Then he’d rocked Gia’s world with a smooth and relatively steady pace, as she rocked his. Her pussy implant was magic, rippling and squeezing in waves around his cock, while it vibrated at a low-level tease. He’d been edging himself intensely the whole time, and of course those vibrations and ripple squeezes were just as intense for her, which meant she’d been cumming wildly almost non-stop to his firm and inexorable pace. It was more than a bit wild, sex with his dark haired athletic, flexible, and virginally tight beauty had already been mind-blowing. But he had to admit her upgrade raised things up another level.

  Gia had actually passed out from it when he filled her up, only to wake up whimpering to the delightful sensation of Leanne cleaning up after him with her tongue as he took his blonde goddess from behind. Whimpering that was quickly muffled, as Riesa sat on her face.

  He never called Leanne that to her face though, only in his head, because he was sure his wicked blue-eyed beauty would be heartily offended at being called that. If only on the one goddess’s behalf.

  Then round two had started, they’d had a lot of passion, instinct, and adrenaline to burn off after that mission. He’d filled them all three times before they’d all finally been full sated, and they passed out.

  The next four days passed and surprisingly enough, they went exactly to plan for once. A returning twelve ship raider fleet arrived the second day, and as they’d hoped the reprogrammed mines all but annihilated the fleet. Three ships escaped the minefield, two frigates and a corvette, with shields so low they were easy to finish off with a teleportation surprise attack. The last four ships arrived early on the fourth day, and none of them made it through.

  He tried not to think of any victims they may have had on the ships, but they’d had little choice but to go through with it. They’d saved who they could during their mission to find and destroy the corsair raider group, but he knew efforts that way couldn’t ever be enough. It was something he had to accept, he wasn’t a god, and he couldn’t save everyone.

  So that last day they had little to do but wait for the two fleets to arrive, so they could plan out and execute the last step in the mission. Taking out Megan Wilde and her mercenaries, and in discovering Megan’s motivations. The speculation they’d made that she’d planned to get out before it got to this point, and escape with all the money to retire, was just that. Speculation, even if the most likely answer giving the realities on the ground. They’d also most likely seize all their liquid assets and anything not nailed down, to help all the victims recoup their losses.

  At the same time all that was going on, Daisy’s bot on the station had made a thorough inventory of all the stolen resources they’d yet to sell, the kingdom would have to send a cleanup team with at least ten cargo vessels to reclaim it all. But that wasn’t his worry or mission, and it would likely be handled by the regular navy without a celestial knight in support. His kind weren’t tapped for the milk run missions.

  At the moment, they were sitting in the minefield now programmed to ignore Kingdom vessels. If things had gone to plan on Allison’s side the two fleets should be arriving any minute now.

  They were all on the bridge, including Gia who was giving him a hell of a neck and shoulder massage at the moment, standing behind his chair. He was feeling more than a bit spoiled.

  Leanne said, “Intense gravity wave heading our way, sir.”

  Right, like the gravity wave that would be created by thirty-six vessels in space folds in a tight formation.

  He raised the shields and prepared to teleport, just in case it wasn’t the fleets. The way his luck ran, Megan could’ve folded up shop and left with her fleets already, and she could be stopping here to kill him and empty the station out. Or something. Probably just paranoia, but vigilance could feel like that sometimes.

  Fortunately, it was just paranoia , as he verified two seconds later when they dropped out of the space fold and into normal space.

  “Hail the flagship.”

  There were four battleships, but it’d only take a second for the ship to join the data tactical net, which would give her the right one to call. He started the ship in that direction, planning to dock and join them in person for the planning. And not so incidentally, to get Allison back onboard for the coming final battle. What he hoped was the final battle, anyway.

  A lovely light blonde appearing in her late twenties appeared on the screen, lithe and lovely. He recognized her of course, Rear Admiral Upper Violet, and the woman was nearing eighty as far as he knew. He’d always gotten on with Violet okay during missions, though she’d subtly made it clear to him in the past that she’d disapproved of the way he’d cut a wide swath through her younger female officers over the last seven years.

