Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 23 The infected need imprinting.. Based on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. Let’s review the characters in this part of the saga.. House Black Harrison 'Harri' Black; Sheriff of Black County, 'Jason Momoa-looking motherfucker' mountain man (mixed heritage), former Army MP Erica LaCosta; Fiancée of Harri, Leo's sister, Italian Tattoo Artist, Dark Brunette Kyla Bautista; Trained dancer, Pilipino Spy, Harri's Deputy Sheriff, Raven hair Vanessa Peters; Construction Forewoman, Daughter of Brent Peters the head of the construction project, Brunette House LaCosta Leo LaCosta; Harri's best friend and former roommate, Italian carpenter, Erica's brother Valkyrie Falls Josie 'Joss the Boss' Draper; Professional Wrestler, Athletically Trim Blonde Natives Gertrude 'Gerty' Swiftwater; Kara's second cousin, Tribal police on the Rez, Voluptuous Native, Raven hair Kara Swiftwater; Harrison's high school sweetheart that ended poorly, community leader of the local Native band, Raven hair Tanaya???; Kara's neighbor on the Rez Military Lieutenant Colonel Miriam Abarbanel; Military friend of Harri's, Air Force Lt Col, Jewish heritage, Commanding Officer for Valhalla Hills construction and the Oregon Quaranteam research project 'The Doc'; A female doctor from the Portland Serum Test facility. Was part of Harri's care team when he was shot, and then the emergency response team following the Hostage rescue. Referenced Characters Danielle 'Dani'; Australian stripper, Brunette Ivy Gauthier; Quebecoise stripper, half-tattooed, Dirty Blonde anal queen Julia De Luca; Helicopter Pilot, former Air Force Para rescue Pilot. Friend and Client of Erica. Captain Laura Bloomberg; Air Force JAG serving as Miriam's second, Blonde We reached the end of the little entry hallway, nodded with our firearms and split left and right. Ahead of me was a dark corner of junk. It looked like discarded materials from whenever they erected the big garage structure. I kept my eyes scanning, pivoting to check what ended up being some sort of a coat closet that was filled with piles of clothes. Coming back out, I pressed my way up the back side of the basement and had to weave around a thick concrete support pillar. There was some sort of music going on above us along with the loud thrum of the generator, and if the rain was loud on their roof then I wasn't surprised that the hillbilly fucks hadn't heard our shots from earlier, or even the door opening. I had to sidestep my way around one of those big fabric partitions, but quickly ducked back as I found what I could only think of as the central area of the cluttered basement. And what I'd seen in that brief flash needed a moment to parse out. Just ahead and to my left, set up along the back brick wall, had been an illuminated area that looked something like a photography setup from back when I'd get school pictures taken in the primary school gym. Even down to the backdrops on rollers. A camera with a tripod on it had been set up but dim. Just beyond it was a sectioned-off area with more of the fabric room dividers, but it had a makeshift roof on it and red light had been coming out; some sort of a shitty black room, I guessed. Beyond those two little areas, however, had been the cage. It was big; bigger than the one out in the garage, but constructed the same way out of chain link fencing. The lights were dull and yellow in that direction like behind me, but I'd clearly seen it was full of people. Naked people. Somewhere past it, there was also a man, sitting in a shitty lawn chair, watching a little old TV with a beer in his hand. He was turned about three-quarters away from me, but he had something in his other hand propped on the floor. It was hidden from my view; it could have been a bat, or a rifle, or a fucking broom. I really couldn't tell. "Hostages identified," I murmured quietly into the comm. "One hostile near cage watching TV." "I see him," Julia murmured back. "I don't have a shot; he's backed by the cage." "I'm going quiet," I murmured. "Cover me." Julia double-clicked her comm. No one outside was saying anything, holding their security out in the wet without complaint. I slowly unlimbered my M4 from its shoulder strap and set it down on the ground, then did the same with the MP5, before double-checking my sidearm in its holster and then pulling out my knife. Lots of civilians, especially those in the city, didn't get the whole thing about a good knife. People in the backwoods got it though. Rural folk who had to work for a living. A good knife was a useful tool. You could open things with it, close things, poke holes, slice slits. With a good knife you could even hammer a nail or two, do survival procedures, and draw in the fucking dirt if you had to. To a soldier, though, a knife was almost as important as a rifle. It could do all those things that a rural civilian could use it for, and then you could also kill someone with it. It was almost always the last line of defense a soldier could have. When shit really went wrong, and the bullets ran dry or the enemy was up on you, knowing how to use a knife half-effectively was a really potent tool. I'd never gotten myself into a spot like that before, and in almost any situation what I was doing was stupid as hell. But even with the thrum of that generator, and the music, and the rain, and the excavator running outside, there was absolutely no fucking way that anyone upstairs could ignore a gunshot in that basement. I owned several knives; I wasn't a collector or anything, there were just different knives for different jobs. Suiting up for the raid, however, I'd fallen back on tried and tested. I pulled the ka-bar out, its dull grey coating keeping the gleam down if it happened to catch a bright light. It was a good fit for my bigger hand, and it was sharp. Leaving my rifles behind, hearing Sergeants in my past chewing out idiots for pulling this kind of shit echoing through the back of my head, I stepped forward quietly. The photography area didn't reveal anything else to me as I slipped past it; the camera would likely have evidence on it we might need later, but now wasn't the time. I did catch a quick glance of Julia up ahead and to my right, closer to the guard. I came up on the boxy, jerry-rigged dark room and came to a halt, almost losing my footing as I hesitated. Someone was working in there. There was a black curtain pulled across the entrance, but I could clearly see a pair of shoes in the red light beneath the edge.. I couldn't leave him at my back if I made my approach on the guard. I clicked the comm once and saw Julia look back at me. I gestured to the dark room, held up a finger, and then shrugged and headed towards it. Julia flashed me a grimace but nodded. The plan formed in my mind quickly. Slide the curtain aside, one hand claps over his mouth, and the other puts the knife to his throat. Whisper a threat in his ear. Use him to approach the other guard; we take them both prisoner, gag and tie them up with anything we find, or extract them for questioning outside. I pulled the curtain aside and stepped into the dark room, everything turning red from the single overhead bulb. He didn't turn, didn't even look. He was focused on the photo he was developing, sloshing it around in the chemical baths. I loomed up behind him, my knife and free hand raised, ready to grab him. And then I saw the pictures hung on the walls from clothespins. Naked woman after naked woman. Terrified. Trying to hide their nakedness and forced not to. Numbers were written on the corners. 6/10. 7/10. 9/10. 4/10. He held up his latest picture. Kara. I clamped my hand over his mouth and he grunted in surprise, his body jolting as I yanked him back hard against my chest. My fingers stabbed into his cheek and my palm partially smashed into his nose. My knife didn't find his throat. It found his chest. He was limp when I stopped. Six, maybe seven stabs. I couldn't remember them, but I could remember the feel of them. The feel of the blade glancing off ribs, seeking internal organs. It was... crunchy. Blood was only just starting to ooze out of him and I lowered him to the ground. His eyes were glassy, his jaw hanging open. I grabbed the picture of Kara, crumpled it in my fist, and shoved it into his dead mouth. I was cold inside. I was the void. It had been six stabs. I'd gotten at least one lung in the first couple, and his heart in the last couple. That was the one that did it, but even if I'd stopped at four he would have died. It just would have taken longer. I was red hot with rage, and horror. He wasn't the first man I'd killed, wasn't even the first one I'd held in my arms after I did so. But it was the first I killed with anything other than a gun. And I wasn't done. I came back out of the dark room a different man than I had been when I entered. My fears, the really dark ones, hadn't been confirmed yet. But they were real damn close. The cage was to my left and ahead. The guard was a straight shot, still watching what seemed to be a taped football game. The little TV had a VCR built into its base, so it had to be an old game, maybe a Superbowl or something. It didn't matter. I crept forward, my eyes daggers into his back. Someone in the cage spotted me as I drifted under the hazy yellow light, and started to say something, but someone else gave a sharp Shush. Ten steps. Five steps. Two steps. He had a baseball bat in his hand, twirling it absently with his thumb as it balanced upright under his forefinger. I took his life as I clamped my hand over his mouth and yanked him backwards and to the side, stabbing the knife into the exposed part of his neck in a blow that made almost no noise but immediately sprayed blood across me, the floor, and the TV. It was hot and cloying in my nose and I didn't care. He died even faster than the first one. "Jesus, Harri," Julia said over the comm. "Keep looking, there's got to be a set of stairs," I murmured back. I turned to the cage and held up my finger to my lips. I didn't look at faces. Couldn't. At least one of them nodded in acknowledgement, and I pushed forward, pulling out my sidearm one-handed and bracing it with my knife-hand. There was more crap at the far end of the basement. Another cage too, but it was empty. Two more closets full of what looked like military MRE and other supplies. And the stairs. They were stone and built into the original structure, about fifteen steps up to a landing and then it doubled back above us heading to the first floor. Julia met me there. "You Okay?" she asked me quietly off the comms. I nodded, then quietly spit off to the side. She reached over to a pile of what looked like folded napkins and pulled one free, handing it to me. I wiped my face and it came away splotched with red. I wiped with it one more time and dropped it to the ground, still probably looking rough. "Basement clear, two hostiles down," I murmured into the mic. "Securing interior stairwell. Wait for intel." We got a double-click back in acknowledgement. "I'll hold this, go get your gear and talk to the women," Julia said. I nodded and patted her shoulder as she took up a position with her shotgun covering the stairs. The quick walk back was a lot faster since I could stand up and stride confidently rather than sneak. I focused forward, not looking at the cage or the body, and quickly went and secured my rifles, slinging the M4 and holding my MP5 for the close-quarters fighting. Then I went back to the cage and finally looked more carefully at what I was seeing. Thirty-five, maybe forty women. All younger than the ones we'd found out in the garage. All naked. Most were trying to cover themselves, and many were looking at me fearfully but staying quiet. "Kara?" I asked, approaching the cage. It had a door at the front but it was padlocked. "Kara? Are you there? Gerty?" "Harrison," a woman said, squeezing to the front. She kept an arm over her small tits but didn't cover her lower half, instead holding up a hand to warn me away. It took me a moment to realize who it was. "Tanaya," I said, stepping closer. "Don't touch the cage!" she hissed, her eyes large in warning and making me hesitate. I felt like I wanted to rip the fucking thing down with my bare hands, but I didn't touch it. She pointed to the upper corner of the cage and I followed her direction, seeing a pair of decently thick copper wires looped around the metal of the cage tightly and secured messily with some sort of rubber caulking. I followed the lines of the wires up and back to the ceiling, where they disappeared through a hole in the thick wood. "It's electrified," Tanaya said. "They turn it off upstairs when they take one of us out," another woman said. "Fuck," I grunted, examining the wires again. They could be hooked up to the generator, but more likely they had a couple of car batteries up there or something. I looked back down at Tanaya. "Where are;?" "Gerty is here, in the back," Tanaya said. "She's... she's sick. We've been trying to hide the ones who are sick behind everyone else. They've already taken a few of us out who were starting to cough and bleed and we heard shots." "We have a medical response coming," I said quietly. "We'll get Gerty safe, and anyone else who's sick. What about Kara?" Tanaya's look was stoic in that way that a woman could have when she knew she was giving you bad news. I'd seen it a couple of times before in my life, one of which was when my CO delivered the news that I was being relieved of duty after I'd punched the Air Force commander who had been assaulting Miriam. Tanaya wasn't pretty so much as striking, all sharp lines in her features and skinny like a runway model, so the look was particularly severe coming from her. "They took Kara upstairs a little while ago," she said. "Along with a couple of other women. We don't know what for." I grimaced and closed my eyes for half a moment, my silent, wordless prayer more of an internal scream of anger. "Alright," I said, opening my eyes again as I looked at Tanaya, and then met the eyes of several of the other women in the cage. "Has anyone been up there?" All I got were shaking heads and I blew out a breath. "Okay, that's fine. We've got people outside, too. We're going to need to attack them up there, then I can cut the battery and come back and get you all out of there. We've already found the kids and the other ladies. This is almost over." "Harri," Tanaya said, and I focused on her face again. "What you did to those men..." "I,” I started, but wasn't sure what to say. "It's the least they deserve," Tanaya said, her husky voice making it sound like the words of a primal god. "Don't let them do this to us. Your people. Make them pay in blood." I grimaced a little harder, my face likely stuck with that expression for now, and nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can," I said. I left the ladies behind, opening up my comm as I returned to Julia. "Hostages are behind an electrified fence," I said quickly. "At least three have been taken upstairs. We're going to peek, then prepare to breach." Dylan started calling the shots outside, getting them into position. I reached Julia, settling in beside her. "Anything?" I asked off comm. "Nothing," she said. "Did you find her?" I shook my head. "Her friend, and her cousin is sick down here. Sounds like the graves were for women who were showing final-stage Duo Halo sickness. I don't get why these guys would wear masks on the raid, but take them off when around them here." "Who knows," Julia sighed and shrugged. "So who's peeking, you or me?" "I think we both do," I said. "Depends on what's at the top of the stairs. I can probably give