As the old castle came into view around the shoulder of the mountain, Fenrir had to resist the urge to break into a run. Apparently he was more excited to see his succubi again than he had thought, but then he had good reason to be. It had already been a month, and more had happened to him in that brief time frame than in some entire years of his previous life. And there was always the lurking worry that something had happened to them, despite his own judgement telling him that even if something they couldn't handle came sniffing around the castle, they were smart enough to make themselves scarce.

  'Figuring out runeworking has got to be my top priority. The next time I make a long excursion like this, I want to be able to stay in contact with the people that stay at the castle.' His thoughts turned briefly to the magical telegraph safely tucked away in his pouch. 'As it turned out, we didn't end up using them after all, but I'm alright with that considering they were an emergency-use tool in the first pce.'

  They had made surprisingly good time on their way up the pass; the horses had not needed to stop for rest as often as Fenrir was expecting. Perhaps Flint had gone to the trouble of getting the best horses possible; Fenrir didn't know much about horseflesh, but they certainly looked like fine specimens. Either way, their endurance meant that the party passed through the gates of the castle te in the afternoon rather than te in the evening.

  As Fenrir passed into the castle courtyard, an ear-piercing whistle sounded from the far end, near the door that led to the kitchens. The direwolf tensed, immediately on the alert, and the next moment a blob of sky-blue slime unched itself across the courtyard at him in long eager bounces. At first he thought the slime meant to attack him, but as it got closer he discarded the idea. Instinctually he felt that the amorphous creature meant him no harm, even as it closed the distance with impressive rapidity.

  It smmed into his midsection, burbling happily, and Fenrir caught and held it in his arms, feeling the strangest sense of warmth towards the little creature. It maintained its spherical shape surprisingly well, wobbling like a getinous beach ball but surprisingly dry on its surface despite its liquid-like internal movement.

  "Is that a... slime?" Kira asked, calming her horse with a little effort. She had been riding the lead horse, beside which Fenrir had been walking, and it had shied away from the rapid approach of the slime with a frightened snort.

  He looked it over with God's Eye.

  [Unnamed]Slime Lvl 1Abilities: AbsorbDisposition Towards User:is happy to see him - instinctually feels he is to be obeyed

  "Looks like it." Internally he wondered, 'Is this one of Aimi's children? I impregnated her with slimes, after all, and it would expin this sort of bond I feel with the little guy. But I would have thought Aimi would have named it.'

  He was pulled from his thoughts by another cry at the far end of the courtyard, and gncing towards the source of the noise revealed Nelith dashing towards them. Behind her came Aimi, and both Lilli and Violetta followed, though at a more sedate pace due to Lilli's rge belly. The slime in Fenrir's arms bounced up onto his shoulder, which freed his hands just in time for them to be filled with overjoyed succubi. Nelith hugged him close for a bit, then pushed away to look him over, while Aimi took advantage of the extra room to fully monopolize Fenrir's hug.

  "We were getting worried," Nelith said. "You said you'd be gone for a few weeks, but it's already been a little over a month."

  "Yes, we had quite a few adventures. Our little scouting trip went sideways fast, I'm afraid, but we came out the other side in one piece, and we even gained some new allies. How did you do here? -You can ease up, Aimi, I'm not going anywhere."

  Aimi chose to ignore this admonition in favor of continuing to attempt to meld her body into Fenrir's. "You're gonna fuck me soon, right? You made me go a whole month without any cock, and it's been torture."

  "Soon, sure," Fenrir grinned. "But not right now, so you can stop trying to get me hard."

  Aimi pouted and released him. "Fine. But don't wait too long."

  By this time Lilli and Violetta had come up, and the traveling party was all within the courtyard and dismounting. Violetta maintained her distance, but Lilli approached Fenrir for her own hug, murmuring as she did so, "Welcome back, Master. I'm gd to see you all safe."

  Now that she had an opportunity to get a word in edgewise, Nelith replied, "It was all business as usual here. Nothing bothered us at all, except for the oni. They sent a gift back, and also invited you to visit their vilge. -Oh, Kira, it's good to see you. Is that baby yours?"

  "Yep! Courtesy of the boss here. She's only a couple days old."

  Lilli moved to hug Kira and gush over her baby as Nelith took stock of the rest of Fenrir's party. "Who are all these people?"

  "Some of the new allies I mentioned," Fenrir replied. "Try to make them feel welcome."

