Quaranteam - North West Ch. 10

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QT:NW continues the official Spin Off for the Quaranteam universe originally created by CorruptingPower. You do not need to have read the original series to enjoy this one, but you really do need to start with Chapters 1-4 (I really suggest you read the original though, it's great!). Fans of the original should be pleased to know CP has approved the story and the continuity.

In this chapter you can expect an awkward conversation about trust and loyalty, a heartfelt conversation, an anal encounter, and an imprinting with a special request.

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The problem with going toe to toe with a spy was that all of my usual methods of evaluating someone werealready going off.

As a teen I'd been a bit of a hillbilly, I'd been an athlete, and I'd been a kid from a family with generational grudge issues. Then I'd joined the military and I learned about professional backstabbing and politics, and then I'd become an MP and really saw some of the dumb and vile crap that Man could do to each other. I'd been trained to be aware, alert, and suspicious.

Seven years out of the military had softened me, I was sure. But not that much.

Maybe Greerson shouldn't have told me about Kyla's background. I was trying my best tonot be suspicious, which I bet if I saw myself back on a recording I would have seen as a red flag. If I hadn't known about her, I could have just accepted her and hopefully my natural and trained instincts would have picked up on anything fishy.

I sighed a little huff of a chuckle and leaned back in the Murphey chair, looking at Kyla across the RV. I'd been doing my best not to just really stare at her, to make a judgement scan of her to really assess her. Maybe that gave me away. Maybe not.

She was beautiful, but I'd already judged that. Her Filipino heritage was strong, but wasn't so different from the natives that I'd grown up around that it seemed out of place or exotic to me. Not to mention the plenty of varied Asians I'd lived around in Portland. She was still wearing the bulky coverall so it was hard to judge her athleticism, but just the way she sat told me she was a physical person. She was sitting on the bench, which wasn't particularly tall, but her feet were pressed to the ground by the balls of her feet and toes, her heels raised. Even though she was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees she also wasn't slouching at all. She was a coiled spring, but with a loose tension. She wasn't on edge, but was a calmly controlled nervous.

"It does," I said, answering the question she'd stunned me with for a moment. 'Does it bother you that I'm a spy?' Who asked that? Was it a game, or a test? Was she trying to be truthful because of the situation, or was she running a long con to gain my trust to inevitably betray me? How calculated was this move, and what were the variables?

Was it a move at all?

"But not the way you might think," I continued. "It's funny, I don't even know how much they told you about me. I think I mentioned outside that I was in the military at one point. I was an MP before I was discharged. You are exactly the kind of person I would have been worried about for an important part of my life. But now? Honestly, Kyla, I just don't want you to fuck up the family dynamic we're trying to build here. I don't want you to put any of the people out there in danger, on purpose or by accident, if you plan on trying to do something for your father or NICA."

She gave me a long look back, evaluating what I said. If we were sitting across from each other with a chessboard between us, or cards, I would have said she was trying to read if I was bluffing or not. But this wasn't a game, and there weren't stakes on the line, and I thankfully got the impression she wasn't trying to read me. At least, not like that. She was reading me, but she was trying to form her opinion of me, just like I was trying to with her.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" she asked me.

I pressed my lips together and nodded. "I didn't see as much combat as others, but I got in a few firefights," I said. "I had a few confirmed kills, and likely several more unconfirmed. And one of my investigations as an MP turned into a shootout with some human traffickers that ended... badly. Fuck, I haven't talked about that with anyone since I got out. I'd prefer you not bring it up with the girls, or Leo. Please."

"I won't," she said quietly.

"Have you?" I asked.

"No," she shook her. "I mean, I have enough training that I could, but that wasn't ever supposed to be my job. I- I'd rather maybe talk about my story if I get more comfortable with you, but I've never carried more than a knife and a can of mace in my purse for self-protection and haven't ever needed to use either of them."

"Does it bother you that I know?" I asked her.

"I feel like it should, but I don't think it does," Kyla said, pursing her lips a little in thought after she said it. "I just spent the last four years living a secret life, but I've always lived adouble life. You know, which means... I don't know what it means. Which is a first."

