Chapter 10D: The Cradle of the Pack

Adjusting to life without Sean and Patrick could have been easier. The Lees assured me the Smiths did not plan to live in Japan the rest of their lives.

Part of the problem was not having any male peers. Michael was more of a big brother, and my blood looked to me for leadership. There was no one with whom I could pass the time with meaningless bullshit.

I also suffered from being the only returning hero. Every family member, sorority sister, friend, and acquaintance watched the Games religiously. I spent the rest of the summer trying to get out from under the flood of naked female bodies. It did not help that my mother, Rachel, and Marisa found it amusing to stand on my head whenever I managed to get above the naked fray. Nothing that great lasts forever unfortunately, the Lees returning from Japan brought normality back into my life.

Brittany did not stay over the first night; the Lees and I talked until it was dark out. They were tearful but would be okay. Later, I was reading on my bed when they came in. They crawled onto the bed; it was like our first summer at college.

I was lost without the strict schedule of my pre-Olympic life. I had not taken summer classes because of the Games; I was still a student of Smith Holdings with no managerial responsibilities; and my swimming practice had been reduced to an exercise program. My responsibilities as an assistant coach were minor and only required my presence during morning practice. I was not interested in competing in martial arts tournaments so had no reason to increase my time at the school. Helen ostensibly disagreed and picked me up for extra classes, but it was obviously a play for more time in my bed.

Sensitive to the Lee's needs, the women maintained to a sexual schedule benefiting everyone. No one discussed it with me, which was par for course.

Rachel had her three nights a week. After our experience with my mother in Japan, I could sense she spent nights pacing in her house like a caged lioness.

The Lees got two nights a week. We expanded the lines of our friendship and learned how to share meaningless bullshit. They were fascinated by the act, but it became increasingly obvious they were only faking the meaningless part. Every night I spent with them until the Smiths came home ended up in tears.

Brittany insisted on one night a week to herself if she was not the third leg of Rachel's weekly threesome.

I had more women than evenings so I had many multiple-somes. The women knew there was no replacing the females closest to me, but it seemed to free them rather than causing unreasonable demands. I thought the number of women and the lack of quality time should have caused more problems. I asked Brittany, the Lees, and Marisa about it when we were out to dinner.

"David, you're not sleeping with a lot of women," Brittany replied. To which, I snorted.

"Wait," she said putting up a hand to stop me from saying anything. "You're sleeping with Rachel, your mother, and me on a weekly basis."

She said it so nonchalantly I barely noticed she had no problem with the relationship with my mother.

"We're all lovers though." I nodded before doing a double-take and looking at her hard.

"Yes, David..." Marisa said with a smirk. "Mom gets into Brittany's panties, too."

I bit my tongue.

"To be honest, we're more romantically involved with each other than with you. Plus we get the time with you we want, when we want it," Brittany said with a smile at having pulled something over on me. I thought getting Brittany and my mother in the same bed would not be as difficult as Rachel and my mother.

"The rest of the women in your family are only involved through Rachel's threesomes. Esmy is different, but the two of you are more opportunistic partners than lovers."

"Esmy?!" I asked.

"Fucking her too!" the Lees chimed. I looked at Brittany; for some reason Esmeralda and Brittany surprised me. Marisa almost fell out of her seat from laughing so hard. Brittany shrugged as if to ask, 'What do you expect from me?'

"Anyway!" she said pointedly at Marisa to make her stop laughing. "You also have Elizabeth, Samantha, and Taylor."

I was not going to open my mouth again until she was done. I was aware of the ripples going on between the women in my life, but I did not bother with the details of their interactions.

"But you own them."

"I don't own them!" I said, breaking my promise to keep quiet. It was apparent Brittany was taking more Rachel lessons as evidenced by her uncanny ability to imitate and execute Rachel's irritating technique of goading me into a reaction.

"You own them," Marisa said in a voice brooking no argument. "Elizabeth and Samantha are RICH. They are also still lost from what their husbands did; you make them feel safe."

