Finally the lunch was cooked, eaten, and they’d cleaned up after it. By the time they were all in the car ready to go and visit the sponsors, Zoe had exchanged places with Maia, and consequently Draven and Chase had decided to come as well. Draven had raced back to the panther warehouse and collected nicer clothing for Chase and changed into tidy clothes himself. Chase stepped into the bathroom and tidied himself up as soon as Draven arrived back, and then they were on their way.
Theron wondered why Zoe had sent Maia to visit the sponsors instead of going herself. Did she want to be alone with the Reed brothers? Or was she supporting Maia’s desire to be with them? He wished he knew the answer to that question.
Not that he could touch Maia in a car with her mother. That would have been insanity. But it would have been good to know if Zoe was rooting for their team.
Naomi Crawford and her daughters had put a lot of work into researching potential sponsors. Some of the companies had refused to talk to them. Others had said they’d talk to higher management and possibly get back to them later, but there were still a full half-dozen prepared to meet with them this afternoon. The first one was a grocery chain, and Naomi wanted to receive fruit and vegetables that were still good to eat but would otherwise be thrown out.
Naomi talked to the fresh food manager and the store manager. The fresh food manager was onboard, but the store manager hesitated.
“Why would you want this food? You’d need to cook and serve it immediately. It’s too much hassle.”
“It’s no hassle at all. We feed over one hundred people lunch every day except Sunday. We have menus planned in advance, but almost anything you gave us could be added into the menu for that day,” said Naomi.
“Not long ago we were given a large amount of peas. We assembled a team of volunteers and served fresh peas to our clients for lunch that day and had the rest of the donation blanched and frozen by noon. Now we can use those peas in a meal when we’d otherwise have no green vegetable to offer people,” added Maia.
“You did all that before noon? It can’t have been very many peas,” the store manager scoffed.
When Naomi told him how many pounds of peas they’d been given and that they all had to be shelled, he was even more disbelieving.
Theron said, “Seven adults worked for five hours to cook and preserve them, and there were even more adult volunteers ready to step in and help if they were needed. I know. I was one of them.”
The fresh food manager spoke up. “Sir, perhaps we could give it a trial. We’ll give you our discarded boxes of fruit and vegetables for a week, and next Thursday, you can come and tell us what you made out of them and how much wastage was involved.”
“I agree,” said Naomi firmly.
“We’ll take pictures to prove it’s the truth,” added Maia.
Damn she was clever. She smiled at the managers, and Theron knew they’d agree. And he’d be there every step of the way, taking the photographs to ensure the food kept coming.
Their next stop, at a hardware store, was easy. The manager completely agreed to the scheme as long as his store was named prominently as the donor of the dishwasher and the leaf blower. “It’s advertising for the company and good karma for me. It’s a win-win,” he said.
Two more visits went well, and then it was time for Theron to add in his research.
“Several of your clients, men I spoke to, said it was hard for them to get job interviews because they didn’t have a cell phone. Right now, they can only check for job appointments with friends or when they visit charities. I’d like to ask a cell phone company to donate half a dozen cheap phones. The kind that won’t make outgoing calls, but can receive incoming ones so people can use them to respond to requests about potential work.”
“We’ve also noticed you father’s cell phone is very old. A much more modern one would undoubtedly be of use to him in his work,” added Draven.
Maia gave him one of her glorious smiles, and his heart beat faster.
Damn I love her so much.
Chase said, “Let’s go back to the mall. There were several cell phone company stores there. If one refuses, maybe one of the others will agree.”
This time, without an appointment, they had to work their way up the food chain. As Naomi spoke to one staff member after another, a small crowd gathered around them. By the time she told her story to the store manager, he agreed instantly. Theron thought likely that was because so many people were watching him. If he’d said no, they would have berated him for sure.
People are innately good and kind and caring. Any one of us could lose our job, lose our home, and end up needing help. These people see that and want their fellow human beings to be able to have a job and a home and happiness once again. It’s a privilege to live and work among good people like these.
Now all I need to be perfectly happy is Maia agreeing to mate us and for that to happen the moment the six months is up.
* * * *
When Maia woke up on Saturday morning her nipples were aching and her breasts felt hot and heavy, as seemed to be their usual status lately. She rubbed her nipples and then pinched them hard, twice each, which always seemed to help a little, and then she sat up, pulling her old-fashioned nightie over her head as she did.
Instantly nausea rose in her throat, and she stumbled into the bathroom and leaned over the sink, pressing her aching nipples into the cold porcelain. Maia breathed deeply for several long minutes before being sure she wasn’t going to throw up. She sat on the side of the tub.
“What did I eat last night? There wasn’t anything unusual to make me ill, was there?”
Not coming to any conclusions, she reached up to the shower and turned the water on then stepped into the tub, drawing the curtain and letting the hot water run over her sore breasts. She stared at them. They seemed hotter, harder, rounder than they used to. She smiled, imagining the three men cupping them, rubbing them, pinching her nipples.
Maia turned her back to the hot water and massaged her breasts, pinching her nipples again and looking down at the base of the tub. Immediately she had a mental picture of herself when the three men had fucked her last, their huge, hard cocks filling and stretching her, pumping into her, bring her incredible joy. And then, afterward, their cum dripping out of her cunt and her ass and down her thighs.
Their cum. Hot and sticky, branding her as belonging to them. Cum. Seed. Sperm. Pregnancy.
I can’t be pregnant. We haven’t had sex all that often.
It only takes once.
