Chapter 20: A Warm Reunion and a Dish Best Served Cold

I self-edit and admit editing isn’t my greatest skill. I apologize in advance for anything I missed.

Ethan slowly returned to the waking world, very conscious of the two naked women curled up against him. Without moving or opening his eyes, he laid there feeling their silky skin pressed against him and hearing the soft sound of their breathing as their chests rose and fell against him.

It was heavenly.

He didn’t move in order to avoid waking them. Instead, he just lay there enjoying the feeling. He wasn’t sure why they were both head-over-heels in love with him, but he knew exactly why he was in love with them. The only thing missing was Taloni; then everything would be perfect.

He opened his eyes and glanced down. Beth’s blonde hair was draped over the right side of this chest while Alana’s chocolate-brown tresses were draped over the left side. They were both pressed tightly up against him, legs bent. Somehow, one of his legs had ended up over both of Alana’s, and it was a mirror image with the blonde teen too. The girl’s legs were touching each other too, in an undeniably affectionate way. He had his arms around them protectively, and they were sleeping peacefully; without a worry or trouble in the world.

He smiled.

He turned his mind toward Taloni, and discovered her emotions were abuzz with happy things.

Good morning honey. He thought to her.

Good morning master! She thought back to him, her tone bubbling with excitement.

What has you in such a fine mood?

You’ll be back today, right? And you’re bringing Beth, right?

Yeah, I think so. He replied as he savored the thought of being with all of his wives at once. That’s the plan anyway. Is that what you’re so excited about?

Absolutely! The joy in her tone was palpable.

He chuckled. I’m glad you’re so excited.

“Hmm?” Alana stirred as his chuckling disturbed her head.

Beth yawed sleepily. “What?”

“Morning ladies.” He said, kissing both of them on the tops of their heads.

Beth looked up at him, yawned, then smiled. “You have no idea how wonderful it is to wake up next to you.”

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, then looked into her beautiful blue eyes and sighed. “Actually, I think I do.”

Alana chuckled. “So, you think it’s wonderful to wake up next to yourself?”

They all chuckled.

Alana looked up at him, affection and subtle desire written deeply into her rich hazel eyes. He leaned down and tenderly pressed his lips to hers. Their kiss ended after a moment and she looked completely, perfectly, and incandescently happy as she smiled at him.

“Hi.” He said softly.

“Hi.” She replied just as softly. She looked at him for a moment, closed her eyes as if savoring something, and then laid her head back down on his chest.

The wood elf and the human teen snuggled back up against him. It felt so incredibly good to have them there. It was like a balm that soothed away any worries or cares from his mind.

“Ladies, I feel so incredibly lucky to have you both here.” He said with a sigh as he gave them both a squeeze. They both made a contented sounds and then tried to snuggle in closer, which was hard because they’d already tried once.

“I think I speak for both of us when I say: ‘we feel the same way’.” Alana replied.

He chuckled. “So, you feel like I’m lucky to have you both too?”

Beth leaned up slightly and looked at him with a flirtatious expression. “No, I feel lucky to be had.”

“Hear, hear.” Alana agreed with a sly look. “I love being had by him too.”

Beth blushed slightly and then smiled. “Ethan, I love being your wife. It’s ... I’m incredibly honored.”

Alana nodded, her expression more serious this time. “Beth’s right; it is such an honor.”

He looked between them; one set of blue eyes and one set of hazel eyes, both shining with adoration and affection. They were being utterly genuine and completely honest. If their expressions hadn’t convinced him, the feelings coming over their bonds would’ve.

“I ... I don’t know what to say.” He finally got out.

“Say we’ll always be by your side.” Beth replied. “Say you’ll never leave us.”

“Say you’ll always want us.” Alana added.

He smiled. “You’ll always be by my side, I’ll never leave you, and I’ll always want you; both of you.”

They both closed their eyes as if savoring his words then both let out small sighs and snuggled back up against him.

“And Taloni too?” Beth asked.

“Definitely Taloni too.” He sighed, thinking about his delightful third wife.

“Good.” The blonde said. “I can’t wait to officially meet her. She seems so nice.”