I looked around the room.

"Can we play with them again?" the Lees asked me quietly.

"Huh?"

"Elizabeth and Samantha are loyal, David. When you allowed them to participate in the Smith Holdings project, they locked themselves down. They only know you don't mind if Rachel and I play with their pretty little pussies. The twins have been with them but only with the Smiths there, no one knows how you would feel about just Joanne and Stephanie."

I stared at the Lees.

"Not Rachel, Brittan, y or my mother," I told them. There were lines we could not cross.

They nodded; I shook my head wondering about the intelligence of allowing the Lees oversight of the women in Taylor's house. I did not doubt they would be the dominant females, but they were sure to rub off on Samantha and Elizabeth. It was not a wholly unpleasant thought, plus granting their wish would win me some bonus points with the women.

"We make sure every woman in your bed understands the rules," Brittany continued, "They can agree to abide by them or walk. Your preference for Sisters helps."

"So the women most likely to catch your eye are already willing to leave female trouble at the door," Marisa said with more of her baby sister smugness. "Think of it this way, BIG brother. For most of the women, you're like that vibrator in the bottom drawer; it's the perfect size and buzzes just right. A girl only brings it out on special occasions or emergencies. By the way, Melinda is coming over tonight; no special occasion, no emergency but sometimes a girl needs to be buzzed right."

It did not help that the other women were nodding agreement with Marisa's metaphor. I sat back and looked at Brittany.

"Melinda and me?" she asked, giving the corner of her mouth a brief touch with her tongue.

I shrugged.

My sex life during graduate school resembled a Victorian dance. The women who got by the controlling females made it on my dance card. Realistically, it had been like that for quite a while, but after the Olympics, the rules of the game were publicly acknowledged by all. Rachel, Brittany, my mother, and even Marisa were playing their own game with the women wanting to dance, but it did not interfere with my pleasure so, again, I did not get involved.

I had more important things to worry about after Michael announced to the 'young set' (the Lees, Brittany, and I) that our first responsibility out of graduate school would be to set up a joint R&D venture between Smith Holdings and David Forrest. The elder set had decided giving Forrest his own sandbox was the best way to deal with the difficulties of genius.

We had to do all of the work, from selecting a site to controlling Forrest. Michael made his announcement two weeks into our first year of graduate school. He believed practical experience would enhance our studies. The Lees and I thought he was crazy; but the first thing we learned was to use Brittany efficiently. Her experience as a Smith Holdings administrative and executive assistant got us through some of the rougher spots after we wised up and listened to her.

She even got other executives to work around our schedules. Everyone knew I was the heir apparent, but Michael gave strict instructions to treat me like any fresh out of business school junior manager. I could not lean on anyone to accommodate the Lees and me without forcing them to openly contravene Michael. Brittany dealt with assistants who were more interested in things running smoothly and making sure their bosses did not run afoul of our administrative assistant's long memory. (They understood, someday Brittany would hold the keys to my time.)

Our biggest problem was controlling Forrest. He wanted to spend money on a good site and equipment, like we had a blank check. The Lees got sick of him fairly quickly; they decided he should be someone else's headache and recruited the blast from his past, Marie.

She was our company's first hire; though, Michael burst our bubble by pointing out there was no actual company yet. He did approve of hiring Marie after we convinced him, regardless of our efforts with the R&D company, Smith Holdings needed someone who could manage Forrest.

There were quite a few bumps, but in December of our second year at graduate we toasted the elder set unanimously approving our business plan. We were also celebrating Michael's decision to let us to run the company. We had another long, tough year ahead but were looking forward to it.

Marie chose our celebration to tell us what Forrest had been working on for years. The women were ecstatic; while they got more details from Marie, I formulated the basic structure of a business plan to take advantage of Forrest's efforts.

Rachel's arrival interrupted our celebration. She walked in smiling happily. The Smith twins had returned to Japan after a brief visit; it usually took her much longer to recover.