you a lift to peek instead of climbing up." She considered for a moment and then nodded. We moved out from her cover and headed to the base of the stairs. The double flights were all stone, and I leaned in and looked up; there was a railing at the top blocking off the drop instead of a wall. I slung my MP5 off my shoulder and went up a step, then crouched and put my hands together into a saddle and motioned with my head to Julia. She set her shotgun down leaning against the wall and pulled her pistol, setting her hands on my shoulders and one foot into my hands. "Just like high school," she muttered. "You were a cheerleader?" I asked, just as quietly. "...Yeah, let's go with that," she said. She pushed off from the ground and I lifted with my arms, and she pivoted at the waist and then turned fully in my hands as I kept lifting, her other foot joining the first. This let her get high enough to peek through the bars of the railing, her pistol held level with her chin just in case someone was right there. She looked for a couple of solid seconds, peering back and forth as I struggled to keep her up there in an awkward position. If she were going higher I could have gotten her up onto my shoulders, but she was just at the right height. Finally, even if it had only been a few seconds at best, Julia signaled and I lowered her down, then dropped her and caught her by her waist. We both got off the stairs and she holstered her pistol, picking up the shotgun. "Looks like it's one big room up there from what I could see," she said through the comms. "But I couldn't see the whole thing. At least six hostiles, maybe more. It's some sort of a main chapel. The D-side where we entered has a stage and an altar, and there was activity over there. Closer to us on the B-side, it looked like there might have been some sort of group working on something." "Copy," Dylan said. "Large single room, two entrances. Did you see hostages?" "Not specifically," Julia said. "Other hostages report three women were taken up there recently," I filled in. "Alright," Jedidiah said. "Is there a reason to rush here, or can we pick them off as they come outside or downstairs?" I glanced at Julia, who was looking at me. We didn't know what was happening up there, and thinning their ranks with ambushes was probably the right thing to do without solid proof. "Jeanine, you're the trafficking expert," I said. "You make the call. I've got thirty-five plus naked women in an electrified cage down here, and they took three of them upstairs. Is this an imminent threat?" "I'm coming down from the barn," Jeanine said. "And then we go." "Alright," I said. "Flashbangs on three." There was a long minute of silence on the comms, and then Dylan said, "Team One set." "Team Two set," I replied after a quick nod from Julia. I had a flashbang in hand, and she had one as well. "On three. One. Two." I pulled the pin, holding the lever down. "Three." Julia and I each surged forward and turned on the stairs, heaving our stun grenades up over the railing. She aimed right while I aimed more left. At the same time, the others would be pushing open the main doors and tossing in one or two of their own. Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang. Julia and I had ducked back down, and as the flashbangs went off she took off up the stairs as I fell in behind her, emerging into the brightly lit sanctuary. It was a big chamber spanning the entire width and length of the old building. The roof high above, well over twenty feet, was vaulted and the sound of the rain was coming heavy from the wooden rafters. For a split second before I got a good look at the details all I saw was a church. At the far end was a pulpit and altar up on a stone stage, with a big wooden cross to match the one outside mounted to the wall. Old, heavy pews were mostly lined up facing towards the pulpit, though space had been cleared in a couple of areas and some of them were stacked up against the walls. Then the weird details started to fill in. There was a hot tub right in front of the stage and a guy wearing an off-white gown was in it. It was so stained that I could see some of the filthy rings from across the building. The walls weren't decorated with motifs of Christianity; instead, there was an eclectic mix of old shooting targets, posters, and a variety of flags. Someone had spray-painted a message in Latin on the wall across from the main doors. There was also what looked like a small armory set up behind the altar, right under the cross; rickety racks of rifles were lined up along with boxes of bullets. Beyond the man in the hot tub, I immediately took in three other spots where there were people. First was the group to my forward-right; they were sitting in some pews and were reeling away from the explosion of the stun grenade near them. Next closest was a man standing most of the way towards the stage and hot tub. Two dark-haired women wearing simple white gowns that might have been tablecloths were clutched in his fists by the back of their 'dresses.' And lastly, there were several men up near the armory. Those ones were a problem because they weren't anywhere near where a flashbang landed. The front door was swinging open and Jedidiah was first in, followed quickly by Maggie and Dylan. Julia was the first to shoot, her shotgun blast echoing in the open, stone-walled space as she released buckshot at the closest group of men to us. It was shooting fish in a barrel at that range while they were at least partially blinded and deafened, and I left them to her as I knelt and aimed down range towards the armory. The M4 would have been a more secure bet at the range, but the MP5 could still get it done and I didn't have the time to swap. My first shots spanged off of the metal shelving but the third bullet tracked into the chest of one of the militia. By the time I had my first shots off the room had turned to chaos. Jedidiah, Maggie, Dylan and Jeanine were all inside and firing. There had been a couple more knots of men I hadn't noticed prior, closer to the front door, and they were ducking for cover. Julia was shooting blasts hard and fast, taking bites out of the wooden pews and people with equal savage efficiency. My second burst of rounds sent one of the armory militia reeling away but didn't put him down. I was a little distracted, however, because the guy in the stained priest robe was shouting up towards the ceiling and struggling to hold something under the water of the hot tub. Or someone. I was up off my knee and moving forward down the central aisle through the pews, Julia following me. I took a moment, aiming down the pews to my right and putting a few bullets into scrambling men, and Julia did the same with her buckshot. They weren't my priority, though, and I swung back around and aimed down my sights briefly at the man who'd been holding the two women by the scruff of their dresses; he was still up, and trying to use them as human shields. My muzzle drifted back to center-front though, looking down the aisle at the hot tub. The 'priest' was struggling to keep the person underwater with both hands, but was still shouting his prayers through the blast of guns. I felt the tug of a bullet whizzing past my ear from the direction of the armory but I didn't raise my gun higher; Jedidiah and Maggie were laying down fire on them already and I wasn't about to let the fucker in the hot tub drown someone. Pop pop pop-pop pop. The sound of my shots was lost in the cascade of booms rattling through the old church, the stone walls just magnifying the noise. I felt each one though, the kick of the recoil against my hands and shoulder. Each little dot of the grouping appeared on the 'priest's chest one after the other. He fell backwards and the woman he'd been holding underwater burst out, gasping for air and clawing to get herself over the side of the tub and away from him. She had long black hair. All at once the shooting stopped, but the sound didn't. Dylan, Maggie, and Jedidiah were shouting orders. The survivors were surrendering. 'Get on the floor.' 'Slide the gun out of the way.' 'Let go of the women.' The guy holding the two women was still up. Jeanine was approaching them, her rifle held off to the side non-threatening, but her other hand was behind her back and gripping a pistol. As she got closer, saying something non-threatening, the guy let one of the women go and she bolted. There was a split second where he was only half-covered, and Jeanine swung her pistol around and shot him right in the balls. The other woman was free to bolt after that as he collapsed. I wasn't paying attention to the survivors or the surrender. I was heading for Kara, naked and scrambling on the floor, soaking wet. "Hey," I said, letting my rifle drop to my side on its shoulder sling. "Hey, hey, hey, it's Okay. It's Okay." I'd gotten within a couple of feet of her and had to dodge back as Kara spun, swinging a broken chair leg at me. Her eyes were wild, and her teeth bared in a feral snarl of fear and adrenaline. Her wet hair clung to her shoulders and forehead and cheeks. "Kara, it's me," I said, holding up my hands to show her they were empty. "It's me, baby. I'm here. You're safe." She was panting hard, her eyes flickering around for another long moment until they finally focused on my face, and then the panic broke and she broke with it, curling down on herself as she clutched her body. "I'm so sorry, baby," I said, going to her and kneeling next to her, wrapping my arms around her as she started sobbing in my arms. "I'm so fucking sorry I wasn't here earlier. I'm so fucking sorry." 'W-wait," she said, her sobbing breaking her voice, and then she was trying to push me off. "Don't; Harrison, don't touch me. It's not safe!" I let go, letting her pull back from me. "What do you mean?" I asked. She looked anguished and a little horrified as she looked at me. "The water," she said. "It's contaminated. It's; God, Harri, they were trying to cleanse the virus with some fucking baptism bullshit. They kept saying that the others died because they didn't repent. They; they were trying to forcefully convert me because I; I was on the tribal council. But that tub is full of water that the others were coughing and bleeding into..." I clamped my mouth shut for a moment, swallowing hard. It would be fine. I would be fine. I wasn't worried about me. I wasn't even worried about Kara; we'd get her sorted. "Julia," I called and heard her approaching behind me. "Can you help Kara get covered up and dried; Actually, shit, you're not vaccinated. Um. Can you find something for her to put on?" "I can do that," Julia said. "Baby, it's safe," I said, opening my arms to Kara. "Just; I'm so sorry." She came to me, wrapping her arms around me despite the vest and the gear, and I held her tight and didn't want to let go. "I'm so fucking sorry," I whispered hoarsely to her again. "Stop," she said. "Stop apologizing. You; you came, Harri. God, you saved me. Us." "Hey, boss," Dylan called. "Sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk." "Kara," I said softly. "I; I need you to go downstairs. I'm going to get the battery disconnected from the cage. I'm pretty sure your clothes are in one of the back closet spaces down there. I'll come get you in a couple of minutes." "Your voice changed," she said, pulling back and looking me in the eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes were the same warm color even if she had dark rings under her eyes from sleeplessness and panic. "What's wrong?" "Nothing," I said. "Not anymore." She nodded, and I helped her stand. Julia had come back and handed me a big tablecloth. It was dirty, but I wrapped Kara up in it so she was covered. "Go with Julia," I said. "Okay?" Kara nodded, blinking and standing a little straighter as she looked around the chapel. The place was hazy with smoke from the gunfight and had the smell of gunpowder thick in the air. Bodies were scattered across the stage and altar, the pews, and the 'priest' was still half in the hot tub. There were a few sprays of blood across the walls and a lot more pooling on the heavy oak floorboards. Soon that iron smell of clotting blood would overtake the gunpowder. Dylan and Maggie had five men facing the wall near the door, hands on their heads. Dylan was rubbing his chest with a pained expression; he'd caught a bullet with his vest at some point during the firefight but had bounced back, probably jacked full of adrenaline. Jeanine and one of the other native women who I guessed had been waiting for her turn to get 'baptized' were trying to coax the third woman out from where she'd wedged herself between the wall and several tables against one wall. Jedidiah, meanwhile, was methodically moving through the room and flipping over bodies to make sure they were actually dead. One groaned, and he grimaced and the boom of a single shot as he put an end to the man echoed through the room. He was bleeding from a wound on his arm, but it didn't look like it was incapacitating him in any way. "Don't; Don't touch me," Kara said to Julia. "I'm covered in contaminated water. Just help me get Olivia and Wanda downstairs." Julia nodded and shot me a look that I had a hard time interpreting until she looked over at the surrendered militia. I wasn't sure if she was encouraging or discouraging me in regard to what I might do next. I pulled Kara into my arms again, hugging her tightly. "It's over now," I said. "We just need to do a little housekeeping." "Thank you," she whispered. I let her go and sent her off with Julia, and they headed towards Jeanine and the other women. Meanwhile, I went over to the generator that was still chugging away and quickly found that I'd been right; the wires connected to the cage down in the basement weren't hooked up to the generator but were attached to a bank of car batteries in a couple of milk crates using a jerry-rigged booster cable situation. I stopped myself from just kicking it or shooting it and instead released the clamps by hand, breaking the connection. I turned and headed for Dylan and Maggie. Of the five men, two were clearly injured. One was bleeding from a wound on his side as he shook on his feet, and another was standing on one foot, his leg dripping blood on the ground. "They say the boss was that guy," Dylan said, nodding towards the hot tub. "And that we're all going to hell for murdering the Mouthpiece of Wrath." "Sounds like some D and D bullshit to me," I grunted. "What do you want to do with them, Sheriff?" Maggie asked me. I took a breath and let it out heavily. "What's the ETA on the medical QRF?" "Ten minutes, maybe less," Maggie said, checking her watch. "Let's see what they want to tell us in ten minutes," I said. "Let's take them outside." We marched them out into the rain. It was coming down hard again, all of us immediately getting soaked as I led them over to where the excavator was still rumbling. I climbed up and found the key, reaching around the body still sitting in the driver's seat to turn the thing off, and then got down and looked at the militiamen. They were all scruffy, dressed in old hunting clothes, but had patches on their shirts and vests with red crosses that were just a little too similar to the medical Red Cross than I liked. "Knees," I barked at them. Jedidiah and Jeanine had followed us out, and soon all five of the men were on their knees as we surrounded them. The rain was beating down on us, the light a cold grey. Even the mud was grey and washed out, the freshly dug half-graves behind the line of men. "Who wants to tell us what the fuck made you think any of what you were doing was a good idea?" I asked. None of the men opened their