Chapter 227

Winter Park

In the first shop, Angel had tried to pay with the money her mother had given her, only to have the proprietor tell her everything was already taken care of. In the next shop, Angel was more observant, and as soon as they entered the store, she saw Diana approach the owner and hand her a credit card. When Angel realized what Diana was doing, she told her mother what she had seen and was going to talk to Diana, but Brenda grabbed her arm. "Don't hurt her feelings. She takes this Clan Queen thing seriously – as do the rest of us. As far as she's concerned, she's buying for her family. If we insist on paying for things, she calls their accountant and the money reappears in our checking account. She's like a mother hen taking care of her brood, and Jeff does the same thing."

Later, Brenda and her daughter were going through a blouse rack at the third store they had visited. Brenda occasionally held a blouse up to look at it, then returned it if it didn't meet her satisfaction. The other women, scattered around the store, were browsing much as Brenda and Angel were. The group had taken time out for lunch at The Kitchen, but now they were back shopping again.

As they continued to look through the rack of blouses, Brenda spent some time explaining things to her daughter. "Jeff bought all new equipment for the farm, paid for silos, barns and feeding systems, even bought the farm next door. He set up a company with Carla to head it, and deposited a substantial amount of money in the farm account for operating funds. Carla and Jessica recently received a large sum of money from the lawsuits against the insurance company and the hospital because of the way they treated Carla's first husband. When Carla tried to pay Jeff back, he wouldn't take a dime. He claims his money is family money. All of us have credit and debit cards, but we never receive a bill for the credit cards. The bills all go directly to the Matthews' accountant. They say we are an Alpha family – part of the Prime's family. Oh, and about the credit cards, you'll shortly have your own."

"But, I hardly know these people. I..."

"As far as Diana and Jeff are concerned, we're all part of the Matthews Clan. When this little trip is over, just hug their necks and thank them. Jeff blushes like you wouldn't believe."

Angel let out a quiet giggle as she stepped closer to her mother to say. "Daddy blushed this morning. I didn't think grown men did that, at least not very much."

"Who made him blush? You?"

"Uh huh. You said I didn't have to hide my feelings around anyone at the Retreat, so when I found him standing in the living room with some of the men. I walked over, grabbed the back of his neck, pulled him to me and kissed him, and I, uh, put some tongue into it. He sprang a woody almost instantly, and he blushed like crazy."

Brenda grinned at her daughter. "It works both ways. You can bet he'll get you back." Brenda giggled along with her daughter, then held a blouse up to Angel. "I think the color goes with your complexion. About the blushing, all the Alphas do it; some more than others. The women blush more than normal, also. We've decided that it's because of the enhancement. In other words, our excellent health. Whatever, it's fun to watch the men do it when they're embarrassed. Now go try this on."

A little later, as the women came out of the dress shop, they met a young man who had just exited the ski shop next door. With a pair of new skis over his shoulder, he stopped to admire the sidewalk full of women. Nothing wrong with that, but he was a college student – one of a group that had come up for a weekend of skiing, drinking and fucking. He had just turned twenty-one and could legally drink now. In celebration of that, he had brought a hip flask of prime whisky with him – the flask made him feel more adult – and he had taken several nips before deciding to purchase a new set of skis with his father's credit card.

Being young, dumb and full of come, as the saying goes, not to mention feeling the effects of the alcohol, he stepped aside to let the women pass, but then just had to run his mouth. "Wow," he said, loudly. "Look at all the pussy, and not a man around to take care of any of it. I would like to volunteer my services," he finished with a loud laugh as he took a step toward Arlene.

Actually, there were several men around, but they were a little farther away, or invisible, but trooper Rebecca Little, one of the Security troopers, had been posing as a customer while the women shopped, and she was the nearest Security to the loudmouth. She stepped close to him as he leered at Arlene, who stood her ground. The young Queen had her hand stuck in the end of her purse as she held her Glock trained on him. Of course, he had no idea she was holding a gun. Diana had moved a couple of paces away to give her a clear field of fire, and was also standing with her hand shoved into the end of her purse. Diana assumed he was just a loudmouth, but Jeff had trained her to not get taken in by a diversion.

