"So you got the power of the lions without all that attention and baggage that comes with it, right?"

  "I'm…I guess so."

  "Then what are you worried about?"

  "I guess I'm worried, because deep down, I'm still that hyperactive goof-ball cheetah kid."

  Renee smiled and gave him a hug. "Hate to tell you this, Troy, but you stopped being the goof-ball kid when you became a scout for your dad. Oh, you still like a good time, and to play the occasional joke, and all that. Who doesn't? But you've become one of your father's go-to guys when he's got a problem."

  "I never wanted to be one of the responsible ones, Renee."

  "And yet, you are."

  Troy sighed and thought about that for a minute.

  "Go back to bed, Troy. You'll feel better in the morning."

  "I'm not so sure about that," he said with a grumble.

  "Oh? Why not?"

  "Because I've got three horny women in it whom I'm sure are going to be expecting me to perform."

  "I thought you only had one!" Renee exclaimed.

  "I got two more looking at me as daddy material who connived their way in tonight," he said, looking a little guilty.

  "Oh, well, you know what people like to say, right?"

  "Be careful of what you wish for?"

  "Nope!"

  "What then?"

  "A man with three wives has better things to do than complain about his problems!"

  "Night, Ren." He sighed.

  "Have fun, Troy!"

  Never Be The Same

  Troy woke up fairly quickly, like he normally did when he was at home. Nadi had her face buried in his chest fur, which he'd learned she liked. He'd offered to sleep in human form with her, but so far, she seemed to like him like this.

  There was a cougar stretched out along the top of the bed—well, at a bit of an angle, as Healy was partially curled around him and Nadi. She had a paw curled around Nadi, while her head was lying above his. He noticed then that he had his arm lying over both Nadi and her. Mira was curled up and lying on top of his and Nadi's legs, with her head resting on his thigh, and most of her body resting between their legs.

  It was comfortable; at least for him, it was. When he was young and they'd go out camping as a family, it wasn't uncommon to end up sleeping all together in a group. None of them had had their hybrid forms back then, and when you're young, there's a certain comfort in cuddling up and sleeping together. That was the most obvious clue that both Mira and Healy were natural born, because it wasn't sexual, it was cultural.

  It was one of those things family and close friends did.

  And that thought led into another one; what would he do with the two of them now? If he was planning on kicking them out the door with a 'That was fun! Here's your clothing! Bye!' then yeah, a little orgy would be fun.

  But that didn't build relationships. That wasn't how you forged the kind of bond you wanted to last a lifetime. He'd seen enough of other people's relationships to know that he needed to spend time with each of them, as individuals. Especially as there seemed to be a bit of conflict going on between the two of them.

  Ironing that out wouldn't be fun, but hopefully he could push that off onto Nadi to deal with.

  He had to smile at that. He hadn't slept with Nadi until after he'd made it clear to everyone that she was his, and here he was, about to do the same damn thing again.

  However, it had worked, and worked well. He was quite happy with Nadi, and he could tell that she was just as happy with him. Honestly, he really wanted Healy, her attitude definitely fit well with his, and her abilities were obviously more extensive than he'd realized. He'd been impressed with her when she was just an E4 who knew how to fight.

  Finding out she was also a rated pilot added to that.

  Mira? Oh yeah, Mira was a walking wet dream, and had a certain naïve innocence that brought out the schemer in him. Yeah, he wanted to hold her down and fuck the shit out of her. For someone who'd obviously allowed herself to be used and abused by the more powerful members of lycan society, he hadn't expected much from her. However, her skills on the computer showed that there was a fair amount of brainpower behind those lovely eyes of hers.

  Nadi's comment about making her his and how that would make her bloom, along with some of the comments Mira had made about her past, had given him pause. Obviously, she had little self-esteem. She'd probably been told how beautiful she was, and had all of her other achievements ignored, or worse yet, she was told she'd only gotten them because she was so good looking, because the men all wanted to bed her. Because they wanted to have their way with her.

  Yeah, she definitely needed a strong man to make all the others back off, so she could be who she was meant to be.