“She is.” Alana and Ethan said at the exact same time.

“You two were seriously made for each other.” Beth said with a chuckle as she rolled her eyes.

“Thank you.” Alana said. “But you were too.”

“Yeah, but not as much as you.” The blonde said to her. Oddly, she didn’t seem upset by her statement.

“You really think so?” The wood elf asked.

“I do.” Beth said with absolute conviction. Again, she strangely didn’t seem very upset by that ... if she was at all.

“You really think that, and it doesn’t bother you?” She pressed.

The blonde teen nodded. “I do, and it doesn’t.”

“Why?” Ethan asked.

“If you saw a couple who was already completely, perfectly, and incandescently happy, yet they invited you into their life, why would that make you sad?”

“Yes, but I’m married to you too.” Ethan countered. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re...” He tried to think of the right word.

Beth put a hand on his chest. “I know you love me, and I don’t think you love me less than Alana. I just think there’s something special between you and her that none of your other wives will ever share. It doesn’t mean you love us less — I think you love us all equally — it just means you share something special with her. You’re both wonderful people, so wouldn’t I be a terrible person if I had a problem with you two sharing something so wonderful?

Ethan and Alana stared at her.

“What?”

“You’ve really grown up.” He said.

“Yeah, where did all this maturity come from?” Alana echoed. “I almost feel like the immature kid in the room.”

Suddenly, the blonde looked self-conscious. “Um, thanks?”

“What happened on the Astral Plane?” Ethan asked, marveling at the change in his second wife.

“It’s a long story, and I bet Rachel would like to hear it.” Beth replied. “I would like her to hear it too, because I think she could help make sense of some of the parts dealing with magic.”

“Makes sense.” He nodded. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but why don’t you girls put some clothes on so Rachel can come in here; this is something I’ve got to hear.”

Kendra woke to the sound of birds singing in the early morning sun. She didn’t initially get up, move, or even open her eyes. For some reason, her mind kept going back to that hug from the little Fey girl, Taloni.

It was silly.

It was such a small thing; nothing really. It was just a hug and certainly not worth spending this much time thinking about. And yet ... Kendra tried to remember the last time she had received a hug like that. Nothing came to mind. She had received hugs before of course. Both from her squad mates and from others when undercover.

But none like that hug.

She wasn’t sure what made it different. Perhaps it was that Taloni knew exactly who she was, while no one ever had while undercover. Perhaps it was because the hug had been a completely open, unreservedly genuine hug, which she never received from her former squad mates. They had been trained not to trust just like she had, so they weren’t that open; that honest, that genuine.

She shook her head.

It was insane that it was taking up this much of her thought time. She opened her eyes, sat up, and looked toward the Argo with her spyglass. The only person on the deck was the high elf who had offered her a drink the previous night. Did she ever sleep?

She scanned the weather deck, seeing no one else. The bodies from the previous night had been removed and the blood mostly cleaned up. She resumed her silent vigil, watching the dragon’s airship to see what he was really like.

However, she was uncomfortably aware that a shift had taken place in her thoughts and motives. Whereas before she was determined to be nothing more than an observer who was gathering information, now she felt a definite sense of protectiveness toward the Fey who had hugged her.

She found it hard to fully determine whether her vigil was to spy on the dragon ... or to protect the Fey girl.

She wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Selene Dawson rubbed her eyes as an alert from her phone woke her up. A quick check revealed that it was just her mother fussing again. She decided to deal with it latter and dropped her phone on the passenger seat next to her.

She yawned, stretched, and wrinkled her nose at her morning breath. She looked around the empty SUV and at the half empty bags of snacks which where neatly closed on the passenger seat. Her neck was complaining about sleeping in the vehicle, but otherwise she felt fine.

She reached down and pulled on the headphones, vividly remembering the noises that had come from one of the rooms the previous night. Whoever this dragon-man was, he certainly seemed to have a way with the ladies in bed. It had been downright embarrassing to listen to, and unfortunately she hadn’t gotten much that was worth hearing.

Well, not information worth hearing anyway.

