"After we eat, I guess we can move your things in here," Troy said, and then yawned again and rubbed his eyes. Now that he'd put off going to bed, his stomach was making its demands known.

  "Are you sure?" Nadinc asked, giving him a slightly worried look.

  "Sure enough. Now, let's go eat. It's Saturday, so the moms will be cooking."

  "The moms?"

  "My dad has seven wives and two mistresses. Those are the moms. I'll introduce you to all of 'em when we get downstairs."

  "You father has that many women?" Nadinc said, looking a little shocked.

  "Yeah, Dad's a bit of an overachiever," Troy said, and putting an arm around her, he gave her a hug.

  "I knew lions had more than one wife, but…I had no idea!" Nadinc whispered back as they went down the stairs into the living room, then he led her into the large kitchen where, sure enough, all the moms were gathered, and his father was just finishing up breakfast as several of his younger siblings drifted in. Unsurprisingly, Sampson and Louise, his grandmother and Sampson's wife, were still there as well.

  "Morning, everyone," Troy said, keeping his arm around Nadinc, who suddenly had that 'deer in the headlights' look.

  "Morning, Troy!" Roxy, his mom, called back from the stove, where she was cooking.

  "All right, everyone, this is Nadinc. She's living with me in my room. Expect to see a lot of her, and I don't think it'll be hard for you to treat her better than me."

  "That'll be easy!" Daelyn said with a laugh from where she was chopping something up on the counter.

  "Okay, Nadinc, that's Roxy, the woman who had the honor of bringing me into the world." He pointed at Roxy, who snorted loudly. "The slightly shorter woman with the knife is Daelyn, and while she may be harmless with knives—"

  "You wish!"

  "—if you see her with a hammer, be prepared to duck. The one next to her with the body that makes pinup models jealous is Jolene. Watch out for her; she knows how to make lions bark like dogs."

  "Pant is more like it," Jolene said with a smile.

  "The sneaky looking one over there is Peg, and the even sneakier one sitting beside her is Sheila."

  "I'm just a mistress!" Sheila said, blushing furiously.

  "Right, sure you are, but you're still one of the moms, Mom. The dark-skinned beauty over there is Cali, mistress of all things sharp, and especially when they're thrown!

  "The one sitting next to her in the incredibly tight, short skirt is Estrella, who, like you, apparently doesn't understand undergarments."

  "Troy!" Estrella said, giving him a look. "I understand them just fine now! It's your father who seems to keep removing them!"

  "Umm," Sean said and looked up at the ceiling while trying to act innocent. "Maybe if you didn't wear such short skirts?"

  "The one in the robes who knows far too many embarrassing spells that can be cast on me before I can run away is Roberta."

  "If you need any help cutting his ego down to size, I'll be more than happy to help," Roberta said with a smile.

  "And last but definitely not least is the other-dark skinned beauty, the woman who cooks Dad's books, handles his finances, and finagles him with all sorts of excuses as to why he needs to come to her office and have his way with her, Deidre."

  Deidre winked, and then very pointedly got up, went over, and sat in Sean's lap.

  "These are the 'moms' as I and my many brothers and sisters like to call them, and yes, I have no idea how my father got so lucky, because there's not a bad one in the bunch."

  Troy smiled as all the moms looked at him, and Nadinc smiled.

  "Now, the older looking gentleman over there is my step-grandfather, Sampson. While he may be old and slow and out of date, I love him just the same."

  Sampson growled at him.

  "At least when I'm within smacking distance, I do!" Troy said with a grin. "The woman with him is my father's mother, Louise."

  "I like how you always avoid calling her your 'grandma'," Sampson grumbled.

  "That's 'cause she treats me nice, so I go out of my way," Troy replied. "Now that that's all done with, come, my darling, let's find a place to sit, and I can eat while they regale you with all sorts of lies about my behavior!"

  "Lies?" Nadinc said with a bit of a smirk as Troy led her to a pair of chairs along the side of the large table.

  "They're only lies if they sound believable!" Daelyn said as she dumped a bunch of chopped sausage into one of the pans Roxy was cooking.

