Chapter 465

The Retreat

...”Sorry,” Mike responded. “But you have to admit, like Marie said, it’s a lot to swallow.” He hesitated for a second, then, to show faith in Jeff, Mike went quickly on, “So what do we do?”

Jeff smiled at the two. “Whoever is going to be first, just lie back like you did before. You will sleep a bit longer this time and might hear a buzzing in your mind, but otherwise, it’s just a good nap.”

Mike positioned himself again. “I guess, I’ll go first,”

Marie looked at Jeff, then his wives. “You’re positive there aren’t any side effects to this?”

Susan’s smile increased as she spoke up. “Well, other than feeling better than you ever have in your life, having more energy and wanting to eat anything you can get your hands on and not gaining any weight unless you want to, becoming any apparent age you want, your mind being sharper, your hearing and eyesight far better, and a few other things like living forever – no, there aren’t any side effects,” she finished with a glint in her eyes. I didn’t add that your libido is going to reach heights beyond anything you have ever imagined, but with your being a newlywed, you wouldn’t believe me, anyway. Nor would you believe the intensity of the orgasms or how many you’re going to start having.

Jeff’s wives passed a glance that both Mike and Marie caught, but neither understood.

“Ready?” the Prime asked.

“Yeah. Go for it,” Mike responded.

Jeff put the Healer on Mike’s chest before resuming his seat.

“I think I can hear...” Mike began as a blue glow started under Little One before it reached out and touched his forehead. Whatever Mike was going to say, was lost as he drifted to sleep.

A bit over an hour had passed as Mike Hall and his new wife, in addition to Diana, Susan, Arlene and Jeff sat at the smaller of the tables in the kitchen, empty plates and platters still in front of the young couple.

“I ... I never dreamed I could feel so ... alive,” Marie said, her remark just the latest of a series of similar comments from each of the two.

Diana refilled their cups and put the carafe nearby, should they want more coffee. Marie stirred in cream and sugar while Mike absently sipped his black. It didn’t take a genius to see that both were still trying to process what they had been told, and ... what had happened.

“Oh, there’s something else we haven’t spoken about,” the Clan Queen said as she returned to her seat by Jeff. “Well, actually there are many things that we will eventually discuss and show to the two of you, but there are several things that come with the enhancement that we haven’t spoken of yet. One is that your periods will stop, Marie. No more mess, cramps, etcetera every month. Which ... means you won’t get pregnant until you want to. When you decide to have babies, Little One will ... restart that function again,” she finished with a grin. “So, no need for pills, shots, loops, diaphragms, and so forth, and no surprise pregnancies. Little One also tells us that our offspring will be perfect – no matter what.”

Diana caught the young nurse’s inadvertent glance at Arlene. “No danger there, either. All of us now have bodies whose cells will perfectly reproduce, therefore, no worry about incest, and the enhancement can be passed on to our offspring. At least that’s what Little One tells us, and with all she has done, there is certainly no reason to doubt her. Ship, of course, concurs with what Little One has told us through Jeff.”

“Ship?” Mike asked with a frown on his face.

“Another subject for later,” Jeff inserted.

Diana smiled at her husband before turning back to Mike and Marie with just a hint of a teasing expression on her beautiful face. “I imagine that you might have had a little discomfort this morning. After all, it was your wedding night.” Before they could respond, she went on, “I left something in the bridal suite that probably helped, but I’m willing to wager that all that discomfort has disappeared entirely since you took that nap with Little One on your chest, hmmm, Marie?”

Marie and Mike exchanged glances with her giving him a slight nod.

Arlene didn’t give them a chance to respond, but leaned forward a bit as she spoke. “I was cutting up vegetables a few days after I was enhanced. My mind was on ... other things,” she said with a smile in Jeff’s direction, “and I cut my finger. Oh, it wasn’t a bad cut. With a Band Aid, it would have healed on its own in a few days. I grabbed a paper towel and pressed it to the cut to stop the little bit of bleeding, but as I dabbed at the blood, the wound slowly closed and healed right before my eyes.” After a moment to let her comment sink in, she went on, “Feeling good the way we do is wonderful, but the full impact comes when you realize that something has actually changed in your body. Our bodies really will heal themselves if given the chance, and Little One can speed the healing still more.

“She has become a valuable part of our family, and we love her just as much as we do any of us. I just wish she had a human body so we could show her how much we actually care for her.”

Jeff felt Little One’s pleasure as she heard Arlene through his mind. “She says to thank you, Baby.”

Mike squeezed his new wife’s hand, smiled at her for a second, then focused on Jeff. “This is almost more than we can assimilate. It’s like a fairytale or something. If it were not for the way I feel, and ... the sudden almost unbelievable hunger ... I would think all this is a hoax. But, I just ate more in one meal than I’ve ever eaten in three, yet I’m still hungry.”

Susan took her turn. “We’ll keep your refrigerator stocked with already-cooked meals that only require warming in the microwave. And ... don’t forget about the snack refrigerator. We always keep it stocked. It’s a rare night when someone, or maybe several someones, don’t raid the kitchen in the wee hours. Oh, the constant ravenousness will slacken in a week or ten days, at least mine did, but I still eat many times more than I ever did before the enhancement.”

