Innocent Devil’s Harem Ch. 57

September 26, 2021

NOTE: I know some of you have been concerned about it taking forever to get to Miriam's place, but I'm going to speed that timeline up a little bit, so we can get to some more of the really interesting stuff. 

Next chapter will be more focused on Natalie meeting everyone else (Avery, Michelle, and Gabriella), and getting some group interaction there. And then, either the next chapter, or one after that, we'll get to Miriam's place.

<< Chapter 56 | Ch 1 (Book1) | Ch 16 (Book 2) | Ch 31 (Book 3) | Ch 46 (Book 4)

- CHAPTER 57: Opening Up -

Just before we left the secluded field, with the promise of us still visiting Ms. Miriam in another five or six hours, once Gabriella was off work, I indicated that I wanted to speak with Gwen privately for a few minutes, realizing I still hadn’t gotten the chance to apologize.

Of course, they were all confused by the request, Serenity included, but the short succubus didn’t have a problem with it.

“Oh. Yeah, that’s fine,” Miriam said simply in response to my question, glancing up at her tall maid.

Beginning to walk over to their off-road vehicle, figuring that would be far enough at least for Natalie to not be able to overhear, since she hadn’t shown any signs of heightened senses in her current form, I led Gwen around to the side so we were out of sight, the behemoth of an SUV large enough to completely hide us both when standing next to the huge rear tire.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how Miriam even managed to climb in, with how short she was.

Taking the opportunity to get a little more intimate, I turned to face the sexy maid dressed in her leather jacket and short jean shorts, and wrapped my arms around her thin waist covered in her navy blue silk blouse, gently guiding her against the side of the vehicle until I was pressing her into it, her deep brown eyes focused on me tenderly now as I moved closer to gently plant a kiss on her purple lips.

I felt her invisible furry tail wrap around my waist in response to the affection, only for her to speak only one word, questioning the somberness in my mind.

“Master?” she whispered hesitantly.

“I wanted to apologize,” I said softly. “And I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for what I did.”

She seemed even more confused. “Master, I belong to you. There’s nothing to forgive, even if you had done something.”

“Still,” I pressed. “I need to apologize.” I took a deep breath. “After I died, and woke up again, I shared my power with you.”

She inclined her chin slightly, her deep brown eyes still tender. “Yes, and you claimed me.”

I nodded as well. “But I was barely thinking when I woke up, and when I rushed down the stairwell to the basement, I realized you were about to use my power to cast a spell that would destroy the enemy.”

Her brown eyes widened slightly, as I suspected it was all beginning to dawn on her.

“But the problem was,” I continued. “I still didn’t have a heart. And I needed blood and meat to help me repair it.”

Her expression quickly became determined. “I understand, master. I apologize for trying to destroy your prey.”

I shook my head. “No need. You were only attempting to defend yourself and your mistress. But I didn’t want you to doubt your strength, and also wanted to say sorry for weakening your spell just before you cast it.” I turned my head away then with a grimace. “I was afraid of what would happen if you did destroy that monster. Afraid of what I’d do if my only option to heal myself were you two.” I sighed. “Maybe I could have forced myself to leave, and try to find an animal to hunt, but I’m honestly not sure. I was barely aware at the time.”

Gwen abruptly leaned her head forward and planted her soft purple lips on my cheek, her arms wrapping even more tightly around me, only for her mouth to move to my ear. “I love you master. You made the right decision, and I do not fault you for it. We are all alive, thanks to you.”

I nodded, leaning more into her, enjoying the warmth of her body against mine, knowing she was far hotter right now than even the hottest of showers, since she didn’t have her sapphire butt plug to keep her body heat under control, her skin hot enough to scald a person within seconds.

Yet, I loved it.

The warmth was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, aside from when I might open the oven while cooking a meal, and get hit with a blast of hot air.

Gwen began rubbing her heated lips next to my ear then, her breath equally hot, only to unwrap one arm and reach for my hand, tugging it downward until I was resting my fingers against her bare muscular thigh. I rubbed her smooth skin briefly, and then reached back to squeeze the side of her muscular ass, surprised that her jean shorts were smooth rather than coarse. But then again, it made sense that they might be the smooth stretchy kind, probably made of polyester or something, because otherwise I wasn’t sure how she’d get them on in the first place, considering how thick her thighs were.

