Chapter 502

...”I’ll take a picture of the screen with my phone and print it out when I get back to the base. Anyone who doesn’t agree wholeheartedly won’t be on the team,” he assured them.

As soon as her laptop booted, Jasmine wrote up the agreement, and when they all concurred with the wording, Whitworth took a picture of the screen.

Smiling from ear to ear, Diana hugged Morales, Jasmine and the General. Turning back to Jasmine, the Clan Queen said, “I have a surprise for breakfast.” Then addressing her husband, “Baby, would you please bring me the big box over there? And be careful with it,” she said motioning. After Jeff retrieved the box, Diana kissed him on the cheek before opening the container to reveal many large cartons of eggs.

“Oh, my goodness,” Jasmine exclaimed. “Now we can have a real breakfast for everyone this morning. Our hens do well, but there are only three of them, and since I use eggs when I bake, we seldom have enough for breakfast.”

Diana smiled as she said, “There wasn’t a lot of notice about our trip, so we didn’t have time to really go shopping. I did manage to call several stores and had Dave pick up my orders, but we didn’t have time to go grocery shopping, per se. These,” she said, motioning, “were what we had in stock at the Retreat, and since we have a number of people for meals and had just received a shipment from one of our Alphas who owns an organic farm, we had quite a few dozen eggs on hand. I hope you two will enjoy them. And ... since they have never been washed and came straight from the farm, they should last a long time without spoiling.”

(Fresh eggs have a natural coating called the “bloom” that keeps out bacteria. Once washed, the eggs tend to spoil faster unless they are refrigerated.)

Gertrude let out a squawk. When they turned to look, she was standing there glaring in their direction. Jasmine smiled at Diana before quietly saying, “I don’t know how she knows what’s in the box, but I think she’s jealous.” Walking over, Jasmine hugged the big hen and whispered something to her. When Jasmine stepped back, Gertrude flapped her wings and strutted around.

“I don’t believe it,” Whitworth, having heard everything, said while shaking his head.

“That’s what I’ve been talking about,” Jasmine responded when she returned. “Even the chickens are far smarter than they should be. Now, if I just had some way to monitor the wild chickens for a comparison.”

“Cameras,” Whitworth said.

“But I don’t have any that would be appropriate...”

“ ... yet,” the General finished for her. “But, you will have, shortly. What else do you need to further your studies along the lines of your doctorate?”

“You would help?” she asked.

“Certainly, but you are going to continue working for me once your doctorate is awarded, aren’t you?” he insisted.

“But I’m going to live here with Morales.”

“Well, of course you are, but that only makes you of more value to me.”

“Oh, uh, yes,” she whispered, stunned. “I would be flattered to continue.”

Jasmine soon got a mini dose of what Jeff was talking about when he had mentioned the way his wives worked together. Diana asked what Jasmine planned for breakfast. Opening a cooler, the Clan Queen showed her what they had brought. Seeing the orange juice, Jasmine’s smile got even bigger. “Oh, that’s just perfect. Morales has mentioned missing orange juice for breakfast, and to tell the truth, I do too.”

“We brought waffle mix, and there’s a waffle iron made for camping in that pile somewhere,” Diana said, motioning. “And we also brought several big jars of maple syrup, too. We have fresh strawberries and several big jars of various jellies. We just grabbed what we could find in the pantry. And...” she said while lowering her voice, “I suspect we can talk the General into a regular supply run without too much trouble. And ... in case he balks, I know his wives,” she said, conspiratorially, while trying to hold back a giggle.

“Diana,” Jasmine tried to reason, “I don’t understand...”

The Clan Queen pulled the young woman aside, continuing their quiet conversation. “Are you going to marry him?”

“Well,” Jasmine returned, blushing, “he hasn’t asked me, and well, he won’t, because he’s extremely self-conscious about being a lifer, and besides, there’s no way we could be married.”

“Don’t bet on that,” Diana returned with a smile. “If you two want to be married, my husband can make it happen.”

“But the General...”

“Oh, he’s just a big wuss. We don’t try to tell him how to be a General, and he doesn’t tell us how to go about our personal lives. Now, I suggest you have a talk with your man. If you two want to be married, my husband can make it happen. If you want to wait, then by all means do so, but when you’re ready, just let me know.”

“I do love him and he says he loves me. I’ve already committed to living here with him, but we haven’t had true sex yet.”

“‘True sex?’” Diana repeated with a smile.

“Like I said, he hasn’t penetrated me with his, uh, penis yet, but we’ve done most everything else. He’s giving me time to be certain I love him.”

“And...”

“Oh, crap. I think I was more than halfway in love with him from just watching the vids. And once I got here ... well, I’ve never felt this way in my life. It had reached the point that I worried I would never find my man, but he is the one. I’ll never go back to Earth and leave him. I’ve told the General that I would go back for my doctorate only if he promised me I could return as soon as I asked.”

“What did he say?”

“He agreed.”

The Clan Queen smiled. “So, it’s a done deal. As you well know, he stands behind what he says. But, what about kids? This will be a rough life for them, and then there are the animals...”

“We have rifles now, and from what your husband says, an abundance of ammunition,” Jasmine asserted. “A couple of years from now, the area will be safer. And, yes I know that our children won’t have modern conveniences, but frontier people lived out their lives without them. Although those lives were simple compared to modern society, there are many accounts of frontier families that were obviously happy. As far as that is concerned, a growing number of people have set up frontier farms and live off the land almost entirely. The only thing I really worry about is not having access to modern medicine.”