  There was another cry from the direction of the castle, and a moment ter the rest of the succubi hurried up. "Master!" Yumiko cried, unching herself into Fenrir's arms. Her own belly was almost as big as Kira's had been just before Penumbra had been born, perhaps even a little rger, but what surprised Fenrir was that only Aimi seemed to have given birth yet.

  Wrapping her in his arms, Fenrir murmured, "Hello, Yumiko. It's good to see you again." He gnced over her shoulder, to where Koreen stood eyeing the embrace with several conflicting emotions on her face. "And you as well, Koreen."

  She jerked, flushed, and oddly, gave a surreptitious gnce towards Nelith. "Yeah, sure, I bet it is." Tearing her eyes from them, she set about welcoming Kira and Chellise, with several evaluating gnces towards the new girls.

  As introductions and welcomes filled the air around them, Fenrir turned his attention back to the succubus in his arms. "I thought for sure you'd have given birth by now."

  Yumiko shrugged. "I don't really know anything about that; I'm just gd you made it back before I did."

  Fenrir shifted her so she was cradled in one arm and caressed her belly with the opposite hand. "So am I, though after Kira gave birth, I all but gave up hope of making it back in time."

  Yumiko shifted to stare towards the red-haired succubus. "Kira gave birth?"

  "Yep, only a couple of days ago. She had an adorable little direwolf pup we've decided to name Penumbra." Fenrir wove through the confusion of bodies till he found Kira. "See?"

  Lilli had moved on to welcoming Saeko to the castle, and now it was Aimi that was crooning over the little bundle that Kira held. As soon as he set her on her feet, Yumiko joined her. "Do you think my baby will look like her?" she asked, gncing back up to Fenrir.

  "As far as coloring goes it's anyone's guess, but there's a pretty good chance that your baby will be a direwolf, yes."

  Aimi giggled. "I see you've already met one of your other children, though, Master."

  "Hm? Oh, you mean this little guy?" Fenrir reached up and patted the blob of slime still clinging to his shoulder, who burbled happily at the attention. "Yeah, I almost forgot he was there. I take it this is one of your children."

  "Our children. But yeah. There are two others somewhere around here, and I wanted you to be the one to name them all, but you can do that whenever."

  "I see. Well, as it happens, I already have an idea for this one. It's simple, but what do you think of Bubbles?"

  "Bubbles?" Aimi considered the name for a brief moment. "That's perfect, actually. He's the oldest one but he's always been really bubbly and cheerful. What about it? Do you like your new name?"

  The newly christened Bubbles hopped down off Fenrir's shoulder into Aimi's arms, giving a sound not far from a coo as she lightly scratched the top of him.

  Kira made a simir sound at the sight. "He's adorable. You know, for something that doesn't have a face, anyway."

  "Or any discernable features at all," Fenrir agreed.

  Aimi pouted. "Don't be like that! He's got lots of discernable features."

  "Such as?"

  "Well, he's blue, and round, and... bubbly, and... ...blue..." Aimi scowled at them harder as they ughed. "Shut up."

  "Personally, I think he's all personality," Fenrir said, reaching out to give Bubbles some scratches of his own, which the slime accepted with obvious delight. "Blue, round, and bubbly's enough for me."

  Kira stifled her ughter long enough to say, "It's okay. Blue, round, and bubbly is cute, even if he doesn't have a face~" The next moment she gave a squeak as her legs were swept from under her and she experienced a gentle if somewhat startled nding in another blob of sky blue slime. This slime took a much less defined shape, and it was also considerably rger than Bubbles. It gave a slightly smug little murr as it cradled Kira and her baby.

  "I guess this one didn't like you ughing at her brother," Fenrir grinned.

  "You were ughing too," Kira protested, trying and failing to free herself from the slime's embrace.

  "Yeah, but I'm their dad, so I'm allowed to give them a hard time. Presumably, anyway." Reaching down, Fenrir pulled Kira free of the slime and set her on her feet. Now without a succubus to support, it coalesced into a rough half-sphere, simir to Fenrir would have expected from the depictions of slimes he had seen in shows and books on Earth. God's Eye revealed it to be almost exactly the same as its sibling.

  [Unnamed]Slime Lvl 1Abilities: AbsorbDisposition Towards User:is pleased to see him - as her father, instinctually feels he is to be obeyed

  'This one seems to be a little more intelligent, though. Let's see, what would be a good name for her? Something simple, probably. I don't know why, but she feels feminine to me, even though technically she's sexless. Just like Bubbles feels vaguely masculine. Hmm, why not Jello?'