  Stretching slowly, he yawned and glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. It was six, and right now, he really needed a run.

  "Hmm?" Nadi asked as he carefully untangled himself and got out of the bed. Mira grumbled a bit, but just curled up against Nadi.

  "I'm going for a run. I'll be back in time for breakfast."

  "Umm, okay," she said, yawning and closing her eyes.

  "Make sure they're still here when I get back," he said, and then grabbing a pair of shorts, he quietly left the room, closing the door behind him. Then, putting them on, he ran over to the main entrance, waved to the guards as he went past, hit the highway, and took off. He couldn't run as fast in his hybrid form as he could as a full cheetah, but that was fine. He could still run faster than anything else out there on two legs.

  After he'd finished his run, he went over to the base gym and hit the weights. There wasn't a Marine contingent here, so he didn't have them to compete with, though there were a couple of wolves here who were also pretty buff, and of course the bears and two other scouts, Weiss and Buddy, both of whom were draft horse breeds. So he had a little competition.

  He got back to the room at seven-thirty. More than enough time to shower, hit the mess, and start work at eight.

  Or so he'd thought.

  "Where were you?" Healy said, grumbling and looking at him. "And why do we have to wait here?"

  Sighing heavily, he smiled.

  "I wanted my wives to be here when I got back from my morning workout so we could eat breakfast together."

  "Oh, well I guess…WAIT! WHAT?" Healy said with the kind of shocked expression on her face he'd only seen in movies. Mira was staring at him with an expression that made him wonder if she'd just creamed her panties.

  "Hmm?" he said, giving her an innocent look. It was all he could do to keep from busting out laughing.

  "I can't be your wife!" she yelled back at him.

  "But isn't that what you wanted?" he asked, the edges of his mouth twitching upwards.

  "But we haven't even fucked yet! You said we had to sleep with you first!"

  "Oh? What do you call what we did last night, then? Obviously, you have some definition of the word 'sleep' that I was never taught."

  Healy's eyes got wider, and she gasped. "You bastard!" she yelled, and he completely lost it as she came over and hit him.

  "That's not funny!" she growled as she pummeled him.

  "Now we see the violence inherent in the system!" Troy managed to gasp out between laughs.

  "I'm going to…"

  "Healy, stop," Mira said, coming up behind her and grabbing her arms.

  "I will not be made fun of!" Healy growled, turning to look at Mira.

  "Healy," Troy said in a low voice from where he was now lying on the floor, "you will not talk to Mira like that. I told you last night, I expect the two of you, and all three of my women, my wives, to treat each other with love and respect."

  Healy turned back to him and glared down at him.

  "He's serious, Healy," Mira said.

  "But how can he be? We haven't even had sex yet!"

  "He claimed me before we slept together," Nadi said with a smile.

  "Wait, he did what?"

  Troy sighed and patted her on the leg. "There are things more important than sex, Healy. Not that I think you aren't good at it, but I'm not welcoming the two of you into our little family with an orgy. That's for afterwards!" He giggled, smiling.

  "You're serious?" she asked, looking back down at him.

  "Very. Yeah, I wanted to have a nice night of wanton sex with each of you before I told you, but I guess that'll just have to wait until tonight or tomorrow."

  "Just like that, we're your wives?"

  Rolling to his feet and popping up to a standing position, he grabbed Healy and kissed her, hard and long. She started off pushing at him, but by the time he was done, she was purring and grabbing at him.

  "Yes, you got a problem with that?" he said, smiling. "Now, let's welcome Mira, then I need to kiss Nadi and hit the shower."

  "Yeah, you are a bit sweaty," Healy said, turning him lose.

  Mira was more than willing when he grabbed onto her, and she ground her body into his quite shamelessly as he spent several minutes giving her the same kind of welcome he'd given Healy.

  She pretty much collapsed back onto the bed when he let go of her, and his nose told him she'd definitely had an orgasm during the experience.