No, no. It’s only been—
Maia stopped to count up how long she’d known the men and how often they’d fucked her. It was almost a month, and in that time, she hadn’t had a period.
Oh shit. I am pregnant. My breasts are bigger. I’m going to have a baby, and I have no idea which of them it belongs to. Does DNA testing even work with triplets? Is their DNA the same or different? They’re identical. It must be the same.
Maia shook her head. The father of her child wasn’t the problem. She was the problem.
I won’t tell them. I’ll leave town, go somewhere to have the baby where Mom and Dad won’t be embarrassed by what I’ve done. I’ll get a job, rear the baby myself. I’ll—
Deprive the child of ever knowing its father, its grandparents, its aunts and uncles? Don’t be so medieval. Mom and Dad aren’t going to be very pleased, and they will be embarrassed, but they’d never blame the child. They’ll love it no matter what.
No matter what?
Yes, they’ll love it despite everything.
Then she had another thought.
It’s a panther baby. When do they turn into panthers? What if I give birth to a panther in a regular hospital instead of birthing the child in its human form?
Are there shape-shifter hospitals? Ah, fuck. I’m going to have to tell them anyway. This could be really messy.
Because I was stupid. Why didn’t I ask for condoms? How hard would it have been to use protection?
I didn’t use protection, so that’s all there is about it.
Maia turned around to face the water again, grabbed the cake of soap from the soap dish, and began washing herself. Thinking and arguing with herself was going nowhere. Yes, she was stupid, and yes, she was pregnant. It was too late to worry about either of those things now. She needed to acknowledge her mistakes, tell the men, and deal with what she’d done like an adult.
Likely they’ll never talk to me again.
Maia didn’t think she could bear never talking to them again. But, yes, it was possible they’d be so angry with her for not using birth control they d never visit her again.
In that case, I won’t tell them until after we’ve fucked one last time. I’ll love and care for this child. Alone if I have to. But they owe me this one last fuck. I need a few more memories before I give up sex forever. After all, no man is going to want to rear someone else’s fatherless baby, especially a shape-shifter child.
Having reached a decision, Maia rinsed the soap off her body and climbed out of the shower. As she got dressed, she decided she’d ask them to take her out this afternoon. Maybe just to look around the Science Museum. Somewhere neutral where she could tell them about the baby.
But I’ll ask them to take me to the dungeon first. Sex and then honesty. One last spectacular memory first.
* * * *
Chase, Theron, and Draven had planned an extra special BDSM session with Maia for their next meeting. There were so many aspects of BDSM they hadn’t had an opportunity to share with her yet, and they wanted to try out a few of them.
Chase was certain she’d enjoy pushing the boundaries a little, and he looked forward to that. Then they’d fuck her and shower, and only after that would they discuss mating. Maybe over supper so they could all relax. It needed to not be in the dungeon so she knew her decisions were to be made freely, not under any compulsion.
The major challenge was going to be how to achieve all of that and still get her home by midnight. They’d already picked her up at six one night. Perhaps they could do that again. Seven just didn’t give them enough time.
Chase had forgotten Maia’s promise to photograph the gifted fruit and vegetables and what they did with them until he arrived to find her and Zoe sorting boxes of fruit and vegetables into piles. The preacher arrived in the kitchen, dragging a huge bag of flour, and Chase hurried over to help him.
“Thank you, Chase. The ladies are going to make fruit pies and freeze them.”
Chase soon found himself handed a vegetable peeler and a sharp knife. As the women sorted the fruit into categories he peeled and chopped it into cauldrons. Naomi took over from there, adding spices and stirring ingredients on the cooktop.
Chase was just glad he wasn’t expected to knead dough, although Draven seemed to be enjoying himself doing that.
After the meal was served and the kitchen and hall scrubbed and swept, with all the dishes washed and put away, it was time to move the furniture to get ready for the Sunday services.
Only when that was finally completed could he ask, “Maia, can we take you out to dinner tonight, please?”
“I’d like that. But can we go to the Science Museum this afternoon? It’s free, and I haven’t been there in a long time.”
“Of course.”
“And then we’ll take you out to dinner afterward,” added Theron.
Once they were all in the car, Maia said, “I do want to go to the Science Museum, but I’d like to go to the dungeon first, if you don’t mind.”
Chase rubbed his hand over her shoulders. “Of course we don’t mind.”
He longed to touch her more intimately but couldn’t do that when they were driving. It was all three of them or none of them touching her. He’d enjoyed working by her side all day, but he’d enjoy her naked in the dungeon even more. And then fucking her until she screamed in orgasm. That was important as well.
He called the BDSM club and was able to change the start time of their booking to now. That was a relief. He couldn’t imagine how complicated it might be if they had to move from one dungeon to another halfway through their time together because of another player’s bookings.
Once inside, she got undressed as usual and then stared at him and his brothers, her eyes sparkling with happiness, gleaming brown and green and amber in the artificial light.
Theron spoke firmly to her. “We haven’t always played these scenes completely correctly. Today we’re going to follow the rules of BDSM totally and fully. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master.”
Damn she was smart. She’d answered correctly without being told.
Draven stepped forward. “Can you remember your safe word?”
“Winter, Master.”
“And you know what using it means?” asked Draven.
“Yes, Master.”
“Bow your head, spread your feet apart, and place your hands behind your back. Then wait in silence until your Masters are ready for you,” ordered Chase.
As silently as they could, trying not to even give her the hint of rustling fabric, they undressed. From time to time, Chase stared at her to check she wasn’t peeking, but unless she was doing it very carefully indeed, her head didn’t move.