Awakening Ch. 02

Thanks to markf52 for the editing help.

All sexual encounters are between characters eighteen and older.

I awoke to someone shaking my foot. When I could see properly, I focused on the man at the foot of my bed. He was tall, with long black hair and a beard, with dark, piercing eyes. The armor he was wearing looked to be made from fire, lightning, and smoke. The woman standing next to him was the definition of beauty and perfection rolled into one. The see-through material she had covering her perfect body left little to imagine, from her dark hair to her piercing blue eyes to the darkness of her areolas and nipples, down to her flat stomach, her bald mound, and the tightness between her legs.

"Ahhh, yes, he's finally awake," the man said as he looked at the woman.

"You're such an ass sometimes, Ares," the woman said to the man.

"And you can be a total bitch sometimes, Venus," the man said to the woman.

"What did you call me?" the woman asked.

"Why? Is it your name, right?" The man said, beginning to laugh.

"I hate the name the Romans gave me; it sounds like a body part," she said as she floated off the ground and her hair flowed, making it look as if she were underwater.

"Take it easy, Honey, I was only playing," the man said.

"What if I called you Mars? How would you like that, huh?" she asked in rapid succession.

"I kinda like the candy bar; it beats the pest-eating plant," he said to her, pissing her off even more.

"You're insufferable, you know that" she told him.

"I do, but you love me anyway," he said back to her.

"Ummmm, what are you doing in my room, and why are you arguing?" I said to them,

"You don't want to know who we are?" the man asked.

"Well, if I heard correctly, you're Ares, God of War, and she is Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, right?" I said to them,

"Correct. He must take after me," Aphrodite said to Ares.

"Whatever, Toots, anyway we're your parents," Ares said matter-of-factly.

"What?" I asked.

"Yes, we are your parents, so to speak. When our son Eros was killed by Zeus, we put his essence into you and intertwined your souls. You are more demi-god than mortal now," Aphrodite explained.

"This time though, I made sure to give you a warrior's build and an impressive cock. I didn't want you all fat, with wings flying around with a little pecker," Ares told me.

"Aren't those cherubs, and why are you now just coming to me?" I asked.

"We had to wait until you were eighteen," I was told by Aphrodite.

"I turned eighteen two days ago," I said back.

"Yeah, but you had yet to take your first woman, so we had to wait for you to do that," Ares told me.

"I had to have sex and be eighteen before you could show yourselves to me?" I said, looking at one and then the other.

"That about sums it up," Ares said to me.

"Do I have powers?" I asked.

"Yes, and many brothers and sisters," Ares said to me.

"I know some of them from mythology," I told Ares.

"She was quite the spreader before this ring," Ares said, showing me a ring on his finger.

"What does the ring do?" I asked.

"Ares," Aphrodite said in a threatening tone.

"This is a possession ring. I had it made so I could possess Aphrodite, but Gaia thought otherwise. I was only ever to be with Aphrodite a few times before Gaia made it where I couldn't be with Aphrodite. Hara and Gaia thought it would be funny to make me not able to perform when I was with her. Only I can remove the ring once it is in place, but I haven't removed it because it keeps her legs closed when I wear it," he said to me.

With a wild look in his eyes, he grabbed my left hand, put the ring on my ring finger, and held it until the ring vanished. Aphrodite came over and looked at my hand and then asked Ares, "What have you done?"

"I have given you to him; he isn't bound by the spell Hara and Gaia put on me. You belong to your son now, so you must obey all he says, and you know it." Ares said, as he came over to me. "She's yours, and she must obey whatever it is you tell her," Ares whispered in my ear.

"Gaia, Hara," Aphrodite called.

"You are bound," a voice sounded.

"You are his," another voice said.

Aphrodite kneeled in front of me and asked, "How may I serve you?"

"Strip," I told her, and without a second's hesitation, she was naked. I walked around her, and my cock became harder and harder. "Have you ever been conquered by a man or God?" I asked her.

"No," she replied.

"If I tell you to give me the cock that conquers you, do you have to do it?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied.

"Give me the cock that conquers you and any woman I want," I told her.

"And that you shall have," she told me.

I felt a little tingle in my boxers and had her go lay on the bed with her legs spread. The sight of Aphrodite lying naked on my bed made my cock hard for sure. I dropped my boxers and stroked my incredibly hard cock a couple of times before moving between Aphrodite's legs. "Give me the knowledge to make any woman writhe in ecstasy," I said, looking in Aphrodite's eyes.