Sean and Patrick flourished in Japan. Early on, they landed recurring spots on a popular talk show. The high ratings the program garnered convinced the rest of the Japanese entertainment industry Smith Twin Mania was real. The twins made more commercials and celebrity appearances. Their latest project was a show for MTV-Japan. They were confident in its success but were on a tight promotional schedule, which would keep them away for Christmas. The Lees took it hard and seemed desperate to dive into the next step of building our new company. Rachel did not have that avenue of escape, making her jubilance surprising.

She strutted meaningfully into my bedroom.

"That's my signal to finish the celebration with my man," Marie announced. As expected, she immediately recouped Forrest's attention upon returning to his life. The Lees had taken Forrest shopping for an engagement ring a week earlier; they smiled knowing Marie's business celebration would be superseded by a personal one.

The Lees also exited stage left, telling me they wanted to celebrate with Samantha, Elizabeth, and Taylor.

Brittany asked me for a couple of minutes with Rachel so I got a drink of water. I drank it slowly, staring out the window. Things were about to change. The next semester would be the last of my formal education and the first of my experience with being in charge of a Smith Holdings' chess piece.

Forrest owned a part of the company but only as a financial incentive. He enjoyed college and wanted to teach. His plans drove our choice for a site; Marie turned it into an asset by establishing a relationship with State even before opened Smith Holdings' piggy bank. She planned to recruit the best scientists, assistants, and support staff from State graduates and professors; the school would in turn use the new company as a means of attracting the best young minds in the country.

I had to toast Marie.

Undoubtedly, she helped construct the path of Forrest's research from their initial meeting. Smith Holdings would happily fund any research for its own sake to keep him busy while we took advantage of his initial efforts if they proved true.

The Lees and Marie had talked a little about what Smith Holdings could do with the results of Forrest's research before Rachel arrived. I disagreed with them. I did not doubt they would come around to my way of thinking eventually; my plan brought more security to our families. We would be giving up a lot in profit, but with that sacrifice, many powerful people would be convinced the continued happiness of my pack was in their best interests.

I nodded to the moon before picking up the phone. I had been thinking about making the offer but held back. Forrest's research and my nascent plans made for a perfect opportunity to tie the women closer to me.

"Hello?"

"Please get Samantha and Elizabeth on the phone," I instructed.

"Yes, David," Taylor replied politely.

"Hello?" Samantha said brightly into the phone a minute later.

"Put me on speaker and ask Taylor to step out of the room," I told her. She executed my instructions before asking what was up. I offered to sell each shares equal to Forrest's portion in the new Smith Holdings R&D Company. Before they answered, I explained what Forrest's plans were and on how I thought we would best take advantage of his success.

I stopped doubting anything Forrest said he could do after interviewing Smith Holdings employees on his improvements to our product lines. Marie confirmed enough work was done to begin Q&A and introducing the elder set to our company's first product. There would be screaming about my plans but in the end I was the one chosen to make those decisions, even if Forrest had made it necessary for me to step forward more forcefully than expected.

"David, you're giving up billions," Samantha said quietly.

"But we will be untouchable."

"YEAH!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "The feds will run background checks that include invasive anal probes for anyone wanting to date our janitors if you take this route."

"You're right though," Samantha said speculating aloud. "It will be in the country's best interest to keep us safe and secure."

"Do you want to buy in?" I asked.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked in the same tone she used when I offered to serve their husbands up on a sacrificial plate.

"Marisa says I own you."

"She's right," Samantha said with no hint of the protest she once exhibited to being under my thumb.

"So what happens if we're successful, and you own a part of the critical ingredient to my plans?"

There was silence on the other side.

"We'd do anything for you," Elizabeth's voice was cold, emotionless, as if I had triggered something deep inside her, which did not use emotion.

"Would you marry and bear the children of a man I chose for you?"

Again there was silence.

"Yes," Samantha answered in the same cold voice.

"They will be good men, who I need to be a part of our family. Marriage to you will make them ours."

