I turned, slightly, and saw Maximum standing next to me, her brilliant sword held unwaveringly against my throat. It was shaped a bit like a katana but was straight rather than curved. I knew there was a name for the style, but it escaped me.

“That is an unfriendly reaction. I was invited by Caelo.”

She shook her head, and said, “She did not tell me.” I just looked at her for a few moments before she dropped her sword and returned it to the sheath she held in her left hand. “Yes. She would not have told me. You make a surprising appearance.”

I nodded, “Surprising is sort of my specialty, much as it is yours. I have heard you referred to as both Akiko and as Maximum. May I have the pleasure of your name while I put my pants on?” I asked her, wiggling a little to pull off my waterproof pack.

“It is Akiko, but I am not Maximum. That is what Kjootoo calls me. I permit it because he is a good host.”

“Then what is your name?” I asked her curiously, tugging a pair of sweatpants out of my bag and starting to slip them on. I had been okay before now, but my hypothesis about meta pheromones was strongly supported. Now that I was in her proximity, her slender form wrapped in grays was looking deliciously appealing. Her face was quite lovely, Japanese with an almost European touch, and she was very tiny, a compact, deadly bundle of exotic energy I wanted to lap up like a popsicle.

“Kyokudai.” She answered. “I am known as such among the cultivators of the path of power, what you call metas.”

I nodded, “You know, you kind of have this delightful Japanese mystique going on. I just knew you would call metahumans something much cooler than just metahuman. Cultivators on the path of power. I like it.” She looked at me skeptically, and I grinned, “What does Kyokudai mean?”

She seemed to think about it for a moment, “The Utmost, the extreme, the very top of possibility?”

I nodded, “So it means maximum?”

She nodded, and then cracked a hint of a smile. Ohh, sense of humor spotted, target acquired.

“Well, I much prefer Kyokudai over Maximum, it’s much prettier.”

She nodded to me, “That is because English is an ugly language.”

I raised an eyebrow as I tugged the sweatpants on and hid the fact that I found her more than attractive right at this moment. “I don’t know if I agree with that. English has its moments. Not like French, of course, where you could be cursing someone out and they think you are trying to convince them to go to bed with you, but it still has its moments.”

She nodded, “I could argue, but even Russia has a few beautiful words, and they really have to struggle for it.”

I shrugged and started pulling on a tank top.

“Why are you unclothed?” She asked. “Was it only because you assumed I would be here, and less likely to kill you if you were obviously unarmed?”

I smiled a little evilly, “Was I unarmed?”

She coughed a little, and shook her head, “If I didn’t recognize you, I would have struck to kill.”

I grinned even wider, “And what part of me did you recognize so quickly?”

She blushed and then finally answered, “Your profile.”

I chuckled a little, “Do you remember what happened to my clothes when Hyde came out to play?”

She nodded.

“That is why.”

“Is Hyde… coming out to play again?” She said looking concerned.

I shook my head, “Not unless I call for him. Hyde does not appear unless I need him, and I don’t think I need him now, I may not need him at all for some time.” I answered, somewhat truthfully. I was no more likely to tell her how I brought out that part of my personality than I would anyone else, because, as I had noted to Kjootoo, three people can keep a secret if two of them were dead. Letting anyone know that it took alcohol to bring him to the surface was showing a weakness I doubt I could afford.

She nodded looking relieved. “Good. I did not want to make love to him. I think I would have died, but I do not know if I would have been strong enough to force him to stop.”

I nodded, “That’s why he didn’t insist.”

“You know what he thinks?”

I nodded again, “Of course. Hyde is me. I simply don’t think as deeply or have as many limitations when I am like that.”

“So you wanted to make love to me?” She asked.

I chuckled, “Any man that looks at you would want to make love to you. You are very beautiful. You are also very dangerous, so many men would be scared of admitting it.”

She shook her head and turned to head back to the main superstructure, offering a wave for me to follow her. “Then why are you not scared to admit it?” She asked curiously.

“Well, when I was Hyde, it was because I didn’t think you could hurt me. Perhaps you could have, but Hyde is very hard to hurt. I am hard to hurt as well, but not as much as I am when I am Hyde.”

She nodded, “So you do not think I could hurt you either?”

I shook my head, “Of course, I think you could, I just think you will choose not to. I have not harmed you, and you know I think you are very beautiful. You have no reason to harm me.”

She shook her head again, “I have reasons. There is still a very large bounty, and I have killed men for far less reason and money.”

