So, yeah, number two was no longer a problem. Still, there was the big one. It'd only been about two weeks since she'd last seen him, and he'd promised to write or visit, or something.

  She was still waiting for the 'or something'. Knowing that idiot, he was probably dick deep in some other girl, and had forgotten all about her! Shaking her head, she sighed again. She was not going to waste her time on some playa!

  Turning the corner in the dorm, she ran face first into somebody.

  Somebody big.

  Somebody big, with a furry white chest.

  "So, miss me?" Troy said.

  "Where the hell have you been!" Chloë growled loudly and smacked him on the chest. "It's been two weeks!"

  "No, it's been ten days, eighteen hours, and some odd minutes," Troy said, smiling down at her. "So I'm guessing that's a yes, then?"

  "Why are you here?" she fumed, looking up at him. She was thrilled! He'd come back! But she wasn't going to let him know that. At least not yet.

  "I thought I'd take you away from this life of luxury and glamour, and bring you back home with me."

  "And why would I want to do that?"

  "Well, you see, it's like this. I've got this big wedding planned, but it's kinda missing somebody."

  "Are you proposing to me? What the fuck, Troy! We only dated for maybe a week! Sure, the sex was great, and we had a lot of fun, but that's nothing to just run away and get married over!"

  "Umm…" he said, reaching up, scratching the back of his neck, and looking all sorts of uncomfortable.

  Chloë sighed. "What'd you do?" she asked in a much softer voice.

  "Well, you know the djinn you were rescued with? Nadinc?"

  "Nothing happened to her, did it?" Chloë asked, suddenly worried. Nadinc had borne the brunt of the things that had been done to them. She'd claim it was her fault whenever any of them had done something bad, and took the punishment. She'd intercepted more than one dark elf who'd been interested in her because of the color of her skin.

  And then she'd done some very nasty things to those guys, who'd of course punished her for it. Djinn might be capable of enormous trouble, but apparently Nadinc had only turned it on the ones she'd hated.

  "Yeah, umm, I married her."

  "What!" Chloë gasped staring up at him. "If you did that, why the hell are you here?"

  "Because I want you, too, obviously."

  "What? How could you?"

  "Because that's what I grew up with? Because that's how I am? Look, you told me I had to be serious if I wanted you. Well, yeah, now I'm serious. Nadi's okay with it, and so are the other two."

  "Other two?"

  Troy took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Have I mentioned that it's been a long ten days?"

  "Why would I want to be a part of this? Why would I want to be number four out of what, seven? Ten? Twenty?"

  "Just four, and if you decide you don't want me, well, then it'll just be three."

  "Oh! Like that's a big help!"

  Troy grabbed her then, and the next thing she knew, he'd thrown her over his shoulder.

  "Troy!" she yelled again.

  "I want you to at least meet them."

  "You brought them here?"

  "Course I did. This isn't the kind of thing I can do on my own, Chloë. Nadi likes you, thinks you're a good choice, and would be happy with us, but you don't know Mira and Healy."

  "What makes you think knowing them will change my mind?"

  Stepping into her dorm room, he set her down and looked into her eyes. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want you, and I didn't think I could make you happy. I know you like me; don't try to deny it. Yes, this is rash, and I know this isn't something you're used to. Mundanes don't really do this."

  He kissed her then, and he really let her have it. She tried not to grab him, but after a minute, she couldn't help herself. Whatever it was about him that attracted her, he still had it, and it was definitely winning out over the idea that she'd be in some sort of pride like the one his mom was in.

  When he let her come up for air, he slowly turned her around. She recognized Nadinc immediately, though she couldn't recall having ever seen her looking so happy. The other two women in the room were looking at her with obvious interest. Both were white, or had white skin at least; she had a feeling neither of them were human. One had tawny hair and a bit of a feline look to her features. The other was just gorgeous.

  "You got her, and you're still here, wanting me?" she blurted out with a nod towards Mira.

  "There's more important things than looks or sex," Mira said with a smile, "at least according to our husband there."

