtle at first, just a trickle of magic coming in my right hand so I sent some out of my left. The amount of magic flowing around the circle slowly rose, as we put more and more of our magic into the flow, even as the heart of our magic was regenerating.

  It felt really good, just passing all the magic around in the circle, ten different flavors of it mixing together, as a torrent of magic slowly built up. Magic shared was always given, and never taken, the bond wouldn’t allow for that latter option. It would prevent anyone from being completely drained that way. The circle was pulsing with power, and it was that huge stream that Astra would be using to power the spell.

  I didn’t understand most of the words, as Astra spoke the words of the ward and spell with deliberate care but far more speed than I’d used, a lot more words. But I could feel the magic forming. A large domed ward that was centered exactly where we stood, covering both the track and football field behind us, and about half the field in front of us. The ward would keep the moisture inside using water magic, and fire magic for the heat exchange portion. Like explained earlier, a natural wind would go right through the ward, but the ward would suck the heat of it and dump the heat in the air being displaced from the warded area by that wind.

  When the ward set, I felt the drain on my magic to maintain all the wards double in an instant. Still not too bad, I was regenerating magic a lot faster than it was going out, so the spell wasn’t ever going to suck us dry of magic.

  That was just part one of the spell, and as she continued to cast, we continued to add more magic to the circulation to support it. The ground rumbled slightly as a depression started to form in the earth. About a hundred yards long and fifty wide, in an oval shape that ran perpendicular to the football field. It kept getting deeper, until toward the center it was about ten feet deep. Then the decent sized manmade pond started to fill with water.

  A lot of water, though only the inner third of the pond had water in it, when it stopped. Suspected it’d take a month or two, to finish filling it in as well as refiling the cisterns.

  The spell kept going, as another ward was placed under the water, stretching against the pond bed. Then she stopped.

  “That should do it.”

  I could feel the newest ward pulling a lot of power from us through the coven bond, but it quickly slowed to a trickle, as the water started to steam and the air around us cooled significantly. The ward was obviously transferring the heat from the hot arid air and putting it into the water.

  It was obvious enough, the large dome ward kept our little area of atmosphere equalized and unchanging, while the pond and ward under it acted like the woodless fire and cast-iron cauldrons of water that were in the cabins, to actually create the cooler temperature and healthy humidity level.

  Plus, ten hot witches and a brand-new hot spring. Something told me the eye candy was about to get a lot better, not that them wearing sexy dresses and in Rue’s case, leather outfits, wasn’t already pretty fantastic.

  I took a deep breath, and for the first time the air outside didn’t feel like sandpaper to my throat and lungs. It was still a little dry, but I was sure the ward would have it fixed and keep it balanced soon enough. It’d take time to raise the humidity in so much air, even with magic.

  “That was amazing.”

  I reluctantly let go of their hands, as everyone else did.

  Then of course, Celestine took me to her cabin, to pick up those clothes. A proper thank you started with eloquent tongue of course, and I took my time drawing out a couple of orgasms before taking her with my cock. She was amazing in bed. There was definitely an affection between us, though one of friendship and respect, and we took a lot of pleasure and lust in each other’s bodies.

  I wasn’t sure what would happen in the future. Except at some point Celestine would be ready to start a family. I knew with my three lovers, they were mine for life and would one day all bear my children. With my friends with benefits, I’d still be friends, but eventually they’d want to find a man of their own to settle down with, likely a human.

  I supposed it was possible that Celestine, Iris, or Raine could decide to join us, once they were ready to settle down, but that was doubtful. Which was probably just as well, three wives all with children was already a large family, and I wasn’t that greedy.

  That said, I’m not sure I’d turn any of the three down, if any of them decided they wanted more.

  Still, I’d enjoy it while it lasted, and witches were long lived. That moment was probably decades away, when our benefits would expire, I mean. Astra had told me they usually settled and expanded the coven in the fifth decade of their lives, which meant a good thirty years before I lost my playtime partners.

  The clothes and boots fit like a glove, better than the other two pairs, and the black leather boots were far better than my old running shoes which I’d probably never wear again.

  It was two days later, early afternoon just after lunch, and I was in the library below ground reading up on one of the ward spells Rue assigned me memorize. I wasn’t supposed to cast it without her around, but at the moment I was just studying. The coven bond told me she was with Astra at the moment up in our cabin.

  Before it even really registered on my conscious mind, I was up and running for the stairwell, the spell book already forgotten on the table. Rue was furious about something, a level of anger I’d never felt in her before, and Astra was deeply troubled.

  “What’s going on?” I asked them both mentally, even as I took the stairs at breakneck speed two at a time.

  Astra replied, “The trade went well as expected, and Blossom and Carline are on their way back.”