Rebecca grasped the young man's left wrist, folding it inward, and tucked his elbow under her arm as a fulcrum to produce the come-a-long. As she turned and walked down the street, his skis clattering to the sidewalk, the young man suddenly pranced on his toes, whining in a high-pitched voice as he stumbled along with her like a puppy following its mother. "Oh, oh, ouch. Shit, that hurts. What the fuck is the matter with you?" he whimpered. "Are you butch or something?" That pissed Rebecca off. When he suddenly tried to snatch away, she increased the pressure for a couple of seconds, momentarily bringing him to his knees.

"Stand up, wimp," she quietly snarled. "We're going to go down this way and have a little talk." Not believing, or not wanting to believe, that a woman could "manhandle" him, he tried again to snatch away, but found out that he could actually hurt more – a lot more. "Oh, shit!" he wailed, but he quit struggling as she growled out for him to do so. They went on down the block with only an occasional, "Oh, oh ... All right. All right." Then in a resigned voice, "I won't try to pull away again," he whined.

Down the block a hundred feet or so, Rebecca stopped to lecture him, but when he began to run his mouth about suing her, "Shut up!" she snarled as she briefly increased pressure to emphasize her words. "If I thought for a second that you were anything more than just a drunk idiot, I would already have killed your ass." She looked back up the block. "Now that the ladies are in their vehicles. I strongly suggest you wait a few minutes until they are well away from here, then go pick up your skis and mind your own business," she finished with emphasis.

"Well, that's just fucking..." Whatever else he was going to say became a high-pitched squeal as the Security trooper really cranked down on the pressure.

"You're just fucking stupid, aren't you?" Rebecca hissed out as she held pressure on his wrist. Finally, he fully realized that she meant business and he was helpless to stop her from hurting him. At the moment, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to use the hand again. In a quiet voice that somehow scared him even more, "If I see you again, I'll have you put in jail, right after I kick your ass. The cops here like the family that employs me. If you want to test out that little theory, why don't you give the police a call and tell them I hurt your sorry ass. Understand, Stupid?"

By then, he couldn't speak past the pain, but he frantically nodded his head.

To show her contempt for him, she released him, turned her back and casually walked away. He thought about trying to hit her, but his hand was still hurting too badly to seriously consider it. Just as well. There was a very big, invisible trooper standing behind him with his pulse rifle drawn back, ready to butt-stroke the young man's head should he try to attack Rebecca.

She keyed her throat mike and subvocalized, "Thanks, Carter."

"Anytime."

Angel had been looking out the window of the SUV. "What did she do to him?" Then, a bit of awe showing through, "I want to know how to do that."

Brenda grinned at her daughter as they pulled away. "Fred or I will show you how, or we can get Helen to. She's given most of the women self-defense lessons, and we all do a lot of shooting, both on the farm and at the Retreat on Jeff's indoor range. You used to shoot with Fred and me when you were a teenager..."

"I haven't touched a gun since I left with Justin, but that's something else I miss doing with you and Daddy."

Brenda, her tone of voice becoming even more serious, said, "Jeff is adamant that we practice. He sent many cases of ammunition to the farm, and he has lots more of it in the ammo magazine at the retreat. We'll have to bring you up to speed as soon as we can. The Matthews were attacked. That's the reason Jeff is so insistent we practice."

Angel nodded to the Security vehicle in front of them as they headed toward the next shop. "I guess it's a good thing that the Matthews' security people were here."

Brenda chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose. Security being here might well have saved the punk's life. Did you notice where Arlene's and Diana's hands were while that was happening?"

"Uh, no."