Honestly, I really loved her scent right now, because not only did she smell amazing naturally, but her clothing smelled like it was fresh out of the dryer.

She spoke up again, her tone passionate. “Master, if you are not of preference on location, then I can take you to the basement this evening, and you can have your way with me at my normal temperature.”

“That would be really nice,” I admitted, suspecting she’d be in danger of lighting things on fire if we fucked in a bed without her butt plug. I then sighed again, knowing if we stayed behind the vehicle much longer, I might end up just fucking her here, which would only be bad in the sense that I didn’t want to give Natalie any reasons to think that I was a sex-crazed maniac who truly only had that one thing on my mind.

Thus, we shared one last intimate kiss, breathing in the hot air coming from her adorable nose, and then I pulled away, running my hand along her furry invisible tail with a smirk on my face, before separating entirely and walking back around the corner.

Sure enough, when I focused on the ground to see the way we’d come, I saw that Gwen had left hoof prints in the packed dirt, instead of boot prints, indicating her footwear was an illusion too.

In the meantime, Ms. Miriam and Serenity had started up a pretty casual conversation, just seeming to get to know each other, as the short redhead minx asked about her job, work environment, and overall just inquired about our history, confirming things like what age we both were when our parents passed away, as well as what life had been like for the last five or so years.

Miriam seemed pretty sympathetic about even the little things, like commenting that it must have been hard for Serenity to work a full-time evening job while going to school full-time on top of it. And, it seemed that the more Serenity spoke, sharing how she wanted to ensure no one doubted that she could take care of me, the more Miriam seemed to really like her.

I already knew at this point the short succubus was a genuinely kind and empathetic individual, but it still kind of took me off guard to see her take a sincere interest in someone else. To the point that she remained focused on Serenity even when Gwen and I rejoined the group, truly engaged in the conversation, rather than just trying to make polite small talk.

Miriam then sighed after another few minutes, suggesting that they could continue getting to know each other later. Serenity agreed, finally looking up at the rest of us as if she’d completely forgotten we were even there, giving me a small smile when she focused on me.

I went ahead and gave Gwen a quick hug, followed by scooping Miriam’s thin form up to give her a hug too, deciding to give her a tender kiss of affection while I had her in my arms. She just grinned up at me with a warm smile, her tone cheerful.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” she wondered curiously, realizing there was a reason behind it.

“I’ll send you a message,” I said simply, giving her one last squeeze and then setting her down on her feet. Needless to say, she was a little confused, but let it go for now as she waved politely to Serenity and Natalie, only to turn around and head back to their vehicle.

We did the same, with me pausing on the way to glance back and watch Ms. Miriam climb into the passenger’s seat of the behemoth off-road SUV.

Damn, Gwen especially looked like such a badass behind the wheel.

I then decided to type out a quick message to Ms. Miriam when their engine roared to life.

‘I was trying to make Natalie seem undesirable to me, by mentioning that she had a lot of baggage.’

I sent the message, only to decide to elaborate.

‘Just didn’t want you to think I really cared about that kind of thing. Because I want you, Ms. Miriam, even if you have a lot of baggage too. That’s what the kiss was for.’

Figuring I’d just read her message later, once she got around to sending it, I continued to my car, seeing both Serenity and Natalie already climbing in. However, just as I reached the driver’s door, I looked up again when their vehicle pulled up next to ours briefly, seeing that Ms. Miriam was focused on me.

“I really like you,” she said sincerely. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied. “See you in a little while.”

“Bye for now,” she agreed, only for their vehicle to take off again, finally getting back on the gravel drive and kicking up rocks as they flew through the trees.

I couldn’t help but smirk, suspecting that Gwen liked driving her massive toy, if her abrupt acceleration was any indication. Either that, or her hooves gave her a bit of a lead foot, but I would be willing to bet she just enjoyed the ride.

After climbing in my own car, I realized there wasn’t a great spot to turn around, not wanting to risk getting stuck in the dirt, so I simply put it in reverse and twisted in my seat to back out. Natalie was staring out the window again, seeming uneasy after our recent interactions, though I couldn’t blame her.