  Next to her were two redheads. One of course was Allison, the other with slightly lighter red hair and hints of brown was Celestial Knight Breanne. He was a little surprised to see the latter, but perhaps the king had just wanted a knight onboard the flagship to improve their survivability in the coming battle. It would make things awkward though if Breanne had her own ideas, technically they were the same rank. On the good side, Breanne didn’t match up with the faux redhead stereotype like Allison did, she had a calm soul and a sharply disciplined mind, and the mission was officially his. He truly didn’t expect her to step on his toes.

  “I suppose there’s a story behind this torn up mine field.”

  He smiled, “We got bored waiting, but we saved you the last dance which should be a little rough. We’re on our way to dock to discuss it, and so I can retrieve my crewperson. Daisy will send over the reports on the last five days. We really had no choice but to act, given the position we were in when we arrived.”

  Allison smiled at being mentioned specifically and him wanting her back, but she didn’t speak.

  Violet nodded, “I look forward to reading your reports, and what you have in mind for Wilde. I suppose we can wait two more days to throw the party. I’ll let the fleet know to prepare to leave for Proposition, we’ll move out as soon as the planning is done. They can all run simulations on the way there.”

  He nodded in agreement at her suggestions. They were suggestions, though an admiral’s suggestions usually sounded like orders, she knew better than to dictate anything to a knight.

  “Who’s in charge of the second fleet, under you.”

  Violet replied, “Rear Admiral Brenton, I’ll signal him to join us, the four of us can hash out the plans.”

  Four of them being him, Violet, Brenton, and Breanne. That wasn’t the best news, Brenton really disliked him, which was putting it mildly. He wasn’t quite sure why to be honest. Well, perhaps his heated month-long affair with Katie, his daughter and a commander on another ship, had something to do with it. He hadn’t treated her badly, in fact Katie would’ve laughed if he’d suggested anything deeper than a torrid affair for pleasure, but he doubted Brenton wanted to believe that of his child.

  “Sounds like a plan, admiral. We’ll be there shortly.”

  Breanne winked at him, and he wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to say. Breanne was not a flirt, by any measure, and to a slight tinging regret, a lovely redhead that he’d never had the pleasure of. As a rule, none of the celestial knights were outgoing, save him. The others were all extremely… disciplined and distant, just like the military liked it.

  Violet nodded, then disconnected.

  The kiss was needy, deep, aggressive, and more than a little sloppy as Allison conformed and rubbed her body up against him at the airlock door. The sexy redheaded vixen had obviously missed him, or maybe just missed his cock, given her attitude toward a deeper commitment. Regardless, she’d taken him a little off guard with her sensual assault, but he’d squeezed her ass and kissed her back hard once he’d regained his senses.

  Allison said, “Glad you’re okay.”

  He winked, “I’m glad you made it too. We’ll… get reacquainted, as soon as the planning is done and we’re in FTL.”

  She grinned, and said a little breathily, “Can’t wait.”

  Leanne said cheekily, “We’ll keep her entertained until you get back, sir.”

  He chucked, “I’ll do my best to be quick.”

  Gia snickered, and he stepped into the airlock and across to the other ship, with half a chubby. Allison was a handful, but one he was going to enjoy taking firmly in hand. He’d have to, if he ever expected to break even in there back and forth.

  Oh, she’d obey his every order when it came to the ship and mission. He was quite sure of that, the woman was a professional in that way. He meant in their personal lives, she was one of the most aggressive women that he’d ever met otherwise, in the bedroom and out.

  He pushed it out of his head and composed himself. He still had that core of relaxed confidence, he was that after faking it in the beginning, but it’d been six years. He truly felt it, but with all that had happened since meeting Leanne and the prelate, he also showed other emotions, sometimes not meaning to. Not yet accustomed to his new and freer emotions, and in being able to display even anger without feeling he’d lose control.

