Simple Things, page 22
part #13 of The Valens Legacy Series
Peg hugged him back. "There's always next time."
Sean smiled and nodded.
"And the time after that, and the time after that…" Peg laughed and pushed him back. "But yeah, shower first. Definitely shower first."
"And the kids can wait," Roxy growled. "It's been a month! We get you first!"
Roxy stepped forward and gave Estrella a hug, surprising the hell out of her.
"Welcome to the family, Estrella. Being a lioness, I'm sure you'll be just fine."
"Umm, actually," Estrella said looking very embarrassed, "this is my first pride. Sean's my first mate."
"That's fine," Jolene said, hugging her next. "I mean, I'm a tantric witch, and the last thing I ever expected was to end up happily married."
"Same for me," Cali said, hugging her next. "Assassins are not supposed to fall in love."
"Hey, I'm just happy I got my claws into him!" Roberta laughed and was the next in line to hug Estrella. "He turned out to be a lot more than I expected, and I haven't regretted a day."
"He saved my life and puts up with all my shit." Peg giggled, hugging her next. "You don't let a man who does that go, not ever."
"What can I say?" Daelyn said, hugging Estrella last of all. "Welcome to the family, you're one of us now. Sean wouldn't have picked you if you weren't somebody special, and if he didn't think we'd all love you, too."
Estrella sniffed and smiled at all of them, her eyes tearing up. "Thank you, all of you. I think this may be the happiest day of my life. Now, it's been fifteen hundred years since I've seen soap. Could we…?"
Sean wasn't sure who grabbed whom first when he got in the shower with Roxy, it may have very well been a tie. Jolene and Daelyn were helping Estrella with drawing and taking her bath. She had no experience with showers, and said she really wanted to soak. Sean suspected part of it was so he could 'reconnect' with the others first.
When he'd finished 'reconnecting' with Roxy, who he'd pushed up against the wall of the shower, Cali slipped in and he made love to her as he kneeled under the shower head, and she wrapped herself around him.
Roberta, who wasn't usually a big fan of sex in the shower, surprised him by being next.
Stepping out of the shower afterwards, he grabbed Jolene, who was talking to Estrella, and took her then and there. Peg begged off; she'd just delivered two days ago, and wanted to wait until he was out of his 'manic' phase, as she called it, laughing.
So he grabbed Daelyn, who turned out to be about as manic as he was feeling.
Roxy banished them both from the bathroom after they put a hole in the wall.
Sean made another round with each of his wives, this time not letting Peg escape his clutches, though he made sure to be careful with her.
"Where's Stell?" he asked, looking around the bedroom.
"Still in the bathroom," Roxy said.
Nodding, Sean got up and padded into the bathroom, and looked down at Estrella, who was still in the tub and looking a bit nervous.
"Come on," Sean said, holding out a hand.
"Umm, I thought I'd soak a little more."
"Come, woman!" Sean said, grinning, and gave a mock growl. "If you think you're not getting in that bed with the rest of them, you're in for a surprise."
"You wouldn't!" she said, looking shocked.
Reaching down, Sean grabbed her by the sides just under the armpits, and picked her up out of the tub.
"Course I would!" He smiled, pulling her close, and kissed her.
"But I'm all wet!"
"Good, I like 'em wet!" he said and carried her to the bedroom.
"But, but, I never!" she cried, blushing as she tried to squirm out of his grip.
"Oh, don't worry," Daelyn, surprisingly, said. "We all had a first time. Trust me, they're all worth it. Just watch out for Cali, she's the sneaky one."
"Hey!" Jolene protested as Cali smirked. "I thought I was the sneaky one!"
"Sorry, Jo. You can't be brazen and sneaky at the same time!" Daelyn said with a laugh as the others all nodded.
Laying Estrella back on the bed, Sean crawled up over her and, wrapping his arms around her, he gave her a long kiss.
"Welcome home, Stell," he said, smiling down at her. "I love you, and I promise, we're going to spoil the hell out of you."
Estrella was a little timid at first; for all they'd had sex a lot, she'd never had it with an audience before. Sean understood, and took his time with her the first time, bringing her along slowly and carefully. By the time they both hit their peaks, she'd all but forgotten about the others. The second time he took her, he was much more physical, surprisingly so.
When he finished with her, he kissed her, hugged her, told her he loved her, then snagged Cali and made love to her while Estrella watched.
"Don't worry," Jolene said, cozying up to her, "you'll get used to it."
"If we could corrupt straight-laced Daelyn," Roxy said, giving her a languid smile, "I suspect a lioness should be easy."
To her credit, Estrella blushed only a little. She was a lioness after all, and she knew all about the kinds of things that went on in the better prides.
And Sean definitely had one of the best.
