Surprisingly, Fenrir was not the first up. That distinction went to Kira, who rather predictably had to get up to take care of Penumbra soon after they all fell asleep. Once done she settled back down in the pile with her baby held close to her however, and Violetta joined them.

  When the direwolf did awaken, it was to a soft wet tongue vishing his shaft with attention. Looking down at the source of the stimution revealed Aimi with one hand around the base of his cock and the other between her thighs, the while she dragged her tongue up and down his length.

  Fenrir gnced around, seeing that no one else was awake yet, and whispered to Aimi, "Already?"

  She just shrugged and switched to suckling at his tip while both her hands came up to stroke his cock.

  "You really are insatiable, if not even st night was enough to st you more than a few hours." Fenrir lifted a hand to stroke her hair, and she gnced up at him.

  "You made me go without cock for a whole month. I'm just making up for lost time."

  Fenrir chuckled. "So you've mentioned. Well, carry on, but just a blowjob this time. We've got a lot to do today."

  Aimi hummed around the cock in her mouth by way of reply and turned her full focus to milking another batch of sperm out of Fenrir. Soon enough, she got her reward, gulping it down with relish while one hand dived between her legs again to tip herself over the edge as well.

  Fenrir gnced over at one of the several tall but narrow windows that lined one wall, noting that light was just beginning to show along the horizon. Gently extricating himself from the mass of bodies, he stood up and stretched. Aimi followed his example, drawing his attention momentarily to her sizable chest, but he tore his eyes from her before he could get himself excited all over again.

  Searching for and finding his belt and sash only took a moment, and Aimi was equally quick about retrieving her own scanty apparel. Together they left the room, turning their steps towards the kitchen.

  As they walked along the corridor, Aimi turned her violet eyes up to him. "So what's the pn, Master?"

  "For now? Food. After I've grabbed a little something, I'm thinking I'll get started on fencing off some pastures for the horses, since that's best done sooner rather than ter. You wouldn't believe how much fodder it takes to keep a horse going, and we now have a full thirteen of them. If we don't want to go through our supply of grain in no time, we need to get them some grazing pasture."

  "Want some help? It's Bubbles' turn to keep watch, but I can get the other two slimes to help as well," Aimi offered.

  "Sure. I doubt we'll finish it now, but more hands are always welcome." Fenrir paused as a thought occurred to him. "You wouldn't happen to know where to find some strong rope, would you? There are ways to build fencing without, but I'm less familiar with them than I'd like to be."

  "I'm pretty sure we found a whole bunch of rope in one of the storerooms. If I remember right, we put it in one of these rooms over here." Aimi led the way to a storeroom not far from the kitchens and pushed the door open. She paused there, however, squinting into the darkness of the room. The darkness in the corridor was partially relieved by windows at regur intervals as well as the occasional hole where a wall had partially fallen in, but the storeroom had neither windows nor crumbling walls to light its interior.

  The little light that came in through the open door was enough for Fenrir, however, and he gently pulled Aimi out of the way and stepped inside, eyes scanning the shelves for the item he wanted.

  "How can you see anything in there? I can barely even see where I'm going out here," Aimi asked from the doorway, peering into the room in a vain attempt to make out the form of Fenrir.

  "My eyes are peculiarly adapted for low light levels," Fenrir replied somewhat absentmindedly, poking through a barrel of miscelneous tools. Shaking off the ideas this discovery had spawned, he carried on until in one corner he found the promised rope, great coils of it piled several feet high.

  He took a length of it in his hands, first rolling the two-inch cord between his fingers, then snapping it abruptly taut to test its strength. Thankfully, it seemed as strong as the day it had been braided, and he cut off a good-sized length of it before turning back to the door where Aimi was waiting.

  "Found it," he said as he stepped into the corridor, ducking his head slightly to avoid hitting the door jamb, "and I think it should work just fine."

  "At least it's good for something," Aimi replied, falling into step beside him as they resumed their course towards the kitchens.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, it's way too rough to tie each other up with," Aimi grinned impishly.

  Fenrir snorted. "Of course that's the first thing you'd think of when you see rope." He finished recoiling the length in his hands and slipped it over one shoulder. "We brought some rope back with us that's nearly ideal for sex py, though, so you needn't mourn this rope's unsuitability."

  Aimi giggled. "Yeah, I know, I saw. Where did you even get all that stuff?"