I nodded, “Well, you had your chance a few moments ago, and you did not take it. Either you are not motivated by the bounty, for whatever reason, or you have another more important reason. Of course, my ego would like to think that you have been thinking about what it would be like to make love to me, after Hyde’s question, but I think it is much more likely that it is whatever reason Caelo asked me to come here, as well as my relationship with her and Kjootoo that stays your blade.”

She seemed to take a few moments to puzzle out the statement and then simply said, “Yes.”

“Yes to which?”

She smiled mysteriously and opened the door. “Just yes. You deserve some heavy thought after the thoughts you put me through.”

Grr. I inwardly growled. What did yes mean? Yes, she valued her relationships more? Yes, she was intrigued by Hyde’s request, or yes, she wanted me to throw her over a bollard and find out if I could make her go blind? Damned stereotype, I think Asian women went out of their way to be enigmatic and inscrutable, just because they knew we were conditioned to accept the stereotype. I know the guy that used to come train UFC fighters in Kenpo would laugh and spend hours with me and Jim coming up with mysterious-sounding phrases over pizza to keep the fighters on their toes. I wonder how many fighters knew that the phrase, A brave man uses his fear as fuel to feed his body and spirit was spouted by Jim while laughing and spraying cheese and pepperoni halfway across the table?

She had disappeared, so I was going to maintain my own mysteries. She did not need to know that I had taught myself Japanese a decade earlier so that I could understand the cartoons that held my fascination. Learning was what I did best, and languages were always weirdly easy for me. I had suspected for years that the translations were hiding things from me, and I was right. In the original Japanese a lot of the plots in anime were sillier and more incomprehensible than the translations gave them credit for, and I stopped watching them.

Caelo finally entered the lounge, passing through the weatherproof plastic sheeting and smiling at me. I smiled back and stood, pulling out one of the deck chairs for her to sit.

She was wearing a cute little white tee-shirt with a picture of a kitten looking confused on it, and I realized that it was quite sheer, probably something she slept in. She noticed my glance and smiled a little broader as I noticed that she was shaped very much like her dream version, tiny perky breasts and large nipples crinkling visibly beneath the fabric as she caught me looking. It was a far cry from her earlier formality, especially with the soft shorts she added to the ensemble that looked mismatched like she had thrown them on to avoid padding out here in panties.

She looked at me curiously and then held out her hand. After a moment I placed my own, much larger hand over hers and caught a thought at the back of my mind.

She is glad you came, and quickly. She is wondering if there is another reason you came so quickly after our dream?

I chuckled a little, “I came quickly after our dream because a lovely young lady named Aquantis was working very hard to make sure I did so while I was asleep. You are a terribly effective tease, even in a dream, and I am afraid I may have caught her by surprise.” I intentionally misunderstood her statement.

She is afraid Tino is going to be terribly disappointed. He has convinced himself that you are desperately waiting for him to rescue you from a life of intolerant bigotry.

I sighed a little, “I think I will let you explain to Tino that my instincts are strictly straight. Not that he isn’t a beautiful man, but part of my gift drives me towards women, especially meta women.

She wonders if you are only interested in her because she is a meta now?

I shook my head, “No, you are also sweet and lovely, which I imagine requires some effort to maintain on your part due to your father’s varied investment portfolio.

Her father thinks of her as a child still, he wants her to be happy, but she has not been a child for a very long time. Her father is very protective, and tries too hard to shield her from the reality she was forced to accept when she watched her mother being disassembled before her eyes. She loves her father and wishes she could speak to assure him of her competence, but her voice and her words will not step together.

I nodded, “I get it, I really do. You truly have a lovely voice, if the dream was any indication. Perhaps we might take things farther at some time if you wish. I have already spoken with Aquantis about you, and she wants to meet you.”

She thinks that Aquantis would not approve of her if she knew who her father was. Aquantis and her father have a poor history if it is the green-tinged vigilante she has seen before.

I shrugged, “She knows who you are, but she has moved her territory. I won’t tell you where, because that might make her unsafe if your father holds grudges. His tactics for dealing with those he deems a threat are rather well known.

She loves her father, but she thinks he listens to his Loas too often, they are a ruthless, unforgiving, and unchanging lot from a blood-soaked time of slavery and barbarism. She knows blood must be shed occasionally to allow some to live in peace, but does not approve of the lengths her father chooses to go to and believes that he alienates potential allies by inspiring too much terror.

