Chapter 226

Matt and Courtney sat in one of the alcoves, the couple looking out at the snow-covered mountains, Matt with a cup of coffee and Courtney with a cup of hot tea. "You're being awfully quiet," the Alpha said to his wife.

Courtney broke off her stare of the outside world and turned her gaze to her husband's smiling face. "We went to the moon," she whispered. Then shaking her head, "Astronauts go to the moon; normal people don't. It was ... It was..." She wound down and just looked at him.

"We did, anyway," he answered, simply.

"But we can't tell a soul," she complained. "Don't they know how frustrating that's going to be?"

"And... 'can't tell a soul' is a literal statement," he continued. "You literally can't talk about it to anyone outside this group. They've cautioned us about the block. Jeff says it can be nasty if you push it."

"Oh, I'm not going to try to tell anybody. My word would be good enough for that without the block. But, darnit, it just seems criminal to keep it a secret. And..."

"And what, Baby?"

Courtney stared at him, an odd look on her face. "I was scared to death, but I want to go back again. I want to know more about that marvelous Ship. But what just..." She shook her head and began again, "A teenage girl took us there. If someone had told me a couple of days ago that I would ride to the moon in a starship, I would have laughed at them. If they had said it would be piloted by a teenage girl, I would have thought them absolutely crazy."

"Well, I think there was a little more to it than that," he said with a chuckle. "The Ship is sentient, according to Jeff. I imagine all Arlene did was tell the Ship generally what she wanted it to do."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but I want to talk to Arlene – just the two of us." She hesitated a moment, then went on, "Oh, Matt, look what's happened to us in the last few weeks. We're back together. You have a job that's a whole lot less dangerous, and there was a very nice raise to go with it. We've met some wonderful people while we've been here." She sucked in a breath, almost spilling her tea in her excitement, then added, "Even if they are aliens." Abruptly, she changed the subject. "Do you suppose we're really going to live as long as they say we will? That we'll never die from old age? Even with all that's happened, I find that hard to believe."

"Well, Diana and Susan sure don't look their ages – if they aren't lying to us, and it seems they aren't. Besides, even if the thing about longevity isn't real, I feel healthier than I have ever felt in my life, and you're positively glowing this morning." He grinned at her as his voice changed. "How many times did we do it last night?"

Courtney took a sip of her tea, staring at her husband over the cup. "You expect me to remember with all the times you screwed me unconscious? But unless I heal as fast as Diana says I will, you won't be getting any tonight."

"Then I hope she's right," Matt returned with a chuckle. "Every time I look at you, my dick gets hard." He hesitated for a moment, then went on, "Last night was the best sex we've ever had as far as I'm concerned. I didn't know any man could come that many times, let alone me. I sure hope our suite is soundproof like Jeff says, otherwise we must have advertised what we were doing to everyone in this building," he finished with a chuckle.

They sat for a while, the two sipping their drinks, deep in thought, then Courtney turned again to her husband, "If we live as long as they say, how many kids do you want?"

Matt hesitated, then, "Well, at least two, like we've always talked about," he carefully answered, suspicious of a minefield somewhere in the question.

Courtney just laughed at him and changed the subject a little. "Assuming that they haven't lied to us, how long before the people you work with notice that you don't age?" Matt frowned as she continued. "The same for me, providing I go back to work. And if we quit our jobs before someone notices that we haven't aged, what then? How do we support ourselves? Do we move from place to place, somehow changing our names as we do so? Changing an identity is bound to get harder and harder to do with technology that can scan our faces and immediately identify us, not to mention that there are databases almost everywhere. The more I think about things, the more worried I become. Oh, I surely do want to live forever, but we both know that something will happen once our lack of aging is noticed. I don't want to become a lab rat in some hidden government facility."

Matt frowned more as her comments sank home. "Crap, Baby, considering my job, I should have been the one who thought of that. That sure puts a damper on things. I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead. I was too busy enjoying feeling so good, and ... also thinking about how much I enjoyed that sweet pussy of yours last night," he added with a leer.

Courtney smiled back at him. "Something else I want to ask you, Matt?"

"Oh, no, this sounds ominous."

"Well, I surely hope not. Diana says – and I'm sure you noticed at breakfast now that we've had the block and become part of the 'family' – that all the women go braless while they're here in the Retreat. Shall I..."

"Oh, heck yeah," he immediately responded.

"You won't be jealous? These people have kidded each other about sex in front of us, with us being virtually strangers to them. What if someone says something? I stay braless practically all the time inside our home, and you've told me you like it – well, in more ways than one," she giggled. "But my breasts are big enough that it will be obvious if I leave my bra off. I've seen some of the men – the Alphas I mean – looking at women that aren't their wives. They aren't blatant about it, and I don't think it's more than that, but..."

"Will I be upset if you go braless and Jeff or some of the others look at you?"

"Yeah. That's exactly what I mean."

"I ... hmmm," he said, a frown on his face. "I doubt it will bother me, as long as they're subtle about it. I mean..."

"But I'm pretty sure that every man here looks at other women's breasts, and not just their wives," she finished for him.