mouths, though a couple glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes. "What was the plan with the women and children?" Jeanine demanded. "They were being saved for the glory of god," one of the men said. He had a split lip and I wondered who had hit him. "And how were they being saved? Living with you here in this shithole?" I asked. "The Pastor was supposed to take them," another man said and got shushed by several others. I pulled my sidearm and shot one of the shushers in the head. The bang was a dull echo through the compound. The rain dulled everything. "The prisons are shut down," I said, mostly to the men but partially to the others on my team. I had no idea how they were feeling about this, but my heart was empty. I was the void. "The virus swept through them," I continued. "Thousands of prisoners, guards and staff dead. There isn't anyone left to man most of them. Justice doesn't come with a gavel and a sentence of years these days." I looked to the others, who all had grim looks on their faces except for Jeanine, who had a righteous smile on her face as she nodded to me. "And anyone we do arrest and take in will eventually need to get the serum." That got me eye contact as they each made the connection. She looked up at me, her eyes soulful, and she seemed to make a decision and hugged me tighter. "We could all hear what you said," Kara said quietly. "To the guy in charge." "Shit," I sighed. "You were right, Harri," Kara said. "We aren't Okay, but you gave us some justice," Tanaya agreed. "And on days like this, that's the most we can ask for." "God," I groaned, hugging them tighter. When we finally let each other go, more of the women were hovering nearby and they started to thank me. They took my hands, squeezing hard. They looked into my eyes. They said the words. They sobbed them. I felt cold as I accepted the thanks, and I quickly had to move on or I'd get overwhelmed. I could still feel the way my knife plunged into a man, over and over, taking a life. One of the doctors came over to confer with me and Jedidiah once he was finished with his chemical shower; apparently, the Captain didn't want to deal with me himself. We quickly organized the first group that would head back to their staging ground near Grand Ronde. There wasn't enough space in the Army ambulance trucks for all of the hostages, so we would need to take it into two goes. Several of the women and children were related so we had to keep them together, but otherwise, it was more of a rough estimate of who was more at risk of Duo Halo than others. And that included our team. I spoke with Gerty quickly as they were loading her into one of the ambulances, showing her that we were going to be right behind her in my truck. She was on a gurney and under a protective hood with a ventilation system since she was still coughing up flecks of blood. I pressed my hand to the plastic and she gave me enough pressure back that I wasn't worried about her for the drive time. Kara and Tanaya were in the ambulance with her. It wasn't until we all bundled into my truck, the gear stowed in the back, that we finally had a version of quiet as we started to follow the ambulance trucks out of the compound. That was when I could start to hear the ringing in my ears from the gunfight. When I could feel my adrenaline finally start to wash out of me, letting me feel every ache and pain. My leg with the gunshot wound that still wasn't fully scarred over was on fire. I'd picked up a dozen little scrapes and cuts. My eyes felt like they were too big for their sockets. "I love you, and I'm sorry," I said as we pulled onto the highway. I was looking at Kyla. "Don't be," Kyla said. "For any of it. And I love you too." I knew we would talk more, and would likely need time to cry and shout and rage. We didn't have the privacy of the Spring Pond anymore, so we'd need to figure out how to do that all over again. Reaching back behind me, I held my hand out to Dani and she took it. "Thank you, and I'm sorry," I said. "I love you, Dani." "Love you too, Harri," Dani said, squeezing my hand. "I,” She hesitated, her eyes watering as she looked away and out the window without releasing my hand. "I wasn't, um, I knew it would be bad. But seeing those women, hearing what they'd gone through... I understand." "I'm so sorry," I sighed. Dani shook her head. "Don't be. What you said out there in the rain, you were right. Harri, people need to know that they have someone who will do the things they might not be able to. There are predators out there in the world, and; God, I feel like I'm garbling up six different movie speeches at once here. The wolves need to know there's a Lion out here in the forest. One that's protecting the sheep." "Isn't that supposed to be Jesus?" Julia said a little sarcastically. "I don't think that's from a movie, that's a bible thing." "Whatever," Dani said. "Wolves and Sheep Dogs, then. If society is failing people, we need people like you to help make it whole again. I love you, and I trust your judgement. What happened back there... it wasn't pretty, but it was right." She let go of my hand, and I pulled it back and adjusted the rearview mirror so I could look Julia in the eye behind me. "Thank you for coming, and being my backup," I said. "I can't think of a way to thank you enough." "What, no 'I love you?'" Julia asked with a little smirk. "I'm also sorry for getting you wrapped up in what happened after," I said. "Maggie told me what you all did," Julia said. "Let's just say that with my tours in Afghanistan and hearing stories from the Special Forces I was piloting for, what we saw in there was bad but not the worst people can do to each other. Those guys were a necrosis that needed to be cut out before it spread and got worse. It wasn't pretty, but surgery and amputations rarely are." "I think that's exactly how we need to think of it," Kyla said. "Cutting out an infection." We all murmured our agreement, and most of the rest of the ride was quiet until we got near the staging base. It was built up around an old highway motel, several army tents set up on the premises and another half dozen trucks lining the parking areas. A pair of the new Oshkosh L-ATVs topped with M153 CROWS turrets were protecting the front entrance. "Jesus," I said, seeing the heavier firepower. I'd finished my tours and left the Army by the time they had gone into service, but I'd watched some YouTube videos about them. They felt like overkill to have sitting in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. Then again, they had the Serum on site, so maybe it was more about that than anything else. It was another flurry of activity as we pulled in. There were a dozen doctors and nurses awaiting the arrival of the hostages and wounded, and I saw both Jedidiah and Dylan get whisked off. I waved off a nurse trying to direct me for triage when I spotted a Doctor that I recognized from my stay in Miriam's base in Portland. She was at the back of one of the ambulance trucks. "Doc," I called, jogging over. She looked over, recognized me, and nodded. "Did we get enough?" I asked. She knew what I meant. "Colonel Abarbanel sent a dozen doses, so not enough to cover everyone. It's enough to get everyone who is showing symptoms or is at high risk." "I think they're all at high risk," I said. "My team included." "We'll get it all sorted. Anyone not covered here, today, will get shuttled up to the Portland facility." "You'll have enough, though?" I asked. She gave me a look, then seemed to reconsider whatever she was thinking. "Word came down yesterday evening. The Oregon rollout is starting in three days. We've already started getting shipments up from California in preparation this morning. There will be enough." I exhaled heavily, putting my hands on my head as one more weight lifted off my shoulders. Leave it to the government to be a day late and a dollar short, but at least all our efforts wouldn't be wasted. "Harri," Kara said as she climbed out of the back of the truck. She was followed by a pair of male nurses I recognized from Miriam's medical facility as they were manhandling the gurney Gerty was on out of the back. "Hey, baby," I said, immediately scooping her into a hug. The Doc gave us a look. "What can we do for Gerty?" I asked her, nodding towards the gurney. "It looks like she's entered the final stage of the virus," the Doctor said. "But is still early on. She's sick, but not enough that we can't save her. We'll get her into one of the rooms we've prepped here and she'll need to get vaccinated and then imprinted as soon as possible." "Is there time for her to do the Oracle?" I asked. The doctor grimaced. "She doesn't need to," Kara said. I raised my eyebrows, looking at Kara. "What do you mean? Does she have a boyfriend we can get here quickly?" "You're going to do the imprinting, Harri," Kara said. "You're the obvious choice. She knows you, she trusts you. How many other men in the world can she say that about right now?" I closed my mouth and swallowed, glancing at the Doc, who gave me a look back that said, 'If you think I'm going to give you some privacy and miss this drama, you've got another thing coming.' "Kara," I said, turning back to my ex. "I,” I had to take a breath to steady myself. "I want you. I want you in my life forever. I can't lose you again. Gerty is your cousin, I can't imprint her and you." She grabbed me by the head and pulled me down into a kiss. Fireworks burned behind my eyeballs. Racing up and down my tongue. I suddenly felt hot, and cold. It was life, and home, and nostalgia. Her lips felt the exact same as I remembered, even despite the soft bitterness because of the chemical wash lingering on us both. I held her firmly, kissing her and feeling like the moment could freeze like that forever, until it finally ended and she pulled back. Her eyes bored into mine. "Gerty is my second cousin," she said. "And I love her like a sister. And I love you, Harri. And you've always loved me, even with all the shit I put you through. I see that, I've seen it for months now. I just didn't know how to... fix it. I'll pick you. I'll do the vaccine thing, and pick you. This world is making us all make choices we never thought we would be faced with. I'll already be sharing you with other women. What do I care if you're with one of my other favorite people left in the world?" "You're sure?" I asked her. "Save her, Harri," Kara said. "For both of us." "Stop trying to think of excuses and just do it, Harri," Kyla said, almost making me jump because I hadn't realized she was right next to me. "Okay," I said. "Okay. If Gerty says that's what she wants. Um; Kara, this is my partner, and girlfriend, Kyla. Kyla, this is my high school sweetheart Kara. You'll, um, be... sharing me." "We have a lot to talk about," Kyla said, offering Kara her hand. "We should find a spot to talk while Harri saves another life. Your friend Tanaya can come too." I interrupted their exit by taking Kara by the cheek with one hand and kissing her again, unable to let her go without it. She kissed me back and it was like nothing had happened from the time we were seventeen. Then, when it ended, I turned and kissed Kyla, and it all felt new and fresh and burning with a desire that was similar but different and I was reminded that Kyla was pregnant and going to be the mother of our child and I poured my love into the kiss. "I love you," I whispered to her. She looked me in the eyes and smiled softly, and then nodded. "I'll call Erica, Ivy and Vanessa to let them know we're safe, and we got them," Kyla said. Then both of them went to grab Tanaya, and then to look for a place they could talk. "That was one hell of a show," the Doc said. "You're going to tell Miriam all about it, aren't you?" I sighed. "Damn straight," she said. "Do you, by chance, accept bribes?" "Nope," she said. "Shit," I sighed. "I'll never hear the end of it. Alright, just to double check, is there a reason it shouldn't be me?" "Not that we know of," the Doc said, shaking her head. "There's an obvious line drawn on how close a Man and a Woman can be on a family tree, but a Man getting partnered to two sisters unrelated to him wouldn't cause an issue, let alone second cousins." "Alright," I said. "Take me to Gerty and we'll see if she wants this, too." "I mean, it would be weird, but not a scientific problem," the Doc said as she led me in the direction Gerty had been taken. "Just a you problem." The Doc led me into the motel room that had been prepared as part of the Field Clinic for the Quick Reaction Force staging area. It looked like the place had been sterilized through saran wrap as opposed to chemicals or scrubbing; I felt like I was walking into Dexter's kill room and not a medical suite. The walls, the floor and all the furniture including the mattress were smothered in a couple of layers of the clingy plastic wrap, while a thin foam mattress topper seemed to be the only thing that had been brought in extra. Gerty was lying on the bed, still in her t-shirt and sweatpants, sitting up a bit and propped up by a couple of saran-wrapped pillows. She opened her eyes drowsily as we entered and then broke into a fit of coughing. She lifted her arm weakly so she could cough into her elbow, but the fit kept going. The Doc waved me off from approaching and went to the native woman herself. We'd both gotten dressed up in beige coveralls, though we thankfully weren't wearing the full hazmat hoods; not that I hadn't already definitely been exposed to Gerty. Still, the Doc was wearing a medical mask. She opened the medical bag she'd been carrying and pulled out a tissue box, setting it down next to Gerty and pulling a few out, offering them when the coughing fit ended. I got a brief glimpse as Gerty lowered her arm; the inside of it was smeared with mucus and viscous, red-tinged phlegm, and it was on her cheeks and chin. The Doc helped her get cleaned up, then waved me forward. "So," she said. "Gertrude Swiftwater, I think you're well aware of it, but you have contracted a virus called Duo Halo. As you can see, it's an extremely unpleasant experience. I also have to tell you that, in women, it has a 30% mortality rate even with standard medical intervention." "Gee whiz," Gerty sighed, her breath sounding rough. "I couldn't imagine why." "Humor is a good sign," the Doc said with a smirk behind her mask. "As I believe you've been told in brief, Miss Swiftwater, there is a new vaccine that is capable of combating the virus and ridding you of it for good. But it comes with some peculiar side effects. Usually, you would receive a multimedia presentation about the vaccine and the program, and be able to ask all the questions you wanted, but to be frank; you're entering the final stages of the virus. I can't tell you for certain how long you have, but it's close enough that I don't feel we have the time to beat around the bush. The vaccine will save your life, but it will also tie you for the foreseeable future to a man and will require you to have at least weekly sexual activity with him. Without the vaccine, I will do what I can for you, but as I said, current mortality is a little under one in three women even with our best efforts. Do you want to proceed with the vaccine?" It felt cold and abrupt, but if what the Doc was saying was all true then Gerty could be heading downhill faster than I could even imagine. Gerty looked at me though, worry in her eyes. "It's Okay, right?" she asked me. "It's changed my life, and all for the better," I said. She nodded, looking back at the Doc. "How; Who?" The Doc took Gerty's hand and held it reassuringly, but turned to me to give the answer. I stepped closer, going to one knee