I nodded, “I tend to agree with you. His sovereignty demands respect from the other umm… monarchs of the edge, but the lengths he goes to sometimes forces an unwarranted response because they need respect as much as he does. That leads to escalations that could have been avoided. It’s like torture. Torture will certainly work to discourage betrayal, but it also tends to encourage betrayers that are not as afraid of the consequences.

She smiled and nodded, and then looked deeply into my eyes.

She would like to know if you would like to continue what was interrupted during our dream, only without the distance and the massive power drain that forced such a premature ending? She found the experience initially intimidating, but on further thought, it was also exciting, pleasurable, and fascinating. She does not have the energy to spend more than a few moments in the dream, however.

I smiled a little, “Unless you plan on a shotgun wedding, I think it would be a bad idea to do that here, even though I have similar interests. I assume that is not the only reason you asked me here?

She stopped smiling and nodded seriously.

She agrees. Her father has convinced himself that you are the one strong enough to keep her safe and that any excuse to tie me to you would be desirable. She does not want to be married and pregnant before she has had a chance to live, her mother saw the world and lived in it before she chose to come to Haiti and marry her father. She wishes to do the same and cherish the memories. She will kiss you though, soon, if only to shut you up as she threatened to do before.

I grinned, “I truly look forward to it.”

She needs your help. Someone she considers a friend is in a terrible situation, and it is a situation that may require Hyde’s intervention.

I nodded slowly as she changed the message once again.

She fears that you may not willingly listen to the request because of its source. Her ally Kyokudai has already offered to assist, but Kyokudai is a great single warrior and assassin, a killer and a bodyguard, and is not equipped to handle a rescue in the face of concentrated resistance without dying. Her ally is stealthy but not bulletproof.

I nodded, “That makes sense, but you know that Hyde is a loose cannon, right? If it’s a hostage situation, he might leave the hostages in worse shape than their kidnappers would.”

She smiled and patted my hand, and then glanced both ways and winked at me.

She saw Hyde restrain himself, and she trusts that you would not allow Hyde to get out of hand under the circumstances. Hyde does not desire children?

“Oh god no!” I said, “I don’t know how protective I will be, but no way. I can try, and I don’t know if I can succeed even as Hyde, but in the end, he’s me. I doubt very much he will allow a child to be hurt unless he forgets that they are there.”

She believes in you but again must ask you to restrain yourself when you meet the person requesting the assistance. Please give her your word?

I had a sneaking suspicion, but I nodded. “I agree. But you can tell her that if she pumps me full of electricity again, all bets are off. That shit really hurt. She will owe me big time for not kicking her ass for selling me, and double for helping with this.”

She sees you understand who it is, and is glad it will not come as a surprise. Her friend was a transporter for the Sanjira Cartel and tried to leave to keep the boy out of their grasp. Her friend was desperate and paid the ransom to Copperhead.

I nodded, “And when I popped the Copper-top, she was suddenly out of the money she needed to buy her way free of the cartel because they had no way of getting to it. So now she’s back to working for them, in order to keep her son safe, and has no way out.”

She is glad you understand, but would like to point out that the boy is not the woman’s son, but the son of her sister, who died in a bad way. Her friend has a stronger connection to the boy than even a natural mother would have because he is both her lost little sister, as well as the son she cannot have due to the common sterility of metahumans. Her friend’s meta name is not Victrix, but Vectress, the other name being assumed while volunteering as a vigilante.

I nodded, “I will do this, but I cannot say I will forgive her. Her powers may not be her fault, but she shocked me the exact same way that the guards who used to entertain themselves by filling me with juice used to. I would normally not get all shitty about this, but I am going to be on the outs with the DMA soon, she will really owe me, and I expect her to be my eyes, ears, and hands until she can pay it off. I won’t separate her from the kid, or threaten or harm him in any way, but the DMA are eventually going to label me as a bad guy, and she has one of the best getaway powers I have ever seen.

I shrugged, “If she can agree to that, we can work it out. But if she stabs me in the back, I can only promise I will find a good home for the boy after her funeral.”

She thinks that you will have to tell her that yourself. While she finds it laughable to assume that her father could somehow discover Aquantis’ location from her, it also means she cannot tell Vectress your demands. She knows that Vectress is aboard, and will bring her to you. She believes that even if the DMA labels you a supervillain, you are a good man, with very good hands.

She smiled at me, and I got up and pulled out her seat a little. As she got to her feet she held my hand for a moment, and then turned my hand around and placed it on her breast, licking her lips teasingly and then pulling away.

