"You really do want me, don't you?" she whispered as he broke the kiss, her hand now wrapped around his shaft and stroking it slowly as he positioned himself to take her.

  "More than I've wanted anything or anybody in my life," he admitted. "I don't know why, I just do. When I saw you naked that first time, I wanted to take you then and there."

  "Why didn't you?" she asked, looking a little surprised.

  "Because I wanted to know you before I knew your body." He smiled then, and kissed her.

  "Make me yours, Master Troy," she said in a husky voice and gave a little tug with her hand.

  "For life," he purred, and moving his shaft to her entrance, he slowly worked his way into her depths, enjoying the heat of her, the feel of her beneath him, the wrapping of her legs around his body, and the way she slowly twisted beneath him, helping him to explore her depths.

  He was surprised at how tight she was; he'd gotten the impression that she was less of a virgin than he was, and as a Valens' boy, he'd lost his almost a decade ago. She made that little noise women made when they got a little more than they were expecting, but his balls were resting snuggly against her ass, and he was now happily deep inside her.

  He repositioned himself slightly to make sure he wasn't putting too much of his weight on her, then he slowly pulled out, almost completely, before slowly moving back in. He wasn't going to rush this; this was his woman, his wife, and he wanted to remember this moment. He wanted her to remember it, too.

  "I love you," he said and kissed her again. He could see the words surprised her, but he meant it, and he could see that she knew it.

  "Take me, my lord, my master, my Troy," she whispered back. "Make me yours, my love. I love you."

  He kissed her again, and lingered a little longer this time, as their bodies moved slowly against each other in a rhythm as old as time. He let his senses explore the woman beneath him, the magical as well as the physical ones. He could feel that she was doing the same, taking stock of him as he took stock of her.

  Shifting his weight slightly to his left, he moved his right hand down to explore, stroking along her side, down her body to her flank, and along her leg. So smooth, so sleek. He ran his hand back up and caressed her breast, giving it a slight squeeze as he took her a bit harder, a little faster. Running his hand down and pressing it against the small of her back, he carefully rolled onto his back, pulling her along with him, placing her atop and astride him.

  Nadinc shivered a little as she ended up on top, her weight pushing him deeper inside her. His hands moved up and down her body, stroking her sides, his thumbs flicking at the undersides of her breasts one moment, then dipping all the way down into her 'v' and teasing her clit.

  She brought her legs up so she was kneeling astride him and rode him, moving up and down hard on his buried length. It felt so good and so right. Her man, her man, was claiming her, making her his. She could feel his desire for her, and it lit her fires like a match. As she extended her senses, she could feel the duality in him, the man and the beast. She could feel how they both wanted and desired her. There was no questioning inside him. She was what they wanted, and she was what they would have.

  Reaching around with one hand, she teased his balls as she rode him, the other against his chest to steady her. His hands were now delightfully busy with her tits, cupping and squeezing, massaging, pinching and pulling at her nipples, then squeezing once more. She could tell that he was reading her body, her needs, almost as well as she was reading his. As a djinn, she knew how to please a man, and for the first time ever in her young life, she wanted to do just that. In spades.

  Arching her back suddenly as she felt teeth nipping at one of her nipples, she cried out and came on his shaft, coating it with her juices. But he didn't stop; instead, he pulled her against him as he sat up and crossed his legs, the two of them now in a sitting position, with her in his lap, and him still buried deep inside her.

  He braced her with his hands and used his teeth on her nipples, to her utter pleasure and complete distraction, as she shivered and moaned through a truly delightful orgasm.

  As she slowly came down from that high, he rocked her in his lap, as he raised his lips to hers and kissed her once more.

  She kicked her legs out straight to either side of him as he rocked her back and forth, moving slowly once more in and out of her. After a moment, he scooped up her left leg and put it over his shoulder. Then he did the same with the right. She was bent in half now, his arms wrapped snuggly around her. He surprised her then by unfolding his crossed legs as he leaned forward, and suddenly she found herself on her back, his heavy body pressing down against hers, her knees pressed to either side of her ears.

