Chapter 214

Selina was waiting for Jeff when he and Diana came out of the Grigsby's suite. "My Prime, I request a few moments of your time."

"Sure, Selina."

Diana reached to kiss her husband's cheek. "I'm going to check on supper. In a few minutes, I'll send someone to escort our guests to the dining room."

"Okay, Babe." Then turning to Selina, as Diana walked away, "If you're worried about what happened, it wasn't your fault."

But Selina was shaking her head. "I was cognizant of Sugar and Spike's presence in the hallway. The interaction between the puppies and Billy should have been facilely evident to me, since the occurrence was eminently logical based on previous experience."

"And ... my Little Princess, do you think he would have stayed there? Have you, somehow, found a way to keep a teleporting kitten confined, hmmm?"

Jeff could see the sparkle of tears beginning in Selina's eyes. Taking her hand, they walked a few steps to a chair in one of the alcoves. Sitting, he pulled the six-year-old onto his lap. "This certainly didn't go down the way I had planned, but hey, I didn't have to try to convince them that you and your kitten were capable of teleporting, now did I?" he said with laughter in his voice.

"That is irrelevant. Mrs. Grigsby was quite distressed. Her countenance reflected extreme perturbation," Selina insisted. "She would not have experienced such emotions should you have had the opportunity to initiate the discourse on teleportation prior to confrontation with the phenomenon."

The Prime began to move his leg, bouncing Selina. "I am not a child," she said, grabbing his shoulder to hang on, trying for indignantion, but failing as a giggle fought to get out. "My mood can not be enhanced by merely bouncing upon my Prime's knee."

"Then how about this," Jeff said as he walked two fingers up her leg toward her side.

"I am not ticklish," she tried to respond in a stern voice, but Jeff pretended to launch his two walking fingers as he added buzzing like a bee. He circled his hand round and round, coming ever closer to her side, then with an abrupt movement, darted in. The tickling fingers produced the screeches of a six-year-old, despite the inward protests of the genius part of her. The little girl part won out as she tussled with the man she had learned to love. Why couldn't my father have acted in this manner? she thought as Jeff paused to let her get her breath, both of them laughing.

The introductions were over and everyone was seated. Courtney had given up trying to remember all of their names. The long table was crowded with platters of food, the main focus on fried chicken, dumplings, mashed potatoes, gravy, and Fordhook lima beans. The men piled their plates high with food – more than Courtney had ever seen anyone eat at one sitting. As she subtly glanced around her, she realized that the women also had plates full of food – not as much as the men, but a lot for women who certainly seemed to care for their figures.

If they eat like this all the time, how in the world do they keep from being enormous? she thought. Now, I've been introduced to even more women who are beautiful. This can not be real. No way should all these women be so extraordinarily beautiful. I've always thought I was pretty, but not anymore – not after being around these people. I've seen my husband looking at them. What man could resist? I left him because I couldn't stand worrying about his being killed. Finally, we're back together and doing fine; now this. The more I see these people, the more I think they really are aliens. The women are too beautiful, and the men are too ... sexy.

Courtney realized that a grinning young woman sitting beside her – Arlene – was holding a platter of chicken. "Chill out," the teenage wife said with a quiet chuckle. "Your husband is an Alpha. Mom and Dad will talk with you after supper. I guarantee you'll be amazed and ... pleased before the night is over."

"I'm already amazed," Courtney replied as she accepted the platter and took a piece of chicken. "I'm just a bit..."

" ... overwhelmed," Arlene supplied as she offered a bowl of mashed potatoes.

Courtney thanked her and passed the platter of chicken to her husband who was sitting on the other side of her, then accepted the bowl of potatoes from Arlene.

"You need to eat more than that one breast," the young Queen chided as she pointed to the three breasts on her own plate.

"If I did that, I'd be as big as the side of a house," Courtney laughed.

"Not after tonight," Arlene mysteriously replied as she accepted the gravy from Ann.

Courtney wound up with more on her plate than she had planned, but when she bit into the chicken, her appetite reared its head. As she ate, she listened to the gentle chiding, jokes and laughter. Without quite realizing how it happened, she was soon participating in the conversations, despite her worries. She was again proud of her husband as he interacted with the men, his intelligence subtly obvious.

But her thoughts continued to return to what had happened in the hallway. The little girl and the kitten teleported, she kept telling herself. These women are too beautiful to be real, and the men have an allure that's almost scary. It's not just sexual – it's ... something else. They're ... sure of themselves, certain of their manhood, all seemingly without being the slightest bit arrogant. They project ... something I can't quite put my finger on, and they all have multiple wives. But the wives seem to be happy. More than just happy, but they're sure of themselves, too, just like the men. How can a woman be sure of herself when her husband has other wives?

Her plate was empty before she realized it, and the Matthews had begun passing several delicious-looking desserts around the table. Arlene talked her into a large piece of kiwi pie, something she and Matt loved. One bite told her the pie was homemade. Nothing from a store tasted like this.

Courtney turned to Arlene. "You must have some great cooks working for you. All of the food is delicious."

"You're looking at the cooks," the teenager responded with a muted giggle. "We don't have anyone working for us. We did get a crew in to help clean after we had a hundred people or so here for Margaret's wedding, but other than that, we do everything for ourselves."