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Samantha asked, with as much curiosity as she might ask if I had anyone in mind to clean storm drains.

"Not yet, but Michael taught me to plan for certain contingencies. Smith Holdings needed your husbands once. Next time, you will give me much firmer control of them."

"You're giving us an opportunity at billions as a contingency?" Samantha asked amazed.

"No," I said quietly.

"Then what?" she asked.

"You belong to me?"

"Yes," they replied together.

"I don't need another reason." The silence was filled with their confusion and consideration. I made them wolves so they did not understand as one born into their nature would have. If they earned enough of Esmeralda's trust for her to suggest using them like blood females, they deserved the offer.

"You agree with Esmeralda?" Rachel asked from behind me after I hung up the phone. I turned around; my jaw dropped.

Rachel and I spent only the nights we had sex together. Neither of us bothered with formalities like lingerie so seeing her in a floor-length, cream, silk nightgown was a shock to my senses. She spent the time in the bedroom preparing the effect, and my body was telling me removing the gown inch by inch was the best way to proceed.

Rachel smiled knowing she was a part of every sexual cell in my body. She built my fantasies of her painstakingly and was very proud of her work. Her nipples hardened as I stared at her; she was mine and the excitement of her body was mine to.

She swayed towards me as my eyes lost focus. Her perfume hit me like a wall; I closed my useless eyes. She kissed me gently, letting me breathe in the scent of her.

"You've been mine forever," she whispered. I wrapped my arms around her and hated the silk for not being as smooth as her skin. Our kiss burned and quenched at the same time.

Forgetting her question, she guided me into my bedroom. Brittany was lying on the bed wearing the same style gown in black. She had prepared herself too but looked confused. Rachel let go of my hand and got on the bed with Brittany. She maneuvered Brittany so her head was on Rachel's lap.

They let me have a couple of minutes to admire them.

"We're going to get married this summer." Rachel said finally.

I sat down at my recliner. Since Rachel and I had become lovers for the second time, I learned to recognize the voice she was using. Rebar, structural steel, gave her words almost solid form. She rarely used it, but every time she had I wished I were sitting down.

I smiled and nodded for her to continue. I benefited each time she used her commanding voice so I was sure whatever she planned would be in my best interest. The first night with Esmeralda and Rachel came to mind as one of those best interests.

"I want our baby to be born nine months after we're married," Rachel said.

"Won't that be risky for you?" I asked. She was sixteen years my senior, which would put her at forty when she had the child.

"The doctor says I have fantastic genes; physiologically, I'm younger than most women in their late twenties." Her workout regimen, diet, and money aided her effort to stay young naturally. She did not believe in plastic surgery, but weekly spa visits were good for more than her mental health.

"As I remember it, the doctor said having a child was impossible for me."

"No, David," Rachel replied. "The odds were barely measurable, but it was over a decade ago when they made the prognosis."

"Barely measurable are not good odds, Rachel."

"Fertility medicine has made improvements," she stated. "I funded some of the research."

I wondered how deep the strength in her voice went and how to make it a part of my everyday life. She was better at planning for contingencies than everyone else in the pack put together; it was a talent I wanted actively working for us.

"I've taken some of your semen to one of the doctors, who has me on her Christmas basket list."

I nodded.

"The problem is you produce only one, maybe two, if any viable sperm per ejaculate."

I raised an eyebrow.

"The obvious solution is to harvest viable sperm. The doctors and I have taken it a little further so we can choose a sex for the baby," she said proudly.

I nodded again.

"It takes one to three months to get the right sperm cell though..." she said.

"The right sperm cell?"

"Viable sperm does not mean a survivable fetus."

"You're going to play God."

"She is going to play Mother," Brittany said with some of the same steel in her voice.

I stared at them.

"I may only have one chance at a baby with you, regardless of my genes," Rachel said. Her voice weakened into something akin to a plea for understanding.