  Smiling up at him, she crossed her ankles behind his neck, and pulled his lips down to hers, their mouths opening as their lips met in a deep kiss, tongues dueling as he set a brutal pace. He was driving in to the hilt now with each stroke, then pulling out, and driving back in, harder and faster than before. Reaching down, she grabbed his ass in her hands, sinking her nails in his butt as they kissed, the sounds of their bodies slapping against each other filling the room along with their panting.

  Breaking the kiss, she looked up into his eyes as he looked down into hers, a glassy look to them now as he climbed toward his own release, and she once again climbed to her own, seeking to join him when he hit his peak.

  "Claim me, make me yours, Troy! Make me yours! I love you!" she cried out as he slammed in hard one last time, and she felt his essence fill her, driving her over the edge again as well.

  Hugging her tight, he dropped his head beside hers, panting and quaking against her, as she milked him of every drop of seed he had to offer.

  How long they stayed like that, she had no idea. It was bliss, and they were tangled up in each other in more ways than one.

  When Troy had finally caught his breath, he nuzzled the side of her face. It had been better than he'd thought possible. SJ had once told him that it was better when it was with someone you loved. He hadn't been wrong.

  "I love you, Nadi," Troy whispered. "You're mine now, and I'm yours."

  "I love you too, Troy," she whispered back, catching her breath.

  "So, round two?" he teased, raising his head up and kissing her on the nose.

  "Oh, yes, round two!" she said with a happy smile. She had every intention of showing him all her tricks.

  Troy stretched and yawned, arching his body in the bed as he lay beside Nadi. She was sound asleep…finally. Sexually, she was without a doubt a perfect match for him. She'd ridden him hard and definitely put him away wet. She'd shown him a few tricks he'd never experienced before, but then, he'd shown her a few things as well.

  Then there was her magic. She had a lot more abilities there than she realized. Maybe it was because of the caste system she'd been raised in that they hadn't trained it? He wasn't sure. It also felt different than that of a typical magic user, or of a tantric witch. He'd slept with more than a enough of both of them, so he had a good feel for it. Then there was his own, of course.

  It was definitely something he'd have to talk to his father and mothers about.

  Grabbing his phone, he looked at the time. It was almost eight in the morning. He really needed to head in to work and get started on things. He'd let Nadi sleep until lunchtime, then he'd come back and wake her so they could eat together. But first, he needed to talk to a few people.

  He sent a page to Cali, his mom, and his dad, asking them to meet him on the mountain. Then closing his eyes, he communed.

  §

  The sound of applause made him stand up and take a bow.

  "Thank you, everyone! I'll be here all week! Don't forget to tip your servers!"

  That got him a number of raspberries.

  "Now, what was that for?"

  "Getting married, obviously," Renee said as the other lionesses who were hanging out this morning all nodded.

  "More like mated. Married means a wedding—and speaking of which," Troy gave Renee a nice big smile, "I definitely want to do one of those."

  Renee suddenly jumped to her feet, grabbed her chest as she gasped, eyes wide, and then fell over onto her side.

  "What, a guy can't want a wedding?" he asked, looking down at her as she giggled.

  "A guy can. I'm not so sure about you, Troy."

  Troy shrugged with a silly grin on his face. "What can I say? I love her, and I want her to be happy. I think going through the motions with a ceremony and all that will help her feel secure."

  "Where's my son, and what have you done with him?" Roxy teased, coming up to him.

  "Hi, Mom," he said, hugging her, "and Mom," he hugged Cali, next, "and you too, Dad!" he finished, giving his father a hug.

  "What time did you get to bed last night?"

  "Bed was noon yesterday. If you're talking sleep, yeah, that didn't happen."

  "What did you do to that poor girl?" Roxy asked with a snicker.