  But he couldn’t do that in front of the military, they might fear he would lose control, and often perception was far more important than reality. So he took on that old guise, which felt natural, and kept the rest of his emotions under tight control for the first time in a while. He’d had no fear in guarding his emotional responses from his crew and ladies, but in this place it was different.

  So he had a casual smile on his face as he walked through the battleship toward the admiral’s bridge. A battleship was a huge and quite formidable ship, so it took him a while to reach the center of it. The crew seemed both curious and intimidated as he walked by, some of the women looked a bit curious as they checked him out, some disgusted and intrigued by the rumors, and most of the men jealous, of his earned reputation most likely.

  The admiral’s bridge was the nerve center of the fleet, instead of just the ship. It also had no direct control over the battleship itself, just an overall view of all ship’s status, and a constant flow of data passed through the place from tacnet. The admiral had a large staff, but he only focused on the three around the command table and went to join them.

  Admiral Brenton was five foot ten with wide shoulders, and he was in good shape. Breanne was on the lithe side like the admiral, save her generous breasts which were quite prominent on her otherwise lissome body. She was also classically beautiful of face, but not outstandingly so.

  “Admirals, Breanne, I assume you’ve all had a chance to review the Wilde mercenary forces?”

  Violet said, “Yes. Forty-two ships, five more than we have, and about the same breakdown. They don’t have battleships, but they have a proportional number of frigates. What are the mission objectives, as you see them?”

  He smiled, “Wipe out the fleet, take the space station to determine the extent and purpose of Megan’s actions, which seems a little insane from our point of view. If the space station doesn’t have that information, we’ll need to put boots on the ground and take her headquarters there. We should also secure as many assets as we can, to aid the many victims of their raids and acts of piracy. I don’t believe the other mercenary fleets will get involved, they’ll both be poised to claim whatever they can after we leave.”

  Brenton snorted, “She probably planned to cut and run, after waking up the bear.”

  He nodded, “I came to a similar conclusion, and it seems most likely, but the king will want proof of that, and so do I.”

  Brenton looked ready to argue it was a waste of time and resources, but Breanne’s sharp nod of agreement to his words shut the one-star admiral up.

  He said, “Let’s focus on the first step. Once the fleets are down it won’t be a problem to take the space station, just time consuming. We should arrive at the optimal coordinates, then we’ll split the fleets into two slight parabolic courses to come at theirs from two different directions. But not far enough apart they could escape through one of the fleets, close enough so we can come back together if she takes her fleets and runs for it.”

  Violet asked, “Your ship?”

  He really didn’t like the answer, but he was a professional.

  “I’ll fly with Brenton’s fleet, since you’ll have Breanne watching your back. We’ll hit them perpendicular to each other, from two flanks. That will make it harder for the enemy’s destroyers and corvettes to shield their frigates, while we can shield ours. We take out their command ships first that way, focus all of our fire on the bigger ships, then clean up.”

  Brenton said, “They’ll just split their ships in half, and move out to intercept us.”

  He shook his head, “I don’t think they will. It’s more likely they’ll remain close to their three space stations, so they can join the battle. They’re a formidable and professional force, but I doubt they have as many wizards as we do, nor as powerful. They’ll sacrifice mobility for greater firepower. Even if you’re right, I believe we’ll win out in a head-to-head battle.”

  Breanne said, “If they move out to meet us then we can converge on one half of their fleet at the last minute, and crack half their fleet like a walnut between us in minutes. The other fleet will be taking fire on their flank at the same time, whichever of us changes course, but we’ll have the advantage with our fleets being able to support each other for several minutes, before their fleets reconverge.”

  He nodded, “What do you think, Violet?”

  Violet said, “It’s a good basic plan for both scenarios, let’s detail the best formations to use in either scenario, or the third scenario, if they run for it.”

