Chapter 156

--- 25th Day, Late Evening ---

“Really?” I asked Amber, upstairs in our room. “You said stuff like that around my daughter?”

“Like, what did I say?” the elf asked, feigning innocence.

“Taunting me that I won’t spank you,” I replied, stepping toward her. She backed away until she hit the wall, pressed against it with me only inches away.

“I don't remember saying anything about spanking,” Amber murmured with a smile and amusement in her eyes.

I cupped her chin and pulled her in for a kiss. Our lips met in a hungry embrace as she wrapped a leg around my hips, pressing herself against me.

“If you’re horny, little elf, all you have to do is ask,” I whispered.

“Where's the fun in that?” Her light blue eyes were locked on mine, full of challenge.

I would have loved to toss her onto the bed and show her her place, fucking her senseless, but unfortunately I was supposed to meet Mari and Selira to finally write down the work contract.

I kissed Amber’s chin before brushing my lips along her skin toward her long ear. After a quick lick, I nibbled on her earlobe, making her whimper as she pulled me closer, pressing herself against the bulge in my pants.

“I will show you fun,” I murmured. “Before night falls, you’ll be begging for my cock.”

“You’ll be the one begging for my pussy,” Amber replied.

I snorted before replying, “I’ll just take what’s mine.”

A shiver ran through her body as she let out a shaky breath.

She looked like she was about to say something, but before she could, I kissed her again.

“When I return, I want you naked and waiting on your knees,” I said before pulling away from her.

There was no chance she would actually do it, but that would give me yet another reason to punish her, and it seemed she hadn’t been fucked hard enough in a while if she was misbehaving again.

“Girlfriend,” I added before she could snap back.

That actually made her flustered enough that she didn’t say anything else as I left.

Together with Zoe and Azura, we headed to the library, where Mari was already waiting outside. She was covered in a dark brown coat, with a hood pulled over her head to hide her fox ears and her tail concealed beneath her clothes.

“Were you okay in the dungeon on your own?” I asked as we approached her.

“No, I died,” she replied sarcastically.

“Whatever,” I sighed, shaking my head as I turned toward the library.

“Did you give Mia the money?” Mari asked.

“No,” I replied, glancing back at her.

“What?!” she hissed.

“I only saw her for a moment, and she was having fun with Anna, laughing and being happy. I didn’t want to ruin that by mentioning you.”

Mari grimaced, and I wasn't sure if it was because I hadn't passed on the money or because she realized that even the mention of her was enough to upset people.

“Selira, the sea nymph, is helping us out of the kindness of her heart,” I said. “You’re going to be nice to her. No glaring, no hissing, no growling.”

“I’ll do whatever I want!” Mari growled immediately.

“Making other people cry? Is that what you want?”

Mari glared at me before growling, “Let’s just get it over with!”

She headed into the library, where Selira, Hannah, and Alysson were talking about something by the main counter.

“Hey,” I greeted them, approaching the sea nymph and giving her a hug. “I missed your lips,” I whispered so only she could hear before pulling away.

Her green cheeks immediately darkened as she tried to look away, squirming slightly.

“Give me a moment to talk with Hannah, and then we can write the contract if you're still willing to help me?” I asked, already noticing the unhappy looks Azura’s mother was sending my way.

“O-Of course,” Selira replied. “I’ll prepare everything at one of the tables over there. Will you close the library when you leave?” she asked Hannah.

After Hannah confirmed, and with Alysson announcing that she would wait outside for her mother, all women took off, leaving me only with the oldest out of them.

“Alysson told you about our talk?” I asked.

“You told her she can become a warrior?” Hannah asked.

“No. That’s a misunderstanding,” I replied. “I told her that I would talk to you. And that I could take her to the arena to train sometimes. But I never told her she could become a warrior, whatever that even means.”

“But you want to train her to fight,” Hannah accused.