  "Everything I could think of, and trust me, she learned me a thing or three. I think a lesser man would be unconscious by now. A mundane would probably be dead."

  "I'm happy she won you," Cali said, smiling. "She will make you a happy man."

  Troy nodded. "I think I'm starting to see that."

  "So what did you want us for?" Sean asked.

  "Cali should be getting an email today from a gal named Mira I'm working with here. Something I saw last week bothered me, and I need to do a statistical analysis on the last decade of reports. Problem is, stripping out that data so I can put it in a spreadsheet to chart it, and then map it is going to take months. So I was hoping you could get someone to write a program to strip out all the data points I need, and then put it in the proper format.

  "The email should have everything I need in it."

  "Why do you need this?"

  "Because I saw something that didn't make sense, like I said."

  "Would you care to elaborate?"

  Troy took a deep breath and sighed. "No. I don't want to jinx it. I think this might help with what you and SJ have me looking for, but even if it doesn't, I suspect we'll still learn something important from it."

  "I'll talk to Professor Cruz about it," Roxy said. "If he doesn't have the time to do it himself, I'm sure he'll know someone who will."

  "And I will check with my own analysts," Cali agreed. "We will let you know when it will be finished."

  "Thanks! Well, I need to get to work here; I've still got a lot of data to go over."

  "What about your wife?" Sean asked.

  "Seeing as she just passed out, I thought I'd let her sleep until lunchtime," Troy said with wink. "Oh! She has magic."

  "Yes, she does," Cali agreed. "She is a djinn, after all."

  "No, it's beyond that. It feels a little different from what we use, but she's got enough to actually use it. I could feel it while we were having sex. Not quite like a tantric witch's, but she was definitely using it on both of us while we were having fun."

  "How do you know what sex with a tantric witch is like?" Sean asked with a frown.

  "What, you think I didn't chase after any of those 'friends' of Mom Jolene's who come around?" Troy asked, grinning. "Honestly, if it wasn't for what they taught me, I don't know if I could've kept up!"

  Roxy and Cali snickered, as Sean just sighed.

  "So, anyways," Troy continued, "I'd like to look into getting her trained at some point."

  "I'll look into it," Sean agreed.

  "Thanks! Talk to you all later!"

  The three of them watched as Troy winked out of sight.

  "Of all the people to find a mate and get married, he was not one I expected." Sean sighed shaking his head.

  "Neither was Mihalis!" Cali laughed and smacked him on the ass. "You, my husband, just do not understand matchmaking."

  "Well, I got you, didn't I?"

  "More like she got you," Roxy said with a giggle. "Now let's go get some breakfast and see what it is that Troy needs."

  §

  "You look happy," Tracy said as Troy dropped into a seat near the other scouts who were there.

  "And hungry!" Ken said with a laugh. "She must have really put you through a workout!"

  "That she did," Troy said with a smile and shoveled food into his mouth.

  "You know there was an alert yesterday?" Tracy asked.

  Troy shook his head. "They could have been storming the perimeter, and I wouldn't have cared. The wife and I definitely needed some alone time."

  "Where is she, anyway?"

  "Sleeping. I figured I'd wake her come lunchtime. So what happened?"

  "Eh, the usual, another group of bonde and gnashers made a run for the wire. They didn't get far. Then again, they never do."

  "Even as stupid as they are, you'd think after all these years, they'd have learned by now," Ken said.

  "A lot of djevels like to eat gnashers and bonde," Tracy said with a shrug. "Might have been their turn to get eaten, and they decided to chance it."

  "Do they get these kinds of attacks up where you normally work, Troy?"

  Troy shook his head and swallowed before answering Ken. "Nope, but each of the djevel lords has a different way of doing things. I think when I wrap up what I'm working on, that'll be another thing to look into. You guys finding anything interesting out there?"

  "Actually, Scott over there came across something yesterday, about eight miles outside the border, but we're still not sure what to make of it."

  "What was it?"

