"Are you sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure, and how about you bend over so I can smack you one upside the head?" she said with a smile. "Michael, we're your wives, and believe it or not, your happiness is important to us. There are four more campaign trips until the election. We can always bow out of one or two of them if you need some time away from all that, to come back here to check up on our home and territory to make sure it's okay."

  "Oh, so it's our territory now, is it?" he joked.

  "Of course! You own it, and we own you !" Kerrie said with laugh.

  Smiling, he pulled her close and gave her a nice, long kiss.

  "Keep that up, and we'll miss the flight," she said, panting when he broke the kiss.

  "If I hadn't already told Troy we'd be there, trust me, I would! Now, let's go do the rounds."

  Kansas City and Points East

  "Mike, I'm glad you could rejoin us," Steve said, coming over to Mihalis and the girls as they met up at the campaign stop for the day. "Umm, if you want to hit me, can we wait until after we're done?"

  "Troy called and made it clear it was his fault, so I'll be punching him… maybe."

  "He did?" Steve said, looking surprised.

  "Surprised me, too. Any idea what he's up to?"

  "He flew out last night with his wives, and they hit DC this morning. I don't know what he's planning, and honestly, I've got more important things right now than to try and find out."

  Mihalis ducked his head in a nod of agreement. "I figure he'll tell us when the time is right. Oh, I'm not doing the Secret Service thing anymore; someone might figure it out, seeing as I got blown up. But I am going to be on stage."

  "I thought you didn't like talking to the crowd?"

  "As a lion."

  Steve laughed. "Okay, we can make that work."

  "Also Talin, Caitin, Taeria, Kerrie, and Jade are going to be helping in the Green Room, and with security, and anything else that impacts Rika or Azure. So you might want to warn the Secret Service types that they have to listen to my girls, or they're going to have a very uncomfortable conversation with me."

  "After what Sean said to them, I don't think you'll have any issues. He also told me the people who were after Rika are all dead, and I suspect he has plans for the ones who are interested in Azure?"

  "He's waiting until after the election. I wish I could say they won't try again, but they're still trying to kill me, and I've lost count of how many of them I've killed."

  "Lord Glaven's continuing failures where House Valens is involved has been causing him a lot of problems with his allies, as well as his ability to influence others. He's losing face over his pursuit of something everyone thinks was unwise."

  "Oh? How'd you learn about that?"

  Steve chuckled. "Sawyer, who else?"

  "You've been talking to Sawyer about this?"

  "Actually, we've been discussing political campaigns and propaganda techniques. As House Uunregarten's destruction is going to figure into his push to take the crown, he's been keeping me informed about what's going on there."

  "Ah, okay. So what's the plan for today?"

  "We go on in an hour, so I guess we get Azure and Rika into wardrobe and makeup, along with whoever's going to help them, and I suspect you're going to need a lot of brushing?"

  "Yes, he's going to need a lot of brushing," Rika said with a grin.

  "Jade and I want to go over the layout and security with Tisha," Talin said, speaking up. "Taeria and Kerrie are going to help out Rik and Az, and Caitin is going to help Michael with those things he needs hands for and not paws."

  "Ah, I see you've given this some thought," Steve said, looking at the girls as Talin named them.

  "Not me, this is all Talin," Mihalis said with a smile at her. "The last few days, I've been distracted by other things. She and the girls have decided to take a much more active role in making sure Rik and Az don't have anything to worry about."

  "Great, well, grab your things, let me take you down to the buses, and we can get this show in gear. I've been working on a few minor tweaks to the girls' routine, so we can address what happened in Florida."

  "Are you going to tell them we were kidnapped?" Rika asked.

  "Nope. The story is, after your recent ordeal, which Mihalis here saved you from, you were both a little shaken up, and he thought it would be for the best if you left the campaign. But neither of you wanted people to think you were running away, so you asked him to come back, and here you are!"

  "And him going around full lion?" Azure asked next.