“Not me. She wants to learn. And I realized that after everything that happened to her... to all of you... maybe becoming stronger and being able to defend herself is what she needs to feel safe and secure again.”

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to her,” Hannah replied, worry written all over her face.

“Training is supposed to prevent that.”

“Until she wants to go into a dungeon,” Hannah replied.

“I’m not trying to make decisions for you and your daughter,” I said. “I only offered to help her. If you don’t want her training, then I won’t do it.”

Hannah sighed before saying, “Thank you.”

“But I’m not sure you can really stop her,” I added. “If she sets her mind on it, it won’t matter whether I help her or not, or whether you approve of the idea.”

“I’ll talk to her, and... we’ll see. But don’t encourage her.”

“I’m not. But I do believe she has good reasons to want to become stronger and able to defend herself.”

Hannah thought for a moment before nodding and without much else to say she left the library, leaving me to deal with the work contract with the kitsune.

I found the remaining four women around one of the tables. Selira, Zoe, and Azura were seated, while Mari stood off to the side with her arms crossed.

“I already wrote down a version that includes everything we talked about,” Selira said when I joined them, showing me a piece of paper.

There were two copies, so I handed one to Mari while reading the other myself. It contained exactly what we had discussed with Selira before.

I glanced at Mari, wondering what she would want to add, but she remained silent. After a moment of exchanging looks and getting no response from her, I turned back to Selira.

“We need to remove the part that says I’ll provide her with food and a place to sleep. We agreed that Mari would be independent and take care of that herself,” I said, glancing at her.

She grimaced but nodded, still refusing to say a word.

“Sure,” the sea nymph replied. “Anything else?”

“Nothing from me. Mari?” I asked, wondering if I would regret asking.

“I don’t want you adding more teammates to our group just because you want to fuck them,” she replied.

“What if they’re also valuable in a fight?” I asked.

Mari shifted her gaze to Azura before looking back at me without a word.

The wolf shifter seemed oblivious, but the kitsune actually had a point. Azura wasn't the most useful member in a dungeon. She tagged along because she didn't want to be apart from me for so long, and she still received a share of the money anyway.

“We can add a point that we’ll only add members who actively fight as part of the team. Is that okay?” I asked.

“With some restrictions to their numbers, you have no shame and moderation,” Mari replied.

“You already have a guaranteed minimum share anyway.”

“Fine,” she huffed.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“You’re going to treat me with respect and stop telling me what I can and can’t do! And stop criticizing everything I do!”

“Okay, so we’ll add a point that we will treat each other with respect.”

Mari immediately snapped her gaze toward me, glaring, while Selira was already writing it into the contract.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

The kitsune let out a low growl but didn't answer.

“Anything else?” Selira asked once she finished adding the new points.

“Ugh... Let’s just get it over with,” Mari replied, gesturing for the sea nymph to hand her the contract.

She signed one copy before pushing it toward me and signing the other.

I was a little surprised she didn't try to add a million clauses about how I shouldn't breathe near her or look in her direction, but I was happy to sign it and, just as she had said, get it over with and keep our interactions as short as possible.

“Done,” I said as we both finished signing our copies.

“I was thinking,” Selira said. “It’s not exactly necessary, but sometimes it’s good to have an official sign contracts like these. I’m not exactly someone important, but I do work for the city, so I’m kind of an official. If you want, I can sign them as well to make them a bit more official,” she offered.

“Sure,” I replied, and Mari also placed her copy on the table for the sea nymph to sign.

Selira signed both contracts before handing each of us a copy.

“I’m surprised you actually signed it,” I said, looking at Mari. “I expected you to run away or just tell me to fuck off. In the end, you didn't really have any reason to do it.”

“I...” Mari hesitated, looking as if she was searching for the right words but couldn't find them.

Then she huffed and walked away.