  "A large tar spot on the highway. Looks a little old, maybe a few weeks. We just don't know if it's road tar, or…" Tracy shrugged, "djevel tar."

  "Well, take a sample and send it in to be tested."

  "Yeah, we did that already. It went out on the morning supply flight. Still, if it was a djevel, what killed it?"

  "A lot of trucks have steel bumpers," Troy said between bites. "Getting whacked by one of those at sixty or seventy miles an hour? Yeah, that'd probably do it."

  "So, gonna nail that Mira gal? Or maybe Healy?" Ken asked, grinning at him.

  "What kind of question is that?" Tracy asked, looking over at him.

  "The kind you ask a Valens, that's what!"

  "If I was a lion, definitely, but I'm not," Troy replied.

  "So is that a no?"

  "Wellll, let's not go that far," Troy said with a wink. "Also, what makes you think either one of them wants to get married? And to me, no less?"

  "Healy started a betting pool, that's what!"

  Troy just shook his head, sighing, then had a sudden brainstorm. "Hey, think she'd let me bet on it?"

  "Wouldn't that be cheating?"

  "If you're not going to cheat, why are you even playing the game?" Troy said, laughing.

  Comfort Zone

  "So, ummm, how's the wife?" Mira asked him with a bit of a blush.

  "The wife is good," Troy said, and then grinned at her. "Though apparently you have a new contender for the number two spot!"

  "What!"

  Troy almost laughed at the surprised look on her face.

  "Healy says she saw me first, and you'll have to settle for number three."

  "Why, that annoying, brazen little…" Troy heard her mumbling under her breath, with the occasional swear word throw in.

  "What, don't like her?"

  "I'm far more attractive than she is! Yet she keeps stealing the men away! It's not fair!"

  "That's cause she knows how to slink," Troy said, chuckling.

  "She's a cat! Of course she can slink!"

  "Not the way she does. That's a highly developed skill; she wasn't born with it."

  "And now you're defending her!" Mira grumbled.

  "Wait." Troy blinked as the reality of what she was saying hit him right between the eyes. "Are you saying you are interested in being one of my wives?"

  Mira literally squeaked and wrung her hands while her tail tucked and she shifted her weight back in forth, looking distressed.

  "Umm…maybe?" she said in a small voice.

  "You've only known me a couple days! We haven't even slept together yet."

  "Well…" she gave him an embarrassed look, "you could always come over one of these nights. Then at least you'd know I'm not just another pretty face."

  Troy looked her over, blatantly appraising her. Mira was built. She had a killer body as a werewolf, which meant her human form would be easily as hot. Yeah, he was sure she'd definitely be a good time in bed.

  But—but a wife was something a bit more than a good time in bed for a night or two. Lions seemed to be born with an innate ability to take a bunch of puzzle pieces and fit them together into a whole that worked. If he was going to do this, he'd need to get to know Mira better, and not just between the sheets.

  He'd also have to talk to Nadi about it, and if she was on board with it, get her impressions on Mira, and probably Healy as well. He didn't see her going away, either.

  "We can discuss it over lunch," he said, postponing any decisions. "How about we go back to looking at the data for now?"

  Mira smiled and nodded.

  "I got a response from the intelligence group at Minden, by the way. They said they should have all the data you want in a day or two."

  "Great!" Troy said, logging in to the computer. "How long have you been out here at 105, anyways?"

  "Almost a year. I used to be up at Mountain Home. I was the secretary for the base commander," she sighed then, "that is, until his wife saw me. I got shipped out the next day."

  "Well, that sucks. What, did she catch him looking at you or something?"

  "Umm," Mira blushed again, "she, umm, saw me under his desk, I was…"

  Troy snickered at that. "I don't think you have to draw me a picture, Mira."

  "The thing is, everyone here knows about it, so it's made life a little difficult at times."

  "How's that?"

  "All the women think I'm gonna steal their boyfriends or their husbands, and all the guys just want to hit it and run."

  "How'd you end up working here in the first place?"