Chapter 37:
*dun* *dun*
{Sizzle}
*dun* *dun*
Flip. {Sizzle}
*dun* *dun* -- *dun* *dun*
Sprinkle. Flip. {Sizzle}
*dun* *dun* -- *dun* *dun* -- *dun* *dun* *dun* -- *DUN*
{Swish!} {Dong!}
"Akame, love, I can see you just fine without the sound effects." (Magus)
"Ow." (Akame)
"*Sigh* come here."
"Mn."
We decided to BBQ for lunch today and as always, I had a certain fox eyeing my unfinished dishes as they were cooking on the grill.
The only difference from the norm was that I was wearing one of our spar aprons, a pink apron with a cliché 'kiss the cook' on it considering a certain drug dealing house elf 'accidentally' hot boxed the laundry room and made all the clothes smell.
As for my fox problem though, I had to karate chop her when she went in for the kill (for the meat on the grill) to stop her but seeing her holding her head in pain was to moe for me to handle.
I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder while she latched on like a koala and stared at the cooking meat over my shoulder.
"Here, this piece is done, saw ah~." (Magus)
Akame opened her small mouth and showed some impressive sharp teeth.
"Ahhh." (Akame)
{Swoosh}
"RAWR!" (Akame)
Just as the food was in front of her face, a bird of prey swooped down and grabbed the meat from my tongs.
It was Athena, my lovely self-proclaimed royal demon owl.
Akame half transformed into a fox covered in cursed flames and chased after her while I shook my head to clear the ringing in my ears and laughed.
"Damn, that roar was right in my ear." (Magus)
"What did you expect? Athena hasn't had much screen time lately." (Bella)
I turned my head to see Bella walking up to me in a bikini top and skirt bottom with her beautiful green tinted black hair flowing down her shoulders and smiled.
"Hello beautiful~." (Magus)
I leaned over to give her a kiss and felt her smile into it and purr.
"Hello to you to~, someone's a little excited~." (Bella)
"What can I say? A goddess just walked up to me and stole my breath away." (Magus)
Bella chuckled and playfully pushed off me so I could focus on the cooking.
"We can play later dear, and speaking of goddess's, how have things progressed with those three." (Bella)
Despite the playful tone of her voice, I felt a pang of guilt at those words.
"Ugh, you know how I feel about this." (Magus)
I couldn't really find the courage to look Bella in the eye at the moment, so I focused on the grill.
"*sigh* you silly man, how many times must we talk about this?" (Bella)
"Ten or so I think. It doesn't help the guilt I feel." (Magus)
I heard her sigh again before a pair of arms draped over me and Bella pressed herself into my back.
"Dear, do you remember what you told us when you proposed?" (Bella)
I nodded.
"I swear to you to be there for you in every form I can, and I hope you can do the same for me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and explore everything that life has to offer together. Will you walk in the light and the shadows with me for eternity?" (Magus)
I felt Bella squeeze harder.
"And when you gave me this ring, I told you my answer. 'I love you now, and I will love you for eternity.'
We are connected through our very souls dear; I can feel the overwhelming love you hold for each of us as well as the budding feelings you are developing for these three women.
Were our bond superficial, I would most likely be jealous and end the life of another woman daring to make a move on my man, but our bond is anything but simple." (Bella)
Bella moved her hand over my heart.
"Right now, at this very moment, I can feel your love. It's like an ocean, overwhelming and endlessly vast. I can feel your devotion, I can see everything you love about me and it's like I'm being bathed in endless warmth.
Your love will never change just as mine never shall.
And right now, that very love for me, Yoru, and Akame is hurting you.
Your budding feelings for those three women are causing you so much internal pain that it hurts me to watch.
I hoped you would work through it given time, but I can see this will become a problem if nothing is done.
So, as your wife, I'm going to guide my foolish and lovable husband and you're going to listen." (Bella)
And here her voice gained an edge of steel as her hand landed gently on my upper thigh with sharpened nails.
"Man the fuck up, we will never leave you and never blame you if you want to include a few more women in our eternity together. You are going to let go of this stupid self-guilt and enjoy life and see where your new feelings take you. If I have to tell you this again, you're sleeping on the couch for a month." (Bella)
"..." (Magus)
There was a silence between us for a moment as I contemplated her words.