  "Long story. I'll tell it to all of you ter, but I'd rather not have to repeat myself over and over, so you'll have to wait until everyone's up and about."

  The dark-haired succubus pouted at being told to wait but didn't contest the point, allowing the rest of the walk to be made in a comfortable silence.

  After a short stop in the kitchen, where Fenrir made a quick meal of some of the leftovers of the previous night's feast, they proceeded to the courtyard. There, Aimi gave voice to a low but carrying whistle. "There. Jello and Evo should be here before long." She bent to caress Bubbles, who had been perched atop the curtain wall where he had a good view of the courtyard and had bounced down upon hearing her whistle.

  Fenrir nodded, and while they waited he began thinking over the task ahead of them. The first step was to examine the box canyons he remembered from his explorations of the country around the castle and determine which of them, if any, were suitable for pastures and whether it would be feasible to fence them off. Assuming some of them were, the next step would be gathering materials for the enclosure and then of course the actual work of putting up fences of some sort.

  It didn't take Jello and Evo long to appear, Evo leading and throwing out tentacles to drag himself forward while Jello oozed serenely along behind him. Fenrir suspected the tentacles were meant to be legs, but the slime wasn't yet capable of actually lifting his mass off the ground with such thin appendages. They both paused by Fenrir for some pats before proceeding on to stop in front of Aimi.

  While she expined the situation to them Bubbles turned to Fenrir for some affection as well before proceeding back up to his perch. Turning his attention back to Aimi, Fenrir couldn't help but notice that both the slimes seemed to hang on her every word, showing every indication of interest as she spoke.

  "Okay, lead the way, Master, we're ready for whatever you need," she finished, turning to him.

  "Well, first I'll need to check which of the canyons I've got in mind will work for our purposes, so..." Fenrir eyed Jello. "You're a bit too rge to carry. Just how fast can you move, Jello?"

  She chirped a response, and forming herself into as tight a ball as she could manage, rolled over to the courtyard entrance and back. It was surprisingly fast, considering her bulk, but Fenrir judged it nowhere near fast enough to keep up with him, even if he was burdened down with both Aimi and Evo.

  "Hmm, how's your tracking skills? You think you'd be able to follow my trail through the forest?"

  Jello hummed an immediate affirmative, giving off a tangible halo of pride. Aimi giggled. "She learned how to track us using smell about a week ago, and she's been over the moon about it ever since. The other two can't do it at all."

  "Well done," Fenrir said, scratching Jello gently atop the head. "That will make this much easier. I'll carry Aimi and Evo, and you can follow my trail and start helping out once you catch up to us. Sound good?"

  Jello cooed happily, though that may have been more due to the scratches he was still giving her than the words he said. Smirking, Fenrir lifted Aimi to a perch atop one shoulder where she steadied herself by burying her hands in his neck ruff. Without prompting, Evo unched himself up onto Fenrir's other shoulder, clinging without issue.

  With one st check to ensure Aimi was secure, Fenrir started out of the courtyard at his signature wolftrot, turning in the direction of the closest canyon he thought might suit their needs.

  The first did not, but the second answered the purpose nicely, with only about a fifty-foot gap at the lower end needing to be blocked off to turn a considerable space into a secure pasture. It even had water, a small stream entering into the canyon by way of a waterfall at the upper end, then, after forming a pool at the base of the waterfall, meandering through the valley and exiting through the previously mentioned fifty-foot gap. The only downside was its distance from the castle, a little over a mile by the shortest route.

  They got to work immediately, not waiting for Jello to catch up. Fenrir began felling young trees of the proper thickness, while Evo under Aimi's guidance did the same by dissolving the trunk at ground level. He was quick enough with it that once Jello showed up and began helping, Fenrir swapped over to carrying the logs over to the gap, where he stripped them of their branches and sectioned them into fifteen-foot lengths.

  Once they had a good pile, he directed the slimes to stop lumberjacking and turned his attention to the next problem, that being the erecting of posts. Using one of the newly made poles to measure out where each post should go, he pced stones to mark the appropriate spots, then began digging. This was something Aimi could not help with, so she ended up sitting on the ground close to Fenrir and providing him with a constant stream of conversation while the two slimes tried to dissolve the earth to make another posthole.

