Chapter 26

Boyd was glad to get the night off.

He had been here a week to his way of thinking, and a hell of a lot had happened. He’d not really had a lot of time to absorb all the changes to his life. He loved his new body. He had always been an active man, and being stuck in that Care Facility had been draining the life out of him.

He had gone further each morning for his run, and he was still waiting for the aches and pains to catch up with him. So far, he had just felt stronger and more at home in the new, improved version of himself.

The fact he could do awesome magic was still fresh, and he had a feeling that when he had time, he was sure to get into trouble with practising it. He already knew how to blink, and that was something he had no plans to stop doing.

Boyd greeted the family at dinner, and they briefly discussed his ideas. They all seemed delighted with his suggestions and seemed to feel they were the best options for both people.

The issue he still didn’t have a solution for was how to distribute his people. He knew that, as sure as the sun rose, some of his people would end up with people who would try to use and abuse them.

“We have been thinking about this too, Boyd,” Julia told him. “As painful as it is, we have asked each family willing to take and provide care and training to humans to send in an application and state what they are offering. We are hoping to match them with the person who best suits them.”

“We have floated the idea of an indentureship since we knew your people would no more like being a slave than we would. In saying that, quite a few are not going to like the fact that they can’t demand children from the person they are looking after.”

“Tough, if their application has any inkling of that desire, reject it,” Boyd replied. “My people aren’t mail order brides that will be at the mercy of the person doing the ordering.”

This got him some giggles as they got the gist of what he meant.

“They also get to interview the person selected and put their pitch to them. I want a mage present for the interviews, and your people have to wear a truth cuff like mine during the interview. We need to see if we can whittle down the number and provide at least the options for each person.”

“Oh. Some of the families will not like that,” Octavia replied.

“Sorry, but I do have to put the care of the person at the top of the list. They will have enough trouble adjusting to a new society and a new body without being abused on top of it.”

“On that note, you’re not going to be happy that another four women were returned to the caverns today,” Julia stated.

“What were the reasons?” Boyd asked as he grabbed his glass of wine.

“Basically, they were issues of incompatibilities. Mostly on the part of the family that purchased them. They thought they were getting a slave to have babies, and then we told them to not touch the person.”

“Well, those families go to the bottom of the list as far as I’m concerned. I have no problems with your people trying to woo mine, but they both have to have the same expectations. Although, with women, those change by the damn minute,” Boyd added.

That earned him some good-natured scowls and a punch in the arm from Julia, who was sitting beside him. Boyd chuckled and wiggled in his seat to adjust things down below. For some reason, Julia was having a decided effect on him tonight. Junior was going up and down like a yoyo.

The talk turned to things on the home front, and Boyd got to relax. He was damn sure he got lucky when he got purchased by Julia. He’d had no issues with anyone at the table and was even starting to feel that they were his new family.

After dinner, Boyd went up to his room. He stripped off and headed to the shower. He had a need to relieve the ache in his balls. He knew what he really needed, but he wasn’t sure how to ask. He was halfway across the floor when he heard a knock at his door.

“Hang on,” he yelled out and went and grabbed the towel to wrap around his waist.

He went and opened the door to Julia. One whiff of her and towel started tenting. He moved to let her in, and when she faced him, her eyes dropped to the towel and what was trying to escape from it.

“Hi, what can I do for you, Julia?” Boyd asked.

“Anything you like,” She replied huskily and licked her lips.

Boyd chuckled, “You have no idea how big that list is.”

“Oh, it looks pretty big,” She replied.

“So, what brought this on?” Boyd asked and then could have slapped himself. “Shit, when you people ovulate, do you express a lot of pheromones?”

“You mean the smell we get?” Julia asked.

“Yeah, what is with that? You have been wafting it at me all through dinner?”

Julia shrugged, “As you know to a certain extent, we can control when we come into season. However, once we start, we can’t stop it. The longer we go without having our first child, the worse it gets. That’s what got those two Therians who forced those two women into trouble.”