A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

I frowned up at Megan. Her pale blue eyes stared back at me seeming troubled.

"Megan?" I asked pushing the matter of my father to the side. He had made his own problems and could deal with them on his own.

"I want it back." she told me seriously.

I frowned up at her not sure what she was talking about. "What?" I asked her.

"The bond." she told me her voice dropping to almost a whisper. "I want it back."

I was surprised to say the least. Of all the girls I honestly thought Megan would be the most resentful of the bonds. While it hadn"t been long we had started dating, then the bonds forced her to share her boyfriend with a bunch of strangers. I wasn"t sure what she would do now that she was free of the bond, but asking for it back so quickly hadn"t even crossed my mind as a possibility.

"You don"t want to?" Megan asked me teary eyed when I didn"t respond.

"That"s not it." I told her hurriedly. "I was just surprised. Really surprised." I told her. "Are you sure you understand what you are asking for?"

Megan frowned at me angrily.

"My parents had a talk with me while I was unconscious, explained a few things, about the bonds and some other things." I told her rambling a bit from being nervous.

Megan watched me but didn"t say anything.

"Anyways, if I restore the bond to what it was, it won"t break again, it really will be permanent this time." I told her.

"Daryl." Megan said with a sigh. "It has been over a day since you pa.s.sed out." she told me.

I frowned, it hadn"t seemed nearly that long in my mind.

"The others and I have had a lot of time to think about what has happened, the bonds, what is going to happen. While not a bright ray of sunshine, Caly has been very helpful in understanding what is going to happen when the third energy wave hits." she told me.

I nodded in understanding, it was a lot of time, I would have been more disappointed if they had just laid around doing nothing, then again I doubted Momma would have let them even if they wanted too.

"We can talk about the plans later, but the most important part is some of us want that bond back. I want that bond back." she told me then sat up on my chest and sighed.

"Why?" I asked her seriously.

Megan remained silent for a few moments before looking back down at me. "There are a few reasons." she admitted.

I waited for a few more moments but she didn"t elaborate.

"Please." she said tears in her eyes and a hitch in her voice like she was about to cry.

I remembered what my mother had told me about restoring the bond, "don"t do it unless I was certain I wanted to be married to the woman." While there were plenty of things my mother had said that I was more than willing to ignore, that wasn"t one of them. Yet for Megan I didn"t think it was an issue.

We had lived together for three years, and while we had lived our own lives, it didn"t mean we didn"t interact. She was a playful tease who enjoyed pranking me, but I still liked her. I thought she was fun to be around, but also intelligent, I had no worries about asking her opinion or putting her in charge despite the fact that she was younger than me. The fact that she was beautiful helped to but wasn"t the point.

Thinking about what was to come, I had to admit to myself that some of the preconceived ideas I had about how things would work with the girls were never going to work. When I knew the bonds were still there I was ecstatic but my mother"s reminder had poured a bucket of cold water on me. I had thought I could take my time and build relationships with them before restoring the bonds back to what they were, or at least a version similar to it. Figure out which of the girls didn"t want to be with me, then go from there. That wasn"t going to work though, not for all of them. To much was supposed to happen, we simply wouldn"t have the time to create a relationship.

Looking up at Megan I doubted she had the same concerns as I did, she was probably looking at things from a different perspective than I was. Didn"t mean her concerns weren"t just as valid as what I could come up with, what mattered was they mattered to her. I had told her after the bonds were created that she would always be my first, not Karen or any of the other girls. If she wanted the bond back, then I thought she had every right to it. I had no trouble with the idea of being bonded to Megan for the rest of our lives. No matter how long or short they were. No idea where that confidence came from but it was there nonetheless.

"Marry me." I told Megan as I looked up at her with a smile.

Megan froze in place when she heard those words. She searched my eyes as if looking for something. I had no idea if she found what she was looking for, she smiled down at me happily tears streaming down her face "Yes!" she replied then her lips were pressed against mine.