  It was slow work for them as they had difficulty loosening the earth enough to insinuate themselves into and around it, but they persevered until Fenrir, thinking better of his current method, switched to simply loosening the dirt with his cws while the slimes handled removing it from the holes. This worked so well that they were almost half done by the time he judged they should get back to the castle.

  "Okay, that's enough for the moment," he said, dusting himself off with somewhat mixed success. "We should get back to the castle before anyone starts wondering where we've disappeared to."

  "Okay." Aimi hopped up, brushing herself off as well. "Sorry I wasn't all that useful after all."

  Fenrir shrugged off her apology. "You kept me entertained, and besides, I wasn't expecting you to do any of the heavy lifting anyway." Stepping over to the stream, he cleaned his hands and cws carefully, but before he could decide whether he wanted to bathe here or in the bathing hall at the castle, he was engulfed from the neck down in slime.

  Aimi giggled at his surprise. "Jello, you really ought to give people warning before you do that. We know you only mean to help, but that doesn't mean everyone will."

  Jello burbled a slightly chastised reply and after a moment, withdrew from Fenrir, leaving him spotless. "Well, the ck of warning aside, thanks, Jello. It saves me some time and effort. Both of you were a great help and I think I'll have you help out again once I come back to finish the job."

  Receiving chirps of affirmation from both of them, he swung Aimi back to his shoulder and, once Evo jumped onto the opposite side, started back towards the castle at a leisurely trot. Jello was just able to keep up this time, so they all entered the castle together. Checking the kitchens first, Fenrir found Lilli and Violetta there preparing breakfast.

  "Good morning, Master," Lilli smiled. "The food will be ready before long."

  "Where's everyone else?" Fenrir asked, lifting Aimi down from her perch. Evo hopped down as well and began bouncing between the occupants of the room, looking for attention.

  "Everyone who isn't still sleeping was recruited by Nelith to unpack and set up all the toys and equipment you brought back with you. The amazon- I believe her name is Myrina? She's gone out for a run, but as far as I know she's the only one of our guests to be up and about." Lilli dled a bit of soup into a saucer and sipped at it. "A little more salt, I think. Anyway, may I ask where you went so early in the morning?"

  Fenrir smiled. "You may. I was out making a start on the pasture for the horses, since its best if we get that done quickly."

  "I hope that went well?"

  "So it did. Thanks to the help of Jello and Evo, not to mention Aimi, we got more done than I expected."

  "Yeah, right," Aimi scoffed. "We both know all I did was sit there and talk your ear off."

  "I seem to recall you telling the slimes which trees to cut down while we were gathering the wood," Fenrir grinned at her.

  "Yeah... I guess. But that wasn't much."

  "It was still a help, no matter how slight."

  Aimi just shrugged, bending over Evo to give him some of the affection he was fishing for.

  Smirking, Fenrir sat down next to the fire to await his meal, the odors of which already had his stomach growling angrily. The quick snack he had grabbed upon waking up had barely taken the edge off the appetite he had worked up both the night before and in the st few hours.

  Tsavani, Saeko, Safara and Katari showed up just as Lilli was setting the meal out on the long table that stood in the center of the floor, Tsavani immediately making a beeline for Fenrir. She had become somewhat more comfortable with separation from him, but she still became antsy if more than a few hours passed without his presence. With her once more firmly glued to his side, they all settled down to enjoy Lilli's cooking. The succubi, of course, had no need for food after the orgy of the previous night.

  Fenrir practically inhaled bowl after bowl of soup, surprising everyone, not least himself, with how hungry he was. "It seems there's a certain price to be paid for my performance st night," he remarked to Safara, who had taken a seat to his immediate right.

  Her ugh carried a note of incredulity. "That's one way of putting it. It sometimes seems as if everything you do is rger than life."

  "How are you feeling, by the way? You weren't as active as some of the succubi, but you certainly got your share of the fun."

  "Sore, but otherwise wonderful. I hope you didn't want me for anything vigorous today." Safara gave him a smile that was adorably self-conscious.

  Fenrir could not repress a smile in return. "No, I think you've earned something of a break today. I do have something for you to do, though."

  "What do you need, E'nas?" she asked, straightening in her seat.