  Chloë turned and looked back at Troy.

  "You said that?"

  "And he meant it, too," Healy said with a laugh. "Now, Troy, introductions?"

  "Girls, this is Chloë, as you already know. Chloë, that's Healy and that's Mira, and you already know Nadi, of course."

  Both of the girls smiled as he pointed them out and nodded hello.

  "Troy?"

  "Yes, Chloë?"

  "Why don't you make yourself scarce for a while? Like, say, an hour or three?"

  Troy hugged her from behind, kissed the back of her neck, then patted her on the butt. "If you need me back sooner, call," he told them, then left the room.

  "Can I get you anything to drink?" Chloë said, looking around the room. "I know I sure need something, and I really don't want to be a bad host."

  "Got any beers?" Healy asked.

  "Trust me, this is going to take several," Chloë said, shaking her head, and went over to the small fridge she and her roommate had bought together. While she might not be twenty-one, a cute girl with a nice smile never had any problems with getting carded when it came to buying beer.

  Nadinc came over and hugged her when she turned to hand her a beer.

  "You're well?" Nadinc asked.

  "What the hell happened? How did Troy, of all people, end up with three wives?"

  "He claims that after meeting me, he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice."

  "Oh? And what mistake was that?"

  "Letting you go."

  Chloë blinked and stared at Nadinc for a whole minute while she reached around her, grabbed three more beers, passing one to Healy, another to Mira, then opening up the third and handing it to her.

  "He said that?"

  "Honestly, if we weren't here, you'd have said yes, wouldn't you?" Mira asked her.

  "Ummm…"

  "Then why should the answer be any different because we are?"

  "Maybe because I don't want to be in a harem?"

  "Technically, it's called a 'pride'," Healy said, toasting her with her bottle, "and yeah, I don't think any of us expected to end up in one. Not even our Nadi, there, for all that it's part of her culture, too."

  Chloë took a drink of her beer, closed the fridge, and then let Nadinc lead her over to her bed, where they sat down. Healy and Mira were sitting on her roommate's bed.

  "So why did you?" Chloë asked her.

  "Because I'll never get a better deal?" Healy said with a smile. "Oh, and I also love the idiot. We all do."

  "But sharing?"

  "It's not that big of a deal in our culture. The lions all have prides, and his father's one, so it's not exactly a surprise."

  "But he's not a lion!"

  "Yeah, well, I'm a cat—cougar, actually—Mira there is a wolf, and in both of our cultures, it's not exactly uncommon for a male to end up with two females. Nadi here, well, back where she's from, none of this is uncommon at all. It's more the rule."

  "Chloë, how many girlfriends does your father have?" Mira asked.

  "Why are you asking me that?"

  "Well, obviously, because I know who he is, and I know all about him."

  Chloë sighed. "You're a fan, aren't you?"

  "Yup, got most of his albums, and I saw him perform live last year when he went through Salt Lake City. I even remember seeing you on stage. Now I know most of those women don't seem to have an issue with it, so why do you?"

  "Because my father uses those women! They don't mean anything to him! They just come and go!"

  "How would you feel about it if he didn't let them come and go? If he kept them, took care of them, and made them his?"

  "Why are you asking me that?" Chloë said, all but glaring at her.

  "Because I can have any man I want—and trust me when I say that I have! But now? There'll never be another man in my life. Troy's made it clear that he's it, period."

  "And you're okay with that?"

  "Do you really think any of those other men cared about anything beyond my tits, ass, and looks?" Mira asked with a smile, which was followed by a dreamy expression. "Troy does. Right, Nadi?"

  Nadi nodded and smiled.

  "You have two advantages here that I suggest you consider while we talk," Mira continued. "The first is that Troy said you're the last one he's going to approach. If you say no, it's just the three of us," she said motioning to herself, Nadinc, and Healy. "So if we were the kind of women who didn't think we could welcome another, we'd be trying to warn you off rather than encouraging you to join us."