  "So he can keep an eye on you and not be distracted by giving interviews."

  "You know he can speak like that, right?"

  "The press doesn't!" Steve said with a grin.

  "Oh! Right!" Azure said, and all the others chuckled as well.

  Once they got their stuff in the bus they'd be traveling in, Talin took Jade off to go find Tisha, while Rik and Az went to work on their appearance. Mihalis shifted into his lion self, then, and Caitin quickly drafted a couple of people to help her with brushing his coat and mane out. Kerrie and Taeria helped eventually as well, once Azure and Rika were finished with their outfits and makeup.

  "You know, you should create a spell that does all this for you," Caitin grumbled when they were finally done.

  "But I enjoy this more," Mihalis replied with a deep, contented rumble.

  "Honestly, I do, too," Taeria said with a warm smile. "I don't think I'll ever get enough of putting my hands on him."

  "Well, yeah, I guess there is that," Caitin agreed.

  "Ah! Great! Help!" Tisha said when Talin and Jade found her. "Did you bring any comm gear?"

  "Umm, no?" Talin replied.

  "That's okay, I can get you both set up easily enough. With Troy and his wives gone, things have been hectic. They really were picking up a lot of the load on the vetting and securing of the venue set-ups. Chloe and Mira have been running the Green Room for me the last few shows as well."

  "What about the Secret Service?"

  "Oh, they're still here, and they'll voice concerns, but after Sean read 'em the riot act, they've become a lot more respectful of any requests anyone named Valens makes. Which of course now includes all of you."

  "So what's the job?" Jade asked.

  "I want you both to go out there, and starting with the stage and working your way backwards, check all our security. Normally Troy and Chloe would have done that by now, but I want you to understand it, so when we get to St. Louis tomorrow, you can handle it without my help. Once we get the show started, one or both of you can take over the Green Room and run that. Terrie will give you the list and your cues. She'll be on stage with Steve and me."

  "What do you want me to do with Taeria, Kerrie, and Caitin?"

  "Use your best judgment as to where you want them and what you want them doing. The Secret Service are good at finding the conventional issues. Troy's been dealing with a lot of the unconventional ones. But honestly? My biggest concern is if someone makes a play for Azure again. At least the folks who were after Rika are all dead."

  Talin nodded. "Yeah, we're worried about that, too, though I don't know that Lord Glaven is going to be able to do anything for a while yet. At least not anything as well put together as last time. His attacks on Michael recently have become pretty pathetic."

  "His attacks on Michael… oh, right! I haven't been keeping up with that; I've been a bit pre-occupied. How was the last one pathetic? Didn't they send like seven people after him?"

  "They sent low-end house members, barely trained to fight. The ones Michael captured were quick to give their oaths and tell us exactly what had happened to them. Apparently Lord Glaven has no idea of what's going on in House Valens and has been making some very misguided assumptions."

  "You'd think he'd know better by now," Tisha said with a snort. "Anyway, let me get you hooked up with some com gear. I'll make sure someone gets the rest of your wives set up. Then we can get to it."

  "Lead on!"

  #

  Lord Glaven looked over the report a second time, then scowling, he turned to Gerald, who was now his senior-most assistant—he never called them 'advisors', lest they take on undeserved airs.

  "Whose idea was this?"

  "Santor's, milord."

  "Oh? Please tell me, what is his excuse!"

  Gerald looked surprised at the outburst. "Excuse, milord?"

  "He sent ten women to kill that demon, nine of whom were exceedingly inexperienced and ill-trained members of the house guard, and all of whom are now quite obviously dead . I would like to know just what bout of insanity caused him to do this, and is it only temporary? Or has he completely lost his faculties?"

  "They were only minor members, milord. I'm surprised their fate concerns you."

  "What concerns me is my House being made to look both incompetent and foolish, sending out a squad whose sole purpose was to die! Now, answer the question!"

  Gerald stiffened and nodded.