"And that you shall have," she said to me again.

I buried my face between her legs and began to do what I thought was right. I must have been doing something right because I was getting Aphrodite's wonderfully sweet juices on my tongue and the wonderfully sweet sounds of her moaning in my ears. Aphrodite was a moaner, and a loud one at that. The whole time Ares was sitting in my computer chair watching us. I made it up to Aphrodite's face, kissed her, and she seemed to enjoy the taste of her juices as much as I did.

I put the tip of my cock at her entrance and said to her, "Give me the knowledge to conquer you," then she closed her eyes and gave me a nod. I pushed into her for the very first time and nearly exploded. "Give me the knowledge to know how a woman wants to be taken," I said to Aphrodite. With another nod, I began to fuck her the way my body knew she wanted to be fucked, hard and powerfully. I fucked her like that for what seemed an eternity.

"Are you mine yet?" I asked with no answer. I slammed into her harder and bit her nipples the way she liked. Then, I buried my cock and held it tight against her womb and asked, "Are you mine?"

"Yes, and you know that I belong to you and no one else for all eternity," she said.

"I accept your offer to be mine, and mine alone, for all of eternity," I said as I poured my seed into her womb.

I woke up to my mom opening my curtains. I stood up, and without even thinking, I walked behind her, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her into me. Her hair was in a long, loose braid that she had over her right shoulder. I leaned forward and kissed her on the left side of her neck, causing her to give a little moan and push back into me. I came to my senses and was scared she could feel the steel pipe that was caught between our bodies.

I leaned down and kissed her neck again, just below and behind her left ear, garnering me another moan from her. I left her standing there looking out my window and made a beeline to the bathroom. I turned on the shower, cold of course, and prayed for my erection to go down. Slowly it did go down, and I was finally able to take a shower. I walked back into my room with a towel wrapped around my waist to find my mom still standing in front of my bedroom windows. She turned to see me standing there and gasped, then almost ran out of my bedroom.

As she moved past me, I could see her nipples were very erect and hard, and not only that, but I also swear I could smell her arousal in the air as I got dressed in my school uniform. I noticed that my pants fit tighter around my thighs, and my shirt and jacket were tighter in the shoulders. When I got to the kitchen, Mom was standing by the sink looking out the window. "Morning," I said to her.

"Morning, Sweety," she replied.

I grabbed some cereal and poured myself a bowl. I rinsed and put my dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I kissed my mom on her cheek and said, "Bye, I love you and have a terrific day."

I walked to the front door, grabbing my book bag on the way out. As I walked by Stacy's house, I could see her in the front window, so I blew her a kiss, which made her smile. What I didn't expect was a small person to come out of the house yelling at me. I mean, being six-four, a lot of people are shorter than me, but this guy barely came up to my crotch.

Stacy was hot on his ass when he came out of the house; he got halfway to me and said, "Nope," turned around, and went back inside. Stacy walked up to me, and I asked her, "Who was that, and what just happened?"

"That was Tallover, and I don't know," Stacy told me.

I could see the half-pint guy named Tallover standing in the window, glaring at us. "Listen, I need to get to school, but why don't you go over and keep my mom company today? The asshole has already left and won't be back until after dark," I told her.

"Do you think she would mind if I did?" she asked.

"No, not at all. Matter of fact, come on," I said, grabbing her hand and leading her back to my house.

"What are you doing?" she said as she started to laugh.

"Did you not say you were mine?" I asked her,

"Yes, I said that" she told me.

"Then I'm taking what's mine and protecting it," I told her as we walked into the house.

"Are you sure your mom won't mind?" She asked again.

"Mom, I brought you some company for the day," I yelled out.

Mom came downstairs in her housecoat and slippers, just as Stacy had on. "I'm going to be late for school if I don't get going. You two sit around and watch 'Woman' TV all day and enjoy yourselves," I told them. I gave them both a kiss on their cheeks, then ran out the door.

On my way past Stacy's, Tallover was still standing in the window. As I ran by, I shook my head at him and picked up my pace so I wouldn't be late for school. My first class is P. E. with Coach Jackson. I came out of the locker room to find Coach Jackson with his gym groupies, Marissa and Dana, standing by the bleachers. The coach had his leg on the bleachers where Marissa and Dana could see his dick through his leg hole on his shorts. I really didn't like the coach, but his wife, on the other hand, who was my English teacher, I liked quite a bit.