  Nadi was next, and she looked the happiest he could recall ever seeing her. That was saying something, as he'd thought she'd looked pretty happy yesterday morning.

  Going into the bathroom, he was in and out of the shower quickly, as were Healy and Mira, both of whom were used to the whole concept of fast showers from their time in the Army.

  They hit the mess a few minutes before eight, which meant Mira and Healy would be a bit late reporting in, which was okay, because he was about to pull rank and have the two of them assigned to working with him, seeing as they were mated to him.

  What surprised him the most was how quiet it got when he walked in with the three of them.

  "What, you expecting something different?" Healy said, smiling and looking around the room.

  "I think that was my line," Troy joked.

  "It's just, we ain't used to those two standing so close ta each other and not glarin'!" Jasper called out.

  "That's because we're not competing anymore," Healy said.

  "What she said," Mira added, blushing.

  "Ah, the joys of teamwork!" Troy said with a big-ass grin. "Now," he said, continuing in a lower voice, "how about we get some food before I pass out?"

  "What, not going to make us serve you?" Mira asked, then blushed again.

  Troy stopped, and his eyes got wide. "I think I'll go find us a seat."

  "What just happened?" Nadinc whispered to the other two.

  "Lycan culture. We serve him his food—"

  "And then we all get to pick at it and eat it while he sits there drooling," Healy added with a giggle.

  "Wait, what?"

  "Trust us. You don't want to miss this."

  "Ooookay," Nadinc said, looking a little worried.

  They each grabbed a tray, and Nadinc got what she usually did, which wasn't much, but she also got a bunch of stuff she knew Troy liked, mostly a lot of meat and eggs. She could see that the others were piling on a lot as well.

  "Now, just follow our lead," Mira whispered to her. "This is what we call 'pecking rights'. Only a lycan's wives get to do this. Anyone else would lose fingers."

  Nadinc followed as they went over to the table Troy had staked out. She put the plates she'd gotten down in front of him, and then Healy and Mira dumped the extra ones they'd gotten on top of what she'd set down. She could hear his stomach growling, and he started to purr softly.

  As Troy grabbed his fork, Healy pushed her to sit down next to him, as Mira got the other side, and just before he could dig in, Mira smacked his hand away!

  Then she dug into the food on his plate, ignoring her own!

  Healy started in next and elbowed her. Troy was sitting there, not moving a muscle, and she could see he was starting to drool.

  When she stabbed one of the sausages on his plate and started to eat it, he purred loudly.

  "Yup, they're married," somebody muttered.

  "Told ya," Healy whispered between bites. "This is how he proves he loves us, by letting us eat first from his plate, even though he's starving. Ain't that right, Troy?"

  "I ain't complaining," Troy said, still purring. "I ain't complaining at all."

  "Just don't let any single lycan woman, or any woman, bring food over to him unless she's a waitress," Mira added. "'Cause that's our privilege."

  Nadinc nodded slowly as she ate from her own plate, Healy and Mira doing the same. Troy immediately started in on his plate, and quickly demolished what was left. He really did have an impressive appetite.

  "Should I get you some more?" she asked him.

  Troy smiled and shook his head. "I'm good. I'm just used to eating fast when I'm in the mess. Which reminds me, Healy, what's your last name?"

  "Brennin, why?"

  "Cause you and Mira there are now assigned to me," he said, pulling out his phone to call SJ.

  "Huh? You can do that?" Mira asked.

  "He's the king's son; of course he can do that," Nadinc said with a little smile as she continued eating.

  "He's the head lion's son," Mira said, correcting her.

  "Oh? And there's a difference?" Nadinc replied, teasingly.

  Smiling, Troy pushed the quick-dial for SJ.

  "Now what?" SJ answered.

  "Why, SJ, is that any way to answer the phone?" Troy said innocently.

  "Uh-oh, I know that voice! How many bodies, and where did you leave 'em?"

  Troy snickered. "I need you to reassign Mira Head and Healy Brennin to me."

  "Oh? Is that all?"

  "Well, as long as you're offering, could you change their last names to Valens as well? And Healy's a pilot, so you'll have to update that, too."