  Rue interrupted, “Bridget,” she said in a mentally scathing tone of angry disgust, “She sent out four of her witches, and two wolf shifters and a tiger shifter are moving out with them. We’ve been keeping an eye on them since the attack last month, waiting for her to do something else stupid or get deposed. Their direction and speed will have them intercepting Blossom halfway home in about an hour, about fifteen miles southwest of here.”

  The trip took about two hours at a good trot, Blossom and Carline had left mid-morning and were expected back in a couple of hours.

  Astra continued, “It’s a stupid move. Trading is dangerous because it’s a weak position, but she’ll be earning the enmity and vengeance of both our covens if she harms them or steals the load. It won’t just be an attack on us, since Violet will get involved and ally with us on it. She won’t want her trade partners thinking it’s too dangerous to trade with her, with Bridget so close. It could get Bridget’s whole coven killed.”

  Rue said in seething tones, “Yes, but that won’t bring Blossom or Carline back.”

  I replied, “I can get there in an hour, easily.”

  I could run much faster than fifteen miles an hour in my wolf form, even in the arid wasteland.

  Rue said, “I’m coming with you.”

  Pepper interjected, “Me too, can you carry us both? If not I can take a horse, a horse not weighed down by a cart can easily make fifteen miles in an hour.”

  Rue sounded amused, “I hadn’t thought of that, I was going to grab a horse, now I’m getting two.”

  The three of us would make it five against six, but since our coven’s magic was doubled the reality of our five would make the adjusted odds ten to six, in our favor. I ran through the kitchen and to our shared cabin, then stripped down and shifted.

  “If it’s stupid, why is she doing it?”

  Astra said, “She’ll probably claim it was revenge for the witches she lost. The only way she could strike back at us, now that you’re a part of the coven and our power is doubled, we’re all but unassailable at home save against three or more covens in an alliance. She’s probably trying to get revenge to solidify her rule, and she is probably hoping Violet will give her a pass if she promises not to do it again. I don’t think that last would happen, Violet will be angry.”

  “She’s not that stupid, her pride isn’t involved this time, though she’s probably pissed to find out she was right about me from the start. She can’t be an idiot, if her coven made it to mature status instead of being destroyed in its infancy.”

  Astra’s emotions roiled, “What are you suggesting?”

  “That this is a lure to get another three or four witches out of our home, leaving only half the coven to defend at home. She’s not going personally, is she? Perhaps as soon as we leave and are far enough away, the rest of her coven, pack, and maybe an ally or two will move on our home? Then the group going for Blossom pulls back and heads to their main force, so they can claim truthfully that they never raided a trader leaving Violet’s place. Or am I being paranoid. It feels like a setup, if not that, then something like that.”

  Astra sighed, “He’s right, you can’t go Rue. We’ve been so worried about Blossom that we didn’t see the possibility this was just a feint to hide the real sword stroke coming at our backs. Pepper will go with Glen. He can take out the three shifters by himself, and Pepper and Blossom with Carline’s help should last long enough for him to handle that, then help overwhelm the four weaker witches.”

  Pepper ran out of her cabin and leapt onto my back, using telekinesis to steady herself and secure herself to me. She was apparently not willing to wait for Rue to bring up a horse. Her emotions were fierce, a little bloodthirsty, and it was probably wrong, but it kind of turned me on. Which of course, she sensed, and it made her snort as I took off toward my sense of Blossom’s location. I could even feel Carline’s direction through the pack bond at the current distance.

  Rue felt frustrated and angry, but eventually replied, “Yes, matriarch. He’s probably right, and if not, those two should be enough to handle it. I don’t like it one bit though.”

  Astra said, “If we are attacked by three covens, we’ll go to ground. Everything up on the surface is easily replaceable. We’ll counterattack when the four of them get back, and if they find the entrances more the better, the staircases are death traps and perfect funnels.”

  I ran at a steady pace, a good twenty-five miles an hour wasn’t even a strain, and I suspected I could reach about forty in a short sprint. Maybe more. It’d only take about forty minutes to get there at that speed, and to meet up with Blossom shortly before the coven arrived.

  Rue said, “We may be screwed whatever we do, taking his point further they might have multiple plans depending on how many if any we sent to stop the ambush. Instead of moving on us since we only sent two, Bridget may go after those four first with more people. It would weaken our witch coven by three, and it’d cut all our power in half if they manage to kill Glen. We’d lose that power and protection, and then her coven alone might be enough to take the last seven of us down even on our home ground. If she has an ally, that would only make our end more sure.”

  Astra radiated shock at the idea, then replied, “True. If they try to converge on you with the rest of her coven and perhaps an ally, I want you to abandon the load. Cut the horses free, and then return home at a canter. We’ll lose the load, but we’ll still have all our lives. New clothes aren’t worth dying over, if the four of you are that outnumbered.