beside the low motel bed. "Gerty, if you want, it can be me," I said. "Kara and I talked and she's for it." "What about her?" Gerty immediately asked. "Harri, she,” she coughed, just once, and closed her eyes at the pain of it. "Kara's still in love with you," she continued after a moment. "She always has been. Splitting with you has always been the biggest regret in her life. She's just never known how to do something about it." I swallowed at that, the knot of tension sitting in my throat. "She's going to imprint on me," I said. "So part of the decision is if you want it to be me, and the other part is if you're Okay sharing a... partner with her." Gerty closed her eyes and I thought she was coughing again, but then I realized she was chuckling a hum before looking back at me. "Lucky dog," she said with a weary smirk. "Are you Okay with it?" "I think you're an impressive woman, Gerty," I said. "And I think you have the same sort of instincts I do when it comes to protecting people. I... still love Kara too, but I've learned quickly that love is something that needs to be shared as liberally and quickly as possible in a world like this. I would be honored if you'd let me start figuring out the special ways I'm going to learn to love you." "God, you talk too much," Gerty said, teasing me as she smirked lightly again. She let go of the Doc's hand and reached weakly towards me, and I took it in both of mine. "So are we gonna fuck or what? I'm not exactly looking hot right now, but I guess you already saw me naked on the floor in a dungeon so I can't look any worse than that." "That's a yes from both of you?" The Doctor asked for confirmation, and we both said yes. My gut clenched a little, knowing what I was saying yes to. My life was changing again; and there wasn't exactly a ton of room left in the RV. One more person in the bed, maybe, but two? Not to mention everything else. "Good," the Doc nodded. "Then I don't need to go out and randomly pick a soldier for you. Alright, Gertrude. Harri. The process is fairly simple. I'll administer the vaccine serum, and that should slow the process of the virus significantly enough that I'd like for you to wait half an hour before initiating the imprinting process. You'll have the privacy of the room for it; Harri, you know the drill and I'll let you explain it to Miss Swiftwater, but as a reminder; Gertrude, he'll need to reach orgasm and ejaculate inside of you in some way. Orally, vaginally or anally. The DNA proteins need to hit your bloodstream through soft tissue." "Don't think I'm exactly in peak form here," Gerty said, glancing at me. "Butt stuff probably isn't on the table." "To be fair, Gerty, I don't even know if regular sex is on the table," I said, letting go of her hand so I could run my fingers through her silky black hair to pull it from her face. "Oral should be enough, then we can have our first real time together be a little more mutual." The Doc stepped out of the room, leaving the two of us alone for a long, awkward minute as I continued to hold Gerty's hand. She broke into another coughing fit, thankfully not as bad as the last one, but as she opened her eyes I saw a little bit of blood at the corner of the left one. Thankfully the Doc came back with what looked like a high-tech lunch cooler. She set it down on the saran-wrapped table in the room and opened up her medical bag next to it. "Is this a difficult process, Doc?" I asked. "I've never actually seen it done, and my partners haven't really talked about the actual shot." "Difficult?" the Doc mused. "No. At least not with a little practice on my part." She pulled out a strange-looking syringe from her bag that had two tubes and needles side by side, then took out a small glass bottle of liquid from the cooler and pulled a precise amount out of it into one side of the syringe. It was a bright blue color, almost shocking in its vibrancy; I couldn't think of another medicine I'd ever seen that looked that much like slurpee syrup. "To be fair, Gertrude, if you have any problem with needles, I'd suggest you look away before I come around. But I've become very proficient with this process, so you'll feel a slight pinch but that's it." "I should be Okay," Gerty said, glancing at me again. She looked nervous rather than worried, and I realized that she had a lot of the same tells as Kara; I'd spent all of twenty minutes total with her in person, and another half hour talking to her on the phone. I really shouldn't have been able to read her so well, and it just reminded me again of the strangeness of the whole situation. "Kiss for good luck?" I offered. She smirked a little and used the hand not holding mine to pull a tissue from the box and wipe her mouth again. "Couldn't hurt," she said. I stood up and leaned over her so she didn't have to adjust on the bed. I didn't hesitate as I approached her, knowing how much that might affect her psychologically, and told myself again that I was already well and exposed to the Duo Halo in her. Hell, I'd probably had it in my system since getting within five feet of Kara after she'd come out of that hot tub in the cult church. Kissing Gerty wasn't going to get me anymore infected. Our lips met and I did my best to try and let her know that even in this state, I was going to be everything I could for her. It wasn't the fireworks moment I'd had kissing Kara outside; the history there, the memories and nostalgia and pain and relief just weren't the same. But Gerty was a good-looking woman, and every interaction I'd had with her told me she was also just a good person. If we'd met without everything else; no pandemic, no cop stuff, no connection to Kara, I would have been attracted to her. Impressed by her. A police officer for her own community that barely appreciated the effort, a heart for helping people and a dislike of bullshit. No tongue in the kiss, but her hand squeezed mine tighter to keep me there as our lips pressed together for much longer than a simple peck. When I finally pulled back we both blinked our eyes open and I looked into hers deeply. "You're a special woman," I told her quietly. "And I'm lucky as hell to have a chance to help." She smirked softly, her eyes tired and a little bloodshot but also still holding those nerves. "I'm the lucky one," she said. "A big, sexy fuckin' mountain man saving my life twice in under an hour? And from what Kara's let slip while she's tipsy, you're hung too." The Doc cleared her throat, standing close behind me, and I doubly flushed both from Gerty's words and the Doc hearing it. Gerty flushed as well, then chuckled softly and shook her head. "Sorry, Doc," she said. I backed away, letting the Doc closer. "No problem," she said. "I've seen; well, let's just say I've seen all types during the trial period and leave it at that. The sexual nature of the vaccine has all of us researchers a little desensitized to the shock value of genitalia and sex acts." She took Gerty's arm in one hand and shifted her grip on the dual syringe. The other side was now filled with an orange liquid, a little paler than the blue and looking more medicine-like to my eyes. Then, without pausing or saying anything, she brought the syringes down into the fleshy underside of Gerty's forearm and depressed both plungers down with one thumb. Gerty sniffed in through her nose at the pinch of the needles, looking away from the act and blinking firmly. Just as fast as the Doc had started, she was done and withdrawing the syringes. She let go of Gerty's arm and pulled a gauze pad from one of her coverall pockets, pressing it to where the needles had gone in. "There," she said. "The vaccine has been administered. Harri, set a timer on your phone for thirty minutes and then you should begin the imprinting process." "Am I good to take off the coverall?" I asked. My phone was in my pants pocket underneath. "Yes, now that Miss Swiftwater has agreed to be imprinted to you, there shouldn't be any issues. You'll need to go through a decontamination shower again when you leave the room, though," the Doc said as she pulled the gauze away and took out some band aids. She held them up to Gerty. "Squirrels or Black Bears?" she asked. "What?" Gerty asked, then looked and barked a laugh before snapping her mouth shut, coughing twice and grimacing. "Um, black bears, Doc," she said when she was done. "I'm not much of a squirrel girl." The Doctor applied two small kids' band aids with black bears on them to the injection spots and then stood up, heading back to her gear. "I'm sorry I can't stick around and give you more information, Miss Swiftwater, but while you were the most advanced case who was rescued, there are others showing symptoms as well and they need to be briefed on their options." "Thanks, Doctor," Gerty said. The Doc cleaned up quickly and efficiently, heading for the door and turning back to us. "You shouldn't feel anything strange beyond the usual slight ache in your arm from an injection," she said. "If you do feel anything strange, please make a note of it for me. You should only be alarmed if something feels painful, in which case you need to call for help, Harrison." "Got it," I nodded. "Good luck," the Doc said with a nod and then left. I turned back to Gerty, taking a seat on the edge of the mattress and taking her hand again. "So..." I said, not sure what to say. "Yeah," Gerty said. "Awkward pause." I smiled a little and traced my fingers over her forehead, sweeping her hair from it again. She was sweating a bit, the silky black strands clinging to her. "You tell me what'll distract you," I said. "Want to talk about what comes next, or trade embarrassing stories about Kara, or tell me about you?" She hesitated a moment and shook her head. "Tell me what happened," she said, sitting up just a little. "With the; Those assholes. What do we know?" I walked her through it slowly, starting with apologizing for not getting their calls and texts sooner. Gerty, like everyone else, told me it wasn't my fault; that wasn't going to stop me from owning it though. I had four, soon to be six, people depending on me directly. Not to mention two pregnant partners, plus Leo and his family, and the Valkyrie Falls ladies, and my duties for the whole construction site. I couldn't leave my phone out of reach or hearing distance ever again. Hell; I probably needed to buy one of those stupid watches that could make calls and texts as a backup. My story continued, running Gerty through everything that had happened. She was heartbroken for Virgil, the little boy Kyla and I had found; she'd grown up with his father, and knowing that both parents were gone hurt her. I couldn't give her details on where he'd ended up. She was also stoically horrified by the confirmation I gave her that we'd found executed people in their homes. Our best guess was that, by the time the attack had happened, most of the men and all of the teens on the Rez were either dead or dying. The militia cult members had executed any man, and any woman showing signs of sickness. Gerty filled me in on what she, Kara and Tanaya had done when they'd heard the gunshots. All three of the ladies had snuck out the back of Kara's place and gone to try and see what was happening; it wasn't the first gunshots they'd heard through the outbreak, but the number of them was what had been most concerning. They'd found the caravan of trucks, including an old school bus, and had spied on it for a few minutes as they tried to figure out if there was anything they could do. Realizing there wasn't, they'd backtracked back to Kara's trying to decide what to do. Someone must have spotted them because while they were trying to decide whether to run or defend themselves in the house several of the men broke in through the front and back doors. They'd taken the three of them at gunpoint, spouting off about how they were being 'saved.' Kara had tried to smuggle her phone but they'd been searched and it had gotten tossed into the front yard where I'd found it. Gerty felt guilty that she had hesitated and hadn't known what to do in the moment, and it was my turn to assure her that all the training in the world couldn't prepare someone to handle what she'd been faced with. That brought the story back to me, and I told her briefly about making the deal with the Bikers and finding the Sovereign Citizens dead at the Golden Beaver. The name of the bar made her smirk and roll her eyes. The timer on my phone went off before we could pivot back to what had happened with them after they'd gotten picked up, and part of me felt like that was a good thing. For her, not to need to think about it again immediately, and for me to not have it in my mind's eye for what came next. "How are you feeling?" I asked. She took in a deep breath, which was a little less ragged than before, and she shifted to sit up a little more again. "Like shit," she said. "But maybe not quite as bad." "Okay," I nodded. "Are you ready?" "As ready as I can be, I guess," she said. "Here, help me get my shirt off. I know guys love my tits." "To be fair," I said, grabbing both her hands and holding them as I looked into her eyes. "You're also cute as hell, and have a great ass. Erica and Kyla both commented on it the first time we met you." "Really?" she asked with a little smirk. "Yeah," I said. "And you're not just tits and ass." She smiled a little and took another breath, letting it out slowly. "So you don't want to see my tits when they aren't covered in grime from a dungeon floor?" she asked. That made me chuckle and I leaned in and kissed her again, and this time it felt a little more intimate. A little more wanting. "I never said that," I said as I pulled back. I helped her with her T-shirt, and as it came over her head her tits spilled out of it. They were large, maybe a bit bigger than Erica's, and hung heavily with large areolas a little darker than her naturally warm skin tone and wide nipples that each had a little crease in them. "What do you think?" she asked, running her hands under them and hefting them a bit. "Gorgeous," I said, bending down and kissing the top of one and then the other. "Good," she said with a little smile. "I like a Tit man, and I thought you might be one with the rack on your fiancée. But then I made the connection between you and Kara, and I'd seen your partner, and I wondered if maybe it was a fluke." "It was, or is," I said. "But all tits are fantastic." And I proved that to her by gently grabbing both of hers and massaging them as she groaned a little. "That feels good," she said. "I agree," I said with a little smirk. She snorted gently and rolled her eyes. "Let's get this thing moving, Harri," she said. "The Doc said the virus is slowed, not stopped cold. Get that cock out; if I'm going to be competing for attention with other ladies, I gotta start figuring out how you like your blowjobs." "It's not a competition," I said as I stood up and started undoing my belt. I was already down to my shirt and jeans, my tac vest and equipment left in my truck. "It'll never be like that." "Maybe to you," Gerty said. "But let's be real; a bunch of women sharing one man, you don't think there'll be some friendly banter about who gives the best blowie?" I chuckled and shook my head. "Just never ask me to be the judge." "Sure, because you'll definitely escape that one," she said with a smirk. To be continued, Based on a post by Break The Bar for Literotica Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 24 Too many mares for the stallion? Based on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. I got my pants off, and she grinned at me and flicked her fingers, so I took off my shirt as well and let her see me in just my briefs. Her