She had been determined not to miss anything they might say after their lovemaking, so she’d kept the headphones on the entire time. To say she was turned on by the end would be a massive understatement. Halfway through, she’d pulled out the emergency pad that she kept in her purse — just in case her period came early — and slipped it on to prevent her from actually soaking her underwear.

That had been a smart move.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t talked much afterward.

She grabbed a power bar from her stash, leaned forward as she adjusted the earmuffs, and prepared to listen. It was several seconds before she realized she wasn’t hearing anything at all, not even background noise. A quick check revealed she’d accidentally left the mic on all night and the battery was dead. It was a specialized rechargeable battery too, not a standard size you could get at a local store.

“Crap.” She sighed.

She leaned her head back on the headrest and decided to transition to a pure stakeout. They would need to go somewhere sooner or later, and she would be ready to follow them when they did.

Rachel shook her head at the pure absurdity of Beth’s story. Of course, the woman telling the story had been dead for two weeks and had been brought back to life by some by some... ‘unpleasant’ means. She shuddered. She didn’t think the blonde was lying, but the story was extremely fantastical, to put it mildly.

“So, you spent two weeks with an angel?” The redhead repeated. “An angel that taught you how to touch things on the Astral Plane, how to return to the Astral Plane, and gave you a lot of marriage advice?”

Beth nodded.

Ethan and Alana looked slightly dumbstruck, like they were still processing.

“I guess this is how Jason and Melinda felt yesterday.” Ethan finally said before looking at Beth. “That’s just amazing. I need to thank you for saving my life so many times; I had no idea.”

“Me too; thank you Beth.” Rachel said, remembering how something had pushed her out of the way during the fight with Gonorran. If Beth hadn’t done so, she was pretty sure she would’ve died.

Beth smiled. “I was happy to help. I spent so much time on the Astral Plane feeling useless that I was glad to do something.”

They talked over Beth’s story for a while longer, each of them asking many questions, which the blonde happily answered. She seemed much calmer and less flighty than Rachel remembered. There was no doubt that she’d grown up a lot during the two weeks that she had been dead.

The irony of the thought didn’t escape her notice.

Eventually, there was a brief lull so Rachel turned to Ethan. “Was there anyone you wanted to see or visit while we’re on your world?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” He replied. “I looked it up yesterday and everyone thinks I’m dead. Besides, I have a wife--” He glanced at Beth and Alana. “--well, another wife that I need to get back to in the Ten Kingdoms.”

“What about your parents?” Alana asked. “Wouldn’t they want to know you’re safe?”

“I would love to see them.” He looked conflicted. “Is that wise though? We’ve already run into the FBI and the last thing I want is to drag my parents into it. Besides, they think I’m dead and I wasn’t planning to come back to Earth. Aren’t they better off thinking that I’m dead?”

Alana put her hand on his arm. “Ethan, I’ll support whatever you decide. But if our daughter was in your shoes, what would you want her to do?”

“I would want her to let me know she was okay, even if I couldn’t see her again.” He nodded. “They aren’t that far away. I could probably fly there in about an hour.”

Beth smiled. “You two should go visit them while we stay here.

Rachel cocked her head to one side. “Wait, you don’t want to meet them too?”

“I would love to meet them.” Beth said almost wistfully. “But Ethan said that this world doesn’t tolerate polygyny very well. Me being there might make things worse, so I’ll stay here. Besides, we only have one weight reduction necklace, so only one person can go with Ethan anyway. I’d love to go, but I feel like Alana should be the one to go.”

Everyone stared at her.

“What?” The blonde teen asked.

“You’ve really grown up.” Rachel observed, not quite believing the immense increase in maturity displayed by the barely-legal teen. Just a few months ago she would’ve been considered too young to marry. Now she was voluntarily sacrificing for her husband and the woman with whom she’d been a romantic rival not three weeks before.

The difference was staggering.

“Thank you.” Beth beamed.

Alana got up, walked over to the blonde and gave her a huge hug. “I’ll make it up to you later.” The wood elf said when she let go.

For some reason, Beth blushed slightly.

So did Alana.

It took the redhead a moment to figure why they could be blushing, and what occurred to her made her blush too. She’d heard stories of what sometimes happened when men had multiples wives and fancied taking more than one to bed at once. She’d heard that the wives would sometimes get... ‘intimate’ with each other.