  "So where's our hometown hero?" Troy asked as Roberta came over with a couple of plates full of food and set them on the table before them.

  "Getting clean with his wives in the tub in our bathroom," Roberta told him.

  "Still?"

  "Well, you know about lions and water!" Daelyn joked.

  "I think we'll be lucky to get 'im outta there before dinner," Peg said with a chuckle.

  "So what are your plans today, Troy?" Roxy asked him.

  "Well, we need to move Nadi's stuff into my room…"

  Troy noticed that everyone except his father had turned to look at him.

  "What?"

  "You're moving her into your room?" Roberta asked.

  "Yeah, I am. I'm keeping her, and if any of you have a problem with that…" He scowled, looking back at them.

  "Actually, I'm happy. Surprised, but happy."

  "Me, too," Roxy said. "Nice to see another of my boys has finally grown up."

  "Welcome to the family, Nadi!" Daelyn said, and Troy noticed that Nadinc had scooted over a little closer to him, but as the others smiled and welcomed her, she smiled back and relaxed.

  Really relaxed, he realized. The guarded look that had been haunting her face finally melted away, and he suddenly realized he had a wife.

  He, Troy, had a wife.

  How had that happened?

  Shrugging, he smiled, gave her a hug and a kiss like he'd watched his father do to his mothers thousands of times, and went back to eating his breakfast.

  Nadinc had been a little apprehensive at meeting all of Master Troy's family. His father was one of the lion kings, which made his mothers royalty, as well as powerful. She felt so small as he introduced her, a djinn, the lowest member of the lowest class, to all these beautiful, powerful women.

  She could see that all of them were magical. Some, like Roxy, Cali, Estrella, and Peg, glowed so brightly as to be almost overwhelming, just as his father radiated so much power, she kept waiting for the axe to fall, to be called out for even thinking she might belong here.

  But then, then Troy had given them all a warning, and suddenly they'd all welcomed her, just like that! There were no hostile feelings towards her at all! She'd been accepted.

  Troy grabbed her then, and hugged her and kissed her warmly in front of all of them, then went back to his breakfast and suddenly…suddenly everything was fine. Picking up her own fork, she started to eat. She wasn't as hungry as Troy was, but she was hungry.

  When they finished eating and got up to leave, each of the women came over and gave her a hug. They'd told her several outrageous stories about him, all of which were funny, and obviously exaggerated a great deal. No doubt because they figured that as a djinn, she'd appreciate such tales.

  She hugged each of them back and all but glommed onto her master when he finally led her out of the room.

  They waited until Troy and Nadinc were well out of earshot before making any comments.

  "A djinn?" Peg asked, snickering. "Troy hooked up with a djinn?"

  "I don't know, it makes a certain amount of sense," Roberta said, smiling. "I mean, who else would put up with a trickster like him?"

  "I don't think they've slept together," Jolene said, looking a little surprised.

  "Huh?"

  "I think his getting sent off to help save Mike might have ended up in a case of coitus interruptus," Sean said with a chuckle. "I think for once our son's tendency of letting his mouth get him in trouble just got him a wife."

  "Well, I hope he treats her right," Roxy growled, "or I'll be having words with him."

  "More like she'll visit on him the kinda things djinn are famous for," Daelyn said with a snicker.

  "I don't think he's that foolish," Deidre said, getting all their attention.

  "Are we talking about the same boy here?" Peg asked.

  "You saw that look in his eyes when he stood up for her. I think the only reason he wasn't growling at us was because we're his mothers. Troy may be a mischievous young man, but he's never been a mean one."

  "Still, though," Peg said, looking around the room, "a djinn?"

  "If there was ever a woman who needed a good man to love her," Cali said with a smile, while looking over at Sean, who still had Deidre in his lap, "it's her. And trust me, I know."

  It only took twenty minutes or so to pack up Nadinc's stuff; it wasn't like she had a lot. Cleaning up her room and putting the sheets and all that stuff in the laundry took a little more time. When they got back to her room from the laundry, Troy gave a wistful look at Nadinc's ass as she bent over to rearrange a few things, then the bed, then back at her ass.