  "Santor hoped the incubus would be distracted by the beauty of the women we sent long enough that the one in charge would be able to kill him with the magical weapons we equipped her with."

  "And why would he be distracted?" Lord Glaven asked in a low tone.

  "Well, he saved Tanith and took her into his family's House. Santor thought her beauty caused him to spare her."

  "He spared Cenal and took him in! Yet I didn't see him rushing to save any of the males who were in Tanith's group! Did you?"

  Gerald sighed. "No, milord, I did not."

  "You are to let Santor know that I am not pleased with this. It made us look both petty and foolish," Lord Glaven said with a growl. "I do not appreciate either. I do not want anyone else to be sent after that demon, or any of the other demons in House Valens."

  "But, milord! They are a threat to us all!"

  "And the poorly executed plans of my underlings does exactly what to stop that threat? Other than to draw their attention to me ?"

  Gerald's eyes widened just a hair. Lord Glaven had ordered the previous attacks on the demon, the dark elf incubus known as 'Mihalis', personally. He'd approved all Gerald's predecessor's actions and had made it quite clear that he wanted the turncoat Azure brought back to him, alive, to face the consequences of her own actions.

  All those actions had failed, to the point where Tomm and nearly all of his men had disappeared, never to be seen again, along with one very expensive jet that had been Glaven's own property. There was no doubting that all of them were now dead at the hands of the incubus or other Valens' House members after what had happened to the elf Tomm had allied with in his attack.

  And now his lord had just pushed all responsibility for those actions off onto the ones who'd died following his orders and doing his will.

  While Gerald wasn't surprised that, along with failure, you were gifted the blame, these weren't minor actions. These were not small affairs. They were things Lord Glaven himself had championed, along with the claim that these things were critical to the affairs of House Uunregarten.

  That didn't bode well for the future of House affairs, he was certain.

  "What are your orders, milord?"

  "For now, we will abide. We must look to our allies and our alliances and make sure they are maintained. We are to look to our own interests and make sure they are being cared for. We are to look to our own matters and make sure all things in our own House are as they should be. I have heard the goblin king fears there is a new contender who will usurp his crown."

  "The goblin king, milord?" Gerald asked. He'd heard the rumors as well, faint as they may be. However, the affairs of the goblins were typically of no concern to dark elf Houses.

  "While our intervention at such an event would not be welcome, it still bears investigation, with all the other events we are facing in this challenging time."

  "I will keep that in mind while dealing with your orders, milord."

  "Be sure that you do. You are dismissed, Gerald."

  Lord Glaven leaned back in his chair as Gerald left the room, closing the door behind him. He should have ordered Tomm to just kill the traitorous bitch, rather than having her brought back here so he could show her his displeasure personally, while displaying his might once again to the other members of the House, as well as their allies.

  Personally, he didn't care about the incubus or the succubi his intelligence head told him now inhabited House Valens. He was a bit surprised that the lions would take up with such beings, but then, he'd been surprised when a lion had taken in those former House Tlyysengarten members he'd ordered sold into slavery to the human mages. He'd looked up the history of their ancestors and knew there had been a time when some of his people had retained those powers—until the lions had put an end to such things.

  Those events had led to a shift in the power among many of the houses, as they'd lost a good many of their most powerful members. He had always thought the lions had killed the 'cubi, but apparently they'd simply taken away their powers. That they were now returning them to some of the members of House Valens made sense when one remembered House Valens was presided over by a lion.

  At least the lions were well known for not leaving their domain or involving themselves with things that happened outside it. Especially not while dealing with the problems of the djevels when they were invading, or for the years afterwards they spent cleaning up after each event. Which, after the way Tomm and that Itham idiot had drawn their ire, was good for him, as well as his House. Every elf, and nearly every dark elf, who had been involved with that debacle had been killed.

  Hopefully they would forget their anger in the next hundred or so years they'd be dealing with that problem.

