Chapter 3

I made it back to my car without being accosted by anyone, unless Rho’s non-stop comments on everything from the color of the sky to the way that I walk counts. I unlocked and climbed into my car. She was already in the passenger seat.

“You do know how much worse that could have gone, don’t you?” she asked in a sober tone.

Her question didn’t bother me as much as her sudden change in personality and clothes. Gone were the skin-tight threads, replaced by an elegant dress and corset. Her hair went from fairly straight to curly and – I couldn’t think of another way to put it – huge! It wasn’t touching the ceiling of the car, but I couldn’t imagine how it wasn’t. However distracting her new look was, I focused on her question. “Yes, I know. The Sheriff could have shown up with a tactical team of his own with the intent of taking me in one way or other.” Then I arched an eyebrow. “And why the sudden change? A moment ago you were the poster child for ADHD.”

She waved off my comment. “That was nothing. I was merely recording irrelevant data.”

I stared at her for a moment, both taking in her new appearance and letting what she said soak in. “Just how much irrelevant data do you record?”

She nodded. “Quite a bit, actually. I’m beginning to understand why you don’t recall every detail with perfect clarity.”

“And that is?” I asked.

She rubbed her temple. “It’s giving me a headache.”

I frowned. “Is that a joke or are you really in pain?”

She looked at her own hand. “Well, I don’t actually feel anything. I just understand that is what I should be experiencing.”

“And if you really had a headache?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Then something would be wrong.”

“So, the pain you feel would be similar to ours,” I said. “It’s telling you something’s wrong.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then what can I do to dial back how much data you collect?”

She gave me a small shake of her head. Anymore and she would have been whipping me with her hair. “Don’t worry about it. If I have a real problem, you’ll be the second to know.”

I nodded, understanding that she would know about any problems before she told me. Then I pulled out my phone, dialed Leanne, and put her on speaker. It wasn’t so Rho could hear the entire conversation. I had to get home and pack, and talking via the speaker was safer than holding the phone while driving.

Leanne picked up pretty quickly. “Seth?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m done with the Sheriff.”

“What did he want?”

“As expected, information on Valory,” I said. “Even though I didn’t have anything to tell him.”

“Of course,” she said. “You heading to your apartment?”

I glanced at Rho and almost said, “We” but I stopped myself and said, “Yeah, I’m leaving the parking lot now.”

“Pulling out of the parking lot now?” she asked, sounding insulted. “Why did you wait until you got to your car to call me?”

I picked up the phone and held it close to my mouth. In a husky whisper, I said, “So I might hear your every little sigh.”

“Mmm, it’s a good thing you’re not taking me to your apartment now,” she said with a purr. “You wouldn’t get much packing done.”

I smiled. “I should be back by to pick you up in a couple of hours.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind me using your car?” she asked.

“It’s better than paying for long term parking,” I said. “Besides, it gives you an excuse to meet me at the airport when we get back.”

“Okay, see you soon,” she said and then blew me kisses over the phone.

I hung up.

“Why not just take her to your apartment?” Rho asked.

I looked at her and pointed at the phone. “You were here for that conversation, right?”

She smiled at me and leaned my way a bit. “Yes. Yes I was.”

I grinned. “You’re incorrigible.”

There was only mild traffic on the way to my apartment, probably due to how early in the day it was. We made the trip fairly quickly.

Six weeks prior, I had not only become a Padrone, as I explained to Sheriff Conroy, but I set up a new House. A House isn’t a physical structure, but a group, like a club. In this case, my House, House Ursae, was considered to be centralized at the apartment complex I lived in. In fact, many of my House members and Stirpi had moved into the apartments there, which made it easier for them to find me should something come up that required my attention. For almost the first month, I had visitors daily. Only in the last couple of weeks had things tapered off. This week, I asked for no visitors unless it was a dire emergency, because I had exams. Surprisingly, nothing dire came up.

I pulled into my usual parking spot in front of my apartment. On either side of me were vehicles I didn’t know. That wasn’t completely unusual, since I didn’t know most of the vehicles driven by my House members. I sat in my car for a moment, letting myself enjoy the quiet before being bombarded by issues that had been held off until now.

“You can’t delay forever,” Rho said.

I nodded. “I know, I know.” Then I opened my door and climbed out.

The vehicle parked on my side of my car was a black SUV. It immediately put me in mind of the ones the Tactical teams and Sheriff Dalton drove. I wondered if perhaps Sheriff Conroy hadn’t been completely honest with me about me being arrested. I didn’t see anyone sitting in the SUV and it was a different make and model that those of Sheriff Dalton and the tactical team. I looked up at my apartment. The lights were on. Katrina would be in there at the very least. Maybe whoever owned the SUV was already inside? There was only one way to find out.

Struggling with the desire to conjure a shield before going into my own apartment, I opened the door.

Katrina looked up from the island that separated my little kitchen from the rest of the living area. She smiled and bounced off her stool to land in front of me. “Welcome home, Master!” Even with a cold breeze blowing into the apartment, Katrina wore one of her favored thin – almost see-through – tops without a bra so that her huge, magnificent breasts would bounce and wobble with her every move. I had a fascination with large breasts, as was evident with my choices in both my Fonti and my Stirpi. The only person bound to me who didn’t have big beautiful breasts was Michael. And everyone agreed that he did not need breasts of any kind.