I thought about all the feelings I was having, all the time I spent brooding, the annoying indecision I had been dealing with, and finally my first wife's words along with the emotions traveling over our bond that was soon joined by two others who shared their support.
"*Pft* Hahahahaha." (Magus)
I couldn't help it and started laughing while a weight seemed to melt from my shoulders.
I turned my head to look my wife in the eyes and spoke with my usual tone.
"Have I ever told you how sexy it is when you get authoritative~?" (Magus)
She smirked in response and slapped me playfully on the butt.
"Multiple times, I'm not the head wife for show." (Bella)
I chuckled and internally thanked this gorgeous woman. Only a few words and she managed to make my guilt from feeling like I was betraying my wives melt away.
I turned around to give her another kiss and spoke with as much emotion as I could.
"I love you Bella." (Magus)
I felt her love for me through our bond flare up and she kissed me back.
"And I love you to dear. Now, enough distracting me, tell me about your progress with them." (Bella)
I thought on that for a second and spoke honestly.
"My time with Hephaestus is fun. We share the same love for our craft, and she has a vast knowledge base for me to learn from. On the other hand, she is fascinated by different ways of smithing that I picked up from different worlds and my enchanting skills are completely different from hers since this world has limited her. She is absorbing everything I have at a scary speed." (Magus)
"That's nice dear but I meant more along the lines of how you feel about her." (Bella)
I chuckled at that.
"I'm getting there. As for how I feel…. Well, she is a beautiful woman. Strong like steel that's been tempered by the centuries, passionate about what she loves like the greatest artist, and she has a stubborn streak a mile wide when something gets to her. She has a fire in her that grabs my attention, and she can also be easily embarrassed which leads to seeing an extremely cute sight. At the moment, I can say I have strong feelings of attraction and respect towards her but not enough to say I'm head over heels." (Magus)
I moved some of the food around on the grill and listened to Bella's reply.
"Hm.. I like her, she has the quality of a strong woman tested by time. I feel like her shy personality must have been her original quality before life threw her into the fire so to speak. She's honest, a professional, has pride, and she has lived long enough to know when you need to get your hands dirty. How about Loki?" (Bella)
I agreed with her analysis and moved on.
"Loki is a different ballgame. Behind her masks, I think we are quite similar to a scary degree. She has her walls and her problems, but I can see her trying to change. She's a jokester and chaos inducer when bored which is something I enjoy but under that, she's a deep thinker with strong emotions that she controls like a true expert. She can laugh or cry on the outside while having a completely different emotion on the inside.
As for how I feel about her? I think I'm starting to fall for her. She has a charm that makes it hard to ignore and I can't help but enjoy being around her." (Magus)
Bella hummed at that but kept things going.
"Loki is an interesting one. She reminds me a bit of a mix of myself and Yoru. She is not as wild as Yoru or refined as me, but she has her own quality and experience. I think the world she exists in limits her from truly seeing her potential.
As for interest from my side, I can't deny that she has an ass that could make a gay man turn straight." (Bella)
I matched eyes with her at that comment and we shared a laugh at that thought before Bella moved us along.
"And finally, we have Freya. I don't think you need to mention her looks; they speak for themselves really. Unless you were a monk that achieved enlightenment, you cant look at her and not feel a sexual attraction." (Bella)
I couldn't help but nod along with that as I piled a platter with the cooked meat. Akame would be back as soon as she realized there was more meat. Athena was a slippery bird and only Yoru really has the speed to catch her when she tries to escape.
"I can't honestly say I feel more for Freya than I do the other two. You know her passive charm has nothing on our mental barriers and even her active charm at the very base of her domain, inside her mind, couldn't breach my defense. They did their damn best and I felt it, but I was still well in control.
If anything, I feel a deep respect and appreciation for her. Respect for the sheer force of her will and appreciation for how she stayed sane for so long and still managed to be on top of this city.
She is a force of nature and I actually liked seeing the glimpses of her beneath her mask. They made her feel more 'real'; you know?" (Magus)
"Hm.. I can't say much on it. From what you shared of her psyche; I can also appreciate the amount of will she possesses but I can't say I truly got a feel for her in the time we spent together. She has many layers and is an expert at swapping them at will.
I think I want to have a few lunch dates with that one. The other two I could understand the basics of in a single night, but she is more complex.
