Cam's Coterie

Cassia said in her usually sweet voice, "You are so beautiful Faith, truly breathtaking, I'm a little jealous actually."

Cassia's beauty was just as significant to me if in a more innocent girl next door way, as opposed to Faith's exotic appeal, and her body was also just as clearly built for sin as my lush nubile half-elf's was.

Faith replied in an annoyed defensive voice, but also partly in her normally seductively sultry voice, I didn't think she could help it, her voice and her body dripped sex appeal, constantly.

"I know what I look like. It happened when I was younger, they almost killed me just to mark me as what I was, out of jealousy or bigotry I don't know, maybe both. Kids can be cruel."

Kids? Holy shit.

I felt Cassia shake her head against me, "No, you really don't know what you look like, go look in the mirror."

Faith narrowed her eyes, and anger crept in her tone, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Cassia smiled calmly, "Just... go look."

Faith sighed in annoyance, and she looked up at me and saw my grinning face, which must've decided her because she rolled out of the bed and moved over to the small mirror above the dresser. Of course, she probably also sensed my emotions of joy and amusement in the idea, just as I'd felt her annoyance at Cassia's compliments. Sharing emotions with my mate was a little weird, and definitely unexpected, but I'd get used to it.

Point being, I never had told her what I'd done for her last night, during that second round while we were practically making love. An emotional response for me perhaps, after the aggressive way I'd had to tame her and claim her as mine.

Faith gasped, and then lifted a trembling hand to her face and perfect complexion on her exotically beautiful face as she stared at the mirror in shock, and I felt a cocktail of powerful emotions stirring in her in that moment.

"How?"

Cassia smirked, "Our lord and master, of course. He can sculpt flesh, and he did so right after he claimed you, I'm surprised you didn't notice when we got ready for bed."

Faith scowled at Cassia for the tease, but there was no annoyance in her at all anymore, just a breathless joy, and a deep thankfulness. I decided then not to share those little tidbits, or even get involved between Cassia's and Faith's little games of words and teasing, unless it got violent of course.

Her voice was subdued, "I don't look in the mirror often, only when I had to."

She turned with a sheen of unshed tears in her eyes to gaze at me with awe, and then returned to the bed to kiss me softly and nuzzle up against me. There was no need for her to verbally thank me, not when I could feel her explosive feelings and the way she loved on me with her body, as she rubbed up against me in full body caresses and grinds, even as she dropped sounds of contentment and amazement from her mouth and nuzzled my neck.

I got hard, obviously.

She was a sensual goddess in those moments of kittenish affection, but I just held her for that, even as I exchanged an amused look with Cassia for her teasing.

"So, you've finally admitted my place in your life?" I asked teasingly. Of course, I knew that whole lord and master thing had been sarcasm, but it was fun to tease.

Cassia looked confused for a second, but then barked a laugh as she recalled her words, "You wish."

I pulled her tighter against me, as I looked down into her eyes, "I really do."

She blushed, and then bit her lip nervously as she was caught in my intense gaze.

I took pity on my nervous witch, and looked away from her after a few intense seconds, to free her eyes, "We should get going, lots to do today. First up is getting you both clothes, and long daggers and throwing knives."

We got up then, and we cleaned up, took baths, and then got dressed. That was when I found out Faith's bag was filled with nothing but slutty dresses for her old job as a whore, which pissed me off. She looked like a shamed goddess, and I actually liked how sexy she looked, but that should only be for my eyes from that point on.

In short, I felt insanely possessive, and I knew if she went out like that, I'd kick the ass of the first man to touch her, or even look at her wrong.

Cassia obviously saw it in my eyes, and my Faith of course felt my feelings about it, which made her love on me again. Apparently, that kind of thing was very alpha, something a proper shifter mate would feel and do.

Honestly, I don't want to harp on this throughout my whole account of this part of my life, so let me just say it one more time. Anytime I wasn't fucking my ladies, I felt the strong need to be possessively fucking them. It was a serious weakness, as a corrupting half demon of sex, and it took a strong will to resist it and get the work done. It certainly didn't help that Faith was a goddess and erotically and exotically sexy and more than willing to do anything I asked. Cassia wasn't much help there either, she wasn't subject to my whims, but her own whims and libido had her panting for it a lot, and her feminine allure constantly drew my eyes and pulled on my libido.