eyes roamed my body, not quite hungrily but definitely appreciative. "Nice," she said. "A little hairier than I'm used to, but I guess that goes with the name." It was my turn to snort and I shook my head with a grin. Then I lowered my briefs and she sniffed in a breath. My cock wasn't hard yet, only sort of just starting to get there so it was heavy with blood flow but drooping forward. "God damn," she said. "Harri, that's a cock." "Thanks?" I said. "Fuck, if anything, Kara undersold you," Gerty said. "Shit, you sure you didn't get bigger since you two were together?" "I'm... not sure," I said truthfully. "I guess it's possible." "Okay, um," Gerty said, shifting again. "I guess bring that tool up here. I might not be up to giving you the full Disneyland experience, but I'll be damned if I can't work that pole like a stripper in front of the Saturday night crowd." That got another laugh out of me and I climbed up on my knees on the bed, and she shifted a little down again so I could straddle her soft stomach and bring my cock within range of her mouth. Her tits pressed against the front of my thighs as she wrapped a hand around my cock for the first time and she licked her lower lip cutely. Then, before she could hesitate anymore or come up with something else to say, she leaned forward and wrapped her lips around my cockhead and started to blow me. I groaned, the feel of her lips on me a strange pleasure after all the stress of the day, and for a moment I wondered why she wasn't having that priming orgasm that was supposed to happen before I realized that required some precum and I wasn't at that point yet. Gerty was always pretty and cute, but as she looked up at me with my cock in her mouth I was struck again by her resemblance to Kara in her eyes and nose and I thought she was absolutely gorgeous. "Fuck, Gerty," I sighed, running one hand through her hair. "That's good." She pulled off, stroking my cock with her hand as it firmed up to full mast and she grinned at me, still a little tired but rising to the occasion. "God, I can't wait to have actual sex with you and this fucking tool you've got," she said. Then she closed her lips and worked her jaw and seemed to suck on nothing for a moment before she dribbled a big wad of spit out of her mouth and between her tits, smearing it quickly with her other hand. "Here," she said. "Get it between these beauties. We can at least knock that one off the 'to-do' list." I chuckled again and we shifted a little, and soon I had my cock wrapped up in her pillowy tits. Her spit was an alright lube and she pressed her tits tightly around my cock as I started to thrust with my hips and groan. It wasn't the first titfuck I'd had; Erica was a fan of teasing me with hers as well. It was a great feeling and visual as I watched Gerty's face and she looked from my cock poking out between her cleavage, up my body to meet my gaze. "That's it, Harri," she said. "Fuck my titties. Fuck these big fucking tits." I groaned and then she moaned as I thumbed both her nipples at the same time. "You're so sexy, Gertrude," I said. "Fuck, I'm a lucky man." "And I'm a lucky fucking woman," she said back. She licked her lips and then bit the lower one, and I knew I had to have some precum leaking out of me by now so I shifted, lifting my cock from her tits and towards her mouth. She opened her mouth to accept my cock, and it slipped through and the head touched her tongue. “Uh!" she hummed, her eyebrows shooting up and her eyes going super wide as she came. Her hands were clawed onto my thighs to an almost painful degree and she went a little cross-eyed for a long moment as she was lost to the overwhelming orgasm. I pulled back and she exhaled heavily and then broke into a coughing fit, quickly covering her mouth with her arm again. It did interesting things to her tits but didn't exactly turn me on because I knew what was causing it. "Fuck," she croaked as she pulled her arm away. Less blood than that first one she'd had, but still some. I dismounted from her and grabbed more tissues, helping her wipe up her arm and then the spit between her tits as well. Once she was clean she sighed roughly and looked at me. "What the fuck was that, and why the hell is my cunt suddenly swamped? I'm fucking dripping for you now. I'd be climbing all over you if I didn't also feel like my joints all want to fall apart." "That was the priming orgasm," I said. "That's what Erica and the others called it. It means we've started the imprinting process." "Just from sucking your cock?" "First taste of precum," I said. "Just that one time though. The imprinting orgasm at the end is supposed to be even bigger." "For real?" she asked, her eyes still wide. "Yeah," I said. "Then fuck this," she said, pushing herself up to sitting and then shoving her sweatpants down from her waist. She wasn't wearing anything underneath, and I'd seen a glimpse before but now confirmed that she had a short, thick bush of black pubic hair on her mound that told me she hadn't exactly been sexually active in the last while. "If I'm going to have the best orgasm of my life, I'm not getting it without this cock in me properly. I might not be able to ride you or fuck back at you, but I can bend over and take some back shots." It was hard to argue with what she wanted in the scenario, and I helped her get her sweatpants off all the way. She ended up on her stomach on the bed, her hips and ass hanging off the edge as she braced her feet on the ground. Her ass was meaty and round, chubby but with a firm core of muscle underneath from her physically active life so it wasn't fat. "Like I said," I said as I gave it a little smack and then gripped it with one hand, massaging her booty. "A fantastic ass." "God, Harri," she groaned, reaching back with both hands to knock mine away and then spread her cheeks herself, revealing her fuzz-covered cunt and dark little asshole to me. She was sopping wet. "I feel like I'm gonna fucking melt or something if you don't fuck me. Just pick a hole and get that cock in me." That one had me shaking my head a little, but I did as requested and pressed my cockhead up against her mound, sliding it through her slick labia as she moaned and humped her hips up and down a little. Then I lined up and pressed in. "Oh, fuck yes," she moaned, her head falling forward to press against the bed. "Go deep, Harri. Go fucking deep." I did that too, carving my cock into her in a few strokes until I was deeply rooted. Her cunt was hot and wet and I groaned back at her as her core muscles fluttered and squeezed and she got used to me being inside her. She let go of her ass cheeks and grabbed the mattress cover with both hands, clawing into it. "Fuck me," she gasped. "Fucking fuck me." I palmed both her ass cheeks, delighting in the feeling, and I pulled almost all the way out of her before pushing all the way in. "Fuck, yes," she hissed. I kept my pace slow but my power firm; part of me wanted to just unload on her and pound Gerty into the mattress, but she was still weak from the Duo Halo and might not have been able to handle that even if she wanted to. What I was a little surprised by was that the slow pace was doing it for both of us. Every stroke into her was like I was pushing into her for the first time; her cunt didn't feel like it was adjusting to the sex, if anything it felt like it was squeezing tighter, urging me to reach my climax. "Fuck, Harri," she gasped. "God, fuck. Okay. I believe it. I believe it all. Fuck I can feel it building up behind my eyeballs. I feel like I'm gonna come so hard I fucking pass out into a goddamn coma. God. Your cock feels so fucking good in me. Your hands on my ass; Oh, fuck, yes, squeeze my ass, Harri. You can do that every fucking day of our lives. My ass is yours." "Yeah?" I asked, mauling it a little with my hands, feeling the supple flesh in my grip. "This ass is mine?" "Fuck yes it is," she moaned. "Fuck! I'll fucking walk around naked so you can bend me over and fuck me whenever you goddamn want. I'll be your fucking free-use slut. Gawd, fucking fuck. I feel like I can fucking taste the orgasm. Fucking dump your load in me, Harri. Please come in me. That's the only thing I fucking want in the world. Just pound that cum into me and make me fucking yours. Fucking own my ass. Own my heart. Own my fucking soul, you fucking bastard." I leaned over her wrapping my arms around her chest and kissing her on the cheek as I humped into her from a more upward position, my cock grinding against the front of her cunt. "Mine," I grunted. "You're all mine now." "All fucking yours," she panted. "God; Fuck, yes. Every day for the rest of our lives. I'm your woman. Forever." I came, feeling it pump out of me like I was a geyser erupting in a national park. My balls felt huge and heavy, my entire pelvis clenching as I unloaded into Gerty. She gasped raggedly, turning her face to me as her jaw lowered in a silent scream and her orgasm ripped through her. I mashed my lips to hers in a soul kiss that she managed to return, and I felt my hips naturally humping at her, trying to push deeper as rope after rope of cum rocketed out of me until I was spent and left gasping for air. It took a force of will for me to not pass out right on top of her. I groaned, pushing up onto my hands, feeling myself still hard in her; if I was with any of my partners, I would have just started fucking again. I wasn't some superman who stayed hard after every orgasm, but on the occasional time it happened, I didn't let the moment pass. Erica, Ivy, Vanessa, Kyla; all four of them would have been thrilled for a second round immediately after the first. Gerty, however, was out cold except for one thing. "Imprinting. Imprinting. Imprinting." She was saying it with a little smile on her lips, strong and steady. "Fuck," I groaned, slowly standing up and pulling out of her. My cock felt super sensitive, but not overly stimulated. I took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly, then walked deeper into the motel room to the washroom. It wasn't entirely saran-wrapped too thankfully and I grabbed a toilet paper roll from under the sink and quickly wiped off my cock before going out to Gerty and carefully wiping between her legs and easing her back up onto the bed. It took some doing to get her sweatpants back on, but that was easier than getting her shirt over her head. By the time I was finished dressing her, she'd stopped with the 'Imprinting' thing and was asleep like a native Snow White. Standing next to her, I knelt down again and kissed her lips gently. "I promise to do everything I can for you," I whispered, meaning every word. She'd been rushed through every decision about this. I had to make sure she didn't have a reason to regret the choice. The decontamination shower wasn't quite as abrasive as the last one, but I was still left with the chemical taste on my lips and my whole body felt like I'd gotten a light sunburn for a few minutes afterwards. Once I was released, one of the army medics giving me the go-ahead, I thought I was going to be looking for Kyla and Kara. What I hadn't been prepared for was the stormy look on Lieutenant Colonel Miriam Abarbanel's face as she waited for me. She was in full field fatigues, her hair back in a tight bun, and judging by the look on her face I was in trouble. "Hey," I said, not sure what else to say. She stepped towards me and hit me with a two-handed shove in the chest. "Hey? That's all I get is 'hey?'" "...I found them?" I guessed. She shoved me again. "You don't call? You don't even fucking text?" "I'm sorry," I said. "I was dealing with a lot of shit on the ground. You're right, I should have,” She slapped me, making me blink as it shot a little thrill of adrenaline through me. I turned my head back to her and she wasn't backing down at all. Didn't look guilty, or surprised she'd done it. I didn't think. I just acted. I grabbed her and kissed her. Miriam kissed me back. And damn did she kiss me back. Her tongue pressed between my lips as she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me close. I had one hand on her hip and the other on her shoulder and I slid both around her more, my hands flat on her upper and lower back as I growled a little into the kiss. Then her hands let go and she gave me a soft thump on my chest with her fists, and our kiss broke as I loosened my grip on her. Miriam looked up at me, shaking her head. "Asshole," she said softly. "Sorry," I said again. She kissed me this time, much shorter and no tongue, but firm and sure. When she pulled away again it was out of my grip as she straightened her fatigues and wiped the corner of her mouth. "I got the report from the QRF Captain," she said. "And then another couple, off the record, from one of the soldiers and one of the medics. It sounded bad." "Not as bad as it could have been," I said. "But who knows how far it would have gone if we hadn't gotten there sooner." Miriam nodded back behind me towards the other end of the motel where I'd been holed up in the room with Gerty. "So you found her?" she asked. "Yeah, but,” I sighed and shook my head. "I wasn't imprinting Kara," I said. "That was Gerty. Gertrude. She's a former Rez cop and a good person. She was the sickest of the group that hadn't been murdered yet. She's also, uh, Kara's second cousin. They both thought it was best if I imprinted Gerty now and then Kara would join later." Miriam nodded slowly. "They both agreed to that?" "Yeah," I said. "Well, it wouldn't be the closest relation I've red about in the reports," Miriam said. "People are making some pretty wild decisions when it's life and death, rest of your life kind of stuff. There have been multiple accounts of sisters joining Teams together; sometimes one sister hooking up with her sister's husband, or both of them hooking up with a long-time friend or one of their boyfriends. Second cousin doesn't even rattle the cage at this point." "What the fuck is this world coming to?" I sighed, feeling a bit of pressure ease off my chest on hearing that. "Survival," Miriam shrugged. Then she took a breath. "I'm getting replaced at the top of the food chain in the State." I frowned, then grimaced. "What does that mean?" I asked. "The official rollout isn't going to have a public announcement or anything; they want to keep it quiet for as long as possible; but it starts in three days," Miriam said. "Which means they wanted a General in charge. I got my marching orders; my command is getting shrunk to my initial posting, which is the Black County Military Base. That means no more big favors like this." "Fuck," I said. "I'm sorry, Miriam. This doesn't have to do with what I've been doing, does it?" "No," she said, stepping forward a little and reaching out to hold my arm. "Nothing at all. It would have happened no matter what; they were never going to let a brand new Lieutenant Colonel get the accolades for a State rollout, even if me and my team have done most of the work. I was ordered to wrap up any ongoing projects not immediately on base, or in the HQ, and hand over all remaining work to the General's staff tomorrow. Which is probably a good thing or else I'd be working closely with the General who just took charge of the Washington State rollout. Guess who it is?" "No fucking way," I said. There was only one General who I knew would definitely be bad news for Miriam to work with. "Yeah," she said, gritting her teeth. "Probably for the best I'm not in the same room as him. But the timeline means all of this is still in my purview, so I decided to come down. I got here maybe fifteen minutes after you and the first load of hostages." I sighed again and nodded. "Okay," I said. "Have you,” "There