"I've only seen two of them," Caitin admitted.

  He sat there and listened to them talk about some of the battles they'd been in. Only one of them had been an actual war, and that was over a hundred years ago. Most of them were skirmishes and such that only ran for a few months, until both sides had gotten it out of their systems, and sat down to work it out. Which jibed a lot with what he'd learned from his grandmother's uncle Maitland.

  When he finally went to bed that night, Erin, the oldest, went with him.

  "Why all the questions?" she asked as he closed the door to his room behind him.

  "Because I've decided to become serious about all of you."

  "So you really think you can win the six of us?" she asked with a grin as she took off her blouse, exposing all that lovely, freckled skin, as well as her other obvious endowments.

  He smiled at her, already having shucked his pants, and coming over, he put his arms around her and kissed her.

  "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know if I should be trying to win all of you, some of you, one of you, or none of you. I may care deeply about each and every one of you, including your mom—who I doubt I'll ever sleep with—but mating is a much more serious proposition. So I really need to get to know all of you, first. This isn't about me, anymore; it's about you, all of you."

  "Damn, you are serious!" she said in a husky voice as she pressed her body against his.

  Reaching down, he pushed her skirt off her hips, then grabbed her ass with both hands. "Very," he said and kissed her again as he walked her back towards the bed.

  "Well, then, how about I help you make an informed decision?" she said with a smile as she reached down and stroked his shaft.

  "Oh, I think I like the sound of that…" he said, kissing her as they stopped just before the bed. He let his hands roam over her body as he stood there, then worked his way down her, and slowly sank to his knees before her. When he got to her sex, he grabbed her ass with both hands to hold her in place as she spread her legs enough to let him dive in. She grabbed onto his wings that came up over his head to steady herself.

  He took his time with her, and used his abilities to make sure he was hitting all the right spots, then he fed off of her a little when she hit her first peak.

  But then he lowered her into his lap, fitting his erection into her slick heat as she moved her hands down and around his neck, lowering her face to kiss him.

  Once he had her firmly seated and was buried deep inside her, he rocked her back and forth, using his firm grip on her hips to move her up and down, spreading his wings slightly. Erin, like Raelyn, liked the idea that she was being taken by a big, nasty demon, and they had all come to realize that he was a lot more powerful than they were—and for these girls to have a lover who was stronger, tougher, and a lot more magical than they were was apparently so rare that they really got into it.

  Slowly rising up from his knees, he laid her upper body back onto the bed, causing her to wrap her legs around him as he fully opened his wings, as much as the room allowed, and looming over her, he started in on the hard and demanding strokes, letting his hands roam her body, his fingers teasing and tormenting her, as he had his way with her.

  She shivered beneath him, submitting to her own lusts, as well as his, and when she orgasmed a second time, he fed off her, taking most of what she had to offer. But he didn't stop; he was going to drive her over the edge several more times before he spent himself inside her.

  "You're in my power now, my sexy little Erin, perhaps I should have my way with you?" he teased.

  "You're already having your way!" she panted, her legs tightening around him as he continued to work himself in and out of her shivering and clenching body, obviously started on the next round.

  "But now I can do whatever I want to you," he whispered. "Maybe you'd like a cub?" he said with a grin.

  "Don't you…" she gasped as he pinched a nipple, and damn if she didn't go off again, surprising the hell out of him! He could feel it then, she didn't want his cub, but…there was some temptation there as well.

  "Oh, somebody likes that idea, don't they?" He smiled and teased, as he redoubled his efforts.

  "Michael!" she said and tried to growl, but it came out as more of a moan.

  "Maybe I should start a list," he said, panting now himself. "I'll call it the 'Breeding List', and right at the top of it, I'll put a sexy, well-endowed little fae, who apparently just can't help herself!" he teased, lowering his body to cover hers more.

  He could see the panic in her eyes, as he got to the short strokes—the idea excited him, too, he had to admit, and he was getting close to his own orgasm.

  "Are you…are you?" she gasped, and she tried to push him off with her hands, but her legs were pulling him in tighter. He realized then and there that he could breed her if he wanted to—but he also realized that she'd probably never sleep with him again.

  "Only if you beg," he growled, and then driving himself in to the hilt, he let himself go and filled her with pleasure.

  She came again, harder than she had the last time, and clung tightly to him as she bucked her hips back against him. He let her have all that he had, as he fed off her just a little more, until she ran down, and with a final shiver, she laid beneath him, panting.

  "I thought you were gonna…"

  "I expect you to beg for it," he said and gave her an evil smile as he looked down into her eyes.

  "Like that's ever gonna happen…"

  He smiled down at her, and she shivered under him again as he felt her realize that he knew one day, she would. And she wasn't at all sure he was wrong.

  He made nice, slow love to her after that, though he was sure things would again get a lot more physical.

  The next morning he was feeling ready for damn near anything, after the incredible night with Erin. He was just finishing up breakfast when he saw Shaylee standing by the front of the bar, so he went over to her.

  "Morning, Michael."

  "Morning, Shay, got a minute?"

  "Oh, Shay, now is it?" she said with a smile. "Sure."