I walked over to the trio and said to the girls, "You might want to go and take care of that smell." I then turned to the coach and said, "May your dick and balls shrink to the size of a sprouting bean," and walked off. Marissa and Dana ran back into the girl's locker room, and Coach Jackson stood where he was for the rest of the class. When I came back out of the locker room, the coach was still standing where he had at the beginning of class. I walked over to him and said, "Have fun with your bean sprout dick," and left to go to my next class.

My next class was English, yes, that class with Coach Jackson's wife as my teacher. Satis Jackson was a very beautiful, Black woman, one with all the right curves in all the right places. I entered the classroom and walked over to Satis and whispered, "I'm going to make you mine," in her ear and then sat at my desk. I don't know why I said it, but I said it to her. Throughout the class, I would catch her looking at me, and when I would catch her looking, she would turn her head quickly to look away from me.

As the time drew closer to the end of class, I could see Satis getting nervous, and so was I. When the bell rang, I waited for all the other students to leave, then I got up, closing and locking the door. I went over to Satis, pulled her close to me, and said, "Are you ready?" I could feel her body trembling in my arms. When I put my lips to hers, she did not pull away; instead, she grabbed my face and kissed me hungrily. I cupped her ass in my hands and picked her up; her legs went around me, causing her skirt to ride up above her crotch.

I could see her lacy, bright yellow panties, so I put her down long enough to pull the rest of her dress above her amazing ass. With her dress out of the way, I picked her back up and sat her on her desk. I knelt between her legs and took her panties off her. She was completely bald and had a sweet, musky smell to her arousal. I leaned forward and gave her a lick, and then another, and another, until she flooded my mouth with her nectar. She was leaning back on her arms when I stood up and dropped my pants and boxers. "Now I claim you as mine," I told her as I pushed the head of my cock into her awaiting confines.

I pushed into her, but it was almost like she was drawing me further inside her without me having to push at all. I reached her depth and gave a little push to see if I could go further, but I was as deep as she was going to take me. I knew what she wanted, and I gave it to her. She liked to have some soreness after a fuck so she could remember it. I fucked her with hard, piercing thrusts into her; it didn't take long for her to cum and give herself to me. "I will be yours from this day forward, and for all time," she swore to me.

Time was getting short for us to finish. "Are you ready for me to complete our bond?" I asked her.

"Yes, please make me yours," she told me.

I pushed as deep as I could go and unloaded into her, causing her to scream. I quickly pulled her into a kiss to quiet her scream and held her close to me. When I finished pumping all I had into her, I pulled out; she fell to her knees and cleaned my cock without me asking. "I surrender my body and mind to you for as long as you will keep me," she said as she pulled my boxers and pants back up around my waist. I reached down and picked up her panties and put them in her purse.

I pulled her back into me, kissed her one last time for the day, and left the room. I had spent the entirety of my lunch period with Satis, and I was glad I had. My next class was calculus with Mr. Bass, who always smelled like a wet dog. The girls would come in and spritz their perfume, so by the end of class the room smelled like a florally scented wet dog. My next class would be a totally different story because I made sure to stop by my locker to get my jacket before going to it.

Economics was taught by Ms. Morrigan Hel Hecate, and her classroom was always icebox cold. She was an attractive woman, but I don't think anyone knew her real age, though. She was about five-nine, one hundred twenty-five pounds, with maybe a C cup, black hair, and eyes of obsidian. Some of the students even joked about her being a retired 'Grim Reaper'; little did we know how close to the truth that really was. Everyone shed their coats and jackets as we left Ms. Hecate's class.

History was my next class with Guinevere Dulac Mordred, and you could tell she had spent some time over in the UK from the slight accent she had. There was something about Mrs. Mordred; she had an air about her that made you want to rescue her and possess her at the same time, and I think she knew it. At five-seven and one hundred fifteen pounds, her body was well, perfect, not too thin, nor fat, and not too muscular. Like I said, 'Perfect.' Her long, blonde hair was always in a braid of some sort, and she had the most captivating blue eyes.

I had to hurry to get from history to my next class, Physics. Mrs. Morgan Le Fay Pendragon was my teacher, and she was a lot of fun, not to say that if you 'fucked up' in her class that you didn't regret it; it just didn't happen all that much. She too was a beautiful woman with an amazing body; I can't tell you how many times I, well, you know. Mrs. Pendragon is five-seven, one hundred twenty pounds, and has long, blonde hair that hangs to the middle of her back. The only odd thing about her was her eyes; one was emerald, green, while the other was violet, almost amethyst in color.