  Grabbing her butt and pulling her back against him, he decided the stripped mattress on the bed looked way too clean and could definitely use a stain or two.

  "Hmm?" Nadinc exclaimed, blinking as she suddenly felt herself pulled back against Master Troy's groin. There was definitely something stiff back there. Giggling, she straightened up, and Troy immediately wrapped his strong arms around her, crossing his arms over her chest as each of his hands grabbed one of her full breasts, and he nibbled on the right side of her neck, his hot breath blowing over the bare skin.

  Pushing back against him, she slid her hands around behind her, and slipped them down inside the waistband of his pants. Troy was very much blessed, she'd noticed, when he'd stripped down in front of her the night before while putting on his armor. He was erect now, and as she teased him, he responded by massaging her breasts through the thin material of the shirt as he nibbled his way up towards her ear.

  She felt it as his claws pressed in and grabbed at the material as she pushed his pants down. Troy was just about to rip his shirt off her when somebody knocked on the door. He let go off her chest just as the door opened. Standing there was one of the maids, who looked at their relative positions and then winked at them.

  "I'm sorry, but I need to make the bed," she said as Troy sighed and Nadinc pulled his pants back up.

  "Fine," Troy growled, and turning around, he let his tail curl briefly around Nadinc as he picked up the large box into which they'd put all her clothes.

  "Moving?" the maid asked.

  "Yes," Nadinc said and then blushed, looking over at Troy.

  "Better watch out! He's a tricky one!" the maid teased.

  Troy just rolled his eyes towards the ceiling as he led the way out of the room, then out of the building.

  "Troy!"

  "Huh?" Troy turned and saw Clyde striding quickly across the compound to intercept him and Nadinc as he carried the box towards the main house.

  "I heard from Colonel Heller that you went out to the Southeast sector yesterday."

  Troy nodded. "I wanted to be able to hit the ground running, so to speak, when I get out there tomorrow for my patrol. I know SJ and my dad are getting wound up on this whole thing, so I know there's gonna be a lot of pressure to produce results."

  "He also told me you got involved in a firefight?"

  "I wasn't intending to, it just happened," Troy said and sighed. "I did a ride-along when they got called out."

  "They said you had them land."

  "Something didn't look right, and I wanted to check it out, that's all."

  "And when can I expect your report about it?"

  "When I'm done, Clyde. When I'm done. Right now, I don't have anything more than a general suspicion, and that's not good enough to put down, even with our loose definitions of what's important and what's not."

  Clyde nodded. "So, moving day?"

  "Clyde, this is Nadinc. Nadi, this is Clyde, my erstwhile boss in the scouts. Nadi's moving in with me."

  "Permanently?" Clyde asked, giving Troy a stern look.

  "Well, that's the plan!" Troy said, frowning at him. "Seriously, Clyde. It's been a long couple of days, and I would really like to be able to spend some time with my Nadi here before I have to go back to work."

  Clyde grinned at him, and then turned to smile at Nadinc.

  "I'm just giving Troy there a hard time. Not like he doesn't deserve it! It's nice to meet you, and I hope to see you around soon," Clyde finished and stuck out his hand.

  Nadinc smiled. "Thank you," she replied and shook hands with him.

  "I don't recall seeing you around here before."

  "Umm, I've been living in the visitor's quarters for the last week."

  "Ah, so, known Troy here long?"

  Nadinc blushed and shook her head. "No, we umm, just met the other day."

  Clyde looked at Nadinc again, then gave Troy a sidelong glance.

  "Is that so?"

  Nadinc nodded and latched onto Troy's left arm while he was standing there with a smile.

  "Well, I'll be sure to spread the happy news," Clyde said with a big grin, looking back at Troy.

  "You do that," Troy said. "Maybe after I get back from my next rotation, we can do dinner or something."

  "You serious?" Clyde said, looking surprised.

  "Clyde, believe it or not, yes, I'm serious. Now, please excuse me before I get cranky, but I was up all night rescuing my brother Mike—not that I'm sure he needed to be rescued."

  "Oh, yeah. I heard about that. Say hi to him for me when you see him next. Go have fun, you two!"