As she kissed me I closed my eyes. I was slightly surprised to see that my inner s.p.a.ce had changed again. Though rather than more upgrades, it looked like everything had been rearranged. Most of the abilities had stayed the same without moving, however the ring that was my bond ability had changed shape. Instead of a ring there was an image of me with multiple glowing golden chains floating around me. Around the Bond ability there were three other abilities. My beast and plant had moved up from the other set of abilities and were floating there. An image of Nala and Mary floated around each respective ability. The third ability was the golden ring which had nine transparent images of the human girls I had been bonded too.

I was surprised to see the changes, especially the separation of Nala and Mary from the other girls, but I could explore that later. Instead I found Megan"s transparent image then concentrated on restoring the marital bond to her. I adjusted it a bit so that the l.u.s.t was something we could turn on and off at our own will, but left the rest as it was. Our greatest complaint had been the overwhelming l.u.s.t we had no control over. When I was satisfied I felt the bond being restored between us and her emotions flowing into me. I felt her surprise for a second as the bond returned then joy, relief, and contentment. No idea why she seemed so relieved but as long as she was happy.

I shifted my arms so they were free from her legs then wrapped them around her.

"Thank you." she mumbled in my ear.

"What was wrong?" I asked her curiously.

Megan hesitated and I could feel her reluctance to speak so I didn"t push her. "Its fine." I told her. "I promised you that you would always be my number one, and I don"t regret it in the least." I told her.

"Do there still have to be more?" Megan asked me hesitantly.

"At the least Nala and Mary." I replied. "They are bound to me still, though not in the same manner."

Megan nodded then sat back up again looking down at me. "Are you sure you want me as your first? Some of the others wouldn"t mind being your first." she told me.

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe, but you were still here first, and I know you better." I told her.

"Not even Karen?" Megan asked me suddenly very serious.

I sighed sadly when I thought about Karen. I had never gotten over my crush on Karen, and I was sure I never would, she was my first love. This brief time having her as my girl was like a dream come true. With the bonds shattering I was sure the dream was coming to an end. I just couldn"t see Karen willingly restoring the bond, and I refused to force it. "We have our own issues, I doubt she will want the bond restored." I finally replied to Megan.

"And if she did?" Megan asked.

I sighed again then shook my head. "No, not the head wife. Karen will always be someone special to me, so I can"t turn her away, but it will be a long time before I can trust her completely even with the bond." I responded.

"Even if she had really good reasons for deceiving you?" Megan asked at least she understood what the actual issue between us was.

I nodded. "Even if she had the best reasons." I replied. "I would be able to forgive her, but it wouldn"t be able to erase the scars."

"Isn"t that being just a bit dramatic?" Megan asked me with a frown.

I shook my head as I pushed myself up to a sitting position before meeting her gaze. "If it was anyone else, sure." I agreed, "But she was a special existence to me. One of the very few people I trusted completely. Just like you are now."

Megan stared at me for a few moments as she seemed to consider what I was saying before nodding. "Alright." she said finally, "But she will be the second and help me keep these other is line, Caly will take third." she told me.

"Huh?" I asked startled.

"I said we had spoken about the bonds. We have already come to an agreement amongst ourselves on how to handle that mess." she told me.

"Don"t I get a say?" I asked curiously. I wasn"t really offended but it was something I thought I should have been a part of

"No." Megan replied firmly. "You made the first bonds, and you"ve slept with almost all of us, so you will accept our decision on this." she told me.

I wanted to object, but I had this feeling that it was best if I just kept my mouth shut and nod obediently.

Megan smiled at me then leaned over and kissed me briefly. "Good boy."

I frowned at her then flipped her over onto her back and pressed her down into the bed. Megan stared up at me surprised as I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. "I will listen for now." I told her. "Being in charge of the girls is the job of the head wife and all of you need to be able to get along, but I will have veto rights." I told her.

Megan relaxed under me a smile on her face while I felt he happiness flowing through the bond. "Alright." she replied.

I couldn"t understand her or her responses in the least, not even with the empathy. Why did women have to be so complicated?