However, as we backed out onto the road, and I started driving forward again, I decided to broach the subject, rather than just sit in silence for the trip home.

“So Natalie,” I began simply, reaching up to readjust the rearview mirror so I could see her better, and then putting my hand in Serenity’s lap, so she could hold it. “Sounds like you need to get a new alpha.”

She didn’t respond, wincing slightly as she continued to focus out the window.

“So, let me ask you this,” I continued. “If given the choice between that bastard, and literally anyone else, would you choose him?”

She scoffed. “Fuck no,” she hissed.

“Okay. So then, you’d choose anyone else?” I emphasized.

She didn’t respond.

I sighed. “Okay, let me ask you this. You’ve hung around us for a few hours now, and you know Serenity here is a cop. You’ve also seen that we’re happy together.” I paused to let that sink in. “So, given what you know now, I want you to imagine the worst-case outcome for this situation. Meaning, if I became your alpha, what’s a realistic bad outcome, given what you know?”

She finally glanced at me in confusion. “O-Okay? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” she said seriously.

I shrugged, now that I had her attention. “Well, I just want to know if that bad outcome, if I ended up becoming your alpha and abused that position, was even close to being as horrible as everything you’ve suffered in the last year.” I glanced back at her then. “Because that guy obviously had a grudge against you, right? Since you didn’t want to date him?” I paused to let that sink in, focusing ahead again before making my point. “Thing is, I don’t have a grudge against you, and honestly having to deal with your problem is a bit of a headache.”

I saw her grimace in the rearview mirror.

I continued. “So, is the worst thing that might happen really that bad in comparison?” I paused, ready to make my final point. “Because, right now you don’t have an alpha. And you know what that means, right?”

She finally glanced at me again, meeting my gaze in the rearview mirror, not responding.

I continued. “It means, he could show up and pretty much take you back, at any time.”

Her light brown eyes widened in alarm, only for her to immediately look away. Of course, I suspected she inherently knew that, but I wasn’t sure if she’d really thought the whole thing through.

I sighed. “That woman we met back there. The one with red hair. She mentioned that normally an alpha would have to kill another alpha to take their puppets. Now, obviously I didn’t kill him in order to free you, but I bet those rules do still apply to him. Meaning, he could take you back right now, probably pretty easily. But if I become your alpha, then he would at least have to go through me first.”

She didn’t respond.

“Seems like it’s in your best interest to put me in between you and him, rather than remain exposed in such a way that he could probably just show up right now and make you his again without any hindrance.”

She cleared her throat. “A-And why would you even be w-willing to do that?” she stammered. “Put y-yourself in danger like t-that.”

“Does it matter?” I wondered. “I mean, seriously, does it even matter what my motivations are? You want to be free of him, right? And yeah, I get that you’d probably prefer to be free of this curse entirely, and to not even need an alpha to begin with, but if those are your only options, then do I really seem like I’d be such a bad alpha?”

She again remained silent.

I sighed heavily. “You obviously have at least a little time to decide. But, if you just decide to run away from all this, or even just wait too long to share with me how I can become your alpha, then you’ll have no one to blame but yourself for ending up right where you started.”

“Okay, I get it!” she unexpectedly snapped. “Fuck. I’m not stupid.”

I sighed heavily, deciding not to respond to her outburst. Of course, I knew she wasn’t stupid, but I also didn’t understand why she was dragging her feet so much.

She suddenly continued. “You know what? Fuck it. Want to know how you could probably become my alpha? By fucking me, you jackass!”

Serenity and I both glanced at each other in surprise, with her tightening her grip on my hand in her lap. And suddenly it was crystal clear why Natalie was dragging her feet so much. She obviously wasn’t a whore, despite what she’d been through, and wasn’t thrilled about jumping in bed with some random guy she’d just met.

“Oh,” I said simply, only to frown as I considered that. “And how certain are you that sex would work?”

She didn’t respond.