"Their purses are made to hold a pistol, as is mine. Brenda turned her purse a little so Angel could see. Our purses have a built-in pistol holster in the middle of them. All we have to do is to slip a hand into the end of the purse, and it's on the grip of the pistol. We don't have to open our purses to hold our weapons or fire them, for that matter. Diana and Arlene can shoot every bit as well as your dad and me, maybe even better."

Angel stared as Brenda pulled the Glock out enough for the young woman to see, then slid it back into its holster.

"I want a purse and a pistol like yours," Angel declared. "And I want to start shooting again."

"When we get back to the farm, we'll give you some training to refresh you, or have Jeff do it, if you prefer. After that, we'll get you a carry permit. Since Sheriff Quinton Tate is an Alpha, it won't be a problem."

Angel caught her mother's eye. "What was that about an attack you mentioned before?

Brenda thought for a second. "I think it would be better if one of Jeff's wives gives you the details, but for a short synopsis until then, a group of mercenaries entered the Retreat disguised as a cleaning crew. Helen and Arlene were shot, and Arlene almost died. But Jeff and his wives killed all the attackers. Well, I suppose the last one to die was technically the Ship's kill, but there was a hail of bullets from Jeff's women headed toward him when the Ship erased him from the planet. And I do mean erased. I was told there wasn't much of him left to clean up."

"The attack is the reason for all the elaborate security, then?"

"That, and other things, all going back to what I said about your being safe at the Retreat. There's a lot more security than meets the eye. I'll get Diana or Arlene to give you a rundown if you like. But the likelihood of a successful attack on the Retreat is very, very small at best."

As they pulled into the parking lot of their next stop, Angel seemed to come to a decision. "Arlene and Diana didn't pay much attention to the loudmouth after that woman grabbed him, and I think I've just realized why."

Brenda chuckled, then responded. "Noticed that, huh? Diana and Arlene were watching out for a real attack should the loudmouth have been a diversion, and so was I. And you can bet that Security was doing the same."

By the expression on Angel's face, it was obvious she had a lot to think about.

The shopping trip wasn't strictly limited to purchases for Angel, nor was it limited to outer clothing. They were all loaded down with packages before the trip was over. At Diana's and Arlene's insistence, Angel chose several negligées during the trip, but she would discover when she returned to the Retreat that a startling number and variety of sexy sleepwear had been added to her purchases.

As they walked out of what Angel thought was surely the last store, Diana astonished the young woman with, "One more stop. The western wear place out on the highway."

Jessica chimed in with, "I think she'll really look good in a cowgirl outfit or two."

Angel didn't realize that an "outfit or two" meant hats and boots to match each, nor did she ever imagine that there were sexy cowgirl panties and bras. One of the cowgirl negligées made her blush just to look at it.

"Fred's gonna love that," her mother said, blatantly holding the negligée up despite other customers in the store.

"Motherrr," Angel hissed out, grabbing the garment, "people will see."

"So," Brenda laughed, tossing the negligée into the cart. Turning back to Angel, Brenda leaned near and whispered, "If that embarrasses you, you're gonna be blushing a lot. We like to strut our stuff for our man. Sometimes when the weather is bad and we can't get out to do much on the farm, we wear our sexiest sleepwear all day – well, until Fred takes it off us." She let out a derisive chuckle, "By the time bedtime comes, you can smell come in every room in the house."

Angel got a vivid image of all her daddy's wives running around in sexy negligées. Then her imagination shifted to her father making love to her on a kitchen table. Her face became redder.

The Retreat

Fred walked into their bedroom to find Angel standing by the bed shaking her head. She held up a very nice pair of slacks, then motioned to the bed loaded with clothing. "I had no idea all this was coming home with me. I don't even know what to say."

Audrey chuckled a little as she stepped over, put an arm around Angel's shoulders and hugged her. "We just helped you a little with your shopping."

Carla and Jessica were sitting nearby with amused expressions on their faces. Brenda, a look of joy on her face, stood watching her daughter as she put the contents of yet another shopping bag on the bed. "I thought you guys were buying for yourselves. I didn't know you were getting all this for me," Angel said, yet again.