I also imagined being a healthy and in great shape eighteen-year-old man in my prime didn't help either, all men were highly influenced by their normal human libidos at that point in their lives, so the demon side just... made it even more difficult to manage. It was hard to believe that I'd still been a virgin just sixty hours ago, two and a half days ago.

Point being, before I got off track, was that Cassia noticed my tension, and she divined the reason for it, because she came up with a solution for the dress fiasco without me even asking. I also suspected Cassia's respect for me rose in that moment as well, which was important, as we got to know each other and grew closer. With all the sex it was hard for me back then, I kept forgetting our closeness and the intensely strong and sometimes overwhelming warm feelings I had for her were mostly shallow, and simply revolved around our insane chemistry and inexorable carnal need for each other.

Cassia said, "I'll head down and get them to send up breakfast, and I'll find something quick for her to wear before we go shopping."

"That solves one problem, but it creates another."

Cassia rolled her eyes, "You're sweet, but I'm fine. I've gone shopping before, and I even managed to keep myself alive in the dangerous tailor's shop."

I pulled her against me, spanked her for the teasing, and then kissed her softly to remind her how important she was to me. Shallow or not, I felt like I was falling for her hard, and I would worry about her. Even though I knew she was probably right, woman went shopping all the time.

"Be careful."

She simply nodded, letting me have the last word, and then she left with a bemused expression on her face.

I asked, "So, tell me about yourself, whatever you feel comfortable sharing, while we wait."

Truthfully, I could listen to Faith talk about anything, all day long, that's how alluringly sexy her voice was. Hell, the attributes of cow manure, bring it on. Seriously, her voice was directly plugged into my libido.

Faith said, "My mother was an elven scout. You know the elves generally leave trespassers alone if they don't go too far into the Ironwood Forest. My father was a fox shifter, obviously. He was banished from our forest after losing an alpha challenge. He was a strong shifter, an alpha in truth as am I, but not strong enough to defeat the alpha that had been in charge of his pack at the time.

"I'm guessing here a little bit, but it seems probable that he couldn't stand living in this city, or the Cyrene kingdom, he must've longed for the trees of the forest, the hunt, and for a mate. I can't be sure, but I suspect he'd gone a little mad at his banishment. He obviously chose to go north into Ironwood, and he shifted to hunt. I can't truly say what was on his mind, but he must've strayed too deeply into the wood, and when my mother confronted him, he overpowered her and took her, like an alpha would claim a mate down south.

"I don't know if he knew what he was doing, but my mother looks a lot like I do, I imagine he must have been crazed, as he scented her as young and available. It seems almost impossible to me, that he would have mistaken her to be shifter, the scents are unmistakable, and our kind don't claim those of other races."

I nodded, "Sounds like he lost it to me."

She bit her lip, "He died that day, by my mother's hand, after, for his transgression. You know how the elves are, they are haughty, but they also revere life. My mother carried me to term, even kept me and fed me from her body until I could take solid foods. I still have memories of that, the look of love on my mother's face, but she couldn't keep me. I was half-elf, half-shifter, and by virtue of that rejected from elven society. I also knew I'd never be welcome in the south, any shifter pack would have killed me for being what I am.

"Still, my mother ensured I would be cared for, and took me here herself and carefully found a family to raise me, even gave them a sack of coin to use for it. I didn't have a bad childhood, but between my instincts as a shifter, and the thoughtless natural cruelty of children, there were incidents, such as the silver burns."

She paused for a moment, "I can feel your deep want and need of me, constantly, my mate. Shifters have a similarly strong libido, and when I turned eighteen, I realized I'd need to take care of it, even if there were no shifter males to claim me, much less a true alpha. I... got involved with the wrong man, all I wanted was sex, and he wasn't hard to look at, but he wanted to possess me. When I tried to leave, he got far more aggressive, and tried to take me against my will. I killed him.