  #

  Mihalis didn't shift out of his lion form until they'd gotten back to the hotel. To be honest, he'd enjoyed it. A lot. Taeria had told him the folks in the audience had been quite impressed with the very large black lion that had padded up onto the stage with his wives. His lion had just soaked it all up. There was something to be said for being able to just be you in front of everyone. People seemed to forget that, at his most basic, Mihalis was a lion.

  So he was actually looking forward to being himself at the upcoming events. He knew they had a dinner to go to tonight, another fundraising event for Steve, and he was sorely tempted to ask if he could attend as he was now. If nothing else, the looks on the faces of the others there would surely make it enjoyable.

  "Somebody looks happy," Talin joked as they got to the hotel room.

  "I'm debating asking Steve if I can show up for dinner like this," he admitted.

  "I wish we could," Rika and Azure replied together.

  "Really? Why's that?" Talin asked.

  "Because then we wouldn't have to talk to anyone," Azure said with a shrug. "I mean, we don't mind them staring at us and drooling…"

  "Because we're supposed to be worshipped!" Rika said with a snigger.

  "…but what they often want to talk about, we're not interested in."

  "Unless it's clothes!"

  "Right, unless it's clothes," Azure agreed.

  "What about makeup?" Caitin asked.

  "Mmm, maybe," Rika said with a thoughtful look, "but we usually don't wear all that much. Perfume, however…"

  "Yeah, some perfumes are worth talking about," Azure agreed.

  "Isn't that just a little, oh, I don't know, stereotypical?" Jade asked while looking surprised.

  "Why's that?" Rika asked.

  "Well, because people always say that's all women care about!"

  Rika looked at Azure, and they both shrugged.

  "I don't know? I mean, it really is all we know about—"

  "Professionally," Azure interjected.

  "—professionally," Rika agreed. "I mean, we're models. That's what we do."

  "Umm," Jade replied looking a little embarrassed, "I, err, right, guess I forgot about that."

  "How could you forget about that?" Caitin asked, a little surprised.

  "Umm, maybe because I'm not all that into clothes?"

  "What? Blasphemy!" Kerrie shouted, and then laughed as Jade turned and glared at her.

  "Yeah, seriously, Jade, what gives? With that body, I'd think you'd be all about rockin' the wardrobe," Taeria asked.

  "Ummm, well, me and Dad used to go shooting a lot… then there was all that judo and kick-boxing, and there were other things I was more interested in spending money on."

  "Like?"

  Jade looked a little embarrassed, and in a small voice, answered, "Weapons."

  Mihalis almost laughed as both Talin and Caitin perked right up.

  "The hell you say!" Talin said with a big smile. "Michael, when we get back to your parents' estate, you are taking the three of us shopping!"

  "Hey! I like guns, too, you know!" Kerrie put in.

  "Okay, four of us!"

  "Aren't there enough guns and knives and other things in Bartertown already?" Mihalis asked as he sat on his butt, enjoying the byplay.

  "Not new ones!"

  "Really, Mike, that's like asking us to buy old clothes!" Rika said with a cheeky grin.

  Mihalis rolled his eyes. "Fine. Maybe when Troy rejoins us, we can hit whatever gun stores we run across while we're not doing rallies."

  "Troy?" Jade asked.

  "Troy's a gun nut. Well, for a Valens, he's a gun nut. I think he inherited it from his mom."

  "Mom Roxy is a gun nut?" Jade said, looking surprised.

  "Her father was a sheriff for like, twenty years. While my mom has a lot of guns, that's more because she likes to kill things. Mom Roxy is like a collector and buys guns like Mom Jolene buys shoes. Dad built her a vault. A very large vault."

  "Wow, I had no idea!"

  "Ask her to show them to you the next time we're there. Just make sure you've got a day or two to spare," Mihalis said with a rumble. "At least now I know what to get you for Christmas."

  "A gun vault?" Jade asked, grinning.

  "Umm, maybe next year," he said as the others laughed. "Well, how about one of you find out what Steve has planned for us tonight?"