I glanced back at her again. “You obviously don’t want to, and I don’t really want to either,” I answered honestly, largely because I wanted to actually enjoy sex, rather than it be a chore. Especially the kind of chore where I was experimenting with a chick who was only doing it because it was her only option to avoid something worse. “So,” I continued. “How certain are you? And why are you certain that would work?”

She finally sighed heavily, looking vulnerable now. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just know it’ll probably work, assuming you really can become my alpha.”

I frowned at that, only to glance at Serenity.

She spoke up. “It’s probably worth a try at least,” she offered.

Damn, I still wasn’t used to her being okay with this kind of situation, even though she’d explained her reasoning to me. But still…

My voice was quiet, even though Natalie could still hear me, responding to Serenity. “Yeah, but kind of don’t want to.”

The blue-haired chick scoffed.

I directed my words at her. “Does that surprise you?”

Her expression pained, her voice suddenly vulnerable again. “No,” she said simply.

“Want to know why I don’t want to?” I asked seriously, assuming she was thinking it was because of her baggage, like I’d indicated earlier.

“No,” she repeated.

“Because I don’t want to have sex with someone who’s unwilling,” I said firmly.

It was quiet for a few seconds.

“Wait, what?” Natalie finally replied.

“I don’t want to put up with your reluctant attitude,” I emphasized. “I view sex as something intimate and special. Not just some quick orgasm, and then it’s over. And even if it was just a quick orgasm, and then it’s over, I don’t want to deal with someone who’s only doing it because she has to put up with it.” I scoffed. “I’m not going to fuck some chick who’s only tolerating the activity. Either you do it because you want to, or not at all.”

She didn’t respond, and when I glanced in the rearview mirror, I saw she was looking down now, her expression impassive.

“I admit that I like sex,” I continued, prompting her to glance up at me. “But I’m not some desperate nerd like that bastard who hurt you. So you need to decide on what you want to do, and then commit to doing it, instead of dragging your feet.”

She sighed this time, looking away. She then spoke up, directing her words at Serenity. “I don’t understand how you’re even cool with that.”

“It’s complicated,” she said simply.

“Apparently,” Natalie agreed.

“But he is right,” Serenity continued, twisting in her seat to look back at her, still holding my hand in her lap. “We are happy. I’m happy. And while I can’t promise you anything, I can at least say confidently that Kai will get rid of these guys, if for no other reason than the fact that they pose a threat to regular people.” She then glanced at me affectionately. “He kind of has a track record of that.”

“What does that mean?” Natalie asked seriously.

I sighed. “Being that Serenity here is a detective, I used to get involved sometimes when it really upset her.” I glanced back at the blue-haired vixen. “Meaning, I went after the serial killer and ended them.”

“Oh,” Natalie replied simply, her light brown eyes wide now. “So then, you killed them.”

I tried not to scoff at her need for clarification. “Umm, yeah. Usually just shoved their weapon through their heart.”

“So you’ve killed before,” she emphasized.

“I don’t enjoy doing it. And I’ve only killed other killers. But yeah.”

She didn’t respond, and when I glanced in the rearview mirror, she was looking out the window again.

“Does that bother you?” I wondered.

She cleared her throat, her voice quiet. “Well…no. Kind of reassures me that you won’t let those jackasses off easy.”

I scoffed, prompting her to focus on me as I responded. “No, not at all. I fully intend on killing them. And yeah, sucks for the other puppets, who might not be evil, like that bastard who controls them, but they’re still cursed beings. Can’t have them running around like wild animals on the full moon, killing everyone in sight.”

She scoffed this time. “No, they’re all just as bad. He can technically control them, after becoming their alpha by beating the shit out of them a few days after they were bitten, but for the most part, they do what they want.”

“Like what?” I wondered casually.

She grimaced, turning her head away.

I assumed I knew what that meant. That the leader didn’t have to ‘make’ the other guys assault their plaything. Thus, I decided to change the subject, since I doubted she wanted to be reminded of that.

“So, what did you think of Ms. Miriam and Gwen?”

She sighed, glancing at me. “Wasn’t thrilled about them wanting to kill me.”

I frowned. “Yeah, that’s understandable. I wasn’t too thrilled about that either.”

“Why did you defend me?” she asked seriously.