  "Not here, in your office."

  She gave him a look.

  "We don't have to do it now if you're busy, but we do need to do it eventually."

  She sighed. "Oh, one of those talks."

  He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it is."

  "Talin! You got greeter!" she called out, then turned and nodded towards the back.

  He followed her through the archway out of the room, then into her office, where she sat down and motioned to one of the other chairs.

  "So, what is it?"

  He gave her an embarrassed look. "I've thought about it and, well, I realized if I'm serious about my intentions, it's time I to act serious and find out what I'm letting myself in for, as well as taking the time to learn, really learn, about each of your daughters, so I can find out if I would be happy with them, and if I could make them happy as well."

  "Okay," she said slowly. "I had a feeling after last night something had changed. Normally you don't spend that much time socializing with them, or they you, for that matter. What changed?"

  "I talked to my dad yesterday," he admitted.

  "Oh? And what did he have to say?"

  "A bunch of things, not the least of which was that I needed to get to know them, and not just in the Biblical sense..."

  Shaylee snickered at that.

  "He reminded me that this is about them. That it's always about your women, never you. He also told me that while I might be a bit young yet—and yes, on the rebound from Jennifer's death—if any, or all of them are the right ones, I better not let them get away."

  "I see. So what's that got to do with me?"

  "You're their mother; you know them all intimately. You raised them. I'm not here looking for advice, so much as some insights, I guess. I plan to spend as much time as I can with each of them, trying to get to know them, so I can figure out if any of us are meant to be or not."

  "I still think you're taking on more than you can handle."

  "Look," he said and struggled with it for a moment as he tried to find the right words to say. "I admit that I'm young, I'm inexperienced, but don't ever doubt my abilities."

  Standing up, he shifted into his hybrid form, causing her to start a moment. Putting a finger under her chin, he lifted her head, tilting it back until she was looking into his eyes.

  "Understand, Shaylee, if I decided you were mine, you would be mine. I don't care about curses, I don't care about age, I don't care about any of that, I'd only care about making you mine, and I would do it."

  "Then why don't you?" she asked.

  "Because you wouldn't be happy. If you're not happy, how can I be happy? I'm sure I could love you, but could you love me? That's what I'm struggling with. That's why I want your help. It's not me I'm worried about, it's them. I don't want them to be unhappy."

  Shifting back, he sat down as she gave a brief shudder, sighed, and then looked at him.

  "I'm almost tempted to tell you to go for it," she said with an embarrassed smile of her own. "It's easy to forget who and what you really are. I think I'm also beginning to see how your father manages so many women.

  "You're right, as their mother, I do need to involve myself, at least to the point of helping to ward off any mistakes. Have you told them yet that you're serious?"

  "I may have dropped a few hints, but honestly? What's the point? I don't want them acting any differently."

  "True, you don't. I'm sure it'll all sort itself out, one way or the other. But I'll tell you now, from the start, that I don't think you can get all six of them. My daughters are stubborn, and they don't always get on well with each other.

  "On the other hand, you're the first man to come courting they haven't quickly shown the door. They genuinely like you, Michael, though I think you already know that, or you wouldn't be looking to take things further. Just remember one thing…"

  "And that would be?"

  "We're all going to live a very long time. So don't be in a rush."

  He nodded. "I won't be."

  "Good. Now, I need to get back to work. Try not to get yourself killed; the girls would be pretty upset."

  "You know I'd come back, right?"

  "And they'd punish you all the same. Trust me on that one, Michael."

  He smiled and, getting up, he left the room.

  "See you later, Shay."

  She shivered again in her seat after he'd gone. She'd never actually slept with a lion before, and she'd definitely never been subjected to that kind of focus from one. It was…unexpected, to say the least, and he was still a young one.

  Maybe she should ask him if he had any older lion friends he could introduce her to? The idea of being with someone her curse couldn't affect was…tempting.

  Mihalis got to the auction house not long after it had opened for business. The actual auctions wouldn't start until later in the day, though there were deals made before then, if the money was right.

  The two råge at the door didn't say a word as he passed by and went inside. The place was much busier today; there were djevels, demons, dwarves, gnomes, what he suspected was a ghoul, and even possibly a jinn in the building now. He noticed he got a few looks; whether that was due to the rarity of incubi, or because his reputation was spreading, he wasn't sure.

  What he was seeing for sale here today wasn't just djevels. There were a lot of the lower end magical creatures, and they were going for a fair price. There were also a lot of obviously stolen or black-market items being bought and sold.

  And they weren't all being bought by djevels, either. It seemed like the djevels were mainly interested in the lesser djevels being sold as food. There were some that were apparently interested in the fiercer beasts that were being sold as well, but again, it was mostly the other beings here.

  It was in the other wing where he came upon the regular foodstuffs. He even saw Talin and Brianna there negotiating for supplies, though they didn't acknowledge him, and he didn't acknowledge them. But there was a lot of food here, it took up half the wing, and there were a lot of residents here bartering for it.

  It was what he found at the end of the wing, however, that angered him.