"I told Erica," I said. "I wasn't supposed to, I don't think, but she can read me like a book and I didn't want to keep it from her anyways."

Kyla smiled a little. "I could tell," she said. "I only picked up on little things from you because of the way she was acting."

That made me chuckle a little. "Well, at least that's something. I'm not a complete waste."

"So what now?" she asked. "You know that I know that you know. Do we need to set some ground rules or anything?"

"Let's play it by ear, at least today," I said. "As long as you don't do anything to endanger anyone, we should talk again before you make the decision of whether you want to stay with us or not. I'm not sure how long you have before that becomes a problem - Erica and Ivy both got their imprinting within a few hours at our best guess, but Dani had to wait for maybe five or six to imprint with Leo and when she showed up she was a little fuzzy and thought I was him."

"I'll keep that in mind," she nodded. "Any rules about going outside the... this place?"

"We're just calling it the compound," I said. "There aren't, but there's a few hundred construction workers around. We haven't had any issues beyond some catcalling and staring, but generally other than Vanessa the girls have stuck to the compound unless they are with me or Leo. We've got a couple of ATVs and Erica, Leo or I could give you a tour of the property - it's going to change a lot soon, so if you like the forest it's more than worth doing sooner than later. I can also lend you my truck if you ever want to go out into town, but we've tried to minimize that and you probably should wait until you're imprinted and the vaccine is fully working."

Kyla nodded along, and when I wound down she smiled a little again. "You know, you talk a lot," she said.

That made me laugh. "I think you might be the first person to ever say that to me," I said. "Usually I'm the quiet guy in a group."

"Tall, dark and brooding?" Kyla asked, and then fanned herself with one hand as she smirked playfully. "Just my type."

"We good, at least for now?" I asked her, standing up.

"We are," she nodded, standing and then offering her hand for me to shake. "It's good to meet you, Harrison. For what it's worth, you seem like a decent person."

"You too, Kyla," I said, shaking her hand, and then I smiled and winked. "So far."

We left the RV and soon we were in the midst of a swarm of introductions. Kyla was taken under the wing of Erica, who gave me a look like she wanted all the details of our conversation immediately but knew it had to wait. Meanwhile, Dani brought Aria over to meet me.

Leo's new partner was as pale as Dani was, but a little taller and curvier in a similar way to Erica. She had softly ginger hair that looked like it had probably been neatly trimmed at her shoulders before quarantine but had already grown out a bit. She was pretty without being a classic beauty or Instagram face, but she exuded light sexuality simply because of the way her big tits pressed out against what would have been an otherwise demure t-shirt. She wasn't showing any cleavage, and her high-waisted jean shorts were downright modest compared to what I'd gotten used to Erica, Ivy and Dani wearing around in the early summer heat. She also had a flash of navy tattoos peeking out from one sleeve, and multiple pretty-looking piercings in each ear.

"Harri is like my sexy big brother," Dani said, stepping into a side hug with me after introducing us.

"I don't think those words should be going together," I said as I rolled my eyes at her. "And Ihave a sister and she isn't nearly as free with the nudity around me as you are, and I like it that way."

Dani scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue playfully. "Deal with it."

Aria laughed at the banter between us. "Well, I don't know about allthat," she said. "But from what I understand, India and I have you to thank for our luxury digs, and a brand new house sometime in the future?"

"Yes, sort of. But it's a long story. Let's do a campfire tonight and we'll tell you and your partner and Kyla all at once," I said.

"She's gorgeous," Aria said, looking over at the Filipina. "How are you not jumping her bones already?"

"We felt it was better she try to get acclimated a bit first," I said.

"A good fucking will get her acclimated quickly," Dani smirked.

"Careful, that first orgasm is a big one," Aria snickered.

"What's a big one?" India asked, sliding into the conversation by sneaking up behind Aria and wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "I heard the dirty tone in your voice, but not the joke. So I'm going to assume you're either talking about dicks or tits."

"Orgasms, actually," Aria laughed and turned to kiss India on the cheek.