I scoffed. “Do I need a reason? I mean, it’s not like you’re an evil person, as far as I can tell. You just got fucked over by a bunch of assholes, and I wanted to look at all our options first.”

Serenity chimed in. “I would have tried defending you too,” she added. “Just everything happened so fast, and I admit I was kind of just shocked by how extreme their reactions were. It took me by surprise.”

Natalie just sighed, not responding for a few seconds. She then cleared her throat. “So, what was up with that taller chick?” She paused. “Gwen, right?”

“What about her?” I wondered.

Natalie frowned. “Well, kind of seemed like she knew what I was thinking.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “Yeah, she kind of does that.”

“Wait,” Serenity interjected, seeming truly stunned. “Are you serious?”

I glanced sideways at her. “Honestly, kind of surprised you didn’t pick up on it.”

Serenity’s brown eyes were wide. “She can really read minds?” she clarified, only to reach up with her free hand to cover her face. “Ugh, that’s so embarrassing.”

“Well, technically it’s not mind reading. At least, according to her.” I paused when they both focused more intently on me. “When I asked about it, she said it was more like she could see the shadows of people’s thoughts. Like, instead of hearing the actual thought, or I guess what the person is actually thinking, she instead grasps the general ideas passing through your head.”

“Still sounds like mind reading,” Natalie commented.

I shrugged. “I mean, yeah. Seems like she knows what I’m thinking about most of the time, so I don’t disagree. But I don’t think she actually hears the literal words you think in your head.” I shrugged again. “So there’s that.”

Serenity leaned back more in her seat, and Natalie glanced out the window again.

My sexy brunette then spoke up, after about a minute of silence. “So, now what’s the plan?” she wondered. “Are we going back home?”

I frowned at that, only to glance back at our guest. “Kind of depends. Natalie, they can obviously sense you somehow. Can you tell us how that works? Like, do we have to worry about bringing you back to our house?”

Her expression was pained, with her only having glanced at me briefly, before averting her gaze right away again.

I gave her a few seconds, before speaking up a second time. “Still not going to say?”

The disappointment was obvious in my tone, prompting Serenity to glance back at her too.

Natalie only grimaced.

I sighed heavily and focused more on the road, knowing we’d be on busier streets soon, with us having gone far enough to only have one more backroad to turn onto.

“Fuck,” Natalie unexpectedly hissed, sounding like she was more speaking to herself.

I glanced back at her, prompting her to speak louder.

“Can you really do magic?” she blurted out.

My eyes widened at that, realizing my discussion with Ms. Miriam had implied that we could both use it. And obviously Natalie had picked up on that.

However, Serenity spoke up before I could. “Yeah, actually I’ve been wanting to see too. We’ve had so much going on since you got back yesterday, that we didn’t really have time to see that.”

I smirked, recalling that we were too busy having sex in the dark, while everyone else pretended to watch a movie, followed by Michelle having her turn on my lap, for me to show off what little magic I could do. However, it almost seemed as if Natalie was indicating that showing her that I could do magic would reassure her that I was telling the truth about being able to handle the threat.

Slowing down as I approached a stop sign for an intersection that turned onto a busier road, I glanced around while pulling my hand away from Serenity and holding it over the center console, immediately having both women’s attention.

Then, once I was sure no one would see, I silently commanded a blue flame to appear in my palm, immediately causing two different reactions.

Serenity simply said, ‘Whoa’ in amazement.

Alternatively, Natalie was a bit louder, speaking at full volume. “Holy fuck! Is that real?” she asked seriously, holding her hand out toward it, as if to see if it had heat. However, I didn’t have to respond, as she jerked her hand back, after getting a little too close. “Fuck, it’s real.”

“Yep,” I agreed, keeping it up for another few seconds, before letting it die out so I could pull out onto the busier road. “And it can do a lot of damage too,” I added.

“H-How much damage?” she stammered.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Well, yeah.”

I glanced back at her. “If I’m pissed, I can turn an enemy to ash in an instant.”

Natalie just stared at me with wide eyes. “Y-You’re serious?”

I nodded, focused ahead again. “Yeah. I’m serious. Can’t really show you that though. For obvious reasons. Would have to kill something to prove that.”