Alana couldn’t have meant...

Could she?

Could her best friend, the sweet, innocent wood elf have meant...

Though with the looks Ethan and his wives were giving each other, she didn’t think that ‘innocent’ was an appropriate adjective for any of them anymore.

Rachel tried to figure out how to feel about that; about Alana sharing a bed with not only Ethan, but also Beth ... and possibly Taloni too. Ethan was her husband, so that didn’t bother her. But her sharing that with Beth and Taloni...

That did bother her for some reason. She didn’t think it was wrong or that they should stop, or anything like that. She certainly had no problem with Beth or Taloni doing ‘that’ with each other. But them doing it with Alana ... or Alana doing it with them ... That was different somehow.

That bothered her a bit.

She wasn’t sure why, but it did.

Alana took a deep breath, then spoke. “There’s one more thing I was hoping we could do while we’re here.”

“What?” He asked.

“Um, remember how you told me about your ex-fiancée and former business partner?”

“Yeah, why?”

The wood elf got a truly wicked smile on her face. “I think we should pay them a visit.”

Rachel could help but smile. Saidow’s lair hath no fury...

“Oh?” Beth perked up, wearing an almost identical wicked grin. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Ethan started to say.

“Please.” Beth pleaded. “Please Dominus, can we at least hear Alana out?”

Wait, ‘Dominus’?

Rachel frowned slightly at the title change. They weren’t being obvious about it, but each of his wives seemed to have picked a pet nickname for him after he took them to bed. They were discreet about it, but Alana called him ‘sir’, Taloni called him ‘master’, and now Beth was calling him ‘Dominus’?

It couldn’t be a coincidence.

It also bothered the redhead because all of those titles were very ... very unequal. Sir, master, and Dominus were all highly respectful titles that you typically only used of your superiors, not equals.

That didn’t sit well with her.

“Please.” Alana and Beth chorused in unison.

Ethan looked at their pleading faces and sighed. “Okay, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to hear your idea.”

Hailey woke from a pleasant, dreamless sleep. For the first time in years, she hadn’t woken up once or been stricken with nightmares. She had actually slept, and slept well.

She felt so much better.

She adjusted slightly, enjoying the couch underneath her like the company of an old friend. Even while living with Jason, she had often fallen asleep on this couth because it was so comfortable. She was still curled up under her favorite blanket that Mels had made. Jason and Melinda had offered her a pillow a few blankets after she’d volunteered to sleep on the couch. Things were awkward enough; she didn’t need to make things worse by asking about beds.

She took a deep breath of real, true, genuine Earth air.

It had been far too long.

As she breathed, she noticed a scent on the air that she never thought she’d never smell again. She heard the sizzling of bacon on the stove, and the gentle clink of pots and pans as someone tried to cook quietly. She took another deep breath then opened her eyes.

Jason and Melinda were in the kitchen. He was standing over the stove stirring something and she had just pulled something out of the oven. It smelled like biscuits.

“You’re awake.” Melinda said after glancing toward her. “We thought you’d enjoy a proper southern breakfast.”

“Is that biscuits and gravy?” She asked as her mouth started watering.

“Sure is,” Jason replied, glancing back at her. “Still your favorite breakfast?”

“Always.” Halley nodded as she sat up. She could feel tears of gratitude collecting at the corners of her eyes.

“Did you sleep well?” He asked.

She nodded. “I did.”

“How, with the racket next door?” Melinda said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Huh?” Hailey asked. She had fallen asleep rather quickly.

“Ethan and his...” Melinda got a funny look on her face. “ ... his wives seemed to be enjoying themselves.”

“Ah.” Hailey nodded. “Yeah, I got pretty used to that on the Argo.”

Her Latina friend raised her eyebrow. “Oh? That was a regular occurrence?”

She shrugged. “He’s married to more than one woman and they all slept in the same room.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “All of them?”

“I mean, I wasn’t there so I don’t know, but...”

“Ah, okay.” Jason replied.

There was an awkward silence.