was another part of my orders though," she said, pushing through. "I told you before there was an unofficial push for all members of the Air Force to get vaccinated, and I was kind of skirting by. Well, it's official now; not military wide, but all commissioned Air Force officers affiliated with anything vaccine related are to be partnered up. I need to either report the name of the person I have a relationship with or I need to go through the Oracle process and they'll pick up and move whoever my best match is to me. So I need to know if you plan on paying me back for all these favors by being my boyfriend, or if I should expect that Gordan Ramsey dinner sometime in the future." Kyla had told me. Erica and Vanessa had both bugged and teased me about it. I'd downplayed it. Now, though, after that kiss, I knew. I took Miriam's hands in mine. "It's going to be crowded," I said. "But I guess we're both used to crowded bunks." She smirked. "Nothing like barracks living to give you an appreciation for open spaces." "You should know that between Gerty and Kara, I'll be up to six partners," I said. "You'll be number seven. That's a lot of women in my life." "That won't be the end of it," Miriam said. "I won't let it, and neither will my rank, I bet. Ten at least." "Fuck," I said. "You will be," Miriam smirked, then closed the distance and kissed me again. Sweetly, this time, as she brought her arms up to circle my neck and I held her by her waist. "I should have just had sex with you when you got kicked out of the military on my behalf," Miriam whispered as she hugged me once our lips parted. "I thought it might have seemed a little weird after what you did, though." "I would have asked you out if I hadn't thought it would be weird," I chuckled. "Well, better late than never," Miriam sighed. "And after you're already engaged." "I'm sure Erica will be thrilled by this," I said. "You have no idea how many times her and the others have tried to tell me you would end up in our family." Miriam smirked a little. "Oh, Erica already agreed," she said. "She was the first person I called when I got the orders. And Laura is going to join your friend Leo's team. I think it was an honest toss-up between you and him; in the end, she said she wanted to stay close enough that she could still cover us both as a lawyer, and it would be harder to do that while on the same Team, but I honestly think she wants to get her hands on that brunette on his team." I snorted softly and grinned. "Dani is pretty special, so I don't blame her. I'm surprised I was so high on Captain Bloomberg's list though." "She respects you and what you've been doing," Miriam said. "Even if it was giving her some headaches. And you're fucking hot, you big lug." "Thanks," I said, a little abashed hearing that from her. "Okay," she said with a happy exhale. She straightened her spine a bit, patting my chest before stepping away. "I'm going to go connect with Dylan. I spoke to him briefly when I arrived, and I think he should probably be done with the imprinting he volunteered for." I raised my eyebrows. "He's imprinting one of the hostages?" I asked. Miriam nodded. "So is Jed, and four of the soldiers. We basically did some speed dating for the ladies since we couldn't do any Oracle checks. It's unscientific as fuck, but all six of the ones starting to show symptoms will be safe. We've got the next round already filling out Oracle right now, and we'll run them against everyone here as a priority pool to see if there are any particularly good matches. The faster we can get them partnered up the better. What they've been through already..." She shook her head, grimacing. "Anyways, Dylan let me know he gathered up all the intel. I might not be in charge of this operation much longer, and I might not have much of a base to be in charge of right now, but I can still sling data and analyse bullshit with the best of them." "Alright," I nodded, then took a breath and nodded again. "Thank you, Miriam. For all of this. For trusting me." "I never doubted you for a second," she said and crashed into me with another hug, both of us squeezing tightly. We parted after one last, brief kiss that put smiles on both our faces. What I needed to do was go find Kyla and Kara, but after how that conversation started I knew there was something else I needed to do first. The whole motel lot was the staging point, but there were lots of nooks and crannies where I could find some privacy like where Miriam had confronted me near the decontamination showers. I ended up circling around the end of the motel and found a little concrete area that had held a pool, though it was empty and the bottom was lined with rings of dirt from water pooling and then evaporating over and over. After the storm from earlier, it had about six inches of murky water at the bottom and smelled a little funky. There was an old picnic table, however, and while it creaked as I sat down it seemed like it was going to hold my weight. I pulled out my phone and called Erica. "Hello, my hero husband," she answered almost immediately. "Hey, wifey," I said, unable to control the smile on my face as I shook my head and looked at the concrete between my feet. "I love you." "I love you too," she said. "Kyla sent us all an update. We told you that you would find them all Okay." "You did," I said. "Thank you for believing in me." "Always will," she promised. "Kyla probably told you, but I've imprinted Gerty," I said. "Kara's going to join us as well." "She did, but we all knew that would happen," Erica said. "And if there's someone else, that's Okay too." "Okay," I agreed, 'ten' still echoing in my head a bit from Miriam. "I ran into Miriam as well. She told me you two talked." "We did," Erica said. "And I've already got that lawn chair back out for her. It'll be complicated for a bit while she's back and forth between the site and Portland, but we'll figure it out." We hadn't talked about anything like that, but then I had to assume Miriam had a lot of stuff going on and she'd had more time to chat while making the drive down. "I guess you're all caught up, then," I said. "I guess I am," she said and I could hear her smile. "I just needed to hear your voice." "Come home soon, husband," she said, her voice getting a little thick. "Bring your girls home with you. And Julia; she needs to pick up her helicopter anyways." I snorted softly and shook my head. "Might be a little busy for that threesome, dear." "There's never not time for a threesome," Erica chuckled. "Especially if we're going to convince her to join us." "Erica," I sighed. "What? Was she not a badass on the mission with you?" "No, she was," I said. "But,” "No buts," Erica said. "And the decision doesn't need to be made right now. Just... keep it in mind." "Okay," I agreed. "Really? No more pushback?" "I'm learning not to fight you or Kyla on this stuff," I said. "You're proving to be right with a concerning degree of accuracy." "Because we love you," Erica said. "I love you too," I said. "But I should call Ivy and Vanessa." "Call Josie too," Erica said. "She'll appreciate it. She's been worried sick all afternoon." "Okay," I agreed. We traded a few more 'I love you's before I actually got off the phone. My call with Ivy was short and sweet. She rambled in French, her words music in my ear even though I couldn't understand more than her tone. Then she asked me how the sex with Gerty had been, and if she was excited to join our family, and I had to break it to her that 'excitement' hadn't really been in the cards due to the circumstances. She understood, thankfully. Vanessa was another matter entirely. She answered the call brusquely, realized it was me and asked me to hold on a minute. I could hear her giving orders to people up at the site, then the sound of her trudging along outside, and then she stopped and must have raised the phone to her ear again. "Harri?" she asked quietly. "I'm here, baby," I said. She broke down in tears of relief, stifling her sobs. My eyes watered, realizing how utterly worried she must have been for me. I always thought of Vanessa as such a tough cookie because of her attitude and her job, and then I'd be reminded that she might have been tough but she had a mushy inside. "I'm so glad you're safe," she finally managed to whisper. "I'll be home soon," I said. "Did Kyla and Erica tell you the rest?" "We've been texting," she said. "I know everything. Just come home soon. I swear I'm going to fuck any infection out of you if it's the last thing I do." I chuckled softly. "I believe you, baby," I said. "I love you." "I love you too, you big bastard," she said. "I gotta get back to work though. I've been an absolute bitch since you left and I think I have some smoothing over to do." "I'm sure you'll handle it fine," I said. For the third call in a row it was hard to hang up, but we managed it. Then I was looking down at my phone again, trying to decide what to do. Erica said I should call Josie, but if I called her then I felt like I needed to call other people as well. Dani had probably called Leo already, so he knew, but... And then even just among the ladies at the Falls, I knew there were others who would be worrying. I called Leo first. It was a short call. "We're all alright," I said. "Dani let me know," he said. "But it's a relief to hear your voice." "You too, buddy," I said. "So Kara is gonna be living on Black land, huh?" he asked, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I'm putting a ban on that particular joke for at least a month," I said. "You think a month is enough time for it not to be too soon?" Leo scoffed. "A decade would probably be more appropriate," I said. "But with the way our lives have been going, who knows what wild shit will have happened in a month?" "Fair," he said. "Plus, I'm not the only one getting new partners." "What?" he asked. "You'll find out," I smirked. "Harri, come on,” "You'll find out soon," I said with a grin. "I gotta make more calls though. Love you, buddy." "Love you too, you fuck," he said in exasperation. Now I called Josie. "Harri?!" she asked, practically in a panic. "It's me, Joss," I said. "I'm Okay." "Thank God," she said. "I'll tell you more when I can," I said. "I just wanted you to hear it from me that we're safe. I'm gonna need a good and proper hug from you soon." "Any time you want," she promised. "Okay. Are you alone, or with some of the girls?" "I'm in my room hanging out with Spencer and Yvonne," she said. "Trying not to think about you and Kyla and Dani risking your lives by playing some WWE games." I chuckled and couldn't help my smile. "Okay. I can't wait for that hug, Joss. And thank you for caring." "Of course I would," she said. "We all do." "Well, I'll pay you back for your prayers when I can," I said. "Mind if I speak to Spencer quick?" "Sure," she said, and there was a rustling. "Harri?" Spencer asked. "Hey, Spence," I said. "Erica told me you wanted to come to the big sendoff but there weren't enough seats, and that reminded me you wanted to talk last night. Sorry I had to run." "Are you fucking kidding me?" Spencer asked. "With everything else going on? No shit you couldn't stay. Are you Okay? You didn't get shot again or anything, did you?" "No, just some scrapes and bruises," I said. "Well, good," she said. "I'd have to get pissed off at you if you got shot again." "You and every other woman in my life," I said. "Did you need to talk to me about something important, hon? I'm probably not going to be able to come to the Falls for a few days with all the fallout from this stuff." "No, it's; It can wait, Harri," she said. "It's not important." "Hey," I said. "If you want to talk about something, it's important. Okay?" "Okay," she said, a little shyly. "It's good hearing your voice, Spencer," I said. "I'll try to come out as soon as I can, Okay?" "Thanks, Harri," she said. "Do me a favor and give Joss a hug for me, and say Hi to Yvonne," I said. "Then could you go find Abi and let her know that I'm safe and that I thank her over and over for putting up with us?" "I will," Spencer said. "I promise." We signed off and I lowered my phone, shaking my head slightly. That covered everyone who needed to hear from me immediately, I was pretty sure. Well, everyone except the women that were within a hundred yards of me, and their stuff was a little more pressing now. I ended up finding Kyla, Kara and Dani, along with Tanaya, sitting on a patch of grass under a tree on the far side of the motel. The hostages that we'd rescued were being processed through a series of big tents that had been erected and it looked like the ladies were trying to make sure all the kids were being watched over. About a dozen of the women were working on tablets, probably filling out their Oracle surveys, and I could tell as I walked up that Kara was keeping an eye on everyone even though she was sitting with her back to the tree trunk. After everything she'd been through, she was still looking out for her people. Dani was the first to see me coming based purely on where she was sitting in their small square and she got up and approached me. The others looked over then and saw me, but didn't stand up. "Hey," I said as Dani came over. She slipped close and into my arms, and I wrapped her up in a big hug as we swayed a little. "Are you Okay?" "No," she said. "But yes." "Today was a fucking lot," I said. "And you had to do more than I would have ever wanted for you." "I know, but I came along for a reason," she said, still hugging me. "I... might need to talk about it sometime, but I'll survive." I swallowed. "And the other stuff?" She pulled back now, looking up into my eyes with concern. "You mean... the end?" I nodded. She pressed her lips together, then took my hands in hers and squeezed my fingers tightly. "What you said to that army Captain? It's all still true. All of this," she gestured to the staging area. "Like I said in the truck, this wasn't going to fix that without you. It probably should have, but it couldn't. The army can't be the police. Not here, not back in Australia. You're a Sheriff, and this is the Wild West, and some people need your help and there are other people who... who need to be taken off this earth for the good of everyone else. They used to hang cattle rustlers, right? And that was just over horses or cows. The people we took care of today, they were so much worse." I smirked sadly and shook my head at the idea. "I've had a couple different people call me 'cowboy' recently." "Well, you may not look the part, but you act it in all the ways that count," Dani said. "Maybe we should find you a horse, that should help." That got me to smile and snort. "Thank you, Dani. For today, and for being in our lives." "Thank you, big guy," she said, hugging me again. "Now, just so you know, I did offer up Leo but she said no." "What?" "You'll understand in a second," she said, then let go of me as she stepped back. "I'm going to go check in with Julia and Jeanine; they said they were sorting through the intel stuff in Room 108." "Alright," I said. "I'll make sure not to leave you behind if we drive off into the sunset." "Thanks," she chuckled. She headed towards the motel and I had a moment of... something. That thin waist, her perky ass in her jeans. Her gorgeous face and beautiful personality. She'd almost been mine. I blinked, frowning deeply at the intrusive thought as I turned to head to the others. I'd appreciated how utterly hot Dani was since day one, but I'd never had a feeling like that before. And I didn't like it. "Everything Okay?" Kyla asked with a frown as I approached them. "Yeah, yeah," I said with a deep breath, then sat down with the three of them. Kara