My next class was my favorite class, Home Ec. I was the only male of the five students in my class, all cute girls, of course. The teacher was Ms. Amory Eden Etta, soon to be Mrs. Amory Eden Glenn when she gets married at the end of the year. She's the type of person that you become fiercely protective over, or at least I have. At just five-three, with a one-hundred-five-pound dancer's body. She has the cutest ass and the perkiest B cup tits. She has her brown hair cut into a pixie cut and can melt your heart with her big brown eyes.

When I walked into the classroom, Ms. Etta was standing behind her desk crying. I put my bag down by my desk and then walked over to her and asked, "Is everything alright?"

She turned and grabbed me in a hug and started crying even harder into me and said, "No."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She didn't say anything; she reached over to her desk, grabbed her cell phone, and showed me the text message she had received from her soon-to-be husband, and it read, "I'm doing this this way because I don't want to see you again. I don't want to get married right now, and I want to live my life. I want my grandmother's ring back as soon as possible. Have a good life."

What could I say to something like that? So, I didn't say anything at first; I just kissed her. After the kiss, she stood there and looked at me for a few seconds before kissing me back. When we broke the kiss, I said, "He's stupid and you're beautiful; I would never throw you away; I would keep you forever," and that got me another quick kiss. Katarina, Nüwa, her twin sister, Dào yǐng, and Tameka came in and sat at their desks.

Ms. Etta didn't really feel like doing anything in class, so we opted to make cookies and watch some on the classroom TV. Ms. Etta and the girls started getting the stuff ready to make cookies when I looked in the fridge and noticed the milk we had was out of date. "Um, the milk is out of date," I said to them with my head still in the fridge.

When I looked up, it looked like Ms. Etta was about to cry again. I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "Start making the cookies; I'll be right back," I told them as I released Ms. Etta from her hug.

The girls were busy mixing the ingredients when I walked out of the classroom. I made my way down to the cafeteria, where I was able to convince one of the ladies to let me have a gallon of milk. When I got back to the class, the girls were putting the first batch of cookies in the oven. They had already turned the TV to a soap opera and were talking amongst themselves about who did what, when, where, to whom they had done it to, and why it was done, while Ms. Etta was just sitting there looking off into space. I put the milk in the fridge and walked over and sat next to Ms. Etta.

I took Ms. Etta's hand in mine and sat quietly next to her. The next thing I knew, she was standing up and then sitting in my lap. She put her head on my shoulder and softly cried. I rubbed her back and wiped her tears away as they fell. "You're really sweet, you know that?" she said to me as our lips met. The girls all turned to watch us with smiles on their faces. They all gathered in a group circle and were discussing something I couldn't make out. Nüwa and Dào yǐng came over, took Ms. Etta by the hand, and led her over to the twin bed, which we had in the classroom to use as a tool to learn how to properly make a bed. Tameka and Katarina came over to me, pulled me up, and over to where the twins were taking Ms. Etta's clothes off her.

Katarina stepped away to take the cookies out of the ovens and then returned to help Tameka take my clothes off. Tameka, then Katarina, kissed me before kneeling in front of me to take my boxers off. They both made the, "OOOOOHHHHH," sound at the same time as my cock was freed. They led me over to Ms. Etta and handed me over to the twins, who gasped and put their hands over their mouths when they saw my cock.

Nüwa and Dào yǐng kissed me and pushed me towards our naked teacher lying on the bed. I got to the side of the bed, and Ms. Etta reached out to me; I took her hand in mine, and she pulled me onto the bed with her. She spread her legs to let me between them, pulled me into a kiss, and asked, "Did you really mean what you said about keeping me forever and never throwing me away?"

I looked into her beautiful brown eyes and could see the fear of being rejected in them. "I absolutely meant it. You would be stuck with me forever," I told her. I could see the fear in her eyes disappear and turn to one of passion.

She rolled us over so that I was on my back and got a big smile on her face when she got a good look at what she was going to be getting. As she lined me up to take me for the first time, I said, "I mean it, you'll be with me forever!"

"I can live with that," she said, as she put me in and sat down on my cock.

I grunted, and she said, "Ohhh, fuck," as she took another couple of inches of me deeper into her.