If I am to allow her into our home, I must be sure we can trust her." (Bella)
I didn't argue with that. In fact, I fully agreed. If any of these three were a threat to my existing family, they would be cut off without mercy.
*VVVVRRRR*
Just at that moment, I felt my arm vibrate and turned an eye on my wrist where my communication tattoo was lighting up.
"Hmm…"
"Dear, aren't you going to answer?"
"I don't know love, I feel like we just invoked murphy's law."
Bella raised a brow at that.
"How so?"
"Who were we just discussing?"
It clicked in her mind and her chime like chuckles ringed in my ear pleasantly.
"I see, which one do you think it is?"
"Oh~ want to bet on it?"
I turned my head slightly so I could see Bella's face from the corner of my eye, and it had a predators smile on it.
"And what does little ol' me get if I win?"
I matched her smile.
"Winner gets a free wish from the other."
There was a twinkle in her eye that made something click in my mind, so I quickly added.
"Except that! I made it perfectly clear I will not explore that route in the bedroom."
The twinkle left and she pouted with her cheek stuck out.
"Boo! Your no fun."
One of my hands snuck around my back to grab a handful of my wife's beautiful ass as I growled a little.
"*Squeak*"
"Grr, I'm the only one around here who gets to do butt stuff."
If anything I felt her lust spike at my words and actions as I bent back to capture her lips.
"Mnnn…. Dear… answer the call… or take me…NOW!"
I smiled into the kiss as I pumped mana into the tattoo.
A screen appeared above my wrist to connect the call and an appreciative hum was the first thing I heard before I even looked.
"My~ my~, what a yummy sight."
Bella and I broke off the kiss and turned to the screen to see none other than Freya's smiling face with a hand on her cheek.
"Hey Freya."
"Hello Freya dear."
Even over a communication device, the sound of her light laughter was sensual enough to physically affect Bella and I even if our minds were impenetrable.
"Hello to you as well, Magus and Bella dear, you seemed to be enjoying yourselves."
I smirked at that while Bella politely laughed and continued to cling to my back.
"What can I say, mama likes, mama takes." (Bella)
"Hahaha~ oh dear, I feel as if I'm speaking to my own sister."
We shared a chuckle at that before I cut through the pleasantries.
"So what can I do for you today Freya?"
Her eyes snapped onto me with an intensity behind her pink eyes.
"Hm… before we get to that, should I take her choice of clothes as an open invitation?"
I blinked at that and looked down at the apron before I realized what she meant and smiled wryly.
"Haha, nice one beautiful, let's take a rain check on it for now."
"Boo… disappointing. Well anyway, I was wondering if we could schedule a time to meet. I was waiting for your call, but it seems that I must follow Bella's example and 'take' what I 'want' so to speak."
I smirked at her tone.
"Sure thing, let me just check my schedule here."
I pulled out my journal and was about to open it but a gentle hand was placed over mine and I turned to see Bella smirking at me.
"Relax my love, how about you let me take this one, if you don't mind changing date partners that is Freya."
Seeing my wife's playful eyes, I just shrugged and let her do her thing.
Freya frowned at first before relaxing into a smile.
"Very well, I still would like that date with Magus, but I would be delighted to get to know you some more Bella, we only had a short while before."
"I agree, we should have a ladies day together, it's so rare I can find others with our wavelengths."
I rolled my eyes and focused back on the grill with one arm while they talked.
'First Yoru talking to Loki, now Bella interested in Freya? What's next, Akane and Heph will start hanging out?'
Unknown to me at this time, Akane did occasionally go spend time with Heph. Her reasons were simple, Heph had a nice aura of fire, Akane found she liked napping in Heph's eternal flame forge, and she paid Heph in snacks made by me or Gol which kept getting her an invitation to come back.
But that's a story for another time.
About five minutes into the call between Freya, Bella, and my arm, Akane showed back up and bull rushed me like the cutest and deadliest nine tailed fox in the world.
"RAWR!"
I held up a free plate with small bite sized pieces she could munch on without ruining her appetite.
Except instead of taking the plate like I expected, I felt a weight settle on my arm and found my third wife perching like a squirrel on my arm and eating the snacks with a blissful face and bloated cheeks.