Dammit. I did not want to face this woman horny. Hopefully, it would be a while, or it might turn to rage, and enraged is a poor place to stand for a negotiation.

Caelo returned a few minutes later, and I removed my shirt and tucked it into my pack. The sweat pants might survive if I had to let Hyde out, but the shirt would be a loss, and I only brought the one set of clothes with me.

Caelo lifted the edge of the weatherproofing, and an attractive brunette slipped under the weatherproof sheeting. She was dressed fairly conservatively rather than in the hooker chic she had been affecting at the Defender meet and greet, a soft green top, stretch jeans, gold-rimmed glasses with a minor prescription, and a fairly nice set of pumps. Under different circumstances, I might have considered the black-hearted bitch someone I wanted to get closer to, with a rather voluptuous build, slender waist, small shoulders, and slender, clever-looking hands.

She looked a little confused, and when Caelo made a beckoning motion with her hand towards me, she looked me up and down. “Are you the one that might be able to help me? I cannot pay, but Caelo knew that when I asked her for help.”

I nodded, I guess she didn’t recognize me. “Yes. But I am expecting to be repaid eventually. You have to make a sacrifice, you see. I already have.”

She looked a little confused but then resigned. “I see. If that’s what you want in return for getting my boy free, then I will be happy to pay.” She looked me up and down then, appraisingly, “It might even be fun.” She licked her lips.

I shook my head, “Bitch, I’d sooner fuck Tino. You already owe me. This is just going to stack on top.” I knew I was radiating anger, and I stayed seated because I was pretty sure she’d react violently to either attack me or portal out if she felt that threatened.

She glared at me, “You work for the Cartels? Fine, I guess an inside job works better than a frontal assault. So what is it you want, if not ass or money?”

I shook my head and looked reproachfully at Caelo, who just shrugged helplessly. I knew she couldn’t tell her, but I was hoping this didn’t end violently. Yet. “No, I don’t work for the fucking cartels. I am the guy you sold like a fucking slave trader. That’s why you owe me twice. The only reason you aren’t dead yet is because you are Caelo’s friend and you have a kid that is depending on you, but even that might not be a good idea, since the cartels might do a better job of raising him than a traitorous bitch like you.”

Her eyes went wide, “Wait, you are that Alchemyst guy?”

I shook my head. “My name is Louis, not Alchemyst. I hate that stupid name. As I said, Caelo considers you her friend, but my price for helping you is going to be hell to pay. I care for her quite a bit, and she both asked me personally and is willing to trade in a favor for my help. I won’t take the favor, but you are going to pay it off instead, that and the price of shocking the living crap out of me and kidnapping and selling me.”

She was looking at me guardedly, “How do I know you can help? And what is your price?”

I sighed and shook my head. “Caelo, did she see the video?”

Caelo nodded her head and then looked between me and Vectress.

Vectress’ eyes were wide, “Wait, you were the ogre that was using Totem like a weed whacker?”

I nodded, just a little bit pleased. I was not happy about what I had done, exactly, but the endless euphemisms were really amusing.

She sighed. “Okay, I withdraw my question about your abilities. Now your price.”

“You are my bitch.” I said pointedly. At the opening of her mouth, I interrupted her. “No, not my sex toy. I wouldn’t touch you with someone else’s dick. No. You will fetch, carry, run errands, teleport me, and if you have some other non-superpower skills you will use them on my behalf, even if that means doing my taxes or my dishes.”

“You will be my slave. I won’t be getting along with the DMA soon, and they may label me a supervillain. I won’t force you to commit any crimes other than an unwilling accessory, and I won’t get in the way of you raising the kid or threaten to mess with him or anything, I don’t hurt children. I will even cover for you if I go down, but in all other ways, when I tell you to do something, you jump. I need a teleporter, maybe badly, and I find myself in the position of being able to demand what I want.”

“I am very angry with you, and you are my bitch until you, personally, can come up with twenty million dollars, exactly four times what you got for selling me. I am not a loan shark, I don’t need or care about the money, and I won’t pester you or charge interest. But if you run or stab me in the back or try to sell me out to the DMA or Proteus, I swear that things will go badly for you. The only real promise I will make is that I will find him a good home after I catch you.”

I held up a hand to forestall her objection again. “If you rip someone off to get the money, kill someone, or otherwise hurt normal people, the price doubles. Someday I might let you pay it off, but for right now it’s only an excuse I am using not to rip off your arms and beat you to death with them. And before you think you can use your powers to get away or shock me again, I am not as vulnerable anymore. I won’t put a collar on you, because that’s something I only do to people I like, but if you stay you can raise your kid safely, and if you run I will find you. I will not negotiate, and that is the only deal I am offering, got it?”