"That was three months ago, I am apparently both your mate for life, and your slave for the next three months. The last three months were difficult, I tried to be... nothing. I didn't want to risk it happening again, because the instincts of it can't be denied. To be claimed means to fight back, but no man wants something broken, and my distaste for human men at that point made it easy to resist enjoying myself too much. It is... what it is."

I said firmly, "You're mine now, and no human male will touch you again."

She smiled, "I am yours, forever. I'm also both shocked and thrilled, and a little disturbed that shifter magic and a demon's ability to bind soul slaves is so similar. At least, similar enough to work together. You are my true mate, and an alpha, even if you are not a shifter. You have no idea how amazing that is to me, it was something I never believed I'd have."

"My need to build a coterie?"

She grinned, "I do not feel jealousy, I am yours. I will be more than satisfied, as long as you treat me like a mate, then what you do with Cassia or even others won't make a difference. Except perhaps the pride I take in being mated to such a strong and virile man. In truth, and you already know this, the way you take Cassia makes me breathless with need and desire, I enjoyed watching you ravish her this morning."

That was a good point, I'd felt her almost smug approval and arousal in my mind that morning, when I'd taken my Cassia.

She added in a more submissive voice, "You are more tender perhaps, than a shifter mate would be, but your will and strength are what's important, the way you covet me makes me feel complete, I feel your need to possessively protect me, that is all I need. That first part also isn't a complaint, I find the idea of being gently cherished even as you own me, very... appealing. Perhaps that's my elven side, or perhaps it's a side of shifter females that is very rarely exposed."

Someone knocked at the door, and I moved to get it as I pointed imperiously at the bed.

Faith smirked happily, as she moved to the bed and pulled the blanket over her extremely revealing dress that did little else but accentuate and reveal the sinful curves and attributes of her magnificently lush and sexy body. In short, the dress was just plain trashy and for whores, and completely scandalous. Perhaps she could keep them and wear them for me, she clearly enjoyed the effect they had on me, but never again in public.

Fortunately, it was a serving wench at the door with breakfast, not a male, and she came in and set the food on the table. I hadn't fully thought it through though, and she let out a small gasp and gave Faith a double take. I was annoyed with myself as I gave her two coppers for the delivery service and escorted her out and firmly shut the door.

No doubt everyone that worked in the inn would know I'd restored Faith's beauty before ten minutes had passed, and I hoped that didn't cause any problems. She'd already been stunning, even with the scars, now she was just a half-elven exotically and impishly beautiful goddess. I blew it off though, a little gossip among the servants wasn't bad, it was the attention of the coven and their agents in the city we wanted to avoid.

While we waited for Cassia to return so we could eat together and go shopping, I told her a little about my childhood instead of ravishing her to pass the time. I'd already covered everything that had happened since I'd woken up on my eighteenth birthday last night, as well as our ambitions and needs. There truly was nothing special about my childhood, outside of perhaps my insane training regimen, and I knew she was my obedient mate for life already, but it wouldn't hurt to get to know each other a little to my way of thinking.

The day was busy, and time passed quickly. Cassia had returned with a much more suitable dress, and we'd gone shopping. They both got several dresses, both casual and elegant, and we also picked up weapons.

I wasn't under any illusions that they could become master knife fighters in short order, and definitely not before we moved on the coven. I had no intentions of taking a year or two to make that happen. But I did teach them a few nasty tricks that day, knife fighting was dirty and sneaky, the point was to kill the opponent and survive, there were no points for being pretty.

Point was, they'd have to depend on their natural talents for the near future, and only fall back to the knives if things got desperate. Faith had her beast form and knew how to use it, and of course my Cassia was a witch with deadly magic.

I myself continued to monitor my own body throughout the day, and I endeavored to get to know how it worked intimately. It would take time for me as well, just like their knife fighting, I wouldn't be doing much besides the shield and self-healing for a long time.

Cassia had told me it would be weeks before I was proficient enough to start looking without and learning the natural rhythms of the natural world around me. Still, it'd be useful, and save me some of that harvested magic when we faced our enemies.