  Fenrir dropped his voice enough to be inaudible to anyone but Safara. Her nature as an elf had gifted her with a keen sense of hearing, so he did not need to fear being overheard, even by Tsavani's sharp ears. "After breakfast I'd like you and Katari to entertain our guests for a while. I need to have a war council with everyone and fill them in on everything that's happened while we've been gone, and as you know some of that's sensitive information. We also need to work out where we go from here."

  "You can count on me." Then some of the determination left her voice as she continued, "You'll catch me up afterwards, right? I know it's not my pce to ask, but..."

  "Certainly. I wouldn't leave you in the dark unless it was for a very good reason."

  Safara's answer was a grateful look.

  After the meal was over, Fenrir had everyone gather together save his new guests and, of course, Safara and Katari. Upon hearing of the purpose for the meeting, Nelith led them to a room not far from the great hall where a massive oval table stood, surrounded by chairs. It was a work of art, as aside from a foot-and-a-half lip around the outer edge, the entire surface of the table was recessed several inches and carved into a detailed three-dimensional map of Mavenia and the surrounding territories.

  Fenrir stared. Somehow he had missed this room on his first exploration of the castle, and he would not have expected to see a table this eborate even in the king's own war room.

  "Crazy, isn't it?" Nelith said, looking at the table as well. "I've never seen a table like this before. Whoever lived here must've been a seriously big deal to have a table like this made for them."

  "...It seems so," Fenrir replied, stepping forward to the edge of the table and running his fingers over one of the miniature mountains. Despite the small scale, the detail was incredible. Following the spine of the Kharos Mountains, he could see a tiny creneted box that represented their castle nestled at the top of the appropriate pass. It was even helpfully belled, in small but elegant script: Kharvionas Castle.

  "I could see this becoming very useful indeed," he eventually said, tearing himself from his examination of the map. Gncing around the rest of the room, he saw that light flooded in through the three twelve-foot-tall windows pced in a crescent-shaped pattern at one end of the room, two of which had been broken at some point. On the side walls mostly empty bookshelves filled the majority of the avaible space, interspersed by several cupboards, and the st remaining wall pyed host to the door by which they had entered.

  The scraping of chairs brought Fenrir's attention back to the center of the room, and seeing that his succubi were taking their seats around the table, he seated himself as well between Nelith and Kira in the center of one side of the oval.

  Waiting until everyone's attention was on him, Fenrir spoke. "Now, shall we begin?"

  He began with a full recounting of his activities in the past month, save, as before, his meetings with the three goddesses. He was still not entirely certain why he felt such an aversion to telling even his most loyal followers of the encounters, but he had more than half a suspicion that the goddesses themselves might have a hand in it. Until he knew more, he felt it unwise to buck the urge without there being a good reason to do so.

  Even without this extraordinary event, however, the succubi found quite enough to be amazed at. Fenrir's first confrontation with Elmeria, even though he downpyed it somewhat, was met with gasps of dismay, and his subsequent fight with the White Horror had them all on the edges of their seats. In contrast, his mention of Mitzi had more than a few of them smirking at each other.

  When he came to Elmeria's submission, the room was filled with a dumbfounded silence until Aimi cried out, "You mean to tell me you had a spell that could make anyone into your sve all along, and you never used it on me?!"

  Everyone swapped from staring at Fenrir to staring at Aimi, though with slightly different expressions. Koreen gave an audible sigh and muttered, "Why am I not surprised..."

  "What do you mean, Aimi?" Fenrir asked, choosing not to comment on Koreen's contribution to the conversation.

  "I've always wanted to be owned by someone, just, like, a thing to be used by them whenever they want and thrown aside once they were done. If you used that spell on me, you'd really truly own me. You have no idea how hot the thought of that is!"

  Fenrir took a moment to answer, trying to ignore how several of the succubi had shifted in their seats at Aimi's st sentence. "A fantasy is one thing, Aimi, but I don't know whether the Mark of Submission can be removed once applied. I only used it on Elmeria because I didn't see any alternative if I wanted to be certain of keeping my existence secret from not only the Vigil, but the other Saintesses as well. While I certainly hope that you never have cause to regret serving me, I don't know all the effects of the Mark, and in general I'd advise against allowing any mind-altering spells to be performed on you, especially one which no one fully understands."

  He knew it was useless before he even finished speaking, however; Aimi's decision was written all over her face. "Doesn't matter. I want you to own me. Not just in name, either, I want it to be real."

  "You belonging to me is already as real as you make it," Fenrir pointed out.