“Fuck,” she repeated. “You should have led with that.”

I looked back at her in surprise. “Really?” I said skeptically.

“Yes, really,” she said seriously, her tone having a hint of sarcasm. “Fuck, all this time you could have just showed me that you can use fucking fire magic, and that would have convinced me.”

I shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know. Honestly, didn’t think that showing you a little flame would have been too impressive.”

She just shook her head. “I mean, if that’s not impressive, then what is?”

I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I couldn’t help but meet her gaze in the rearview mirror with raised eyebrows…prompting her to suddenly looked surprised.

“Wait…is that not impressive, compared to what you planned on showing me?”

I shrugged again. “I guess I’ll just let you decide that later. But then, does this mean you’re willing to answer my question now?”

She frowned and looked away. She then sighed heavily. “They sort of have two ways of tracking me,” she finally blurted out. “The first is like a sort of internal compass. And I’m north. Really, he can sense all the others like that, but it obviously is a pointless ability when they’re with him.”

My brow furrowed as I considered that. “So basically, they know your general direction right now, but if we took you to our place, then they wouldn’t necessarily know your exact location. Only which way to go, to get to you.”

She sighed heavily again. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“And what’s the second way?” I wondered.

She frowned at that. “Well, it only applies on the full moon. They’ll be able to track my scent. And, in that case, yeah, they’ll know everywhere I’ve been in the last few days.”

“Okay, so today is probably safe, at least. Assuming they’re still alive on the full moon.”

“I…I don’t know,” she admitted.

I nodded slowly. “And how long will it take for him to heal from his broken arm? Will he have returned to wherever all of you were staying?”

“Probably a few days,” she said quietly. “And no, it’s doubtful he would have gone back, now that I’m compromised.”

“So, does that mean he doesn’t take risks?” I continued. “Like, will he attack even if he’s not back to full health?”

She hesitated. “I…I don’t know.” She then sighed, scooting down in her seat, spreading her legs again, truly seeming to not realize she was revealing her black vinyl thong in doing so. “Normally, I’d guess that he’d wait until the full moon to attack. But…” Her voice trailed off.

“But what?” I prompted.

She sighed heavily again. “He’s obsessed with me. Truly views me as his property. So I don’t know if he’ll wait, or not. He doesn’t like to lose. I can’t even imagine how pissed he is right now.”

“Well, I plan on killing him either way, and I guess if he comes early, then it’ll just make it easier. Or will he become more dangerous as it gets closer to the full moon?”

“What do you mean?” Natalie wondered seriously.

“Like, can he transform at will?”

She frowned at that. “Not exactly. He can make himself stronger, and yeah, he can grow a little bit bigger too. He can also make everyone else kind of transform -- that's how he broke my arms. But it’s not like on the full moon. Basically, he can start the transformation, but can’t go all the way. Only the moon can force that out.”

“Makes sense,” I replied simply, only to focus on Serenity. “What do you think? Do you want to risk taking her to our place, or should we avoid it for now?”

Serenity’s brow was furrowed as she considered that. “I mean, I think we’ll be alright. Even if this perp and his accomplices did attack, we could all probably handle them at this point.” She paused. “Obviously, it might be different on the full moon, so ideally we will want to make sure he’s dealt with before then. But for now, I don’t think we need to worry too much. He is injured after all. And we can survive a lot, even if he wasn’t.”

I nodded, knowing I wasn’t going to let anything happen either way, but also not wanting to be reckless. “It’s a lot quieter at our place too, which means I’ll be more likely to notice any weird sounds. And I’ll also probably go ahead and check the area out every couple of hours on foot, just to make sure I haven’t missed anything.”

“What about when we leave to visit Ms. Miriam?” Serenity wondered.

I shrugged. “We can just tell Avery and her mom to hang out at their house while we’re gone. Not that they’d be in danger anyway, since those guys can only sense Natalie’s general direction right now, and we’re going to have to take her with us anyway.”

She nodded. “Sounds like a plan then. I can check to see if they can meet us there, just so they can meet her, and we can give them an update on what’s going on. And then we can probably just hang out until Gabriella gets off work.”