I noticed that Akiko had appeared part way through my rant and was looking at me speculatively, but I didn’t lay off. Vectress was hot, but in the end, she was just another Paul in a big-tittied skin suit.

Vectress looked at me with almost a sneer on her face. “Is that it?” She asked.

I shook my head. “Almost. None of that passive-aggressive bullshit either, or I will literally put you over my knee. And you will take it because you have to. Now that is it. I don’t want to hear an argument, or an attempt to negotiate, or even you trying to figure out a slippery way to add some kind of clause that will get you out of it. A simple yes or no. Yes, and I go risk my life to save your boy, and you are mine. No, and you better hope you can create a portal faster than my foot can reach your ass, because you are near the top of my shit list, right above the first person that sold me like a slave, and right after the horsefucking son of a bitch that murdered my family.”

I sighed. “Say yes or run your choice. Any other words to me will count as a no.” I wasn’t kidding when I said horsefucking. Rainbow was an icon but was well known to be undiscriminating in his tastes for flesh. There was a rumor, backed up by some pretty well-established facts, that he had deflowered a dancing mule once in Mexico while under the influence of meta-class intoxicants. The mule hadn’t survived the experience.

Damned pheromones. Proximity to three meta women was getting to me, and since I couldn’t just ravish any of them, it was getting channeled into aggravation.

Vectress was taking her sweet time coming to a decision, and I scooted my chair back to get into position. After another second, she answered “Yes.”

We spent about 40 minutes while I pried the information I’d need out of Vectress. A couple of times she started getting a little snarky, but a warning glance made her school her expression. I was very serious about smacking the crap out of her if she tried to pull that passive-aggressive shit on me, and she was in no position to argue. Of course, with this many meta girls around, I wanted to put either Akiko or Caelo over my knee for entirely different reasons.

Unlike many criminal groups, the cartels were at their busiest during the day, battened down the hatches, and were vastly more secure at night. They had actual farms to run, slaves to keep track of, and shipping concerns to care for, and all those business concerns were vastly easier to deal with in daylight. At night, they became a heavily armed and fortified fortress, with guns and signal towers and even the occasional meta patrolling and looking for intruders. Why? Because of the DEA.

For some reason, the DEA and local police and armed forces always chose to raid at night, when they were at their wariest and most defended. The DEA couldn’t do it without local support, and the locals weren’t too keen on making themselves targets for retribution, so the reduced visibility at night was considered the best plan.

The various special projects, hostages for blackmail, and at least one meta mercenary were kept at a small defunct resort in Puerto Vallarta. Vectress knew about it because she was a courier, it was a favored location for the most reliable method of transporting small, valuable packages across borders. Her range was fairly long, over 500 miles, and she was often sending small batches of specialty items such as meta-tech weapons, small-batch drugs, and meta-level narcotics, and personnel to and from the location. It was also where her son and several other high-value targets were being held, and where she would go to visit him for an hour every two weeks. He was less than a year old, so we had to assume there was some kind of nurse, but the facility sounded suspiciously similar to the one where I was forced to work for a year.

Copperhead was not the leader of the cartel, simply one of its more powerful meta enforcers, and there was very little chance we could cut the head off of the snake, but it was a possibility. I would move in as a distraction, destroying as much as possible, while Kyokudai cleared out any sentries or leadership she could take out cleanly. Once it was possible to get them safely, Kyokudai would signal Vectress to open a portal and they would move the hostages, as many as possible, in two hops to San Antonio. Once there, the US marshals could be called and allowed to deal with them, however, except for Vectress’ boy, who would go with me and her back to Detroit.

I told Vectress in no uncertain terms that she would keep her mouth shut about the deal once we were in Detroit. Weirdly, after the warring emotions on her face during our first negotiation, she simply agreed in a decidedly demure fashion. Her financial situation would be a little unclear, but I would take care of things until she could figure out a less hazardous way of making money for her and her charge. Our raid would happen tomorrow.

Akiko followed me as we finally left the dining area. I had been around the three for too long and had been hoping to clear my head a little, but she had joined me anyway, and I surreptitiously took a position upwind of her. It was either that or tackle her behind the boat davit. I wasn’t sure that she’d appreciate it, and I was not a rapist.