I was not going to risk pissing off every woman in my life by trying to stop Rachel from tweaking nature's odds in her favor so I shrugged. It was not a good fight to pick as long as the women considered it a part of their responsibilities. At the end of the day, they would not argue with me about my business plans; I would not argue with them about babies. The shrug was not good enough them though, they continued to wait. I nodded my acceptance that the decision was in their purview and not mine.

I would have to ask Michael about the details of Rachel's research funding. She would not have stopped at a 'survivable fetus'. Rachel might have opened Pandora's baby box. Luckily, biological research was not a Smith Holdings focus so burying the research was a feasible solution, even if buying the researchers' silence would be expensive.

"What's your plan?" I asked.

"After our wedding, we sneak off to have some traditional baby-making sex and visit the clinic where they implant a fertilized egg in my womb. At the reception, we make the happy announcement."

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to visit the clinic every day for a couple of months or until we get what I want," Rachel said.

"And jerk off into a cup?"

"No!" Rachel said with a smug smile, showing me where Marisa learned hers.

"They're not going to stick a tube in me," I said firmly.

"Of course not, silly," Rachel said, "There are of plenty of volunteers to make sure you don't have to fill a cup on your own. You will need to pull out in a timely fashion though."

I sighed loudly.

"The clinic is going to let me..." I could not finish the question after a vision of my mother strapped into gynecological stirrups buzzed me. Rachel winked when I adjusted.

"They're going to allow anything I tell them," she said looking at me with something more than herself in her eyes. The lioness was circling toward the surface and escape.

Brittany tried to swallow a small sniffle and the sound made us look at her. She had tears in her eyes and started to bolt as we stared at her in surprise. Rachel put her arms around Brittany's waist and grabbed her as she tried to sit up and run out of the room. Rachel pulled her back down to the bed and held on tight. Brittany struggled but not violently. Finally, she collapsed against Rachel.

"You're a part of this Brittany," Rachel said letting go, so Brittany could turn to face her.

"I can't be a part of your marriage or the baby," Brittany replied petulantly. Rachel grabbed Brittany's hair and pulled her head back. She got on her knees and maneuvered Brittany around until she could straddle her waist.

I hoped Brittany would fight; the lioness was pawing at the lock of her cage. Brittany's misery did not make for good fuel though.

"David took back the part of you he shared with me," Rachel told her. "But I did not give back what you gave me, and I will not take back what I gave you."

Brittany eyes were brimming with tears when she looked at Rachel. They were face to face for minutes before Brittany nodded acceptance. They kissed to make their own vows to each other. Rachel lay down beside Brittany. She placed her hand gently on Brittany's breast and stared at me.

"Brittany will be impregnated with your child six months before our wedding day," Rachel said. The lioness was moving backwards knowing it was no longer needed.

Brittany's head whipped around to look at Rachel and then back to me. Her eyes blazed; the smile on her face burned into me.

"Our marriage is one of convenience," Rachel said. I stared into her eyes and found the truth of her words; our marriage was a legal contract convenient because of what society thought it meant. Our vows were in blood and needed no witnesses.

I nodded.

"In marriages of convenience, certain indiscretions are expected. They are dealt with in a manner which takes the circumstances of the marriage into account," Rachel said rubbing her hand on Brittany's belly.

"I'm going to be an indiscretion?" Brittany asked brightly.

"A tragically romantic heroine of indiscretion!"

I was glad they were enjoying themselves.

"You see, my love," Rachel told Brittany dramatically. "David must marry me for the sake of our families... to fulfill the duties left to him by a man he thinks of as a father."

I drummed my fingers on the arm of the recliner.

"But I was the one he REALLY wanted to marry," Brittany said trying to match the drama in Rachel's voice.

Rachel nodded before continuing, "High school sweethearts reunited in college. You've been together for years. David tries to do his manly duty, letting you follow your own destiny BUT--it is too late!"

"I'm pregnant; the father is your future husband," Brittany said in a voice that stopped my drumming. There was deep longing in her face when she turned to look at me. She placed her hand gently over her womb as if she already carried my child.