and Tanaya both looked tired, like the last twenty-four hours were catching up with them, and Kyla didn't look much better. It was kinda funny, seeing all three of them sitting next to each other; Kyla had so much in common physically with a Native. Similar tanned skin, and silky black hair with just a touch of a wave to it. But then there were the stark differences that stood out immediately to someone who had grown up around Natives. Her eyes, the structure of her lips. From far away she could have blended into a crowd, but up close there was no mixing up my Filipina girlfriend with my Ex. I shifted a little, getting comfortable, and then sighed. "Okay," I said. "So Gerty is vaccinated and safe. She's going through the imprinting process and; Did you ladies get the information about the vaccine?" "We did, though you'd already given me the broad strokes and I'd told Tanaya and Gerty," Kara said. "Right, well, she agreed with what you thought, so we, uh, bonded," I said. "She'll probably be out for at least ten hours, so... yeah. I'm not sure what the overall plan is, but we might need to transport her back up north with us somehow." "That was a question we had about the ladies being imprinted for their safety," Kara said. "The Doctor who gave us the information said it's all been arranged already and they'll be brought to the same facility in Portland the rest of us are." "Okay," I nodded. "That's actually probably a good thing. Miriam is still in charge up there for another day or two so we should be able to,” "Wait, Miriam isn't going to be in charge?" Kyla asked. "Fuck, Okay," I said. "She's actually around here somewhere. Turns out the public rollout of the vaccine is going to quietly start happening in the next few days, and some General has been put in charge of it. She hands off the keys to the kingdom at that time, and she'll just be in charge of the Site and the base that'll be there after that." Kyla grimaced. "That sounds like a demotion," she said. "It is, but it's not," I said. "There's more to it, but I'll let her explain it later." "Was Gerty Okay before she... passed out?" Kara asked. I nodded. "Yes. Once she got the shots she started to perk up a bit and her breathing got easier, and that seemed to get a bit better as we did the imprinting process." "Okay," Kara nodded, closing her eyes and resting her head back against the tree as she let out a stress-filled breath. "That's good." "Well, with that out of the way," Kyla said. "We've been talking." "Ooo-kay," I said slowly, looking at the three women. Kyla was mostly deadpan, but couldn't hide the little smirk at the corner of her lip from me. Kara brought her eyes back down to look at me, her lips pulled into a thoughtful pout as she met my gaze firmly. Tanaya was chewing on her lip, sitting with her legs crossed and fiddling with the grass between her legs. "What's up? Did you change your mind, Kara? Because I'd,” "No," she said quickly. "No, Harri. I; Just no. The only decisions I wish I could change is every single one about you starting about three weeks ago and going back to when I broke up with you in high school." "We were talking about me," Tanaya said, her lower, sultry voice a lot more withdrawn from the surety she'd had when she'd been talking to me through the cage in the basement. It looked like she bit the inside of her cheek and then looked up at me. Her black hair was loose and with how tired she was she almost looked a little haunted. "About what I should do about the vaccine." "Do you need help deciding?" I asked. "Or is there someone you think you want to reconnect with? I know you're not from around here..." "I don't have anyone back in Oklahoma," she shook her head. "Or anyone else for that matter. Not that I care about anyways." "Do you want me to?" Kara asked, reaching over and patting Tanaya's arm. The skinnier woman nodded quickly and looked down again. Kara turned back to me. "Tanaya was in an abusive relationship for a while. She finally got out of it a little over a year ago when she shot him in the chest as he was threatening to kill her with a hammer." "Fuck," I exhaled heavily, then looked to Tanaya. "I'm so sorry that you had to do that." "It's fine," she mumbled. "Obviously not," I said. "Tanaya, seriously. I'm so fucking sorry, and I extend that apology on behalf of every man who didn't know and would or should have done something about it." She glanced at me and smiled a little, then looked back down. "Since then she's had a bit of a trust issue with men," Kara continued. "So the vaccine, and needing to bond with a man whether or not he's a 'perfect match' for her, is a little daunting. The obvious answer is to try and find someone she does see herself trusting, but that list is pretty short." "Do you think you could fuck me?" Tanaya blurted out, looking up at me. "I know I'm not,” "Stop," I said, cutting her off firmly as I raised a hand partially towards her. "Please, Tanaya, don't continue that sentence." Her jaw literally clicked shut as she looked at me with genuine fear in her eyes, and I really hoped it was fear of rejection and not fear of me. I took a breath. "Don't you ever put yourself down, Tanaya," I said. "First, you are runway model pretty. I can't imagine who could have said whatever bullshit to you in the past, but I can easily see you strutting your stuff down a catwalk wearing some ridiculously expensive and fancy dress, sleek lingerie, or just about anything in between. Second, you are a courageous, tough woman who can act in emergency situations. You kept your head in that hell hole we came to get you ladies out of, you communicated clearly and effectively, and then you proved you were a loyal friend when you persisted in trying to help Gerty. Plus you have great taste in movies, a cool clothing style and give off good vibes. And that's just the stuff I've figured out about you in three very quick encounters so far. So again, don't you fucking dare start a sentence with 'I know I'm not' unless you're ending it with 'an astronaut' or 'a mythical dragon here to terrorize the countryside' because you are so, so many good things." All three ladies were quiet after my little rant and the soft sounds from over in the processing tents were all that was around us for a long, long moment. Then Tanaya broke, squeezing her eyes shut as she lowered her head and started silently crying. I glanced at Kara, gesturing quickly that I wanted to go to Tanaya, and Kara nodded. I shifted over to sit right next to the thin woman and I wrapped my arms around her, and she grabbed my shirt and practically headbutted me in the chest, she buried her face into it so fast. "It's Okay," I said softly, rubbing her arms. "It's Okay, Tee. It's Okay." She sobbed softly and hugged me back, and I looked over at the other two. Kara was smiling and gave me a little nod as she wiped a bit of moisture from her own eyes. Kyla was smiling too, but knowingly and she winked at me and then mouthed 'Good job.' "Tanaya," I whispered softly once the sobs were down and she was just holding me. "If you feel safe with me, and feel like you can trust me, then I would be honored to be your partner for this. It means you'll be stuck living with Kara and Gerty some more though, so I hope they haven't gotten too on your nerves yet." "No," she said, muffled by my chest. "They haven't." "Good," I chuckled softly. Then I pulled her from my chest and used my thumbs to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks as I looked into her eyes. "And, just to be clear, if you ever feel like I'm doing something that makes you think maybe you can't trust me, you can feel free to tell any one of the other women in my life and they'll take me to task about it and I'll correct the behavior immediately, Okay?" "Thank you, Harrison," she said, taking a deep breath and nodding. "I; After everything Kara's said, and you doing everything you could to get to her... I mean, you're a good man. But the thing that makes me know it's gotta be you is what you did for all of us. You brought us all the only justice we could get." I knew what she was talking about, and I nodded solemnly but didn't want to dwell on it. I'd have time to brood on that when I was alone, late at night in my own head. "I think it's only fair to tell you three all at once," I said, turning to the others while I kept a hand on Tanaya's back and softly rubbed it. "Miriam, or Colonel Abarbanel, has also made it clear she wants to join the family." Kara looked surprised and then grimaced a little, but Kyla broke into a grin. "I told you," she said to me. "You did," I shook my head. "This is the woman who called in the National Guard in on our protest?" Kara asked. I went to answer, but Kyla beat me to it. "Kara," she said sternly, making the older woman turn and pay attention to her. "Harrison had an entire life separate from you, including an entire career in the military. Miriam's help was absolutely crucial to all of this happening today, and she did it because she trusts and loves Harri, and she's a good woman. So you might think of her as just some bitch from the military who represents the government, but she's been more of a sister to me and Harri's other partners right now than you have. Hell, she's been more of a sister to you too, with what she's done." Kara closed her lips and swallowed harshly, then had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Sorry," she said to Kyla, then looked at me. "Sorry." I sighed and nodded. "It'll take a little time for us to adjust to the new normal," I said. "But if you don't think you can, just say the word, Kara. I love you and I always will, and I can see myself in love with you again easily. But I'm already in love with the women in my life, and that includes Miriam, and I can't risk their happiness if you're going to have a problem with them." "No," she said, with just as much vigor as when she'd denied changing her mind. "I; You're right. It'll take some adjusting, but I'm going to do it." "Okay," I said. Then I looked down at Tanaya. "Any reservations about any of it?" I asked. "Lots," she said with a weak smile. "But nothing that'll change my mind, and we need to make the decision now." "They've both been designated for immediate imprinting if possible," Kyla said. "Kara because of her experience with the water, and Tanaya because she was directly helping with Gerty." "So this is happening now," I said, raising my eyebrows. "If that's Okay with you," Tanaya said. I took a deep breath and let it out, nodding. "Whatever is best for you two. Just..." "You can talk about it later, dear," Kyla said, cutting off my train of thought. "You want to assure Tanaya some more, but she doesn't need it. You want to talk to Kara about everything, but that's a conversation that's going to need to happen over hours and days, not minutes. You still love her, she still loves you. That's enough for now." I sighed. "And, as usual, I'm being outpaced by the women in my life," I said. "Okay. What do we need to do?" Kara stood up and offered Tanaya a hand. "We just need to go tell the Doctor we've made our choices," she said. "They'll have a room set up for us." "Together?" I asked, surprised at her wording. As far as I knew she was straight. Kara hugged an arm around Tanaya. "You still want me there after this conversation?" she asked the thinner woman. "If that's alright," Tanaya looked at me. "Whatever will make you feel more comfortable," I told her. "Thank you, Harrison," she said softly. "Thank you, Tanaya," I said, then glanced at Kara. "And whatever makes you comfortable too, baby." "Same room will work for me," she said. They left, heading for the processing tent. "All three, plus Miriam," Kyla said from beside me. I turned to her and growled, scooting over and pulling her into my lap. She chuckled and straddled me, pulling me towards her by the beard so she could kiss me. It lasted a long moment before she pulled away, looking into my eyes. "How are you?" she asked. "Bottling everything up," I said honestly. "Until I can let it out appropriately. You?" "Keeping it together, barely," she replied just as honestly. "I'm going to need you soon too. A few times. We're both pretty much guaranteed to be infected. You need Erica, Ivy and Vanessa too." "I know," I sighed. "Are you really Okay with all of this? This is a big change, adding four more people to the family in a short amount of time." "We're along for the ride," she said softly and rubbed her stomach lightly. "Whatever comes, I know we have you." "Whatever comes," I agreed and kissed her again. "That's time," Kara said, turning off the alarm on her phone. She'd been surprised when I'd met them in the motel room and had handed it over to her, having fetched it from my truck. I'd had it plugged in with a charger since we'd found it, a silent prayer willing into the universe that I'd be able to hand it back to her. The room was done up exactly like the one where I'd been with Gerty, everything saran-wrapped including the pillows except for a thin mattress topper. The Doc had come in and administered the dual shots to both Kara and Tanaya, and then we'd sat and talked for a little while. Kyla had been right, the stuff between Kara and I was going to take a lot longer than a half hour if we got into it, so the conversation fell to Tanaya and I getting to know each other a bit more. I told her about growing up on the Black homestead, and gave her the broad strokes of my life, and what the whole living situation plan was. In return she explained a bit more about herself as well; she was from Oklahoma originally where her family had been into Native Relay horse racing. She'd gone from that to participating in rodeos, which was where she'd met her ex. When the last of her close relatives had died in Oklahoma she'd moved up to Oregon with her ex, but he'd made her stop competing in rodeo and the relay races, wanting to focus on his career, and things had gone downhill from there. It hadn't exactly been a fun conversation, but it had been informative and had helped me understand her more; in my head, I had a vision of Tanaya before she'd gone through what she did; she was a vibrant, boisterous woman. But then, maybe she'd always been quiet and intense, and that's what made it harder for her to reach out for help. "So how would you like to do this?" I asked. I'd spent the half hour sitting on a saran-wrapped chair while they'd both been sitting on the bed. "Together?" Kara asked Tanaya. "If you, um, don't mind," she answered. "Can I ask for something first?" I asked. Both women focused on me and nodded, so I continued. "Before any clothes come off or anything, I'd like to kiss you. Both of you." "Okay," Tanaya said, chewing on the inside of her lip. "I might have already got him once outside, you go first," Kara said softly, urging her to get up. I stood and held out a hand to Tanaya, and she took it and stood. She wasn't as short as Ivy, and was probably closer to Vanessa in height, but she was likely going to be the second shortest in the family which meant that I loomed over her a little as I stooped down slowly. She looked up at me and blew out a soft, nervous breath. I took her hand in mine and held it between us as our eyes locked, and I leaned closer and brought my lips to hers. I could feel her nervousness, but she didn't pull away, and I pressed a little firmer and kissed her fully. It wasn't passionate so much as it was slowly welcoming; Tanaya kissed me back like she was realizing that maybe she actually wanted to. When I pulled away she followed me a little before pulling back, blushing slightly as her face went stoic again. "Thank you," I said. "And wow." "I could do better," she