“Wait, who am I meeting?” Natalie wondered.

“Friend from high school, and her mom,” I explained. “Avery and Michelle.”

“Oh,” she said simply.

Serenity focused on me. “Think we should tell her?”

I frowned. “Didn’t want to freak her out.”

“Yeah, but she’s going to figure it out anyway.”

I sighed.

“Wait,” Natalie repeated. “Tell me what?”

Serenity just focused on me for a few seconds, before twisting in her seat to respond. “Obviously, Kai and I are together. But I’m not the only woman he’s with. My best friend Gabriella is also with him.” She paused, probably because Natalie’s eyes had widened as she sensed there was more. “And he’s also sort of with the other two women we just mentioned. And the two you just met.”

Natalie just stared at her in disbelief, only to respond hesitantly.

“What…the fuck.”

I sighed. “But you know what that means, right?” I said seriously.

She sounded nervous now. “W-What?”

“That what I said before was true. About the sex thing. I’m not…” I sighed again, only to glance back at her. “Look, I’m not saying you’re completely undesirable, only that I don’t need that from you. Like, I assume you were the only girl in the group before, right?”

She grimaced, but didn’t look away this time. “Umm, yeah.”

“Well, if I become your alpha, you won’t be. You’ll be one of eight women around me, and I have no problem ignoring you completely, if you want.”

Serenity laughed. “Wow, Kai. You didn’t even have to think about the number there. Are you keeping score or something?”

I scoffed at that. “No, of course not. But I am pretty good at math, and my brain already has everyone in several categories in my head.”

“Oh really?” Serenity said curiously. “Like what?”

“Well, like ‘in the house’ versus ‘not in the house.’ First, there’s you, Gabriella, Avery, and Michelle at home, and then Mrs. Rebecca, Ms. Miriam, and Gwen not at home. See? Seven people. Add one, and that’s eight.”

“Huh, yeah I guess that makes sense.”

I quickly directed my words at Natalie again, focusing on her in the rearview mirror. “Not that I’m counting you as one of my women,” I quickly added. “Only that you’d be the eighth woman in my life, who I might see with any regularity. Very easy for you to go unnoticed entirely, if that’s what you wanted.”

She simply nodded, focusing out the window again, seeming slightly pensive as she stared into space. She then sighed heavily. “Sorry for being such a bitch to you both,” she unexpectedly said. “It’s just hard to trust anyone after what I’ve been through.”

Serenity twisted in her seat more to give her a small smile. “It’s alright, and honestly I don’t feel like you’ve been a bitch at all. Maybe a little guarded, but can’t really blame you for that.”

She only nodded, seeming a little somber now.

“Same here,” I agreed, meeting her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Obviously, you’ve been reluctant about everything, and now that I have a better understanding of the overall situation, I completely understand that. After all, we are pretty much strangers to you. So it’s really completely understandable, and I hope you don’t feel like we’ve given you too hard of a time.”

Natalie looked down. “Umm, no.” She then sighed. “Honestly, can’t really complain. You took me out to eat, and even let me buy as much food as I wanted, and then you defended me when those other two wanted to just kill me.” She took a deep breath. “You could have just given up on me, and saved yourselves a big headache, but you didn’t. And yeah, I admit that I really don’t want another alpha. Just knowing the kind of control that lets you have over me is honestly terrifying. Like, it really scares me.” She took another deep breath. “But, that girl, Miriam or whatever. She was right. I am cursed. And it really sucks. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

I frowned at that, glancing at Serenity as I spoke hesitantly. “I might be able to help out with that too. But it’s kind of a big secret right now,” I quickly added.

“Uh, what?” Natalie said seriously, sitting up straighter.

“No promises,” I continued, really wanting to wait until after I’d told Ms. Miriam, to possibly share the details with her. “But I might be able to help with the curse. Might even be able to make it so that it’s not so much a curse anymore.” I paused. “But again, no promises.”

“Are you…are you serious right now?”

“No promises,” I repeated.

“Fuck,” she hissed.

“What?” I asked in sincere surprise, glancing back at her.

“Fuck man,” she scoffed. “You should have led with that.”

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Chapter 58 >>