"That's where I join you in the heroine category by acknowledging and insisting the baby cannot be raised apart from his father or sibling," Rachel said.

Brittany sat up and scrunched her face up into a look of contrived shock, "You're going to insist I live with you so my child can enjoy all the advantages of his brother or sister?"

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed.

"Doesn't indiscretion imply a publicly committed relationship during the time of the act?" I asked.

"BEAST!!!" Rachel said in a laughing shout. "You deny this beautiful diamond solitaire ring which I have been wearing for the last year and half is an engagement ring! You deny you impregnated your lover during the time we were promised to each other!"

I would have been much better off not asking.

"It is a beautiful ring," Brittany said.

"Roger had fantastic taste. Remind me to show you the stuff in the bank vault! They're almost too exquisite... even for me," Rachel told Brittany and doing the ritual hand-pose to show the ring off.

"People are going to know Brittany's pregnancy isn't possible naturally," I said sitting back.

"The only people who know about your condition are the your immediate female relatives, a couple of doctors, and some of your lovers." Rachel said.

I stared at the ceiling.

"The sorority sisters were on the pill so there wasn't reason to tell them. Your other lovers either did not know or did not have any details. If it comes up with them, we could just say the problem was surgically corrected," Brittany told me.

I nodded in welcome defeat. As the 'scoundrel', I was going to look bad, but public opinion would not keep me warm at night.

Rachel turned Brittany's face towards her.

"If you have David's child, you belong to us forever," she said in a voice that brooked no argument. "I mean it, Brittany; I will not allow any child of David's to be raised apart from their father or siblings."

"Forever!" Brittany replied.

I thought about Rachel's plan while they kissed as wife and wife for the first time. If everyone in my family treated it like the gospel truth, no one who mattered would dare publicly question it. I would never be the public face of Smith Holdings; I planned for Michael to continue serving in that capacity. Marisa would also be useful if a female touch was required with the public.

When Smith Holdings exploded out of its stagnation period, a lot of people would have good reasons to accept whatever version of truth was fed to them. There would be quite a few thinly veiled lies, but I had already made decisions about the buffers to be placed between the outside world and me. Those obstacles would ensure anyone who spoke out against Rachel's family choices would be removed from the playing field.

I did not labor under the illusion I was in charge of my home life. Rachel wanted what she wanted, and it included having Brittany permanently in our life. I was going to make sure I helped Rachel get her way; it was part of my husbandly duties.

I was distracted from my thoughts by Brittany's gown crawling up her legs. She had reversed Rachel's position superior and had her face buried in Rachel's neck, giving her lover plenty of reason to wriggle. Rachel pulled Brittany's gown over her ass and palmed both asscheeks. I decided I was too far away from the action, stood up, stripped, and walked to the edge of the bed.

Rachel pivoted Brittany around to face me. Brittany's eyes were wide with her need and with the happiness of getting the future she wanted. Brittany stretched her arms up so Rachel could take the nightgown completely off her body.

Rachel ran her fingers down Brittany's stomach until she could open Brittany's pussylips. She wet her fingers in Brittany's excitement and brought them to her lips.

"She's ready for you to give her our first child," Rachel said, eyes blazing with a fire matched only by the conflagration flaring up in Brittany. My cock ached for me to bury it inside of Brittany.

The act was a symbolic but necessary.

I moved between Brittany's legs. Rachel opened her for me. Brittany reached out and held me in her warm hands. Her eyes revealed the deepest part of her, but I backed away from her innermost need.

I was not ready for that again.

She smiled and touched my face. It was a comforting touch, telling me what we were about to do was more than enough. Rachel replaced Brittany's hand on my dick and pulled me towards them. I sank into Brittany as Rachel guided us to our agreed fate.

She was tight as always, but I went deeper than I ever had on my first stroke. Brittany wrapped her legs around me, holding me in a gentle grip. She looked at me again with her eyes shading her feelings, showing me only that she wanted me to take her.