“Having babies...” Diana started.

“No,” Jasmine said, shaking her head. “Many women choose natural childbirth even in the U.S. I’m not talking about that, but rather, childhood diseases. What happens if my infant comes down with something really bad?”

The Clan Queen smiled at her, “You have a way to summon the portal, don’t you?”

“We didn’t use to, but we now have the technology. Everyone in the field has a Recall.”

“Good. The General respects you and he owes you, big time. I think you’re worrying needlessly about medical care for your kids.”

“My birth control will last for two years. After that...”

“I can’t tell you just now, but I suspect there is more going on than you realize. I think your husband-to-be is a little more different than even you know.”

“What...” Jasmine replied with a frown.

“I can’t talk about it yet, but Jeff mentioned something to me a few minutes ago, and if it turns out to be true, there will be some changes. Changes that you never even dreamed of.”

“But...”

“We’ll talk later, but I think you’re going to be very, very pleased if things turn out the way I suspect they will.”

As Diana turned away, Jasmine marveled at how young the Clan Queen looked. I’m still amazed that she’s Arlene’s mother. How can she look so young?

When told about it, Morales was very interested in the possibility of waffles.

Arlene took the waffle iron out of its box as he looked on. “I watched a movie that had a few scenes where the lead characters were camping, and they used a waffle iron over their fire. I’ve wanted to try it ever since the movie, but don’t get your hopes up too high, because this is my first attempt at cooking waffles this way,” she advised with a sexy little giggle.

After cleaning and prepping the waffle iron, she mixed the batter and poured in just the right amount – she hoped.

Her first try wasn’t what she had wanted, but Selina took the waffle, poured syrup over it, and divided it between the wolves. After a sniff, they practically inhaled the waffle, not caring a wit whether it was fully intact or not.

“At least somebody likes them,” Arlene said with a grin as she tried again, this time, allowing the waffle iron to get a little hotter before pouring the batter in.

A few minutes later when she opened the iron, Morales held his plate close. “Perfect,” he said as the waffle broke free of the mold and slid onto his plate.

Jasmine had hash browns going on the grill as well as a giant mound of scrambled eggs. Kayla was in charge of the steaks and toast while Selina, seeming to almost read their minds, handed them what they needed, just as they needed it.

Amazing Morales, it all came together at the same time. Jeff and the General never doubted, since it happened at every meal back home.

After breakfast, and at Jeff’s request, he and the General took a walk, and Jeff even zipped his jacket against the wind this time, but it appeared that the weather was clearing, although bitterly cold.

“I’m assuming you had something more on your mind than a stroll in the snow,” Whitworth grumbled as he broke through the crust and sank to his knees, yet again.

“Let’s go over there by that giant tree where the snow isn’t as deep,” the Prime suggested.

A moment later, Whitworth asked, “So what’s the big secret?” as he put his back to the tree to get out of the worst of the wind.

“Your prisoner has changed...”

“Oh, hell. Don’t start that again. It’s too soon to...”

“That’s not what I mean,” Jeff said over the General’s objections.

Before Whitworth could go on, the Prime continued, “He’s well on his way to becoming an Alpha.”

“Oh, shit,” Whitworth growled out. Then after a second, “Well, we’ve known that there are a number of men who are Alphas and aren’t worth a shit as individuals. As a matter of fact, they’re far worse than the average bad guy.”

“I’m not getting those vibes out of Morales, though,” Jeff insisted.

“Dammit, Jeff, you were part of the tribunal that sentenced him to life.”

“Yes,” Jeff groused, “and I’ve made other mistakes before, and will again.”

“He can’t just go around killing people...” Whitworth argued.

“And if he hadn’t?” Jeff queried.

“He should have called the cops,” Whitworth groused.

“And they would have taken a report if they had managed to get there before anything happened.”

Whitworth tried one more thing, “He has a history...”

“Yep,” Jeff agreed. “I’m not saying I know the answer, but dammit, I’m beginning to trust the guy. And ... keep in mind what he’s done for us. I have a feeling that the booster station, or whatever it is, might well bring about changes in the way we think about communication. Remember, even Ship hasn’t been able to come up with a method of faster than light communication. What if this does just that? Think about what that would do for our communications with the scout ships that are watching the aliens. Now, they have to shuttle back and forth when they need to send us an update because our drives are many times faster than light. Both radio communications as well as Ship’s telepathic communications are constrained by light speed, as well as having a limited distance, so we wind up wasting time going back and forth just to deliver messages.”

“But Conners is part of this too,” the General tried.

“And how much would she have accomplished without Morales?” Jeff asked. “We owe him, and I’m guessing we’re going to continue owing him more as time goes on.”

“But didn’t he say he wouldn’t go back to Earth even if he could?”

“I’m not saying to send him back to Earth. Far from it. I’m just saying that chances are he’s becoming an Alpha. Dammit, Sir, you know the feeling we have between brother Alphas. What are you going to do when he’s a full-fledged Alpha and he can feel us just as I am beginning to feel him now?”

“Shit!” Whitworth grumbled. “But ... to reiterate, he doesn’t want to go back to Earth,” he tried.

Jeff sighed. “I’m not going to leave his ass just hanging out. I think he’s fast becoming a full Alpha, and I can’t believe he’s ever going to be one of the bad ones. Sir, I have no option other than helping him, and ... Jasmine, too, of course.”