I looked at my left hand trapped in a conversation, then to my right being used as a perch, and then forward to the meat that needed to be flipped.
'Oho~ a perilous challenge. The grill calls to my masculine soul, but my logical mind says not to move my arms or face pain.
Very well, I shall improvise. A true man shall not fail here!'
My tail poked out, picked up the spatula, and continued to work the grill.
I smirked with pride.
'Heh, that's how it's done.'
Just then, I felt something settle on my head and looked up to see a glorious midnight fur cat standing on me while looking at me with mischievous eyes.
"Hey love."
She purred and nestled into my hair.
"Hey to you lover, look's like you guys are having fun huh?"
I gave her a helpless smile and tried to shrug but both my arms were held in iron grips so I just rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, just another day."
I missed the twinkle in Yoru's eyes as her own tail stretched while staying in her smaller body and wrapped around my own.
"Oi, I can't cook if you take away my tail Yoru."
She chuckled at that while lounging on my head like royalty.
"Hm… I like food, but this is more fun~."
Releasing an exasperated sigh, I tried to think of what else to do.
'Fine, I won't give in just yet life!'
I shifted my weight onto a single foot, and without jostling my arms or head, I grabbed the spatula by the handle with my toes.
"Ha!"
It was to this sight that Bron happened to be walking in on.
"Hey boss, I set the…."
I turned a deadpan stare at him.
"What?"
"…."
"You never seen a grown man work a grill before Bron?"
Bron raised a finger to say something, paused, and then put it back down and shrugged while ignoring things.
"Right, boss, I'm just going to head into the city real quick."
My eyes narrowed at him.
"Did you check with Tom first?"
Bron paled slightly and his voice slightly cracked.
"O-of *cough* of course boss. Well, I'll see you in a bit."
He turned and tried to casually walk away.
I casually flipped a burger with my foot spatula while my shadow stretched and froze Bron mid step.
I could have just called for Tom but I knew he couldn't leave the area he was in at the moment.
"Fenrir."
From my shadow, a pair of fierce eyes snapped open before the form of my 2nd stage Direwolf rose.
"Take him to Tom please."
"Grr."
"No, don't eat him, you will get sick."
"Grr."
"Yeah, I'll save you some meat."
"GRRR." (Akane)
"Akane love, there is enough meat."
While I can't have a two way conversation with my shadows, I have developed the ability to understand growls thanks to a certain someone.
Fenrir moved to pick up Bron by his scruff and carry the depressed elf away to Tom who would deal with him.
I had enough on my plate at the moment, literally.
"Hehe~ it never gets boring around here." (Yoru)
Here voice changed from it's usual deeper feline one to her sensual human voice as she slipped between forms and draped herself over my back while locking her legs around my waist.
Considering she was just in her cat form, I knew what she was wearing at the moment.
"Do you really have to tempt me love?"
Yoru chuckled throatily before latching on to one of my ears with a purr.
"What's wrong lover? Cat got your tongue?"
"No, and that's a problem at the moment."
"Hm… perhaps I can fix that~."
Our eyes stared into each other's as our lips inched closer and met in a loving embrace that sent a tingle of pleasure down our backs.
The other two ignored us in their own world as Yoru's eyes looked at me playfully and her lips closed around my tongue.
"Iz zat betta?"
I smiled into her lips as my tail, still being restrained by her own, swung around to wrap around her waist securely and make sure she couldn't leave my back while the soft side of the tip slapped her beautiful firm dark ass.
She gasped lightly and freed my tongue.
"Much better."
A deep purr came from her chest as her eyes focused on me like Akane was focusing on her meat.
"How about a pre-meal workout my love?"
I raised a brow at the suggestion while continuing to pull off some awesome yoga moves and still keep grilling.
My eyes trailed to the grill in front of me in deep thought.
'As a man, should I choose the grill, or the sex…..'
Unfortunately, or rather fortunately from certain points of view, a purring Amazonian beauty nibbling on my ear was making the choice for me.
I could literally feel her lust over our bond growing and I had have a mind to throw her in the cool water pond but when I focused our bond on the two woman on my arms, I saw their lust rising while externally they were focused on what they were doing.
'Heh, these two trying to act cool.'
My shadow extended again as a battle mage rose from ground.
It wordlessly moved over and took the plate of meat from my hand.
