I didn"t have enough time to react before Karen had thrown her arms around me and planted her lips onto mine."Enough." Megan told us pulling Karen off of me. "Save it for tonight, we have more to talk about."
Karen nodded a pretty blush on her face.
I grabbed Megan and kissed her too then led the pair of women into the house. "So what of the others?" I asked Megan looking around.
"Were you hoping to be married to all of us again?" Megan asked sulkily.
"If you had wanted to be alone with me tonight you should have given Karen more time, or use your first wife rights and claim me for yourself tonight." I told Megan mentally.
Megan stuck her tongue out at me. "The twins, Grace and Heather want to get to know you before considering it, though Jamie and Grace were nearly ready to hop on the marriage boat before Momma had a talk with them. Tracy, and Rebecca are not sure what to think and need time to understand their own emotions. Caly isn"t from our world and already considers herself your wife. She is surprisingly patient and will wait for you to be ready." Megan told me.
I nodded. "That is fine and makes sense. I would like to sit down and learn more about Calidia before I strengthen her bond to me."
"What about mine." Karen asked with a pout.
I looked to her surprised. I had seen this playful side of her before, but it had been a while. "Megan?" I asked.
"Just do it." Megan grumbled aloud, but her emotions through the bond told me she was happy.
I nodded then concentrated on Karen"s bond and changed it to match Megan"s then feeling a bit mischievous I created an intimate bond between the two girls, it was the same as our marital bonds just a bit weaker and not permanent.
Both girls paused and shivered when I was done.
"What did you do?" Megan asked.
"Just trying something out. It isn"t permanent." I replied.
"All better?" Momma asked as we came into the room.
I nodded. "All better." I replied.
"About time." Momma told me. " While you were getting your beauty rest the girls and I got ahold of everyone. That jerk Derek agreed to not try and kidnap you again so you can all head back to Phoenix." she told me.
"I thought we wanted to stay far away from there." I replied.
"You do, but we still need to gather everyone so you have to be able to go back to get them." Momma scolded me. "Arnold somehow managed to pick up a girlfriend, so he is bringing her and her family with him. Grace"s family have already moved into one of the decorated houses by your house waiting for you to come get them. Derek refuses to leave his command so he will be staying behind. Heather and Tracy have family but none of them are in the Phoenix. Heather"s are on holiday in Florida while Tracy has a lot of family in South Carolina." Momma told me.
I nodded then looked at Rebecca who shook her head. "My family pa.s.sed away years ago, same with Arnold." she told me.
I nodded then looked to Karen.
"What?" she asked me uncomfortably.
"Do you want to leave him in there?" I asked her. Her mother has pa.s.sed away years ago when her father beat her to death while drunk. He had been given life in prison with no option for parole. I didn"t like the guy and was more than willing to let him rot in prison, but he was her father. Her aunt raised her after that, but she pa.s.sed away from cancer after we stopped talking.
Karen shook her head. "Yes! Leave him in there!" Karen replied vehemently.
I nodded, and let it drop. Looking to Megan I wasn"t sure, her father was a taboo subject and I was under the impression Kelly went with my parents.
"Mom is with Michael, she also refused to leave." Megan told me.
I was surprised but nodded.
"As for Daddy." Megan hesitated then sighed. "He is in Dubai. He remarried to a woman from there and transferred his company headquarters there." she told me. "I called him, but he completely dismissed everything I had to say."
I nodded then looked back to Rebecca. "What about Marshal?" I asked her.
Rebecca had a sour look on her face as she replied. "He grabbed a few things from the house and moved in with his girlfriend. She is like Derek and doesn"t want to leave." she replied.
I frowned Marshal should be well aware of what was coming. Then again he had been out of the loop since he chose Rosa over Rebecca and Emily.
"We should call Derek and Marshal and inform them on what my parents told me. Even if it won"t change their minds, they can at least prepare for it." I told them.
"Great, once dinner is over we can get everything packed and move to Phoenix for the night." Momma told us.
I looked at her confused.
"You were asleep so you have no idea how hard it was to find s.p.a.ce for everyone last night. There are several finished houses in the housing complex you were living in we could use. Tomorrow is early enough to try and bring everyone together and chose where we should hole up." Momma told me.
I didn"t like the idea, not at all. Out here in Grand Junction we had little to worry about, back in Phoenix there would be more twisted appearing, and the beasts in the zoo, and whatever beasts outside of the zoo that had mutated.
I shook my head. "I have a couple credit cards with a high limit, lets rent out one of the hotels then go back in the morning or we can bring them to the hotel tonight." I told them. "There are too many dangers in Phoenix for me to willingly take you all back there." I told them.