I looked around to see the girls all watching us while they played with themselves. They all had a look of hunger on their faces, and they were looking at me. I was more than happy for their lust to be aimed at me; after all, I had intended on fucking them anyway. Ms. Etta had half of my cock inside her when her first orgasm hit her, and her hips began to buck wildly, and she fell to my chest. "I got you, Ms. Etta, I got you," I told her.

"Call me Amory, my love," she said to me.

"I got you, Amory," I told her again.

The sound of mewls and moans of the girls as they masturbated filled the room, along with the scent of their arousal. I rolled us back over so that I was on top and started to make love to Amory, just as she wanted. Her orgasms came hard and frequent, and I knew it was getting close to the time for the bell to ring. I picked up my pace and filled Amory in with ten minutes to spare. We got out of the bed and put the bedding into the washer we had for the class and readied ourselves for the bell. My fellow classmates made sure to hug and show their love for Amory.

They turned their attention to me, letting me taste the juices on their fingers and putting their panties in my shirt pocket. As each girl left the room, they flipped the back of their skirt up to show me their bare ass. I waited around for Amory to gather her things so I could take her to Satis's classroom. I told each of them about the other, which didn't seem to bother either of them. I also told them about Stacy, and again it didn't bother either one. I asked Amory, "Do you mind letting Satis and Stacy stay with you until I can get a place for us all?"

"We can stay at my place. It's the big house in the middle of town," she told me.

It had totally slipped my mind that Amory's family had chartered our town back in the early eighteen hundreds, "Ettaville, duh!" I thought to myself. The huge house was in the middle of town and had enough room and rooms for what I was going to need it for. I looked around to make sure the coast was clear before I gave each of them a kiss. We all walked out together; they went to their cars, and I went in the direction of my house. On the way home, in the parking lot of a derelict fast-food joint, was an old man standing next to a run-down truck, with a sign that said, 'Free Puppies.'.

I walked over and looked in the bed of his run-down truck. "These three are puppies?" I asked.

"They're Cane Corso puppies, so yes, that would be the answer to your question," the man said to me.

I leaned over to pet the adorable trio and fell in love with them. I knew that it would drive the asshole mad with anger if I brought one home, let alone all three. I asked, "Have you given them names yet?"

"Yes," he said, as he pointed to a puppy he gave me its name. "This one is Sir, this one is Bear, and this one is Rus."

"Sir, Bear, and Rus, I'll take all three; it will drive my sperm donor mad," I told the old man, who began to laugh hardily.

"They'll make good guard dogs and will protect anyone you tell them to protect," he told me as he shook my hand.

The man had a weird smell to him I couldn't place, but I knew I knew the smell, though. I spent a few minutes loving on the puppies before we headed for home. As we started to walk away, I turned to ask, "What kind of food do they eat?"

"Just about anything you put in front of them," he said. And I could have sworn that under his breath he said, "They prefer the souls of the damned, though."

I shook off what I thought I had just heard and headed home with my three new best friends. They never once left my side, not even when a cat came out of nowhere and ran across our path. I have never seen a cat move so fast as I did that one when it saw Sir, Bear, and Rus. The cat left a trail of shit and piss as it hastily made its way across the street. When I made it home, I found that Stacy and Mom were still in their housecoats and slippers watching TV.

I introduced my three new friends, and Mom and Stacy fell in love with them. When Mom went to change, I told Stacy about going to Amory's to stay. She jumped in my arms and gave me a kiss. Stacy went and told my mom she was heading home and that she would come over again tomorrow. I sent Bear and Rus with her so no problems would arise. "Make sure she's safe," I told them as they walked out the door. I told Sir, "Protect Mom," as she walked to the kitchen to start on dinner. Sir was never more than a couple of feet from my mom from that moment on.

I was hugging my mom from behind when the asshole came in the front door, bitching, "What the fuck is this thing?" he asked, putting his things down and walking towards the kitchen.

"This is, sir," I told him.

Sir had been lying down until Foster got within ten feet of my mom, and then he sat up.

"Why is it here?" The asshole asked.

"I thought Mom needed a protector and a companion," I told him.

"Well, I'm all your mother needs, so it can go away," he told me.

The asshole took a couple more steps towards my mom, causing Sir to stand up and get between her and Foster. When he took another step, the hair on Sir's back stood on end, and Sir began to snarl at him. Sir took a step towards the asshole, who had frozen in place. The air had grown thick, and it almost looked like Sir was daring him to take another step towards my mom. "I'm not feeding it," the asshole said as he left the kitchen.