Matt stretched his legs out, taking a moment before he responded. "Babe, don't get mad about what I'm going to say. We've discussed this before and you weren't pleased, but it's ... uh, hardwired into a man. I can't help but glance at a woman's breasts, particularly if the woman is braless. But darnit, I try to be subtle about it, and I consciously look straight into a woman's eyes when I'm talking to her, but ... I'll admit that I sometimes slip. But it doesn't mean that I don't love you..."

"Oh, don't get all defensive on me," Courtney said, trying to stifle a giggle. "And I look at other men from time to time, but Matt, I never seriously thought about cheating. Not even when we were separated and I was trying to get you off my mind."

"I knew you wouldn't," he lied.

"Bullshit," she said as she put her empty cup down and reached for his hand. "I know you worried that I would take a lover and go on with my life. But despite my having left you, we were still married. I thought that moving out would give me a little peace of mind and stop most of my worrying that I'd get a call that you were killed on duty like my dad was. Fact is, it didn't. I still worried. I just didn't have you there at night to hold me."

"I could still buy the farm, Babe, but the chances are slim that will happen now that I'm a SAC. But ... I'm not going to sit all safe and secure in my office. Oh, I'll have to be there most of the time, but I'm still going to get out in the field as much as I can. I can't expect my people to do something that I wouldn't do. It just isn't in me to do things like that. But, that said, my chances of getting hurt are slim – very slim."

"And they better stay that way, Husband."

Matt put his cup on the windowsill, reaching out a hand to encourage his wife to sit in his lap. Then teasing, "So when's the bra coming off? Or have you built up the nerve yet?"

Courtney looked both ways in the hall.

"We're on the back side of the building. There's no one around."

She stood, pulled her top out of her pants, then ran her hands up her back to release the catch. A moment later, she did the contortion thing and pulled the bra out of one of her sleeves.

Hanging the bra over the back of her seat, she plopped back onto his lap. He pushed her top above her breasts and brought his mouth to an already swelling nipple. "Baby," she whispered, "if you do that, my nipples are going to be sticking out obscenely."

"Nothing obscene about them," he muttered as he switched to the other nipple, sucking as enthusiastically on it as he had the first one.

After a couple minutes of his sucking, and one small orgasm, Courtney suddenly stood, moving back from him and pulling her top down. "That's enough, Lover," she said with a giggle, her nipples obvious through her tight blouse. "Any more and I will have you inside me, and as sore as I am ... Well, let's wait until tonight for that. Diana mentioned something about a cream she had that I could use for soreness. I turned it down before, but after last night, I think I'll take her up on it."

"So. Do you have everyone's name down pat?" Fred asked Angel with a grin as he held the door to their suite open for his women.

Angel made a noise. "Yeah, right," she said, sarcastically. "I'll be lucky if I can remember them all in a week." She walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door, then glanced back at the others while asking them what their choices were for soft drinks.

Carla, Jessica and Audrey took their drinks and went into the bedroom, while Brenda and Angel sat on the couch with Fred in the middle. He draped his arms over the shoulders of the two women, each hand resting on a breast. As they talked, he absently ran a fingertip around a nipple on each of the women.

After a few minutes, Angel grabbed her father's hand. "If you keep doing that, we're going to be back in the bedroom, and I'm a little sore from last night," she said with a smile and a quiet but sexy giggle. "I used some of the cream Diana gave me. She tried to be tactful when she told me about the cream, but it was embarrassing to realize that she knew. She didn't just guess – she knew. I tried my best to act like I always had around you, Dad, but somehow she knew we had made love. I can't understand how. Surely they don't have listening devices..."

"Absolutely not," Fred interrupted, "but you have to realize that these people are sharp – all of them. As far as I know, none of them have any secrets from any of the Alpha families. I know that Diana and Jeff will gladly talk about anything from their finances to their plans for Christmas. If you need money, well, you saw that Diana wouldn't take that five grand back. And it isn't just Diana. Jeff would give you the proverbial shirt off his back. And I feel the same way about them, although I can't imagine that they will ever need anything from me." Fred stopped for a second, then grinning, he continued, "Well, I can think of one thing he won't share – his women. But in all sincerity, I'm absolutely certain he would never touch one of you in any inappropriate way. He'll kid the heck out of you, check out your boobs and ass, but neither Jeff nor any of my brother Alphas will ever bother you. Angel, I know from what you say that you've lived in fear of being raped, but those days are over."

Angel let out a sigh. "You have no idea how good it feels to get away from that place, and even more, to be free of Justin." She stared her father in the face, then, "I know I should feel sad that my husband is dead, but ... I don't. Not even a little bit. I'm just relieved to be rid of him." She sat quietly for a few moments, then said, "Please forgive me for asking, but ... I mean, will ... Was last night..."

Brenda reached to squeeze her daughter's hand. "It's forever, Honey. Last night wasn't a fluke. If you're asking if you'll remain one of your father's women, the answer is an emphatic yes."

Fred broke in with, "Now and forever, Baby. And since you brought the subject up..." He came to his feet, turned and came down on a knee, reaching out to take Angel's hands. "Baby, I have four wives, as you know. I love all of them equally, just as I love you. Will you be my wife – to live as a family forever?"