  "It's not the same. Even if I never would, I still can say no. Objects can't say no when their owner wants to use them for something. That's how I want to belong to you." Seeing that Fenrir still looked unconvinced, Aimi sighed. "Look, I get how much this could change my entire life. I wouldn't ask for it if I wasn't completely sure about you, but I am. You're the one I want to belong to for the rest of my life. I've had masters of all sorts, but none of them were like you, okay? You're different. You're..." She visibly searched for a word to describe Fenrir, without success.

  Fenrir took a deep breath, willing his cock to remain soft. Despite the ethical ramifications, it was extremely hot to hear Aimi talk like this, especially since he was the one she was so determined to belong to. She gazed entreatingly across the table at him, not a hint of doubt in her decision to be found on her face, and it was Fenrir's turn to sigh. "Let me think about it."

  Aimi nodded reluctantly. "...Okay, but don't make me wait too long."

  "Aimi's fantasies aside," Nelith spoke up in a dry tone, "do you really have the fucking Archbishop on a leash?"

  "Essentially, yes," Fenrir admitted.

  "...How? I mean, you just told us how it happened, but still, how the fuck? The Saintesses are basically demigods."

  "That's because Daddy is a Demon King," Chellise piped up, helpfully.

  "Not quite," Fenrir corrected her. "I was intended to become one, in time. As I've mentioned several times now, whether or not I actually will is another matter."

  "Yeah, but it expins a lot," Nelith said thoughtfully, eyeing Fenrir. "There was a lot about you that didn't quite add up, but knowing you're on the level of a Demon King answers a lot of my questions."

  "Oh, I'm nowhere near the level of a Demon King just yet. My subjugation of Elmeria was really just a fluke, if I'm honest. Had she had access to her magic, I'd be long dead."

  "Then I'm very gd that she banished the both of you to somewhere she didn't have magic," Lilli spoke, looking both amused and a little in awe of Fenrir.

  "So am I," he smiled back at her. "But while I was traipsing across Apollyon and trying to wrangle a certain prickly dark elf, Kira, Chellise, and Katari weren't sitting idle. Kira, would you like to go over everything you girls did?"

  "Sure, boss," Kira nodded. Shifting her infant in her arms, she began retelling how they had decided to try to ally with the princess in order to get Safara back from the svers, how against all odds it had actually worked, how by charming one of the svers she had discovered that Safara had been sent upriver to Eldfall, how by working with the citadel group to attack the trafficking ring's safehouses they had discovered exactly where, and how they had set out in pursuit. "We were getting ready to infiltrate the estate where we were pretty sure Safara was being held when the boss caught up to us. He burst into the shack where we were setting up our pn looking like the incarnation of death. Like seriously. He was terrifying. He almost killed Brandis before I could stop him and tell him we were all friends."

  "To be fair, all three of you were in shackles," Fenrir pointed out.

  "I'm not bming you, boss. It was just one hell of a way to learn that you were still alive, you know?"

  Fenrir took up the thread of the story from there, detailing their rescue of Safara and their subsequent stay at the Murtell estate. A little of what he knew of Myrina, Tsavani, and Saeko came next, then he ended with a brief overview of their journey back home, though he could see from the expressions of several of them that they intended to ask Kira more about her baby's birth ter.

  "...So now that you're all caught up, we can move on to our pns for the future."

  "Nonono, hang on," Nelith spoke up again. "Are we seriously just going to gloss over the fact that the fucking princess of Mavenia is in love with you?"

  Fenrir shrugged. "Are we sure she is? I know she was headed in that direction, but I'm not certain she got as far as you seem to think."

  "Eh, from the way she was acting, I'm pretty sure she fell for you," Kira volunteered.

  "You think so? But even if that's the case, I doubt I'll see her again for a while, and she's not the type of person to elope for no reason anyway, so I don't see what difference it makes."

  "It makes a difference because it's not just her. Her bodyguard, this Miss Cree, hell, even the dy of the estate wanted to get to know you better. I mean, when I look at it one way, it makes perfect sense, but that's only until I remember you're a fucking Dark-race. Light-races and Dark-races aren't friends. It just doesn't happen."