  Fenrir suggested this to the group and immediately got a pleased burble from the slime in question.

  Aimi giggled. "I guess it doesn't matter what we think of it. Jello likes it, so that's her name now."

  Fenrir straightened and looked around, noticing Chellise being scolded by Lilli, probably for sneaking off to join him when they had left a month ago. "So that's two, but where's your third?"

  Aimi shrugged. "I have no idea. It should be somewhere around here, but I couldn't tell you where. It's always been a bit odd, even compared to the other two, but it'll show up before too long."

  "Odd how?" Fenrir asked, now moving to one of the pack horses' sides and beginning to unload the packages tied to it.

  "Well, you see how Bubbles and Jello are keeping more or less the same shape?" Aimi gestured, and Fenrir gnced over at the two slimes, who were doing their best to get underfoot in their quest for more attention. In contrast to Jello, who oozed everywhere much like a snail would, though at a quicker pace, Bubble physically bounced across the ground like an oversized basketball.

  "Yes, I see that. Do you mean to tell me your youngest doesn't?"

  "Yep. My third likes to experiment with its shape. It's getting better at it, too; just the other day when it was trying to imitate me, Yumiko almost mistook it for me until she looked up at it directly. It has trouble with making legs since they're so thin in comparison, but it can imitate my torso pretty well now."

  "Interesting." Now finished unloading the horse, Fenrir handed its reins to Nelith, who had seen what he had been doing and come over to help. "Is there room in the stables for all these horses? I remember a lot of the stalls were in pretty bad shape."

  "Yeah, there should be plenty," Nelith replied. "We fixed up a lot of the smaller damage around the castle. You know, just for something to do. The bigger problem is going to be feed."

  Fenrir nodded, thinking. "I'm pretty sure there were a couple canyons with plenty of grass in them not too far away. Those shouldn't be too difficult to convert into fenced pastures for the horses, at least during the summer months. We'll need to make sure we have enough feed for over the winter, though." He looked up at Nelith. "How much feed do we currently have on hand?"

  "Well, let's see, we have a couple bushels of grain that the Cult brought with them, and some bales of hay, too. To avoid burning through it too fast, we've been taking the horses out to feed in the meadow behind the southeast wall, but the grass there is getting pretty short already. The meadow is pretty small, after all."

  "Okay, we'll use the grain for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll take a couple of assistants and work on turning one of those canyons I mentioned into a secure pasture."

  Nelith nodded, and both of them along with Aimi began to unburden the pack horses. Kira lent a hand here and there, though she mostly had her hands full with her baby, and Yumiko, who had drifted away to speak with others of the party, returned to lend a hand as well, followed by Koreen. This activity soon caught the attention of everyone else, and before long the horses were unsaddled, free of their packs, brushed, and contentedly munching on their grain in each of their respective stalls in the stables.

  The gear that they had brought was next on the list of things to deal with, but before the packages were opened Fenrir ordered that it all be carried inside, reasoning that the succubi would want to test out the sex toys immediately.

  Nor was he wrong. In almost no time, half the succubi had lost multiple articles of clothing and there was barely an orifice among them that wasn't filled by one toy or another. Those with interest in bondage quickly found themselves in various levels of restraint gear, and the general hum of conversation in the kitchens became interspersed with moans of pleasure and squeals of delight.

  Those less accustomed to the succubi's habits and temperament, such as Myrina and Tsavani, hardly seemed to know what to do with themselves in the midst of such depravity. Safara and Katari, though both sported noticeable blushes, took it in stride, their familiarity with Kira and Chellise ensuring they were not too disturbed by their companions' activities. Saeko somehow kept perfect composure, assisting Lilli with the evening meal while the dylike succubus juggled her cooking and her enjoyment of the vibrating dildo Aimi had managed to sneak into her panties.

  Fenrir settled back into his favorite spot beside the fire, Tsavani spotting him after a moment and immediately fleeing to the refuge his presence provided. Myrina's pride would not allow a simir retreat until Fenrir waved her over. "Don't mind the girls. The new toys combined with the relief of having us all back safe means they're all letting loose a little more than normal."

  "It doesn't bother me," Myrina said, trying to sound indifferent. The lingering gnces at Chellise, however, who at the hands of Nelith had been thoroughly wrapped up in bondage gear and was barely able to move, belied her calm front.