  There were women for sale here, human women, ten of them, as well as three dark elves, a regular elf, a jinn, and what looked like a gnoll, but her fur was too matted and filthy to tell.

  He immediately turned to the proprietors and looked them over. A couple of dark elves were the ones selling the women. "You would sell your own?" Mihalis growled at the two dark elves in their own language, "as well as the humans and the other elf? Have you no honor in your house?"

  The older of the two sneered at him. "Mind your own business! Those three are without honor, good for nothing but whatever fate finds them! As for the humans and the rest? Who cares? They're not of us!"

  "Is your house unnamed then?" he asked, motioning to their tunics, which were unmarked, "or are you just too afraid to say its name in the territory of House Valens?"

  "Bah! House Uunregarten fears House Valens not at all! Do you see them around here? I do not! They don't have any power, or they wouldn't allow this!"

  "So, because you don't see any of House Valens to rein you in, you feel you can engage in the lowest behavior there may be? Sell elves off to be abused in manners no dark elf would ever dare back in the Fædreland? To sell humans to have their souls consumed? And all for what? Money?"

  He turned and spat on the ground.

  "That is what I think of your house, House Uunregarten, a house of cowards and fools!"

  "Humans are nothing more than cattle to be sold to these djevels. They're worthless, and well worth the money they earn us! What would a lowly incubus know of the higher affairs of the pure! Leave us now, while you still can! There is but one of you, sex demon, but there are many of the djevels here that even the likes of you cannot stand against!"

  The other dark elf, he noticed, was already signaling the guards, who quickly came over, one of which was a ridder.

  "What?" it demanded.

  "We're having problems with this one," the first dark elf said, pointing at Mihalis.

  "Is that so?" it growled.

  "We're arguing over price," Mihalis said with a snarl of his own.

  "We will not sell to you!" the second dark elf said. "Filthy incubus!"

  "Give me one of the women, and I will throw him out," the ridder said, eyeing the first dark elf.

  "What! But he is causing a disturbance!"

  "Bartering is allowed! I've noticed often how you lesser types yell and shout. Feed me, and I'll remove him."

  "Fine!" the dark elf said, and opening the cage, he grabbed one of the women. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and was filthy and bruised from abuse. Her eyes were wide with fear—she obviously knew what was coming—and she screeched and screamed as the elf dragged her out and threw her at the djevel, who didn't even hesitate to bite her head off as he sucked out her soul, taking the life out of her body.

  Mihalis was pissed. Looking around the stables, however, he could see that there were way too many of them for him to take. Turning on his heel, he stomped off for the exit. He counted three dozen more on the way out, mainly bonde and råge, who seemed to be the guards, but there was that ridder, another ridder by the auction platform, and at least as many on the other side of the building. He knew there was a biskop here as well, plus the brain case upstairs.

  Call it a hundred, easy.

  Then there were the people buying and selling. He'd have to kill the dark elves, but they didn't seem to have any security of their own, so that wasn't a problem, though he might have to find out where they were staying in town and kill whoever was there as well.

  So, be prepared for twice that.

  Throwing up his frameworks, he turned left as soon as he left the auction house, and a hundred yards down was the large alley he wanted. He turned left there, went to the end, another left, and then all the way down to the end. The door he stopped before still had the words 'Antiquities, Bought, Sold, & Fenced' stenciled on it. Opening it, he stepped inside.

  The troll was still there, but no one else other than the goblin sitting at the far end behind the counter was there.

  He stormed up to the counter and looked at the goblin.

  "I need an M16A4, three hundred rounds minimum of ammunition, in magazines, all iron. I also need a sidearm, iron ammo as well, and I need it now!" he growled.

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who do you think you are? You can't just come barging in here and demanding stuff like that!" Biggs said with a snort.

  "Do you know who I am?" Mihalis growled.

  "Yeah, just some incubus who rolled into town! Trudge! Come here and show this guy the door!"

  Mihalis looked down at himself and sighed. He shifted into his dark elf form,

  "Oh hey, I recog..." Biggs stopped, as there was suddenly a very large black lion standing in front of him.

  A very large and pissed off looking black lion.

  A very large and pissed off black lion who, if he recalled correctly, was his boss's godson.

  "Now, how fast can you get all that for me, please," Mihalis said, turning around to the troll, who was halfway across the floor already, and he pointed at the chair. "Go sit, I've got enough people to kill on my list already today," he growled.

  Trudge held up his hands and went back to his seat. He'd heard about lions, and he wanted no part of a pissed off one.

  "Wedge! Get your ass in gear! I need those A4s, two bandoliers, and a CZ P-09 complete with holster, belt, and a couple extra magazines!"

  Biggs turned back to Mihalis.

  "I'm Biggs by the way."

  "Mihalis," he growled in response.

  "What, may I ask, is about to happen?"

  "House Valens is about to stage a hostile takeover of the slave auction house," he growled.

  "You know there's only one of you, right?" Biggs asked, a little worried. If the boss's godson got himself killed, lion or no lion, Biggs didn't think things would go well for him.

  "I'm not taking over the town," he growled, "just the one building. Shouldn't be more than a hundred of them. Now, weapons?"