Diana added, “And feel free to partake of anything we have. You’re family now. Besides, we have enough food stocked to easily last a year, and we rotate it out before it gets old so everything remains fresh.”

“If you want anything that we don’t have,” Diana continued as she turned to point at a laptop sitting on one of the kitchen counters, “just add it to the grocery list there. We purchase most of our food from a store in Winter Park. We buy enough from the owner that he is more than willing to provide just about anything you could ever imagine. We do insist on quality, and he is happy to provide it.

“As our family grew, it became obvious that the store wasn’t going to be able to provide everything we wanted. Oh, the owner could furnish the basics, but we wanted more variety than he could provide. However ... he is an enterprising young man, and refused to give up such a good customer. So now, we can select the items we want on the computer. What’s in stock has an asterisk beside it. What isn’t marked has to be ordered, but he obviously intends to keep our business, because he promptly delivers almost everything we order, and if there is going to be a delay, he tells us.”

Mike caught Jeff’s eye. “Jeff ... I don’t know what to say. I, well, Marie and I can’t understand why you – all of you – are doing this for us. We...”

Diana reached across the table to put her hand on Mike’s. “We haven’t talked about Alphas, and that’s a long and ... involved subject. Jeff says you aren’t an Alpha, well, exactly, but you’re ... close. Close enough to not make any difference, right, Jeff?” she asked as she glanced at him.

Jeff blew out a puff of air. “Yeah, certainly.” After a moment, he went on. “There’s a lot that I don’t know about Alphas – maybe an awful lot, and it’s not as if there is anyone to teach me. Maybe there are degrees of Alphas, or whatever. But let’s just say that you’re definitely part of us, Mike. Think of Alphas – at least my Alphas – as brothers. Very, very close brothers. Brothers that exhibit a special bond. Brothers that you would die for without a second thought. So when we welcomed you to the Matthews Clan, well, that was a lot more factual than you probably imagined. It’s almost as if I had to welcome you as part of us. And ... I think that whatever the Alpha effect is, it’s growing in you. Just consider yourself an Alpha and we’ll work out the understanding sooner or later. After all, this is almost as new to me as it is to you. Oh, I’ve always known I was a bit different, but once Little One enhanced me and I started meeting my enhanced Alpha brothers, well, things changed.”

Diana caught Jeff’s eye, and a silent communication passed. Turning to the newlyweds, she said. “Enough of the deep subjects for now. Marie, we had to do things a bit differently because of the guests, but there’s something that we girls usually do the morning after the wedding. We didn’t get to do it this morning, so we’ll do it now. Why don’t you put on a bathing suit and meet us on the hot tub deck? The AI will direct you if you don’t know where it is.”

Turning to Mike, the Clan Queen continued, “Sorry, but this is for females, only, and ... it sometimes gets a little raunchy, but that will have to be diluted a bit this afternoon because Selina has requested to be with us, and if we allow her, then we will also have to invite Alice and Terri, Eric’s daughters. Alice just turned thirteen and Terri will soon be fifteen. They have both been enhanced and are quickly becoming young women – at least they are trying their best to convince their father that they are.”

Diana noticed Marie’s eyes flick to Arlene for a second, and both she and Diana chuckled. “We’ll tell you that story one of these days, and truth be told, we don’t even think about it anymore. Arlene is just as much a wife to my husband as I am – or any of the others.”

Marie started to say something, but hesitated. “Go on,” Diana encouraged. “I promise we won’t take offense.”

“How...” Marie began, but stopped to try to think of a better way to put it. “I mean, how could you allow all those other women to...”

“ ... Make love with my husband?” Diana finished for her with amusement obvious in her voice.

“Uh, yes,” Marie responded as her gaze shifted to her husband, who was suddenly trying to look innocent. Before he could say anything, she asked him, “Is this the reason you wanted me to come here? To get married here?”

There was a chorus of “nos,” from everyone, startling Marie for a second before they all began talking at once.

“Baby, I...” a flustered Mike started.

“Certainly not,” Diana burst out, her sister-wives also saying something similar at the same time. Then, before things could deteriorate further, she continued. “Marie, please don’t think that. Mike didn’t know us well enough to even consider something of that nature. Please, just go put your suit on and meet us on the hot tub deck. We’ll discuss things in depth while we’re enjoying the water.”

“What’s going on?” Mike asked when his wife left after giving him an odd look.

“Oh, I can’t blame her for being upset,” Diana responded. “After all, she has just been subjected to several families, all with an Alpha and his wives. Wives, as in plural. Even Marcie and Steve brought their friend with them. Now we’ve had Little One enhance you two,” she said locking eyes with Mike, “and we’ve mentioned Alphas. She’s probably thinking that we’re going to encourage her husband to find other wives.”

“Oh, shit,” both Jeff and Mike said as one.

“I need to go talk to her. I’ll set her straight about this,” Mike said, but before he could take more than a step or two toward the door, Diana caught his arm.

“And how do you know that you won’t be lying to her?” the Clan Queen asked, an odd look on her face, almost a grin.

“What?” he snapped, torn between hurrying after his wife and responding to Diana’s totally puzzling question.