"My parents can help with the money." Grace volunteered. "Actually I am sure they would love this plan more than the other one." she exclaimed excitedly.
"It is a good idea, but isn"t it a waste of money." Momma commented ruefully.
"How much longer is the money going to be worth anything?" I asked in response.
"You sure have a lot of trust in your parents." Momma told me.
I shook my head. "No, not them. I can feel the next energy wave approaching. I felt it coming with the second one, and I can feel this one coming too, but it feels worse, more dangerous." I told her.
"I can feel it too." Megan offered.
Jamie, Jessica, Grace, and even Tracy confirmed the feeling.
I looked at Tracy and wondered what her mana core color was. I was far to concerned with her condition and returning to the others to notice what her core color and abilities were.
"She"s a purple like the twins and Caly." Megan told me.
I nodded then looked to Momma. "So?" I asked.
Momma shrugged. "Anything that gets us all out of this tiny house." she told me.
I nodded then looked to Megan and Karen. "Get a hold of everyone and see how many rooms we will need." I told them.
"I"m coming with you." Megan told me seriously.
I decided it was best not to argue with her.
"Wanna get your keys Momma?" I asked her.
"After dinner." Momma told me. "Did you miss that part? Did you not say you were hungry?" she asked me.
I nodded then sighed before looking to Calidia who was standing nervously near Jorrimus.
"Its fine, but she doesn"t get you till tomorrow." Megan told me mentally.
I squeezed her waist them headed over to the pretty redhead.
Seeing me coming over Jorrimus left Calidia"s side and headed into the kitchen to help finish dinner. Calidia seemed nervous but hopeful.
"You alright?" I asked her.
Calidia hesitated to answer me.
I smiled at her. "Say what is on your mind, I won"t be offended." I told her. I preferred to be in a more private setting so I wrapped my arm around her waist and guided her into the room I had been sleeping in. Though I left the door open. Not like it would have mattered, Megan and Karen would have both been able to feel it if we started to do anything.
"I am alright, the others have been kind to me, I just worry for my family…" she said then hesitated. "And I worry if you will abandon me now that the bond is gone." she admitted.
"I know nothing about you Calidia." I told her honestly which made her cringe. "Despite that, I will not abandon you." I finished.
Calidia didn"t seem very relieved by my words.
"Megan told me that you already consider us married." I prompted.
Calidia nodded. "We do not have such an open culture when it comes to intercourse in the haven I am from." she told me. "The moment we slept together I became your wife by the laws of my home." she told me.
I nodded. "That was what Megan told me. As I told her I would like to spend some time talking with you before I restore the marital bond between us." I told her.
Calidia frowned but didn"t object.
"In the meantime would you like me to strengthen the one we have from friend to intimate?" I asked her.
Calidia nodded quickly.
"It won"t be permanent and I will turn off the l.u.s.t, but I will leave the empathy." I warned her.
"It"s fine." she told me as she grabbed my hands her red eyes glowing happily.
I chuckled then concentrated on the bond I had with her strengthening it and adding the empathy.
As soon as I was finished Calidia was in my arms hugging me tightly sobbing silently into my chest.
"So you figured it out?" Momma asked from the doorway.
I nodded. "Kind of the same situation I am in." I replied.
"How so?" Momma asked me.
"The first bond is strong, and leaves an imprint. Even though it shattered and I know that some of them are reluctant to reestablish it, I can"t shake the feeling that they are my wives, every one of them." I replied.
"Its fine, just treat them well and I am sure they will all come around." Momma told me.
I frowned but didn"t say anything. I didn"t feel as certain as she did.
Momma saw my doubt and rolled her eyes. "If it was that strong on you, what do you think it did to the girls?" she asked me.
I hadn"t thought about that.
"Don"t get c.o.c.ky, if you mistreat those girls I am sure they will hate you even faster than they will love you, and that doesn"t take into account the fact that I will kick your a.s.s, I mean it Daryl. I don"t care how many of them there are, that is their problem, but I didn"t raise you to mistreat them. You be good to them, all of them." she told me seriously.
It was always funny to see Momma when she got serious, she wasn"t much more than a slip of a woman but I knew she was as fierce as a mother bear protecting her cubs. She had taken the girls under her wing for whatever reason and was willing to protect them even from me. I wasn"t hurt or offended because I knew that if they gave me unwarranted trouble she would stand up for me just as fast.
"I"ll do my best Momma." I told her.
She nodded then left me alone with Calidia.
I hugged the weeping red head tightly and let her cry herself out then we joined the others for dinner.