Courtney, thinking of the richness of the furnishings in the dining room and the suite she and her husband were assigned to, not to mention the elegance of the giant living room she had briefly glimpsed, found it difficult to believe these people didn't have a number of servants hired to do the cooking and menial work.

Arlene saw the look on Courtney's face and reached to gently squeeze her hand. "We're just a family – a big one, true – but a family, nonetheless. Mom and Dad will start to tell you our history as the rest of us clean up. Just relax, open your mind and let us tell and show you some marvelous things over the next couple of days. I promise you that you will be pleased." Arlene stood to begin gathering up dirty dishes.

"Wait," Courtney said, "I'll..."

But Diana was beside her, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll let you help tomorrow, if you wish. For now, there are plenty of women to get the job done very quickly. You're our guests. Let's adjourn to the living room where we can have an after-supper coffee, relax and talk."

Jeff, Diana, Courtney and Matt entered the living room a couple of minutes later. Jeff immediately went to the biggest fireplace Courtney had ever seen and moved the screen out of the way, his intention of building a fire obvious.

"May I help?" Matt asked, walking over.

"Sure. Help me with the wood," Jeff responded.

Shortly, the four were seated, Matt and Courtney on a couch facing Jeff and Diana on a love seat as the fire began to add its glow and warmth to the big room.

One of the girls – Courtney thought her name was Jennie – pushed in a serving cart with coffee and soft drinks, smiled, and quickly left.

"Do you folks ski?" Jeff asked as Diana served them all coffee.

Courtney accepted sweetener and cream as Diana smiled and nodded to Matt and Jeff, then in a conspiratorial tone, quietly said, "I don't see how they stand their coffee black."

Courtney chuckled and whispered back, "No way."

"We've been skiing once," Matt answered, "but I'm afraid we're very little past the kiddie slopes."

Jeff took a sip of his coffee. "Doesn't matter. Our slopes are, ultra easy, easy, and impossible. I've darn near killed myself on the impossible slope..."

" ... and none of the rest of us will touch it," Diana inserted, "well, other than Arlene, that is."

"We also have snowboards, and snowmobiles, as long as you stay away from the driveway with the former," Jeff finished with a chuckle.

"Driveway?" Matt said, knowing there must be a story behind the comment.

"We'll tell you about it when Arlene is around, but it's a story worth hearing. Heck, better than that, we have a video that will take your breath away."

"We have a driveway from Hell," the Queen supplied. "It works its way up the face of an almost vertical cliff."

Courtney forced back a shiver. "I don't like heights."

"You have a lot of sympathy around here," Diana laughed. "Most of us still dread the driveway."

"The teleporting?" Courtney asked, refusing to be sidetracked any longer.

Jeff cleared his throat as he stood, took a couple of steps and turned his back to the fire, his hands behind him as he soaked up the heat. "There is a lot to be told, and Courtney, I'm a bit hesitant to begin the way I usually do with a new person. Please don't be insulted," he quickly went on, "but we could see that you were upset when Billy did his thing, not to mention when Selina did, too. I guess you realize that we could have pretended that nothing happened when the kitten teleported, but I refuse to lie to a brother Alpha, and pretending that Billy didn't teleport would be lying."

"But how..." Courtney blurted.

"To be truthful, I don't really know how they do it. Oh, I've discussed it with Selina several times, and she tried to explain, but we both wound up frustrated, and I learned nothing. Something you need to understand about Selina: she's a genius. I don't mean just smart; I mean a true genius with an IQ that's off the charts, and ... Helen, our teacher, is just as smart. Alphas tend to pick smart women for their wives, and I strongly suspect that Matt has done the same thing."

Courtney blushed as Matt inserted. "If you're implying that I'm an Alpha, well, I don't know about that – whatever an Alpha is – but I will certainly agree that my wife is very intelligent. Of course, she does think you're aliens," he added, to the utter consternation of his wife.

"Matt!" Courtney yipped out, her face turning crimson.

Jeff looked at her and wiggled his ears. Matt was looking at Courtney at the moment, and didn't see it, but Diana did.

"Jeff Matthews!" she said, but her laughter tended to cancel out her scolding of her husband.

"What?" Matt said, looking around, knowing that something happened.

"My husband tends to stir up things," Diana grunted out. "He wiggled his ears." Then to Courtney, "You'll have to overlook him. He's just a man. Sometimes I think he's still a child."

"So, do all aliens wiggle their ears?" Matt asked with a grin.

"All right. All right, so maybe they aren't aliens," Courtney said to her husband.

"Sometimes, I wonder," Diana interjected.

Jeff pulled a chair closer to Matt and Courtney and sat down. "I have something to show you, and Courtney ... please, bear with me for now, and please forgive me for the ear wiggling thing. I couldn't resist. I promise, though, if you'll hang in there, you'll wake up in the morning as healthy as the rest of us here, and ... there will still be only one alien in the building," he just had to say.

"What..." Courtney started as she sat up strait, realizing by his tone that Jeff was serious this time.

"Jeff, you're going to scare her to death," Diana said, reaching out a hand to take one of Courtney's. "We do have a small ali..." and the block shut her down.