Stronger Together chapter 200

The next day of the conclave flew by. It started early and ended  early and we all headed home after to get ready for the gala. Raven and  Cinder had their dresses already and with the extra time Inari had  manages to help the other girls get their clothes ready without  threatening them with being drawn and quartered. Barb was all ready at  the moment and we finally had a minute to talk while everyone else got  ready, namely about Mina and her presence here in our house.

She  didn't seem angry about it honestly, just a bit exasperated. Her glare  was fairly soft around the edges, but also very much still there.  "Another one." I winced. "You bring home beautiful women constantly.  Can't you rescue a well muscled frenchman or a biker guy or something?  Why does it always have to be insanely beautiful women?" I'd been  expecting that one. She wasn't wrong, I tended to end up saving people  who needed it and by some crazy quirk of fate they were always beautiful  women.

I put my hands up in supplication. "Whoah. Not  arguing here. You've been with me most of the times I've brought people  back. You know it's not an on purpose thing. I just do what I think is  right." I knew she wasn't really mad at me. She wasn't even really mad  at the situation, she just felt like the subject should be broached at  this point and honestly I agreed with her. This was kind of getting out  of hand. Forget the number of women, just the number of people in the  house was getting pretty crazy and I hadn't really consulted her about  any of it.

She sighed and plopped down on the bed sulkily.  "Yeah, I know. It's not your fault and it's the right thing to do, but  it just bothers me." She jabbed a finger at me demandingly. "Do every  single one of them have to be hotter than me? Morgan is like half tits  and she has a face like the worlds dirtiest angel, Sam has that sexy  punk rocker thing going on, and Andi has a balcony you can do  Shakespeare from. Even Inari is gorgeous, though obviously I'm less  worried about her because she's so sickeningly in love with Kara they  might as well be a Valentines romance movie."

I snickered  at her. "First of a Sam is happily with River, and Andi is still getting  over Kirby. Morgan would admittedly have sex with me if I asked, but  she would also have sex with you. Or Raven. Or all of us at the same  time. Not to mention she's been putting the moves on Andi something  fierce, which I know you could tell because that girl is the opposite of  subtle." I sat down next to her and pulled her into my lap. "You aren't  jealous or worried. You're just annoyed. You know I would never do  anything with another girl without permission. I love you, and I love  Raven, and I'm pretty much there with Cinder too. I have so many women  in my life I'm pretty sure I ejaculate puffs of dust."

She  burst out laughing, dissolving into full on giggles and leaning against  me as she shook with mirth. " I know that's bullshit but it's a  hilarious image. Not to mention I know for sure that you really do get a  bit exhausted with all of us. You're right though, I'm not really  jealous. Well, I am, but it's petty and stupid and not serious. Honestly  I'm more concerned this time than anything else. We don't know this  girl and she seems dangerous. Is it really smart to let her move in  under these circumstances?"

I puffed out a pensive breath.  "You aren't wrong. But I don't have another choice. I guess I could put  her up somewhere else but I want to keep an eye on her. Living in a  house with an empath, a kryptonian, a master detective, and a fucking  partridge in a pear tree, means she won't be able to pull anything while  she's around. Plus I get the weird impression that she's earnest. In  her point of view beating Drakul in that trial means I like...earned her  or something. He owned her body and soul and since I won her now I do."  I shrugged. "Maybe not your average way of looking at things but hey  there it is."

Barb sighed against me, snuggling into my  chest. "I know. And I know we're responsible for her now so keeping her  around is a good idea. Where is she going to sleep? And if you say in  our room be aware that I will punch you in the dick." Her tone was  fierce but there was a teasing glint in her eye and a small smile on her  face. Whatever reservations she had were still there but she was  willing to put them aside since I had a good reason to ask her to do so.  I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, feeling her smile  against my face.

She hopped up off my lap, smirking at me  over her shoulder. "Well, no time for hanky panky, we have a weird  monster party to go to." She headed for the door and stopped. "Hey, did  you ever notice that the monster mash isn't actually the monster mash  itself, it's a song about people singing a song called the monster mash?  No one has ever actually heard the monster mash." She paused and look  contemplative then shrugged before strolling out of the room. I burst  into laughter as she left, my girlfriend could be pretty fucking weird  sometimes but I loved the way she thought.

We met the  others outside, having all finished getting ready and waiting for us to  emerge. We even had guests since Dalton and Brynn had shown up and were  going to be attending the gala with us. Lara had supplied a limo for the  occasion. A little gift from our host, and Kara promised me that upon  X-raying it she found no explosives, nor could Raven, Cinder, River, or  Harry detect any magic.