  Fenrir gnced over at her himself. She wriggled and let out a pleading moan as he watched, Nelith teasingly holding a dildo just at the entrance to her pussy but refusing to push it deeper. The older succubus had shed her normal dress in favor of an underbust corset that did wonderful things to her breasts, with not a stitch of clothing otherwise. As she bent low over Chellise, however, Fenrir caught a glimpse of a dildo buried deep in her pussy.

  Beyond her, Aimi, Yumiko, Kira, and Koreen appeared to be pying a game reminiscent of strip poker, except whenever one of them lost, instead of removing a piece of clothing, the others picked a piece of bondage gear for the loser to put on. Koreen was losing rather badly.

  By the fire, Lilli was hard at work preparing a rather extensive meal with the help of Violetta and Saeko, no doubt to celebrate Fenrir's party's return. Over by the packs of gear, Safara and Katari were indulging their curiosity and poking through the things that the succubi hadn't immediately snatched up. The two slimes were, as usual, doing their best to get underfoot, though Fenrir noticed they seemed primarily interested in any sexual fluids they could find with occasional detours to snatch up any scraps of food Lilli had no use for.

  Fenrir was pulled from the inspection of his girls by a voice at his elbow. "Is this what succubi are usually like?"

  He gnced down at Tsavani. "More or less? I wouldn't say it's out of character for them anyway. Normally they'd hold back a little more, but as I said, this is something of a celebration."

  "So it is," Lilli spoke up, having overheard him. "I hope you're ready to satisfy everyone ter this evening; most of us haven't been this long without sex in quite some time."

  Fenrir smiled. "Ah, is that the reason you're preparing such a vish meal? To make sure I don't pass out in the middle of the orgy?"

  "Of course not, Master. I'm also doing it so those of your followers that can't feed off of sex don't starve while you're fucking all the rest of us."

  Fenrir ughed, and after a moment, Lilli's innocent expression also melted into a mischievous little smile.

  "This will be an excellent chance to test the limits of my stamina, though," Fenrir mused. "I've never yet gone till I couldn't anymore."

  Myrina stared at him in disbelief. "You don't mean to say you pn on- on f-fucking every one of these succubi tonight!"

  "Certainly," Fenrir replied. "Well, if my stamina holds out, anyway. Not just the succubi either; I expect Safara and Katari wouldn't mind having a turn of their own, and you're welcome to join in if you'd like, although my priority will of course have to be the succubi that stayed here at the castle since they need it in a more fundamental sense, what with it literally being food to them."

  Myrina's face went bright red, and she muttered something unintelligible under her breath as she turned away, fiddling with the bracers she had gotten from their dungeon raid. Fenrir grinned.

  "Did you mean it?" Tsavani asked, a little hesitantly.

  "Hm? Yes, I did, though I admit I was fairly sure she wasn't going to take me up on it. Why do you ask?"

  "Well, I wouldn't want to with everyone, but- ...well... ...never mind." The cat-girl buried her face in Fenrir's side.

  He tightened his arm around her shoulders just a little. "You know, if you'd like to go for a proverbial roll in the hay with me at any point, all you need to do is ask. I understand that you're most likely feeling a bit uncertain about it all, especially after what you've been through, so if you do want to you can rest assured that I'll do everything I can to ensure you enjoy the experience. And who knows, maybe some good clean consensual sex could help you forget some of the unpleasantness of the past."

  Tsavani's tail shed from side to side for several long moments before she finally muttered into his side, "...Thanks."

  Looking up from the cat-girl, Fenrir just barely caught a keen gnce from Saeko as she pulled strips of meat off the fire and pced them on a pte. Out of curiosity, Fenrir looked her over with God's Eye and was surprised to find her quite aroused beneath her calm exterior.

  'But then, who wouldn't be in an atmosphere like this? Even I'm having difficulty keeping my arousal in check. Or perhaps I should say especially instead of even.' Looking around, he couldn't help but notice that almost everyone in the room seemed to be positioning themselves to give him a clear view of their best assets, though whether it was deliberate or subconscious he couldn't have said.

  Further examination of this strange phenomenon was interrupted by a ball of slime barreling into the room, bouncing off a wall, and coming to an abrupt halt just in front of him. It seemed to regard him for a moment, then began changing shape. In a few seconds, Fenrir was looking at a miniature, translucent, and sky-blue rendition of his upper body, quivering slightly with the effort of holding the shape.