  "So why are you?" Chloë interrupted.

  "Because we love him, and honestly? After last night, I'm not sure three is enough!" Mira said with a giggle, and the other two laughed. "But really, he obviously cares about you, and both he and Nadi here think it would work, so why not?"

  "And what's the second advantage?"

  "You've already slept with him."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "It means, Chloë," Nadinc said smiling at her, "that Troy didn't have sex with any of us until after we'd committed to each other."

  "He did what?" Chloë said, eyes wide.

  "Well, you told him he needed to be serious, didn't you? With us, he's been very serious. Apparently the 'goofball cheetah' is growing up."

  "Daelyn calls him the 'sneaky-speedy'," Chloë grumbled.

  "Yes, so we've heard."

  "All three of you think I should just say 'yes' and let him make me one of his wives like he did with you?"

  "Only if you think it'll make you happy," Healy said.

  "Are you?"

  "Yeah, I am. I kinda started chasing him because Mira was, and he caught me. Look, I know it's different for humans, and there's going to be a lot of culture clash until you figure it out, but I think you'll settle in fine."

  "If I do this, I want to get bitten, okay? I don't want to be the lone human."

  "Oh, definitely. I think he's already talked to his mom about her infecting you."

  Nadi smiled as Mira winked at her while Healy and Chloë talked. Chloë was obviously considering it, and her emotions had been quite clear when Troy had kissed her—she wanted him. She'd been a bit guarded and confused when they sat down, but their being nothing but welcoming towards her had very obviously begun to put her at ease. She liked Chloë; she liked her a lot. The other girls had always been a little cautious around her, because the stories about djinn were well known, but Chloë had taken that 'we're all in this together' mindset and had never once pulled back from her.

  And now, as Chloë and Healy talked, she could see that the two were naturally gravitating towards each other, just as she and Mira had. Troy would be happy when he got back, and truly, four was a better number than three. She knew her mother-in-laws liked to joke about it, but in her culture, all the men and women held to the same belief that a man, especially a strong man, needed four wives.

  #

  "I can't believe you're still purring," Chloë said as she sat in Troy's lap on the flight back. Healy was flying, and Mira was up front doing something to help—what, she had no idea. Nadi was looking pleased with herself and sitting next to them.

  "That's because you get me in ways the others don't," Troy said and nuzzled her ear. "Also, they're all a little in awe of my father, and who he is, and what I am. But you're not."

  "Yeah, well, I've met the president of the United States, the prime minister of England, the king and queen, and lots of other powerful people while traveling with my dad," she said with a shrug. "I think I'm kinda used to it."

  "Exactly."

  "So what's this big thing you're working on, anyways?"

  "We found out how some of the djevels have been smuggling things in and out of the DEZ. Healy helped me find the first one, and we think a bunch of hippies are camped out on top of the second one, hiding the exit."

  "Oh, so they're using what, pipelines?"

  Troy stopped purring and got silent all of the sudden.

  "Say that again?" he asked slowly.

  "I asked if they were using pipelines."

  "How could they be using pipelines?"

  "Have you seen the size of some of them? They're three or four feet wide. We got a tour of one of the Gazprom sites when we were in Austria once. Why, isn't that what you found?"

  "No," Troy said, getting out his cellphone. "They were using lava tubes that ran under the border."

  "They have those in Nevada?"

  "Yup. Hey, Mom Peg? Yeah, it's Troy. Could you get someone to pull up the charts and maps of all the gas pipelines and other pipelines in Nevada?

  "What? I'll be landing in an hour, so it'd be nice if you had them there when I landed.

  "Okay. Oh! One other thing, ask SJ to be there. What, he does? Oh. Well. Tell him to cancel. Yeah, I don't care if it's Dad, tell Dad to cancel, too.

  "Of course I am! Love you!" he said and hung up.

  "Do I want to know?"

  "Eh, they were all going out to a dinner party or something."

  "And I caused this how?"