§
"Hi, Dad," Sean said and gave the First a hug, noticing the surprised look on his face. "Mom," he said and hugged Keairra next.
"I guess he really is our son now." Keairra laughed.
"Where's Estrella?"
"Planning her wedding with the rest of my wives." Sean sighed, but he was smiling. "Only fair she gets one, too."
"Sounds like the lionesses have finally corrupted you." the First sighed.
"Oh, please, like you're any different," Keairra said and batted him on the back of the head.
"So, Dad," Sean said while trying not to laugh, "any idea why you popped out of my head when I left? I thought we were together for like, well, until 'death do you part'."
"It has to do with the 'range' involved, if you want to simplify it. Even if I had the power to stay connected to you, when the gate closed, it would still have cut me off. I'm just glad you didn't die over there. None of us are sure whether you or my daughter's soul would have made it back here unless a gateway was open."
"I'm just happy you found our Estrella and brought her home," Keairra said with a smile. "Though," she frowned suddenly, "I am going to have words with that girl for pulling such a hare-brained stunt."
"That's my wife you're talking about there, Mom," Sean warned.
Keairra gave him a look. "Do you really think you can stand up to me?"
"For her I will. No one messes with my women but me, Mom. Those are the rules."
"Give it up, Dear," the First said with a chuckle. "Sean definitely takes after me when it comes to protecting what's his."
Keairra rolled her eyes at the two of them.
"So, what are we going to do about what Mahkiyoc told us?"
The First shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure what we can do about it. From what Estrella told us, they've got an army of millions they're waiting to attack us with when the main gateway finally opens. I think the first thing we need to deal with is that.
"Afterwards, we can start thinking about sending people through to the other side of the gates to see if we can stop them from opening here."
Sean nodded. "Oh, before I forget, thanks for sending Adam. I know the girls don't trust him worth a damn, but he was a pretty solid character. The troops all like him, and I'm not sure he wants to leave."
"You can keep him if you want," Keairra said. "It's nice to see him finally growing up."
Sean laughed. "Both Tisha and Estrella have told me more than a few stories about him. Mostly Tisha. I think she's got a thing for him or something."
"They used to be close, but she got fed up with his attitude a very long time ago."
"Well, she's married now, so I hope he stays away, or I'll be having words with him."
"I wouldn't worry about it. She's really quite infatuated with your friend, Steve."
Sean nodded. "Well, I'm going to go back to sleep here and get some rest before the wives decide to abuse me again. But I am curious, Dad, are you out of my head for good?"
"'Friad so, Son. Happy?"
"Umm, yes and no. I mean, I like having my head back, because it is mine," Sean said with a smile. "But you saved my ass any number of times, and if nothing else, you were always there for me. I'm gonna miss that a lot."
"Look on the bright side," Keairra said, smirking. "Now he's free to be reincarnated again, so maybe he'll be one of your kids!"
Both Sean and the First made a face at the thought of that.
"Unn, I think I'll pass," Sean said.
"Definitely, pass. Maybe if Adam has kids. After all," the First said with a wicked grin, "he deserves it."
End Book Thirteen
Afterword
Hello everyone, and I'd like to start by saying that if you enjoyed this book, please go on Amazon and give me a review and a rating. I've said it before, and of course I'll say it again: Ratings are my lifeblood as an independent author, with 4 and 5 star ratings being the ones that help me the most. The more of those I get, the more likely Amazon is to show my work to other folks.
As for how many books are left in the series? I'm not sure I know. The current arc will probably be done by sixteen now (I think you may remember in the last book I thought it might be fourteen, well after writing thirteen, no, it isn't going to be done that soon).
As for what happens when this one is done, it still will depend on you, the fans of the series. There's a lot to be written about even after the war finishes, and I think that'll become obvious once we get there.
Again, THANK YOU ALL for reading and enjoying my work. I do it all for you, and you all mean so much to me.
Some Recommendations: As mentioned before, I do have another name I write under: John Van Stry. If you haven't looked at it, you might appreciate my 'Portals of Infinity' series. It's currently at eight books and will continue, I will hopefully be writing the ninth book in the series within the next few months.
Some other people I enjoy reading in this genre, and you might, as well: William D. Arand (aka Randi Darren) – Please check him out, he's good.
Blaise Corvin – The Delvers books are really a lot of fun and very much worth it.
Michael-Scott Earle – one of these days I'm going to bribe him to finish Lion Quest.
They're all good people and great writers. You may also want to check out this group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit/
Again, thank you for your support and for buying my books.
My Amazon Author's webpage:
https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Stryvant/e/B06ZY7L62L/
Occasional announcements at:
https://stryvant.blogspot.com/
Jan Stryvant website at: http://www.vanstry.net/stryvant/
Email:
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Jan Stryvant, Simple Things