I pulled Katrina to me and kissed her. It wasn’t a quick peck or a brotherly kiss either. I enjoyed kissing all of my Fonti, and most of my Stirpi. There was something about the act that made our relationships so much more intimate than simple blind lust could provide. And while simple blind lust has its perks too, I couldn’t afford it today, so, before Katrina was encouraged to use those full soft lips and luscious tongue on other parts of my body, I pulled away.

Katrina’s eyelids were heavy and she bit her lower lip. They were signs of just how close she was to ripping off her own clothes in an effort to encourage me to take her. Katrina was my one true sub or bottom. To her, sex was love, and she wanted to be loved a lot, but she never initiated sex between us. If she did, we would probably have sex almost constantly. Not that it wouldn’t be fun, but I had other responsibilities. Not to mention, my other Fonti would most likely show real, verbal and visceral signs of jealousy should I show that kind of favoritism.

Katrina stared at me for a few more seconds and then blinked away the reverie. She smiled up at me and asked, “How did you English Final go?”

I nodded and closed the door behind me. “I think I did pretty well.” Then I looked around the living room. A number of people were standing, watching the two of us. “Who do we have here?”

A woman with hair so dark black it had purple highlights stepped out from behind the others. “Hello, Seth.”

It was Raven. The last time I talked to her, she was leaving town after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt by the Syndicate. Today, she stood in my living room – for the first time. I took a second to take in her outfit. The two times I visited her in her home, she wore the most interesting garments. Today, she chose to wear a tan striped knit top that not only stopped just below her breasts, but did nothing to try to hug her where the garment ended above her toned abs. She wore a pair of pants that certainly matched the top but covered a lot more of her lower body. Her effort to fend off the cold outside was evident by the black leather jacket on the back of my couch. I moved closer with a smile. “Hello, Raven. It’s good to know you got away.”

She nodded and then waved around. “It seems a lot has changed since you last stopped by my place for advice.”

I glanced at the woman and man standing behind Raven. They stood close to her as if they were with her. I nodded. “Yes. Who are your friends?”

Raven turned and held out a hand to the woman. “This is Maritza, my cousin from Florida.” Then she nodded at the man. “And this is Ricardo, a friend of the family.”

I wasn’t sure whether ‘friend’ was code for anything and didn’t have a chance to ask. Maritza, a taller and more curvaceous version of Raven closed the distance between the two of us. Her eyes sparkled with eagerness, she licked her lips, and something about her poise told me she was gearing up to do something she really wanted to do. I glanced past her to Raven, but that was the only response I could display before Maritza pulled off her own coat with a flourish.

I had always been drawn to Raven due to her natural sexual appeal. Maritza had that and then some. Her body had that same tanned look, probably from living in Florida where I had heard that the winters are mild enough, even warm enough, for the residents to enjoy sunbathing all year around. There was something more to her skin tone though, something that made me think ‘caramel’. She wore a red top that only just covered her nipples and areolas, but did nothing to restrain or support her full, round breasts. Her abs weren’t as toned as Raven’s but they were smooth and trim. She also wore a skirt that only barely covered the tops of her thighs, and the length of her legs were left unadorned. Apparently, she was dependent on the coat she had dropped to the floor for warmth, but it was plenty warm in my apartment for her attire.

I couldn’t say what my expression was, other than I seemed to respond exactly the way Maritza hoped. She dropped to her knees in front of me, ran her hands up my legs to grab both of my cheeks, and then leaned in, planted her nose in my crotch, and inhaled deeply.

Between the sight of her incredible body and her directness, I was turned on.

A few of the Magi who came to petition for admittance into my House had done similar things: dress provocatively, and made aggressive sexual advances. It was obvious with each of them that sex was not only expected, but hoped for. I had always had one or two Stirpi around to help make sure things didn’t get out of hand. One of them was Chloe Van Houten. Of all of my Stirpi, she was the one that I wanted sex with the most. I still couldn’t pin-point exactly why, but when something like this happened and I didn’t think I could restrain myself, she would cast a little spell that helped me hold off on those urges until we were alone together later. Then she would enjoy all of that pent up need.

Chloe wasn’t here now, and I had made the mistake of growing dependent on her for that.

Maritza leaned back enough to look at my crotch. She could tell, being so close, that I was as hard as steel. She smiled, let go of my butt, and proceeded to work at opening my pants.

I tore my eyes off of her and looked at Raven. She stood idly by, watching as if seeing a re-run on TV. I looked at Ricardo. He had a similar expression. They weren’t going to be any help. I looked back down at Maritza. She had my belt undone, the button unbuttoned, and was pulling down my zipper.

I didn’t believe that Raven had brought her cousin all the way from Florida just to have sex with me, when she had yet to have sex with me herself. And while sex was used as a form of introduction between Magi, I still had issues with the idea of doing something so intimate with someone without getting to know them first. It marked me as odd among other Magi, but I saw it as respectful.