Jason — as unflappable as ever — was of course the one to break it. “Well, now that we’ve had enough awkward talk about threesomes--” He glanced at Hailey. “--just threesomes right?”

She nodded. “I think so?”

“Now that everyone is thoroughly uncomfortable, how about some breakfast with a side of embarrassment and a touch of blushing?” He lowered his voice conspiratorially and winked. “My own special recipe.”

Both women laughed.

Rachel felt her draw drop as Alana finished explaining her plan. It was entirely devious and would be absolutely devastating, yet without physically harming either of the people who’d betrayed her husband.

“How long have you been planning this?” Ethan asked, a look of wonder on his face.

“A while.” The wood elf grinned wickedly. “I may or may not have been thinking about it since you decided to come back here to save Beth.

“You’re diabolical.” Ethan said with an appreciative smile. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

“Just promise never to destroy my business, break my heart, and then run off with another woman ... oh, wait--” She glanced at Beth, winked, and then put on a mock angry face and pointed her finger at Ethan. “I’m coming for you next.”

Beth laughed.

Ethan winced.

Rachel agreed more with him than either of his wives.

“I guess I did do the same thing to you that they did to me.” He mused with a grimace.

“Not even close.” Alana replied without a trace of doubt in her voice. “They intentionally betrayed you, while you were forced into a difficult situation and made the best of it. They aren’t remotely the same.” Then she smiled. “Besides, I don’t have any complaints.”

“Good.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Now, your idea...” He grimaced again. “Are you really sure it’s a good idea?”

“No, but they need to pay for what they did.” She said, and there was a hard edge to her voice that Rachel had rarely heard from her. “Trust me, they’ll rue the day they ever crossed you, and it won’t cause any permanent or physical harm to either of them.”

He looked at Beth, who nodded and added with an almost malevolent grin. “It’s a good plan.”

Ethan looked at Rachel. “Well?”

“What?” The redhead asked.

“Do you want to weigh in?” He prompted.

“I don’t have a horse in this race.” She said simply.

“Let me rephrase that: please weigh in.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“Because you don’t have a horse in this race. My wives are rather protective of me--” He gave them both an affectionate smile. “--and I’d love to get a little payback, but I don’t want to draw a lot of attention to myself here.”

Rachel couldn’t help but smile slightly. She liked that he was including her, even though he certainly didn’t need to. He seemed to give her voice a lot of weight, and she felt her chest swell slightly at the confidence he placed in her. He almost treated her like one of his wives, though obviously not the same.

“I don’t think it’ll hurt anything.” She said after considering for a moment. “Especially if you can get them to come here instead of going to them. You also might enjoy the closure, and I know your wives would.”

Alana and Beth nodded vehemently.

Rachel couldn’t help but be a little jealous. His wives were going out of their way just to bring a little vengeance on someone who’d hurt their husband, even though they didn’t get anything out of it. They were doing it for him, and only for him, because they loved him so deeply.

She wanted that.

Not with Ethan — she still didn’t want to share a husband — but she definitely wanted it.

“Okay.” Ethan nodded. “I know exactly what to say to get them to scurry from their dark hole. It’ll be a few hours’ drive for them, so we should probably contact them now.”

“Rachel, did you want to help?” Alana asked.

“Come again?”

“Well.” The wood elf said coyly. “His former fiancée will already be jealous when she sees him with two young women on his arm. We’re both much younger than her, so that’ll rub salt in the wound. But do you know what would be even better?”

“What?”

“I’m a brunette and Beth’s a blonde.” Alana grinned wickedly. “What if we stretched the truth slightly and you made it the trifecta.”

“Mmm.” Ethan mused appreciatively. “A stunning brunette, a beautiful blonde, and a hot redhead. Plus all of you look barely legal; that would make her absolutely livid.”

Rachel blinked.

A ‘hot redhead’? She couldn’t help but smile. Ethan thought she was hot?

“So how about it?” Alana repeated. “Will you help us make his evil ex-fiancée feel completely inadequate?”

“Okay.” The still-reeling redhead replied before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to be Ethan’s wife. But pretending for a good cause couldn’t hurt ... could it?