"He'll have to feast on your soul then," I told him as he made his retreat.

Sir came back over and lay at my mom's feet. "That wasn't very nice, funny, but not nice of you to do," my mom told me.

She had been getting the asshole's steak ready; however, she had cut it up into chunks and started to feed Sir the pieces. "You know what, Mom, why don't you go and put your feet up? Dad and I can fend for ourselves tonight," I told her.

"I don't know; you know how your father gets when his dinner isn't waiting on him," she said to me as she fed the last of the asshole's steak to Sir.

"I don't think he will give one bit of trouble about it," I told her.

I put my arms around her, kissed her neck, and sent her to relax. "Make sure she is always safe," I told Sir, as I bent down and rubbed his ears, getting a few licks to my face. Sir went and got on the couch, laying his head in my mom's lap. Mom gave him a few pets before she started to rub his ears. I made a sandwich, grabbed some chips, and made my way over to watch TV with Mom.

I watched as Sir got up and walked over behind a chair, as the asshole came down and walked towards Mom, with anger all over his face, "Why are you sitting here and not making my dinner, Bitch?" he said to my mom. I stood up and was about to confront him when I saw Sir come around from the back of the chair and walk over to the asshole with his teeth showing. It was funny to watch the color fade from the asshole's face when he turned to see Sir walking up to him, growling a growl that would frighten the devil himself. The asshole stepped away from my mom and didn't say another word. Sir got back in my mom's lap and laid his head down again.

"I told Mom she could have the night off and that we could fend for ourselves," I told the asshole.

"Who made you the king of my house?" he asked me.

"You don't think she deserves a day or two off every once in a while?" I asked him.

"I deci..." Foster started to say before Sir sat up, got off my mom's lap, and started walking towards him.

"Sir, come get back in my lap," my mom called.

Sir turned, making his way back into my mom's lap, and laid back down. The asshole went to the kitchen and made a god-awful racket getting himself something to eat. When I was done with my sandwich, I went to the kitchen to clean my dishes and saw the unbelievable mess that the asshole had made. As I was taking care of my dishes, he threw his in the sink and said, "Clean this mess up, 'Silky Boy,'" as he walked off. He turned around to see Mom and Sir standing behind him. "We clean up the messes we make," she said.

I walked over to Sir and Mom and watched the asshole clean up the mess he made. I knew Mom would reclean what he had cleaned to make sure it was cleaned the way she liked it to be done. The asshole made a wide circle and kept his distance between himself and Sir when he went upstairs. "Sleep in the spare bedroom, Foster," my mom called out.

"Night, Mom, love you," I said to her as I kissed her on the cheek.

"Night, love you too. Do you mind if I take Sir with me tonight?" She said to me, looking down at Sir.

"No, not at all; he's your guard dog after all," I told her.

Mom knelt and rubbed Sir's ears and asked, "You want to sleep with Momma tonight?" which got her a couple of licks to her face and a happy tail-wagging puppy. "Yuck, puppy breath and slobber," she said as Sir licked her face again.

We made our way upstairs and said out, "Good nights," again. I hadn't closed my door yet when I heard the asshole come out of my mom's room grumbling, "Fucking dog, hasn't even been here four hours and has already got me kicked out of my own room." I started to laugh as I watched him go into the spare room and shut the door. I walked over to close my mom's bedroom door and could see Sir lying on the foot of the bed, his ears perked up, as he became more alert until he recognized it was me and settled back down. I closed her door all the way and went to my room for a shower and then bed.

I had just set my phone down when it started to ring. I saw that it was Amory and hit the talk button.

"Hello, beautiful," I answered.

"Hello, my love," she replied.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Other than you not being here, yes," she said. "I just called to let you know that Satis, Stacy, and the girls are all here, and Bear and Rus are in doggie heaven with all the attention they're getting," she told me.

"Girls?" I asked.

"Katarina, Tameka, Nüwa, and Dào yǐng decided to stay here too," she told me.

"I'm glad they're there," I told her.

"Bear and Rus must have heard your voice or something, because they're standing here looking at my phone," she informed me.

"Protect these ladies and be good for them," I said through the phone.

"They went back for more belly rubs, it looks like," Amory told me.

"Night, Beautiful," I told her. "And please tell the others good night for me, will you?" I asked.

"Good night, and yes, I will," she told me, and then we hung up.

I took a quick shower and got into bed. Today has been a very interesting day.