Inari  snickered the entire time, clearly amused that I suspected her sister of  murder, which I wasn't sure was an appropriate response but at least  was better than anger. Finally we climbed into the limo and set off for  the event. The thing had a recessed floor and high wheels, even River  managed to squeeze in fine. Sam plopped down in his lap, her black dress  going well with her pink streaked hair, and the ripped fishnets working  oddly well under the tiny velvet garment.

I  glanced at Dalton as we got in. "So, you ready for this nonsense man? I  assume you have some sort of world domination plan?" I raised an  eyebrow. "Specifically one that doesn't involve staring down the front  of my new...roommates dress." Brynn was glaring at Dalton who had been  staring at Mina since we got in the car. Admittedly the Darkling girl  looked fantastic, supernatural beauty and formal wear was a good combo,  and her long legs and plump thighs were extremely appealing. The  plunging neckline of her dress was extremely flattering as well, but  Dalton probably should have avoided staring.

Mina  herself didn't actually seem to mind, looking him over with a sort of  clinical appreciation that made it a bit unclear whether she wanted to  have dinner with him or have him for dinner. Dalton noted his assistants  glare and cleared his throat. "I wasn't staring. I was just...admiring  her dress. Is that a Valentino?" He jerked his gaze away, actually  blushing, and Brynn just rolled her eyes. I wasn't sure if they were  actually dating honestly, they were always really vague about their  relationship, but I'd seen him pick up women in front of her before, and  she only got upset sometimes.

Mina  smiled slightly and glanced at Dalton out of the corner of her eye,  licking her lips slowly enough that she probably wanted him to look but  not so slowly as to be obvious. I debated warning him but Dalton knew  what she was, if he wanted to play vamp snack that was his business. I  glanced over at Barb, deciding to change the subject. "If you want to  make some business connections like Dalton, this would be a good place.  Plus I'll have Mina act as intermediary with some of the older monsters,  she knows how this world works and she's the only one who know what our  new assets include."

She  briefly looked annoyed but the expression flashed by fast enough that I  almost missed it. She shot Mina a forced smile. "Of course. I'm happy  to have her expertise. I'm sure you have plenty to teach me." The  Darkling, for her part simply nodded deeply to me, almost a bow. Barb  turned to Kara next. "So. You're going to be meeting your girlfriends  family minus the awkward turf war. You nervous?"

Without  Lord Raith around there was no reason for Inari not to introduce Kara  to her sisters. They had been putting it off for far too long already  but Kara was understandably worried about what Lara would think. Despite  not wanting to live at home and the mess with their dad Lara and Inari  remained very close. She talked to either her sister or Thomas on the  phone every few nights, but Kara, worried about being distanced from me  and the girls had tried to wait until things cooled down.

The  Kryptonian sighed, reaching down to take Inari's hand where her  girlfriend sat next to her. "Yes. I know we should have done this  sooner, but I just didn't want to seem like I was cutting you out of my  life or picking a side. I love you guys and I refuse to abandon you. But  this is an opportunity to get to know Inari's family while making it  clear that I stand with you, so this will have to do. What about you  two?" She turned to look at Sam and Morgan. "You nervous about going  home?"

Morgan,  who was distracted drooling over Andi in her very tight green dress  just gave a quick hmm of agreement. Sam chuckled from her spot on  River's lap. "As you can see Morgan isn't for the most part. She never  was one to overthink things. As for me...well we aren't technically  going home. We're part of your faction under that accords and as the  host the Raith estate has to welcome us, but we're still exiles. I very  much doubt they'll pay any attention to us. Actively challenging us  would invite retaliation from you and the family isn't stupid, so we'll  probably just get the cold shoulder."

River  looked down at his girlfriend in concern but she clearly didn't want to  dwell on it so he didn't mention it. The rest of the trip was just  casual chatter and lame jokes that we were all clearly employing to try  to avoid thinking about what the ramifications of all this could be. The  conclave was one thing but tonight I would sign the Accords. Like  physically. Plus all my people were with me this time not just Cinder  and Raven who could protect themselves. This had the potential to go  very bad.

I  knew that realistically the conclave had already been a mess and there  was every chance nothing would happen, but deep down I was sure  something else was coming. Something was going to go wrong with everyone  there and I was going to have to protect them all. I just hoped I could  manage it. I was strong but this kind of environment wasn't my cup of  tea. This wasn't a battle it was politics and my actions could have real  consequences later on down the line if I decided to kick someones ass  for looking at my girls funny. Well, I supposed I'd just have to take  things as they came. What was the worst that could happen?