  "Are they Regular Army, or Lycan?"

  "Lycan," Troy said and he could hear his brother typing on a computer in the background.

  "On it, and congrats, Troy. I'll let Mom and the rest of the moms know. Anything else?"

  "Could you ask him to assign Jasper, Kevin, and Rod, too?" Healy asked.

  "Why?" Troy asked looking at her.

  "They're my crew. Jasper's actually a crew chief. They didn't have enough helicopters for us, so they sent us all over together."

  "You get that, SJ?" Troy asked.

  "Yeah, I take it that's Healy?"

  "Yup."

  "I'm looking at her record right now. Oh, you're gonna love this!" SJ said with a laugh.

  "What?"

  "Do you know why they made her a backup pilot?"

  "I'm afraid to ask," Troy said, looking over at Healy, whose facial fur was all bushed up now in a blush.

  "She punched out a Regular Army captain, then striped his ass good with her claws."

  "I'm sure he had it coming," Troy said with a smile.

  "Apparently that's what all the witnesses said, too, which is why she wasn't court-martialed. Oh, and before you ask, no I can't get you your own personal Blackhawk."

  "Oh, I wasn't going to ask for one."

  "Sure you weren't."

  "Nope, was gonna ask for an Osprey. I'm sure Daelyn will be more than happy to teach her how to fly it."

  "Oh, gods, will she! And you know the moment she finds out you want one, that's it, she'll custom build one for her."

  "True, but you know what that means, right?"

  "What?" SJ said with a heavy sigh.

  "Dad'll have to pay for it!"

  SJ laughed on the other end of the line. "Which means it won't come out of my budget! You know what? I think I'll call her right now!"

  "You mad at Dad or something?"

  "Mad? Of course not. It's just the principle of the thing!" SJ said, still laughing. "You've seen how she gets when she's wheedling money out of him for one of her project builds!"

  "There is that. Oh, see about signing up Jasper for some more training; I suspect he's gonna need it. Assuming they agree to come over and work for me."

  "Have Healy call me after she's talked to them to see if they're interested, and we'll talk."

  "Thanks, SJ."

  "Hurry up and finish out there so we can meet the new wives. Oh! Almost forgot, Professor Cruz got bored and took care of your request himself. He emailed you the details. Deidre's going to look at it, too."

  "Great! Bye!"

  "Bye, Troy."

  Hanging up, he looked at the girls, who were almost finished.

  "You all hear that?" he asked.

  "I did," Healy said.

  "Me, too," Mira agreed.

  "Sorry, my hearing is more normal," Nadinc said with a shrug.

  "Okay, we're heading down to Mira's office to get the data crunched. Healy, talk to your guys and find out what they want. I'll text you my brother's number. Nadi, you can come with me and Mira, and help me with analyzing the data."

  "Umm, are you sure?"

  "You're a djinn, which means you're naturally sneaky. Of course I'm sure," he said with a smile.

  Sure enough, when he got logged in, all the data was there. It was in several different formats, which helped. Troy had studied under Cruz, as well as his father's former apprentice Stewart Reese. Learning all about computer programming had been part of learning magic, which was apparently his father's second biggest secret. The first was how he made those silver tags. Troy had figured out enough to know they had some role in the bombs his father occasionally made.

  Considering how powerful they were, Troy was perfectly fine, not telling anyone what he'd figured out, as well as with his father not teaching anyone beyond SJ about them.

  He also knew how much it drove the human magic users up the wall that all the lycan magic users were so much better at magic than they were. Because his father, as a lion, could order the others not to tell how it was done, his father had no problems teaching the other lycan mages his secrets.

  Troy liked Cruz and Stewart. Cruz was always up for a good time and a party, and his three wives were complete dolls. They were always cheerful, friendly, and helpful. As for Stewart, he was still quite the badass. He regularly went out on missions with several of the wolf response teams SJ oversaw, though mainly just the ones in the local area these days. His two wives were not the kind you wanted to mess with.