India was the tanner of the two, and where Aria was that natural pretty she was the Instagram Influencer kind of attractive. Her face was that ridiculously symmetrical, perfectly formed genetic lottery that made me wonder what parts of her were 'customized' in some way. Her skin tone was from tanning more than any natural darkness, and she wore her light brunette hair in a messy array of braids, loose strands and dreadlocks that gave her an immediate 'dirty hippy girl' vibe. She was shorter than Aria, but just as curvy as revealed by the red bikini top showing off a swathe of cleavage along with an Illuminati tattoo right between her breasts and several more designs along her collarbone. The fact that she seemed to be wearing the same style of modest shorts as Aria was cute and made me wonder if they'd coordinated the look.

"Well, that happens to be one of my favourite topics," India giggled.

Dani introduced me again, and then Ivy came to join our conversation as Dani slipped away to meet Kyla and talk with Erica and Leo.

Second-breakfasts were prepared, or rather I fired up the grill and put a pan on it, then made a big breakfast mash reheating the food I'd set out for Leo and his girls and adding in some more eggs, breakfast sausage and a mess of cheese. It was sloppy, it was greasy, and it was delicious.

As I was cooking and eating I couldn't help but smile to myself, watching our weird family interacting with each other. Ivy was trading stories with India and Aria about funny experiences as sex workers - Ivy hadn't ever had sex for money, but she'd dealt with plenty of the same kinds of guys as the two former sugar babies. Dani was talking with Kyla about growing up moving back and forth out of the States, with Leo listening in and asking questions occasionally. Erica slipped in beside me at the grill, sliding her hand up the back of my shirt to rub my bare skin with her hand.

"Hey babe," she said, softly scratching my back.

"Hello, gorgeous," I said and leaned over to kiss her.

She accepted with a smile, but then slid her lips from mine and pulled me down a little more to whisper. "How did it go?"

"Fine," I whispered back. "But she knows we know. It's fine for now though. I'll explain more later?"

"OK," she nodded, then kissed me again. Her fingernails dug a little more into the small of my back as she bit her lower lip. "We should take a drive out to the spring pond this afternoon."

I agreed, and she slipped away to text Vanessa to come for an early lunch if she could. Vanessa snuck away from work for a few minutes, popping in to say hello and introduce herself around. She grabbed a couple of breakfast sausages and a kiss from me.

"You OK, big guy?" she asked as she munched quickly.

"I am," I said, and then slid my hand into the back pocket of her work jeans and grabbed her butt. "You know, I'm still sorry about you tripping into this, but I'm really happy you're here?"

Vanessa chewed on the corner of her lip for a moment as she looked at me and smiled, then rolled her eyes and went up on her booted tip-toes to kiss me again. "I'm happy with it too, you sappy suck. I'm gonna need you to man up here again soon though or I'll think I've made a mistake. You're supposed to be the rugged mountain man dreamboat."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "Should I go chop down a tree or something? Go hunt down an elk and kill it with my bare hands to bring back to the campfire?"

"Something like that," she smirked.

I got a little closer and spoke quieter. "What if I just throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the RV so that I can have my way with you?"

"Uungh," she groaned, flushing just a little as she breathed deeply. "See, that's fucking hot. But I don't have the time and now I'm about to go back to work with wet panties and it's your fault."

I squeezed her ass a little firmer through her jeans, making her giggle and then pull away. Then she grabbed one last breakfast sausage off my plate and waved goodbye to everyone as she went back out of the compound to work.

The girls took over cleaning up, and shortly after we had one of the surveyors ringing on the door bell asking for a walkaround down in the southeast area since the tree-clearing crews were about ready to go to work there. I pawned it off on Leo, who didn't need any more convincing than a glance from his sister, and he went off. Erica excused herself from the girls and I noticed a wink exchanged between her and Dani, and Ivy reached behind her back to touch fingers with Erica as she moved by.

"Why do I think you have something planned?" I asked her as she was heading into the RV.

"Because I do," she grinned. She was already up on the step to get in, and she leaned down to peck my lips. "I'll be ten minutes. Meet you at the ATV."