“Yeah...” I murmured before turning back to Selira. “Thank you for that. I really appreciate your help.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Selira replied. “You helped me much more before. Thanks to Hannah, I have a lot more free time now and can do so many things that I had been putting off. I even started restoring another book already, though it’s a difficult case because many of the pages have faded. I’m trying to restore it, but in some places it’s hard to tell what was originally written there. I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to save it.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way. But you should spend some of that free time on something other than work. We could go swimming again. I enjoyed our dive together. And I heard you have some new swimsuits I should see.”

The sea nymph blushed at the mention of our underwater make-out session.

“I still have a lot of work I should have finished a long time ago…” she replied. “But if you really want to go, I could probably find some time if Hannah is okay with taking care of things on her own.”

“I’m sure she will,” I replied. “And I’m sure we’ll both enjoy some more time underwater. The views there were mesmerizing.”

Selira frowned before realizing that, in the darkness of the lake, she had been the only thing I could see. The dark green blush remained on her cheeks.

“Do you think you could use your skills on me and Zoe at the same time?” I asked. “I bet she would love to join us.”

“If we were all... touching,” the sea nymph replied.

“Oh, I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” I said.

“I could use my tail on you,” the succubus offered, grinning at Selira. “Press it into you to make sure we stay connected.”

Selira blinked rapidly, staring at Zoe. Her green lips parted slightly as she tried to figure out what exactly the succubus meant.

“Tomorrow late evening?” I asked, not letting her think about it for too long. “We could even go after the library closes, so Hannah won’t have to stay here alone.”

“That would work,” Selira replied with a nod.

With another swimming date arranged, even if she probably wouldn't call it that, we said our goodbyes and left Selira to continue working on books at the library.

As we headed back home I was thinking about punishing my naughty elf who was waiting, hopefully, already naked.

But there was one more obstacle before that.

One that was sitting on a chair in the hallway.

“Sage...” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you, of course. We need to talk,” she replied, getting to her feet.

“Zoe, Azura, go wash up and wait for me,” I said, sending them upstairs.

“Don’t make us wait too long, Master,” Zoe purred. “Or we might have fun without you,” she added with a wink before disappearing up the stairs.

“How is it possible that Vi is your daughter?” Sage immediately asked. “You didn’t know about her? Why was Gemma hiding it? Where were you all those years? Why the fuck would Gemma have a child with you?”

“I’m not answering any of that,” I replied.

“I have to know!” she protested.

“Are you going crazy because you’re being left in the dark?” I asked with a smile.

Suddenly, she was standing right in front of me, her face inches from mine. Her breath brushed against my lips as she stared into my eyes, from up close, being almost the same height as me.

“You find it funny?” she asked quietly. “You want me to go crazy? You want to see how far I can go?”

“Those aren’t just my secrets,” I replied. “They belong to Vi and Gemma too. So go show them how far you can go.”

Sage remained close, watching me silently.

“Is that all you wanted?” I asked. “Did you really think I was going to answer any of those questions?”

“Your vampire friend misses you.”

“Whitney isn’t my friend. And I’ll visit her soon. Some time locked up and alone might make her more cooperative.”

Sage didn’t answer and was staring at me in silence, while I was getting impatient.

“Do you want anything else?” I asked. “I have better things to do.” I was thinking about the three demonesses waiting for me upstairs.

Sage grabbed my shirt and pulled me toward her. Our lips met, but I was too shocked to even return the kiss. Then she was gone, slipping past me and leaving without even looking back.

I stood in the corridor, wondering what the fuck had just happened, even after she had left. Why would she kiss me out of nowhere?

Then I realized she was messing with my head again, any way she could. The only other time we had almost kissed was back at Whitney’s house, but that had just been to tease Gemma while she watched through the gargoyle. This time Gemma wasn’t around, but it was most likely still connected to her.

Probably some twisted game between the two of them, and even more likely one that only Sage was playing while Gemma didn't even know about it.

Giving up on trying to understand the crazy woman that Sage clearly was, I shook my head and headed upstairs to take a quick bath before going to the bedroom, though I had no intention of going to sleep anytime soon.