  "Then I guess it's a good thing I have a skill which makes me seem more approachable," Fenrir rejoined. "I admit, I was somewhat surprised that they were willing to trust me as quickly and as much as they did, but I'm not going to wish it weren't so. Having friends in such high pces is no small thing; it could turn out to be our saving grace in the future if the authorities in Mavenia ever catch wind of us somehow. And besides, it wasn't me who originally forged an alliance with them. That honor goes to Katari, and to a lesser degree Kira and Chellise."

  "Even still..." Nelith subsided, shaking her head in disbelief. Fenrir guessed that she was having the most difficulty reconciling what he had told them because she was the oldest among them and had seen the most of the world prior to meeting him.

  "Our future pns, then?" Lilli gently prompted.

  "Ah, yes. Well, I was thinking I'd stay here until all of your pregnancies come to term, then make a visit to each of the allies we've picked up; the oni, the goblins in Apollyon, and ter our friends in Mavenia again. Actually, maybe I should make a quick trip back to the capital to bring Mitzi here before her children are born as well. Goblin pregnancies are pretty short already, from what I recall, so I may have to hurry if I want to get her here before she comes to term. -Don't worry, that won't take long if I'm traveling light, especially now that I know where I'm going," Fenrir assured Lilli, who looked vaguely armed at the thought of him leaving again so soon. "For example, even accounting for having to stay hidden, I could leave tonight and be back by the end of tomorrow night."

  "Well, so long as you're here for when I come to term," she said. "I suppose this Mitzi doesn't deserve to give birth while you're absent from her either."

  Fenrir nodded. "I also heard that I may be able to find the Ancient Dungeon Core to the southwest, and that she knows more about runeworking than anyone else alive, so my next big trip will be in search of her. Mastering runeworking would give me -and by extension all of us- a massive leg up in the power struggle, which is a priority if I want to be sure I can keep all of you safe.

  "But that won't be for a while, since we've got a lot to do around here. This castle is a blessing indeed, but that doesn't mean it couldn't use improvement. Repairing the stonework will require an expert, which I'll ask around for when I make my visits to our new allies, but there's quite a lot of work we can do ourselves, and that's what we'll focus on for the time being. Well, what you haven't already handled yourselves, at least." Fenrir smiled warmly at each of the succubi around the table.

  "Like that pasture you mentioned yesterday for the horses," Nelith guessed, trying to stifle the happy smile Fenrir's praise had brought to her face.

  "Yes. Aimi and I already made a start on that with the help of her children -yes, I know, our children, Aimi," -forestalling Aimi's correction before she could more than open her mouth- "and with an extra pair of hands or two, I expect we should have the first pasture ready for use with only a couple hours of work."

  "So that's where you went," Nelith said. "I half-expected Aimi had dragged you off somewhere to have a couple rounds of sex where she wouldn't have to share."

  "Well, she did suck me off before we got up, but no, we spent the morning productively." Fenrir grinned, then paused as a new thought occurred to him. "That reminds me, my mana reserves are considerably rger than they were the st time I saw you, so our little project should go much quicker from now on. We need to set aside some time to work on that soon."

  Nelith's grin could have made a cheshire cat jealous. "Just say the word, Chief, and I'm there."

  "And while I'm on the subject," Fenrir added, turning to Chellise, "I haven't forgotten that I promised you a punishment for going against my wishes and sneaking off to join us when we first started for the city. We'll speak more about that ter."

  Chellise winced and dropped her head guiltily. Fenrir suspected she had been hoping he had forgotten.

  "As for any other projects to be worked on around the castle, I suspect you all would know more about that than me, so..." Fenrir paused again. "Anyone know where to find writing materials?"

  "Yes, Master, there's some in these cabinets over here." Yumiko spoke up, sliding out of her chair and moving to the aforementioned cabinets.

  "If the ink hasn't all dried," Koreen put in.

  "Some of the bottles were still sealed, so those should be good. We can check, anyway." The tall, heavily pregnant succubus rummaged through one of the cupboards for a moment, then reemerged with quill, ink, and paper. "This should work. What do you need it for, Master?"

  "I want everyone to think of everything that they don't like about the castle; every aspect that could use improvement, from the smallest detail to the rgest project, and I want you to write it all down. Then we can go through all of it and decide whether or not it would be feasible to make each of the improvements suggested. For example, I'm fairly certain I'm going to need an office soon, and I'm going to want lists of all the goods we have in the castle, from the bedding to the food to the furniture."