  "We will if we ever get the chance to," Troy grumbled softly.

  "So that was your boss?" Nadinc asked, looking at him.

  "More or less."

  "But I thought you were a prince?"

  "Things are a little different here. You'll figure it out soon enough."

  "But your father?"

  "Dad wants us to learn our jobs from the bottom up. Yeah, eventually, I'll be in charge, but Clyde there has been doing this for Dad for over twenty years now, and honestly, the man is good at his job. So until he retires, I work for him."

  "Oh! So what do you do?"

  "I'm a scout. We patrol the borders, both on the inside and outside of the DEZ—that's the Demon Exclusion Zone—looking for intelligence, as well as anything that looks like brewing trouble."

  "And you do it with him?"

  Troy snorted. "No, I do it by myself. We all work alone, unless we're hunting someone down, then we bring a magic user with us. But seeing as I am a magic user, I often do those jobs by myself."

  Nadinc stopped, took a half step back, and looked him over, while maintaining her grip on his arm. Troy was a pretty buff guy, especially in his hybrid form. She noticed then that he had that look about him. The one she'd seen on more than one of the ifrit and djinn warriors.

  Smiling again, she hugged him.

  "What was that for?" he asked with a smile as he started walking again.

  "I really got lucky, Master Troy."

  Grinning, he shook his head and resisted the urge to say 'yeah, you did.' Because the way she'd said it, he wasn't sure she'd get the joke.

  "Just Troy, Nadi," he replied as they continued on to the house.

  "Is that all she owns?" his mother Roxy asked, coming up and looking into the box as he headed up towards his bedroom.

  "She came here with nothing, Mom. You know that."

  Roxy shook her head, tsking.

  "You know what? Get dressed, I'll roust Dae, and we can all go do some shopping."

  "Shopping?" Troy said, looking down at his mother.

  "Yes, shopping, and bring your wallet. You're going to be spending a lot of money, if I have anything to say about it." Roxy smiled sweetly up at him then. "Oh, and guess what? I do!"

  Latching onto Nadinc, Roxy took her along with her. "We'll be out at Dae's Osprey. Don't take your time."

  "Yes, Mom." Troy sighed as the two of them walked off.

  "Shopping?" Nadinc asked. "For what?"

  "For clothes, of course. And shoes, and underwear—and, well, whatever else you need."

  "Umm, but I have clothes."

  "Nadi, you're living with us now, and you're my son's woman. That means you're entitled to spend his money on not only things for yourself, but the kinds of things he's going to like seeing you wear."

  Nadinc blushed. "But we haven't even had sex yet!"

  "You haven't?" Roxy asked with a sly grin.

  "Every time we try to be alone, someone keeps interrupting us," Nadinc confessed with a guilty look on her face. "Now I know how all those men I teased back home felt! I want him! And I can tell he wants me, but every time we get a chance…"

  Roxy laughed, and then gave Nadinc a hug. "And yet he's already made it clear to all of us that you're his now. Oh, wait until Dae hears about this!"

  "Why?" Nadinc asked, giving her a worried look.

  "Because that's a little like when Troy's father grabbed Dae, until he finally just dragged her off to bed in front of all her relatives at a big party!"

  "So you don't think that he'll…" she looked a little worried then, "stop chasing me?"

  "Nope," Roxy said with a shake of her head. "Though I have to admit, the idea of making him wait and watching him get all frustrated is one I think we're all going to enjoy. Just a little."

  "But I'm frustrated, too!"

  "Oh, I'm sure spending all his money will help with that!" Roxy said with a laugh as she patted Nadinc's arm.

  #

  Troy sighed as he followed them along, relegated to the usual job of all men on a shopping trip—carrying. Peg and Cali had also decided to come along, and they'd decided that to really do this trip justice, they'd go to Las Vegas. At least in Daelyn's hopped-up Osprey, it was only about an hour away.

  What Troy really wanted to do was take Nadinc to bed, fuck her brains out, then pass out and sleep until he had to get up tomorrow morning and catch the six am flight out to Fort 105 to start looking for those damn lava tubes.