When she did join me, she was followed out of the compound by a bunch of 'Oooh!'s and catcalls from the girls, and I could immediately see why. She'd gone all out with her makeup. To be fair, it hadn't been all that long since that last time she'd done herself up - it had been just over two weeks since she'd come back into the house after being vaccinated and had wanted to do it for our first time together when she imprinted. But in those two weeks she hadn't had the time, or inclination, to go all out which meant that even Ivy and Dani hadn't seen her like this. She'd gone further though, dressing in one of my old band t-shirts she'd claimed for herself. She'd ripped off the sleeves and cut down the sides to make larger arm holes. At the time she said it would let her see my muscles when I wore it, but now I could see at also showed off her curves and the sides of the black and red bra she was wearing. She'd matched the shirt with a mix of necklaces, bracelets and rings, along with ripped jean shorts and a pair of beaten-up black cowboy boots, and she had a leather purse over one shoulder. She looked for all the world like the queen of a punk rock concert venue.

"You wow me," I said, already sitting on the ATV.

"I know I do," she grinned as she swaggered over to me. She planted a steaming kiss on me, then grinned again and wiped some of her lipstick off my lower lip with a thumb.

Erica settled in behind me, hugging me close, and we took a leisurely route up to the spring pond at the back of the property. It was a nice drive, though as we took a couple of trails I hadn't been using for my 'security tours' I realized more progress than I thought had been going on. There were more tree-clearing teams than I'd thought there were, and a maze of wide trails that would become roads was forming quickly. Piles of logs and brush were getting processed, and I wondered how many of the old trees that were getting cut down would show back up in the framing for the houses that were going to be built. I hoped most of them - it would be a fitting circle that would make me feel a lot better about the whole thing, and would feel like a recall back to when my ancestors built their first home when they bought the claim for the land.

When we arrived at the spring I shut off the ATV and Erica slipped down first, pulling me over to a sunny area near the pond. She let go of my hand and stepped away, turning to give me a look.

"What?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I love you, Harri," she said.

"I know," I replied, smiling but trying to figure out what was going on. "I love you too. It hasn't been long, but it feels like it's been forever with us."

She smiled and nodded, then took a deep breath. "I wanted to do this before things get even crazier. When Ivy joined us, it was kind of sudden but it was good. But she also started us on this crazy rollercoaster, and now you've got three and soon four women who you're going to be with.I'm sharing you with three women, and we haven't really talked about that."

I sighed and nodded, scratching at my beard in frustration at myself. "You're right. It's definitely something we need to talk about. Things have just been-"

"No, babe," she interrupted me. "This isn't a hard conversation. I'm not- I'm OK with all of this, at least in terms of how things are shaping up so far. I just want to make sure that you and I don't... disconnect. I know the sex is one thing, but I didn't like you all these years because of sex."

I stepped towards her and pulled her into a hug, which she held with me for a long time. She ended it by finding my lips and kissing me softly, then stepping away.

"So," she said. "This is what I'm thinking. The crews are going to get up here sooner than later, which means we won't be able to use it privately for much longer." Then Erica pulled her shirt over her head and started unbuckling her shorts. "So I would like you, my lover, to go into my purse, please."

I raised an eyebrow but followed her direction, going back to the ATV where she left her purse and opening it, finding my sketchbook and my little metal case of charcoal sticks. When I turned back around, a question on my lips, Erica was completely naked and laying on a patch of grass right next to the spring pond, smiling demurely at me.

"If I'm going to be your muse, I figured I should do it right," she said.

We talked as I sketched her. I told her about the conversation with Kyla first. Then we talked about India and Ivy, and about Vanessa and her feelings about having feelings. And then we talked about us. I burned through a half dozen sheets of my sketchbook, and Erica moved through a few different poses. None of them were lewd - no one would see the sketches and think they hadn't come from a human body nude art class.

My favourite sketch was Erica in the pond, her arms up on the edge of the rocky rim and her eyes softly closed as her breasts just peeked out from the edge of the water. We talked about the future while I was sketching her like that. About what our relationship could look like. Could we get married in the future? We both wanted to. What about kids? What did that look like in the current state of the world, and with this flurry of women around us?