  Nelith lifted her hand enough to turn attention to herself. "I should probably have an office as well; at least if we keep doing things the way we have been. Not to be disrespectful, but I should probably handle most of the day-to-day stuff, Chief. That frees you up to take care of the big picture stuff."

  "Good point," Fenrir nodded. "Considering your history, I have no compunctions about giving you the reins on the less important matters. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, but, well, you've already been acting as my second in command, so I suppose not all that much will change."

  Lilli raised her hand. "The bath hall could use some work. The main pool is still being fed by the piping bringing in water from outside the castle, but the waterspouts along the wall have gotten blocked somehow. Having those back in working order would make washing up easier."

  "The castle has plumbing?" Fenrir asked, surprised.

  "Well, yes," Lilli smiled. "How else would you expin the main pool still being full after all these years?"

  "I have to confess I never thought about it, but that does make sense. Add it to the list."

  "Already done, Master," Yumiko said, looking up from her paper.

  Each of the succubi continued bringing issues forward, ranging from simple fixes that would not need more than a few minutes of work with the proper materials to huge projects that would require major renovations to accomplish. Fenrir had some suggestions of his own as well, and Yumiko dutifully noted them all down.

  When at length everyone ran out of compints, they began discussing and sorting the issues one by one. Quite a few were added to the 'active projects' list, but the rest were either discarded entirely, agreed to be good ideas but impractical until they had considerably more resources, or added to a lower priority 'do it ter' list. There was also a long list of items the succubi wanted which Fenrir determined to see whether he could trade for, with either the oni or the goblins in Apollyon. Mavenia was also an option, but that would require an intermediary, possibly Elmeria or America, and transportation of the purchased goods would require precautions to avoid raising questions.

  Once satisfied, Fenrir nodded and set the sheets of paper aside, saying, "We'll set something up to allow anyone to add suggestions as they occur, then go over them periodically, but for now we've got enough to work with. We should be able to finish the pasture fencing today yet, then we'll get started on setting up a birthing ward, since that'll be very useful over the next few weeks. I'm thinking it'll be best if I go get Mitzi sooner rather than ter, so I'll start out tonight, and with any luck I should be back by the day after tomorrow. Any questions?"

  He was met by a general negative, and Lilli said, "Be careful on your journey, won't you?"

  "Don't worry, I will be. I suspect it's useless to tell you not to worry, but rest assured I'll exercise all suitable caution."

  Lilli gave a wry shrug by way of acknowledging the truth of Fenrir's words, and it by now being lunchtime, they all decided to break up the meeting to allow Fenrir to eat while most of the rest of them got started on some of the smaller projects. Lilli, being the designated cook, accompanied him to the kitchens to help prepare him and everyone else who still ate regur food the meal they were by now all hungry for. Chellise and Violetta also pitched in, Violetta because she wanted to stay close to Lilli while there were so many strangers around, and Chellise because she had discovered a genuine enjoyment for cooking while traveling with Fenrir and the rest of his scouting party. Fenrir suspected it was mostly because she liked to watch him enjoy the fruits of her bor, but he wasn't about to compin as she had gotten quite good at it.

  While they waited for the meal to be ready, Fenrir brought Safara and Katari up to date with their pns moving forward and made sure they had no problems with it. Safara was understandably a bit nervous about Fenrir returning to the capital, even for such a short period, but she accepted it with a little persuasion.

  The meal went by quickly, Fenrir's guests being somewhat more talkative than usual, perhaps due to their new surroundings. The bulk of the conversation was still carried by Saeko, Lilli, Chellise, and himself, but the rest of the girls helped keep the conversation lively, and even Myrina chipped in here and there.

  After lunch, Fenrir took Jello and Bubbles out to finish the fence, it being Evo's turn to keep watch. Myrina chose to accompany him while everyone else pced themselves at Nelith's disposal. Each of Fenrir's guests had their own reason for wanting to seem useful to him but the effects were much the same, with everyone pitching in to help with some of the aforementioned projects, much to Fenrir's private delight. He didn't care so much for the extra bor they provided as for the way they were integrating themselves into his family. 'Or pack? Technically, I'm a dire-wolf, so my followers could be considered my pack. Feels a little odd to call it that, though, since it's not as if my followers are lupine themselves. Family does seem like the best catch-all term.'