In short, that morning we shopped, and we worked to improve ourselves for the future, but we wouldn't be counting on our new skills in our planning. We couldn't afford to tarry, it was just a matter of time before someone recognized me and ran to the witches with the tale.

We were back in bed at our room at the inn, after lunch. We'd worked up quite an appetite from the morning's training as I showed the ladies the basics of knife fighting and a few tricks. Appetite for food and for sex, both of which had been sated. I'd drilled them both hard and fast, in quick succession, and had filled them both as well.

We were all in somewhat of a post coital bliss, as we laid in the bed.

"Cassia, let's plan. I think after feeding from you both tonight, and from Faith in the morning tomorrow, I'll have plenty of power to burn. I already feel more powerful than that night I drained the whole coven. Since then, I've recouped that spent energy, and I've added to the vast stores that had already been left over after the fight. What do you know of the coven's defenses and Shadow Lace mansion?"

Cassia replied, "The coven itself numbers twenty-six, twenty-five I suppose, with your aunt dead. Thirteen in the primary circle of the coven, then three more full coven sisters who run the mansion and oversee the ten apprentices and their ears and eyes in the city. Those three are also the backup numbers for the circle, in case one is killed. They actually do most of the mundane work, their loyalty ensured by the advanced teaching they receive, while the circle focuses on their magic and appetites.

"The wall around the mansion is twenty feet high and four feet thick. It's also manned and guarded by a mercenary company that numbers twenty. The walls are also enchanted by spells that will reveal intruders to the circle. I know there's more magic in the mansion as well, but besides being approved to be in the mansion, they don't let the apprentices know all the defenses. I'm not sure past that. Oh, the tomes of knowledge are in a restricted part of the library, safeguarded with spells."

I nodded, "If we take down the circle, and find the tomes of knowledge, will that be enough? Do we need to kill the spares, mercenaries, and apprentices too? Will they come after us?"

Cassia frowned, "I don't think the mercenaries would, but I'm not sure how we'd be able to get past them, as the first line of defense, without taking them down. The spares as you called them, two of them now, or maybe three if one of the apprentices was already raised to take the place of the one who replaced your aunt, would definitely seek revenge. The apprentices could go either way. I wouldn't have sought revenge, but not all the apprentices are as... nice as I am."

Right. Kill them all then. It seemed fair, they'd tried to kill me first, and were still hunting me to finish the job, clear case of self-defense.

"Does the circle go out very often? I mean they were in farm country a few days ago."

Cassia shook her head, "No. They have ritual and casting circles and rooms in the mansion, and in the garden in the back when the spell requires a more intimate connection with nature. There is a grove of trees as well. It was odd for them to do that, and I suspect it was out of spite. Your aunt was very angry at her little sister, and she wanted to personally deliver vengeance for her betrayal in trying to run off and hide with you. Normally, they'd have just used mercenaries and other contacts to reach out into the world and bring items and people to them."

Yeah, that made things harder.

"Whatever we do, we can't fail, or they'll have the whole city after us in short order. I suspect though, that if we kill them cleanly, the nobles won't stir themselves to look into it too closely."

Cassia asked, "What makes you think that?"

I shrugged, "The Eternal Rose coven has inroads into the nobility, I suspect a lot of that is out of something they have on the nobles, some kind of knowledge to hold over their heads. Humans don't like witches, I can't imagine the noble humans work with them entirely willingly. If we fail, they'll have no choice but to come after us, or the witches might reveal whatever blackmail they have to the king, or... whatever. Granted, it's a guess, but an educated one. Witches having influence in the aristocracy just doesn't make sense otherwise. On the other hand, if we get away clean, the nobles will probably be relieved, and think they got lucky and dodged an arrow."

Faith said, "He's right. The coven is far too popular in the circles of nobility considering how they treat other witches. I won't say they're all bigoted, but even the ones that aren't hold the other races at arm's length because of the political landscape. If they aren't blackmailing the nobles, then they're bribing or coercing them in some other way."

"Point is, whatever we do, if we lose we'll have to flee, so let's make sure we don't lose. How many mercenaries on the walls?"