She grinned: a ‘hot redhead’.

The phrase replayed in her head over and over. She knew that Ethan admired her for her brains and magical prowess, but didn’t know that he thought she was ‘hot’. A tiny part of her just exploded in happiness at his praise of her beauty. She knew it was silly, but she didn’t care. She took a moment to revel in the sensation of an attractive man thinking she was beautiful.

It felt good.

She glanced at Alana and Beth, who both looked radiantly happy. She wondered if perhaps this was part of why they were so happy when he was around. She felt a warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with the temperature. She felt so contented from that small compliment from him.

Why?

She tried to push it out of her head, but not before she felt the tiniest itch between her legs.

Ethan swiftly punched in his parent’s home phone number on the same burner phone that he’d used to call the ambulance the previous night. The number hadn’t changed in thirty years, and he didn’t think anything could’ve made him forget it.

His hand hovered over the “call” button.

“It’ll be okay.” Alana said encouragingly. “Imagine hearing from our daughter if you thought she was dead; they’ll be overjoyed.”

“Okay.” He nodded, took a deep breath, and then hit “call”. The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

“Edjer residence.” His mom said.

It was good to hear her voice.

“When I was five, I accidentally knocked over Mrs. Brunsons flowerpot and broke it. I was so worried that I would get in trouble that you told her you did it, and promised never to tell a soul, even dad.”

There was a long pause, then his mom breathed a single word slowly and her tone was full of disbelief. “Ethan?”

“Hi mom.” He felt himself tearing up. “I missed you.”

“But ... but I thought ... there was a funeral and everything.”

“I know, and I’m sorry I couldn’t call you sooner.” He said as his throat got slightly tight. “I can’t talk long and I won’t be able to call you again. But — if it’s okay — I’d like to come by the farm in about an hour.”

“But how...?” She trailed off. “Honey, how...”

“I’ll explain when I get there.” He said. “But I don’t have long. Can I come by? Will dad be there?”

“He will be.” She said resolutely. “Come hell or high water, he will be.”

“Okay, see you soon.” He hung up.

Alana gave him a hug, and Beth made it a group hug moments later. Rachel was leaning up against the wall and appeared to make a start towards him, but stopped herself.

“Thank you.” He said giving his girls a tight squeeze, then he looked at Rachel. “All of you. I don’t know where I’d be without each and every single one of you.”

Rachel half smiled and looked genuinely happy, but also conflicted for some reason.

“Now.” Alana said when he let them go. “Shall we bait your former lover and former best friend into some sweet vengeance?”

He smiled.

Beth grinned appreciatively as Ethan dialed the phone for Alana. The wood elf was absolutely devious and the blonde was slightly jealous of that. She put her head close so she could listen in on the call.

“Online Marketing Solutions this is Terry, how can I help you?” A voice on the other end said.

“That’s her.” Ethan whispered.

The wood elf nodded and launched into the prepared script. “Hi, my name is Alana and my boss has a problem he thinks you can solve. He wanted to have a sit down lunch to discuss it.”

“Very well, are you local?”

“No, I’m in southern Indiana.”

“When will you be in the area then?” The woman asked.

“I won’t be. You’re going to come meet me and my boss; today.”

There was a brief pause. “Ma’am, we can’t simply drop what we’re doing to drive all day round trip.”

“I think you can for my boss.” Alana said, her face shining with glee. “His name is Ethan Ejder.”

There was a long pause.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Terry said, and she sounded almost fearful.

“No Terry, no it isn’t.” The wood elf said with barely controlled glee. “He told me to tell you that he still hasn’t told anyone about what happened senior year of college when he accidentally walked in on you in your dorm ... And who you were with ... but he will if you don’t show up.”

Terry gulped loud enough to hear over the phone.

“Oh, and bring Peter.” She continued imperiously. “If both of you aren’t here by two O’clock, he’ll start contacting your friends to tell them.”

“He wouldn’t.” Terry breathed.

“Two O’ clock, the restaurant ‘Popponini’s’ in Gursnburg Indiana; be there, or...”

Alana pulled the phone away from her ear and nodded to Ethan, who then hit the ‘end call’ button.