  "So you're Aimi's third child, eh?" he asked, reaching out to scratch under its faux chin. It promptly colpsed into pleased burbling, forcing Fenrir to scratch the top of its now half-spherical shape instead. "You're going to need a name as well..."

  While he considered names, he gnced around at the rest of the room. None of those who had stayed at the castle had batted an eye at this particur slime's antics, leading him to believe that it did such things on a regur basis. He overheard Kira ask a question about the newcomer and heard Aimi's unconcerned reply as she id down two cards before her.

  He looked back down at the slime. Apparently bored with the lull in activity, it was attempting to raise itself on four squat legs but kept losing parts of itself as they spshed to the ground and had to be reabsorbed through its legs. Undaunted, it kept trying. He looked it over with God's Eye.

  [Unnamed]Slime Lvl 2Abilities: AbsorbDisposition Towards User:is pleased to finally meet him - instinctually feels he is to be obeyed

  'Level two already, huh? Seems this one likes to push itself. With that in mind...' Fenrir cleared his throat. "How do you feel about being called Evo?"

  The slime let out a confused chirrup.

  "Evo is a shortening of evolution, which among other things can mean a process of change towards a higher or greater state of being," the direwolf expined. "Since you seem to enjoy trying new things and pushing yourself, I thought it fit. I've already given your siblings their own names; Bubbles and Jello respectively. So what do you think?"

  It gave that a moment's thought as well, then gave him a pleased hum.

  "Gd you like it." Fenrir renewed his caresses, and the slime's attempt at making legs colpsed entirely under the stimution. Beside him Tsavani let out a soft sound of amazement, and Fenrir tilted his head in question.

  "Oh, I was just thinking how strange it is that the slime actually seems to understand you."

  "Well, it's no ordinary slime, after all." Fenrir paused for a moment as he called to mind the entry on slimes in Safara's bestiary that he had read a little over a month ago. "Slimes normally reproduce by splitting themselves in half, correct? These came about as a result of pregnancy, so it's no real surprise that they're different from any others you may have seen."

  Tsavani blinked. "That's... what?"

  "You heard me correctly," Fenrir grinned. "These slimes are Aimi and I's children, conceived through sex, just like everyone else in this room." He watched as Evo, tiring of the conversation, rolled off to find something more interesting to do.

  "That's possible?"

  The skepticism and wonderment in her voice made Fenrir ugh. "It is, though far from common. I'm something of an anomaly. Apparently, impossible things seem to happen with startling frequency around me." He was aware of Saeko's up-pricked ears as well as Myrina's interest, who had chosen to take a seat several feet from him on the opposite side of Tsavani.

  "That's an understatement," commented Safara, coming up to take a seat of her own on the rug at his feet. "Sometimes it seems as though you've done more impossible things than otherwise. Just the fact that I'm here is proof of that."

  "Ah, Safara. Didn't find any toys you were interested in?"

  The white-haired elf blushed. "Um... Not exactly, it's just that..."

  "-You're still a bit shy about such things? Don't worry, you've got plenty of time to acclimate yourself." Reaching out, Fenrir pulled her onto his p, where she curled into his embrace with a pleased little smile despite her obvious embarrassment.

  "Okay, everyone, the food's ready!" Lilli called, setting out the st ptter. Everyone broke up their activities to gather around the fire, though Chellise had to be partially released from her bindings and Koreen was somewhat slower than usual due to the spreader bar that stretched between her ankles. She didn't seem to want to take it off, however, and as Fenrir reviewed one particur part of the information God's Eye revealed about her, he could see why.

  Kinks/Fetishes:likes both dominating and being dominated – enjoys being tied up or otherwise having her body controlled – being helpless arouses her

  Among other things, she was also locked into a set of wrist cuffs with a short chain between them, but there was enough sck in the chain to allow her to prepare her pte and eat without too much trouble.

  Fenrir set himself to enjoying the delicious meal prepared by the expert hands of Lilli, Violetta, and Saeko, all the while listening to the chatter of the girls as they caught up with each other. There were numerous things he needed to talk over with Nelith and Lilli; besides properly catching up with each other there were pns that needed to be made, contingencies to be discussed, projects to be set up and worked on. But all that could wait until the next day. Right now, he allowed himself to rex and fully enjoy having all of his followers- no, all his family around him.

  No, not all. Both Mitzi and Elmeria remained in the capital, and while she wasn't technically a part of his family, yet, Princess America was also absent. He had to smile a little at the thought.

  'It seems the old saying is right; there's always a fly in the ointment.'

  TheBestofSome