“You are one of the strangest men I have ever met.” She said, leaning against the side of the davit as I took deep, refreshing breaths of the night air. It was getting close to four AM, and I knew a few hours of sleep would do me good. That and food, but I wasn’t going to ask Caelo to wake up the ship’s cooking staff just to fill my gaping maw.

“How do you mean?” I asked her curiously.

She unwrapped the top of her gray blouse and exposed her collarbone to the air. It had been rather stressful and at this latitude, the night was almost overly warm, even on the water. “Well, you make some of the most honest threats I have ever heard. I could tell that every single word you said you meant completely. I could threaten to take someone’s head off and mean it, and they wouldn’t take the threat half as seriously as when you said you would put your foot in her ass.”

I nodded, “I did mean them. My brother Paul sold me to the cartels too, and they had me cooking for them with a gun to my head for almost a year. If I had the time, I would break my foot off so far up inside his ass that he would be eating foot fungus for a year.”

She laughed. “I have a nose too. You probably have never had foot fungus in your life, and I can see even from here that you are itching to get to the showers and wash off some salt. I am surprised you haven’t made an excuse yet.”

I shrugged, “I came in because Caelo told me it was an emergency.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Caelo asked? All she was able to let me know was that someone would be here tonight, by pointing at the deck and tapping at her watch. I need to know how you managed that.”

I shrugged a little, “I am like one of those isekai harem heroes. I gain a psychic bond with every woman I have sex with, and eventually, when I collect enough I will have a power over nine thousand.”

At her weird look, I shook my head, “That was a joke. Seriously though, my main power is like a healer. I can gain an insight into someone’s physical and mental conditions by touching them, and then use that to create concoctions that can heal them, cure most diseases, and in some cases even boost their powers a little or help them break through to a new power level if something physical or mental is holding them back. That’s why I have a bounty. Everyone and their brother thinks they can make me some kind of permanent slave to eternally crank out buff potions for them. It is apparently a very valuable service, even though it doesn’t work the way they think it does. I mean, sure, they can buff up, and then have a heart attack in a year when the bill comes due. Making disposable slaves isn’t my thing.”

“Caelo has figured out how to manipulate my analysis to send me coded messages, which lets me sort of talk to her even though she cannot talk. When she contacted me, I knew she needed my help. It’s pretty simple.” It was also pretty simply not the whole truth, but Akiko didn’t need to know the rest.

She nodded, “That’s what I mean. I am used to the carrot and the stick, but you held out in one hand the stick, her and her son being hunted forever by a vengeful creature out of her worst nightmares. And with the other hand, the carrot of her greatest dreams coming true.” She shook her head in confusion.

“Her greatest dreams coming true?” I asked. “It looked to me like two sticks, a prod, and a buggy whip.”

She shook her head, “Seriously? I thought you had some way of peering into her heart. The reason she got involved with the cartels is that she was seduced into it. The reason she kidnapped you was that she was manipulated into it. I was very surprised to learn that she was willing to go to her best and only friend, Caelo, and offer you to her instead since it was most uncharacteristic.”

I must have looked utterly baffled, because she smiled a little, “Oh my goodness. You just stumbled onto it, didn’t you? She is very submissive. She is drawn to strong, commanding men, and she is fairly masochistic as well. You took away her choices and then handed her her dreams. Protection, command, and safety while offering a vague bit of fear to make her weak at the knees, and then you offered to support her until she was self-sufficient and made it clear you would be controlling her money and that she had no way out. When you said you would put her over your knee if she backtalked, she almost came and was tempted to backtalk just to see if you were serious. If you had made her call you master, she WOULD have come.”

She shook her head, “It was confusing. I mean, you made it clear you hated her, and then gave her exactly what she wanted. Even the way you spoke was enough to drive her crazy. People don’t talk that way to metas, especially metas that are known to have dangerous ranged attacks like her lightning.” She tapped her chest. “You were radiating righteous anger, ownership and protectiveness, and barely-leashed sexual energy, and it had both Caelo and Vectress wriggling, and it even had me going a little. It is a very seductive combination in a male, and I thought you were doing it on purpose.”

She chuckled a little, “When I followed you out here I was half-convinced you were going to drag me behind this boat and have your way with me. I was almost looking forward to it, and while I am not a submissive like her, I don’t think I would have stopped you.” She took a deep breath of the air, which seemed to clear things up a bit. “Now I would, but only because I don’t know you very well, but you seem calmer somehow.”

I chuckled and shook my head, ignoring the loud growling of my hunger. “Let me tell you about pheromones.”