mumbled, then blushed a little deeper. "I mean, we'll do better. I'm just getting used to... this." "I'm sure we will, Tee, but I'm still a little tongue-tied just from that," I teased her lightly. She shook her head at me and then stepped back, turning to Kara. "Your turn." Kara stood and closed the distance with me, sliding into my arms and again I was struck by how natural it felt, like nothing had changed between the last time we'd done that back in high school and now. Her one hand on my chest, her other curling a finger in my belt loop. My hand falling on her hip and the other around onto her back between her shoulders. "Hi," she said, looking at me with an intense gaze. Neither of them had makeup on, but that didn't change how striking their features were in different ways. And I'd loved Kara during the most impressionable part of my life; she would always be a bit of my dream girl. "Hey," I replied. It was hard to say who kissed who, and maybe it was a purely mutual thing. She pulled me towards her by the belt loop, and I tugged her closer by her hip. She came up to meet my lips while I leaned down to meet hers. Outside, we'd kissed and it had been fireworks and nostalgia and a tornado of emotions. This time it was the deep peace of a still lake in the early morning. It was hot sun and a cold beer on a beach around a bonfire. It was driving with all the windows down and singing our hearts out. I could have been sixteen again in that moment because it felt like nothing had changed even if almost everything had. Our lips separated with a soft smack but we stayed close, our noses brushing against each other as our foreheads gently touched, and then we kissed again, soft and intimate, and then again. Then I wrapped my arms around her more and pulled her to me tightly as I pressed my lips into her dark hair and found her ear. "If this is going to work, baby," I whispered barely above breathing, "I'm going to need you to adapt a bit. I need you to know I forgive you and you don't need to apologize anymore, but I also need you to remember this is only happening because four amazing women have been encouraging me to follow my heart with you. I've always loved you, even if we didn't like each other much for a while. So please just... Be you." She pulled back a little, looking me in the eye again, and then shifted closer again. "Okay," she whispered. "We; I need to say some things to you still, but it can wait. We need to make this about Tanaya though; she needs you to be you, alright? And once she's imprinted, you and I can make up for lost years." I pivoted my head and little and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then pulled back and kissed her lips lightly again. It was utterly wild that I had Kara. She was mine again, after all this time. But she was right and based on everything we'd talked about, this had to be about Tanaya first. Kara stepped to the side, keeping a hand on my side as she looked at her friend. "So," she said to me. "Did we pass?" "With all the colors of the wind," I smirked. "Oh my God," Kara snorted, shaking her head and slapping my arm. "That's one old inside joke we don't need coming back." She turned to Tanaya. "I'm sorry. Pocahontas was my favorite Disney movie even if it was horrendously inaccurate and super problematic. Harri used to tease me about it all the time." Tanya matched my smirk and shook her head. "It's still a good song," she said. "So how can we do this so you're the most comfortable?" I asked. "The last thing I want to do is say anything, or call you a pet name or something, that will trigger something." The brief clash with Spencer was in the back of my mind, and I definitely didn't want to do a repeat of that. Especially during an imprinting. "Um, I don't know," Tanaya said. "We should probably strip down?" Kara suggested. "How about I go first?" I suggested. "So I'm the vulnerable one. Then you two can take off whatever you're comfortable with." Both of them agreed, so I went over to the bed, kicked off my boots and started to strip. Once I got my shirt off and was working on my pants I heard a sniff from Kara and looked up. Both of them were watching me with wide eyes, not in an 'overwhelmed schoolgirl' way and more in a simmering adult sexual tension; I was learning that I might have been a little more fit than I'd been giving myself credit for. But I could also see Kara's eyes darting over the scars I'd earned since she'd last seen me shirtless. I hadn't had any particularly major injuries while I was in the service; no IED hits, no big gnarly bullet wounds; but I'd gotten slashed across the ribs once, and I'd been on the far fringe of a frag grenade explosion that had given me some small pitted scars on my left side. Not to mention the much more recent wound in my leg that still hadn't had a chance to fully heal. I could tell that Kara wanted to ask me the hows and the whys, but she held them in as she bit her tongue. The pants went next, bringing me down to my briefs, and I kicked them off my ankles before looping my thumbs in the elastic of my underwear and finally hesitating. "I get I'm the headliner show here," I said. "But I'm starting to feel like the world's worst stripper." "Want me to put some music on for you?" Kara asked. "I could see you doing a good routine to Pour Some Sugar on Me," Tanaya said with just a little smile, proving she had decent taste in music along with movies. "Everyone's a comedian," I said, shaking my head with a grin. Then I took a quick breath and pushed down my underwear to my ankles, standing back up and spreading my arms. "This is about as vulnerable as I can get," I said, my cock now bare and out. Kara had seen me naked before, but the heat in her eyes and flush to her cheeks made me feel like a million bucks. It wasn't fair to really 'rank' my partners in terms of beauty since I thought they were all super attractive, but if all of them were going in for an audition or something I knew that Ivy and Kara were the most classically 'magazine-level beautiful,' with the others running close behind. Having a woman like her give me a look like the one she was, despite all our history, was an ego boost. And then there was Tanaya's nervous fascination. She was biting the inside of her cheek again, her eyes wide and her nostrils flared a little, and her eyes kept jumping from my face to my cock and back like she was trying not to stare. Her hands, fidgeting in front of her, clenched when she realized I'd caught her and she looked away. "It's Okay," I said. "Getting a good look is kind of part of this, I guess." She turned her eyes back to me, flushing a little more, but took the invitation to really look me over. "Fuck," Kara said, breathing out and shaking her head. "Get on the bed, Harri." I did, hopping on and shifting to sit in the middle as the motel bed creaked and groaned a little. It wasn't exactly a super comfy experience, but it would do. "Tanaya," Kara said, turning and taking her friend's hand. "How involved do you want me to be?" I got the feeling that 'together' had been more about having someone in the room to support the slight woman rather than a sexual thing. Kara and I had never had a threesome way back when, and as far as I knew she hadn't switch-hit for the other team, but then I didn't know much of her personal history from through our twenties. "Um, maybe... we should do the foreplay together, and then I'll go first?" Tanaya suggested. "That works for me," Kara nodded. "Tee, I didn't hear the whole explanation you ladies got, but it doesn't need to be sex," I said. "We can take time for that. It can just be oral. Hell, I think I could technically just jerk myself off into a cup and you down that." She flinched, a little grossed out. "Yeah, no," she said. "I'm... dealing with stuff, but I'm not 'make do by drinking cum out of a glass' traumatized." "I; Just giving options," I said. All at once Tanaya took a fast breath and let it out, then pulled her t-shirt over her head revealing the bra I'd seen her wearing back while we'd been helping Gerty in the cult basement. She dropped her shirt and quickly reached back, undoing the hooks. "Harri, I know you're trying to be whatever I need, and not upset me or anything," she said. "But I'm a big girl. I've already got some moral support here, I don't need you to treat me like I'm gonna break or something." "Okay," I said, nodding as her tits came into view. They were small and capped with cute little dark brown areolas and nipples that bobbed lightly as she started working on her belt. It was the one with the big rodeo buckle on it, and now that I knew she'd been a relay racer I had to ask. "The buckle," I said. "Is it a trophy?" "It is," she said, getting it undone and starting to work on the button and zipper of her jeans. "Barrel racing, first place at the Oklahoma State Fair the first time I entered. Bunch of bitchy white chicks were muttering shit under their breath after we did a proper relay race, so I signed up and I think I won out of pure spite." "Badass," I said, making her stop as she was partway wiggled out of her jeans, just a pair of plain dark panties hiding her privates. "It wasn't so bad," she mumbled with a little smirk. Kara was following Tanaya's lead, and as the skinnier woman was shucking her pants my ex pulled her own shirt off. Where Tanaya had been wearing a bra, Kara wasn't and God damn if I didn't think her body had gotten even better with age. Her skin was a naturally darker tan than Tanaya's, and I found her torso to be utterly sexy. She was thin but still naturally soft, just a touch of her ribs peeking through as she bent to set her shirt aside, and I was pretty damn sure she must have gone up a cup size since we were teens. Her tits were perfect and plump, probably a little over a good handful for my big hands, with softly puffy areolas capped by a pair of pouty nipples standing at attention. I groaned, watching them strip off the rest of their clothes. Tanaya, as I'd briefly noticed in the basement, had a full bush going much like Gerty, while I was surprised to notice that Kara was neatly trimmed down to a small wedge on her mound. That meant she'd been keeping up her personal grooming before all of this and while they were quarantining during the outbreak... and made me wonder if it had been in hopes of this happening with me? Maybe? Tanaya, seeing the cleanliness of her companion, looked down at her own bush and clenched her jaw for a moment before looking at me. "I, um, I wasn't exactly thinking I'd be spreading my legs for anyone any time soon," she said. "It's fine," I said, trying to be reassuring. "I'm not afraid of a little hair. Except for that one time I almost choked on one of Kara's pubes." Kara dropped her jaw, her eyes wide as she glared at me, and then threw her pants at me as she guffawed and I laughed. That got a smile and a chuckle out of Tanaya, thankfully helping her relax a bit. "Come on," Kara said, reaching over and taking Tanaya's hand for a moment. "The longer we wait, the more time he has to make up lies about me." "It wasn't a lie," I grinned. "Remember,” "Lies!" Kara said loudly, crawling up onto the bed. She moved quickly but gracefully and shut me up by kissing me as she pressed her chest to my side, her hand landing on my hip and sliding to my half-hard cock. I groaned against her lips, the combination of sensations again throwing me back and forth through memories and reality as I slid my hand up her thigh to her hip and then back to squeeze one of her ass cheeks. I felt Tanaya climb up on the bed as well, approaching but not touching me. Using what felt like all my willpower I pulled my lips from Kara's and turned to the other woman. She was sitting on her knees right next to me, nervously working her cheek again. "Can I kiss you again?" I asked her. She nodded, and I gestured for her to come to me and she leaned in until our lips touched in what might have been the softest kiss I'd ever received. Then she moved in a little closer, turning it into a proper kiss, and I gently placed my hand on her arm to signal I wanted her to stay. "Get comfortable, girl," Kara said. "Make out with him a bit. I'm going to start getting reacquainted with Harri's cock." Tanaya seemed to agree, shifting her stance as she lowered herself down to me more and her small chest pressed down against mine while our kiss deepened. At the same time, Kara dragged her tits down my side, her ass moving out of range for me to grope but her mouth moving in range of my cock. Part of me wanted to stop kissing Tanaya just so I could see Kara blowing me as her lips met my cock head with a soft kiss, and then she took a little more in and started to kiss it more and more while she slowly stroked the base. I managed to split my focus, reveling in the feeling of both women. I ended up slowly rubbing Tanaya's back, feeling her thin frame and surprisingly dense muscles, while my other hand was held tightly in Kara's as she started to slurp a little more, really getting into the blowjob. Part of me would have liked to say that I recognized her technique, or it felt special, but we'd been young and despite vigorous practice hadn't known what we were doing. Now we were adults, and it was different. "Fuck, Harri," Kara said, coming off my cock with her mouth and stroking me from root to tip with her hand in a slow squeeze. "I think you got bigger." "I'm not the only one," I said, breaking the kiss after a moment. "I think your tits filled out more." "Not my ass?" she asked with a smirk. I turned to Tanaya again, her face hovering close to mine, and kissed her lips gently again. "Mind swapping places with her so I can teach her a lesson in fishing for compliments, beautiful?" Tanaya nodded, and then kissed me again firmly, before sifting down in a mirror to Kara. My ex was still stroking me and they did a hand-off, Tanaya taking over and Kara watching for a long moment like she wanted to make sure the other woman was doing it right. She waited long enough to confirm Tanaya was sucking me between her lips and then started to climb back up towards my head but stopped in surprise when Tanaya grunted and her eyes rolled up into her skull as she came. Hard. "Holy fuck," Kara said, her eyes wide as she took control of my cock with one hand and helped Tanaya not gag herself on it. "So they weren't kidding about that priming orgasm." "Nope," I said, sitting up and reaching down to Tanaya, pulling her towards me. She naturally clung to me as the big climax started to drain out of her and she began blinking. "Well, why didn't I get one?" Kara asked, sitting up as well as she rubbed Tanaya's arm and frowned at me. "I don't know," I said. "I wasn't producing any pre-cum yet, probably." She gave me a look, then double-checked that Tanaya was coming down and breathing fine, before dropping her mouth to my cock and sucking hard. One heartbeat later and she was moaning. "Umm hmm," she hummed, half my cock in her mouth, and she came harder than Tanaya even had as her body started to shudder and she actually snorted as she tried to suck a in a breath through her nose. "Fuck," I groaned, pulling her off my cock so she could breathe properly, and she gasped and rolled to her side. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Kara moaned, her voice strained as her hand snaked between her legs and worked her cunt while she rode out the wave of pleasure that had just taken her. "They really didn't lie about that first orgasm," Tanaya mumbled, still holding me as she watched Kara. "That's what she said," I said, smirking a little. To be continued, Based on a post by Break The Bar for Literotica
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