  They got to work on the details.

  Breanne said, “Join me for a moment,” as they walked out of the admiral’s bridge.

  The meeting had been productive, and every ship would know what to do in a number of situations as well as contingencies. Chances are the enemy would do something they didn’t expect, and they’d have to adjust on the fly, but that was everything in life. The fleet was loaded with powerful wizards and experienced captains, and Violet was one of their best admirals. He wasn’t too worried about it, the only question in his mind was how much of their blood and ships it would take to claim that victory.

  He’d have preferred another fleet, but it was what it was, and the king couldn’t afford to commit more ships.

  He looked over at Breanne, who had a light smile on her face. He wasn’t sure if he was more surprised by the invite or her smile. He wanted to get back to the ship, to give Allison a proper and vigorous welcome. Not to mention undock the ships and get them into FTL, but saying no wasn’t really an option for him.

  “Sure.”

  Breanne led him down the hallway to the posh quarters for admirals and VIPs, and into her temporary quarters on the ship. It looked unlived in, like a hotel room, if a nicely and richly decorated one. There was a private bath as well as a large bed, and she led him over to one of the couches where they took a seat.

  “What’s going on?” He wondered if the king had private orders for him.

  Breanne said, “You look good, different. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Also, the princess wanted me to tell you she misses you, and she was angry her father wouldn’t let you see her even with a chaperone.”

  He wasn’t surprised at the message, but he was surprised Daniella would choose Breanne to deliver it. He also couldn’t fail to notice the way she was looking at him, or the sensual anticipation he felt rolling off of her with his body magic.

  It was a surprise to say the least, and also bloody awkward, because as much as he’d have jumped at the chance to drill Breanne hard a month ago and watch her face twist with ecstasy as she screamed his name, there was no way he was doing it now.

  He was faithful to his crew, in a way he’d been faithful to them all. He’d never slept around with several woman at once, just a series of them in short and torrid affairs. One at a time. Until of course, Riesa and Leanne had drug him into polyamory. Granted, it hadn’t take much effort on either of their parts to do so.

  It also felt off, Breanne wasn’t an ice queen or anything, but she’d never shown any interest in doing the dance of ten toes with him before.

  “It’s good to see you too, and you look lovely as usual. But I should really get back to my ship and get things rolling.”

  Breanne smiled and said, “I’m sure Violet wouldn’t begrudge us a little time to renew our acquaintance, and perhaps get to know each other a little better,” as she moved closer to him on the couch, and her hand stroked his leg.

  Well, damn. He’d tried the subtle route, and he really had no experience in shooting a woman down. He’d been happy to bed them all after all, and he could never say no to a beautiful woman. Not until he’d started to heal, and he’d met the amazing women in his life. He wouldn’t cheat on their group, couldn’t. In fact, his dick was a little shriveled at the thought, despite Breanne’s allure and his cock’s vote to go for it anyway.

  “As much as I’d truly enjoy that, I’m involved right now, and it wouldn’t be right. I’m… not the same person you met last time, Bree.”

  She looked at him in disbelief, and a little embarrassed anger flashed in her brown eyes which she ruthlessly pushed down. He could see it in her eyes, and he could feel it with his magic.

  “I see, so the infamous male slut of the peerage is turning me down? I understand, and I suppose I can forgive you for it if you truly have grown as a person. I wouldn’t ask you to betray a lover, but I really think you should leave now.”

  He was curious what had changed her mind, and why she’d wanted him after showing him a shuttered face and cold shoulder for the last six years. Perhaps he’d just been too young and callow in her eyes, and now that he was twenty-three, he wasn’t? He didn’t know, and he also couldn’t ask given he’d just shot her down. Maybe she’d been involved, and she was only single now? She’d felt rejected and angry, the last thing she’d want to do is admit why she’d decided to hit on him. He’d have to live with that mystery.