"*HISSS*"
Before Akane could launch off my arm, I quickly grabbed her around the waist and tucked her under my arm.
"Come love, I think you need to burn off some energy."
She pouted at me but didn't deny it.
On the other side, my arm used the same move and pulled Bella into me and spoke to the screen.
"Excuse me Freya, I need to borrow my wife for a bit."
"Sorry Freya, it seems I have to take care of my husband at the moment."
Freya covered her mouth with a hand and chuckled.
"Fufu~ no worries Bella dear, do make him work for it~."
Bella looked up at me with a hungry look.
"Oh, I intend to."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow, chow everyone. And Magus~ don't make a lady wait her turn to long now~."
With a final cheery wave, she cut the call and I turned a raised eye on Bella.
"Heh, I'll deal with her dear."
I nodded at that.
"Good, now, where to?"
"Bed?" (Bella)
"Hot springs?" (Yoru)
"Biodome." (Akame)
We all paused before simultaneously turning to Akame and nodding.
"Mn, biodome." (Magus)
"It has been a while since we played around in there." (Bella)
"Oh! I say we do solid clouds this time!" (Yoru)
Akame stuck her chest out with pride, well, as much as she could while being carried under my arm.
My shadow stretched out and swallowed us as we appeared before the sixth biodome, the one we left for whenever we wanted to test crazy powerful attacks or just play with environments.
I put the girls down at the door and Yoru took off in a tiny flicker of electricity to the control dial and switched it to the cloud environment.
There were dozens of environments programmed into each biodome that could be accessed with just a turn of a dial.
What greeted our sight when I pushed through the door was an endless field of floating clouds that were a mixture of soft bed like texture, and incredibly bouncy material.
Which one was which was anyone's guess.
The second we were all inside, a flame washed over us in a flash curtesy of a certain fox girl and all our clothes, well, Bella and my clothes since Yoru was already nude, were burnt off.
"Was that really necessary love?"
She nodded without any shame.
"Mn, taking to long."
I couldn't even respond before she was latching to my front, so I let it go and got to work.
For the next two hours, the sounds of laughter, moans, grunts, and growls rang out within the space.
It was a very happy, satisfied, and hungry group of four that left the biodome for some food.
'Note to self: sex on very bouncy materials is both incredibly fun and incredibly aggravating, don't do it often.'
Tom met us after we got out of the showers.
"Sir, lunch is ready for you by the cherry blossom tree's as you requested."
"Thanks Tom, your always a great help."
"My pleasure sir."
With the controlled spring weather of the mansion, we sat down to eat at a Japanese floor table by the Sakura tree's with the sounds of nature making a beautiful ambient background music.
As was customary, I had Akame happily sitting on my lap with Bella and Yoru at my sides as ate and talked.
"So what do you girls want to do this week?"
Bella answered first.
"I'll be meeting up with Freya like we discussed for some ladies time."
Yoru raised a questioning brow at her and Bella nodded while getting the silent question.
"I'll observe her. Just because I accept that my husbands heart has room for others, it doesn't mean I'll allow any harlet into it. She only gets a chance after I give my approval."
I just chuckled in amusement at that without saying anything.
Like I said before, my heart belongs to these three, no matter the budding connections to three more, if my wives say no, the answer to others will always be no. We allow Mu and her fox women into our bed for fun and have fondness for them, but it's not true love.
Yoru nodded in satisfaction and Akame's tails squeezed my waist slightly possessively.
"How about you Yoru?"
She hummed in thought before answering.
"I think I'll go hang out with Loki and get to know her a bit more. She's a fun one I'll give her that. other than that, I guess I'll explore the city a bit in cat form and look for anything shady going on."
I nodded at that while sipping some sake and turned to the fox in my lap.
"And you love?"
Akame was nibbling on some food like an adorable chipmunk.
"Mn…. I like the fire in Heph's forge. Its comfy."
My drink almost went down the wrong pipe as I stifled a laugh while Yoru was openly laughing, and Bella was smirking in amusement.
The mental image of Akame just strolling into Heph's forge while she's working and ignoring her to lay down and curl up in her divine flame forge is just hilarious.
We talked and relaxed for the rest of the meal, flirting and joking as if we didn't have single care in the world, because we didn't.
Life was good.