  "I have a sneaking suspicion why the djevels are so interested in djinn and women," Troy said with a frown.

  "This isn't something I want to know, is it?"

  "Most definitely not."

  "So when's the wedding?" she asked, changing the subject.

  "Well, we need to deal with this new issue, and of course the tunnel the hippies are camping on, but unless my father or brother have anything else planned…" Troy shrugged. "Whatever date the four of you decide on."

  "So you really are serious about this!" she said with a smile and gave him a hug.

  Troy smiled back at her. "Yup, and I think I'm just as surprised by that as you are."

  The girls, of course, immediately started hashing out wedding plans, calling back and forth into the cockpit where Healy and Mira were. He suspected SJ would end up having to have one as well, adding Cheryl and Halyna to his own family.

  He spent the rest of the flight thinking about how to deal with whatever that map showed him, and then there were those hippies, of course…

  When they finally landed, he sent the girls off to his room to help Chloë get settled, as he went to the conference room and looked over the maps Peg had had someone spread out for him. Swearing softly under his breath as his worst fears were confirmed, he read the details on each of the lines.

  "Okay, what's so important that you made us postpone dinner with the governor," Sean asked as he walked into the conference room with all his wives, followed by SJ and all his wives. Troy could see that they were all dressed up for a night out.

  "Something my newest wife said on the flight back from Chico," Troy said, looking up from the large chart spread out on the conference room table.

  "So Chloë said yes?" Roxy asked with a smile.

  "Yup, and if you'd be so kind as to go infect her after we're done here, I'd appreciate it."

  "What are we looking at?" SJ asked, coming over to the table.

  "Pipelines."

  "What do they have to do with anything?"

  "See this one here? The one marked Ruby?"

  "Okay, I see that it goes completely through the DEZ, but why's that important?"

  "It's three feet in diameter," Troy said and sighed.

  "Wait, WHAT?" SJ looked at exactly where in the DEZ the pipeline traveled.

  "What about these two lines," Sean asked, pointing to the ones marked as Tuscarora and Paiute.

  "Best I can tell, they're only twelve or eighteen inches. Ruby is the one we need to worry about. Notice how close it comes to Bartertown?"

  "It's right through Ennakoida's domain. I take it they're no longer working?"

  "They shut the pipeline down early on in the war because they couldn't maintain the pressurization stations to keep things running. So they just closed the main valves and forgot all about it."

  "Looks like we're going to be sending out that new quick reaction force," SJ said, shaking his head.

  "Oh, it gets worse," Troy said, looking around at all of them.

  "How does it get worse?"

  "You can't smuggle a bunch of people through a hundred-mile-long, three-foot tube, right?"

  "Obviously," Sean agreed.

  "But if you put them in a bottle, suddenly that's not a problem anymore, is it?"

  "So you think they're sticking the djevels in bottles with the djinn to smuggle them out?"

  Troy sighed again and closed his eyes. "What have the seeker teams been finding at all those sites they've been uncovering?"

  "I'm not sure I follow you…"

  "Eggs, Dad. Lots of planted eggs."

  "Aw, shit," SJ swore as he remembered that phone call of Troy's.

  "I don't think you can put djevels in a bottle with a djinn, but how about a woman who's had djevel eggs implanted in her womb, or been dominated or possessed? I asked SJ just a few days ago why they were grabbing only women and not men. Suddenly, I think I know."

  Sean stopped, and looking at the map, thought about everything.

  "Rox, go take care of Chloë; I'll send Troy out in a minute. Then meet us at the landing pad. Troy?"

  "Yes, Dad?"

  "I'd like you to take care of this. Say, day after tomorrow? Hopefully with it being a Sunday, it'll cut down on spectators. Also, slap 'need to know' and all that crap all over it. Peg, Cali, tomorrow I want some sort of surveillance plan. Get Samantha to detail a couple of drones and remap the entire pipeline. Again, tell her to slap 'secret' and 'need to know' all over it. I want to know how much and where we have to strike to deny them use of it."