  Once they arrived at their destination, they all got to work. While Fenrir and the two slimes focused on digging postholes, Myrina made herself useful by ying out the poles and posts where they'd be in easy reach when desired. Once done, she walked over to where Fenrir was working and, after a moment's hesitation, asked, "How are you going to fasten the fence rails to the posts?"

  He paused for a moment to gesture. "There's some rope over there. I was pnning to sh the rails to the posts with that, but if you have a better suggestion then by all means share it."

  "...In our pens we drive pegs into the posts to support the rails."

  Fenrir looked up. "You know, that's not a bad idea. We'll need some way of drilling holes for the pegs, since they'll need to be made of wood and therefore of a slightly rger size, but it would extend the effective lifetime of the fence by quite a bit."

  Before Myrina could reply, Bubbles chirped excitedly and hopped over to the nearest post, lying on the ground. Enveloping the top of it, the slime paused in pce for a solid minute. Fenrir and Myrina exchanged bemused gnces, then resigned themselves to waiting until the little sky-blue ball of goo accomplished his goal.

  When the slime did eventually release the top of the post with a little trill of satisfaction, they both stepped over to examine his handiwork.

  "It's rough, but it's a hole," Fenrir mused as he felt the irregur edges of the hole Bubbles had melted most of the way through the post. "Much as I appreciate the effort, I don't think this will work for holding pegs. I wonder if there's any woodworking tools back at the castle. If we could find a woodworking drill, that'd be ideal."

  Bubbles wilted a little and Fenrir reached down to pat him. "It's okay, you tried your best." Standing, he decided, "I'm going to head back to the castle and see if we have anything there which could answer the purpose. I'll be back before long."

  True to his word, he returned to the castle, found upon inquiry that there was in fact a hand-turned wood drill among the castle's stores, and was back with it before even Myrina could get impatient. He set her to drilling holes into the fence posts at a forty-five degree angle while he and the slimes finished digging the postholes, then after carving out a suitable number of rough pegs, began to set the posts in their holes.

  They worked quickly and mostly in silence, only a few words exchanged here and there, but the silence was comfortable and Fenrir felt no particur desire to break it. The sun slowly marched across the sky as they worked, while the fence came up post by post and rail by rail. For extra security, Fenrir used the rope to secure the rails to the posts as well as the pegs, except for one section, which would serve as a gate in the absence of hinges on which to hang a proper gate. They finished about an hour before the sun slipped below the mountains to the west, Fenrir and Myrina standing back to admire their handiwork while Bubbles bounced back and forth between the rails and Jello oozed around absorbing the most obvious traces of their bor.

  "Excellent, this will do nicely. Now we just need to bring the horses down here, and in a pasture of this size they should be set for a month, at least." Myrina nodded a silent agreement, and Fenrir continued, "I'm grateful for your help. You made this go considerably more quickly, not to mention the work was far more enjoyable with you here."

  The amazon's cheeks fmed in a sudden blush, and she only just barely managed to mutter, "Yeah, you too," as she turned away.

  Fenrir decided to take no notice of her embarrassment, and accordingly asked, "Now, shall we head back? It's starting to get te, and we could both of us use a bath. -No, Jello, not this time. Nothing against your method, but this time I want to enjoy the pleasures of a proper bath."

  Jello backed down, accepting the refusal without any obvious signs of disappointment. Seeing Myrina's curious gnce, Fenrir expined, "Jello here is able to clean someone up in short order by covering them in herself and absorbing any dirt or sweat on them. Only takes about ten seconds."

  The amazon wrinkled her nose. "Doesn't that make you all disgusting and slimy?"

  "No, she's better at keeping herself together than that. She doesn't leave behind a trace, whether of dirt or slime."

  Myrina subsided, eyeing Jello with somewhat guarded curiosity.

  "If you want to try it out, I'm sure Jello wouldn't mind," Fenrir offered.

  "...No, I'm good. I'll just take a regur bath this time."

  "Understandable. Bubbles!"

  Thus summoned, Bubbles stopped pying among the posts and rails of the newly built fence and hopped over to be carried back to the castle. They set out at a leisurely trot so as not to leave Jello behind, but still made it back to the castle in good time. There, Fenrir took leave of Myrina, having spotted Chellise and decided that now was as good a time as any to administer her punishment.

  She followed at his command, trying and failing to look unconcerned. Once they reached the sex den, which turned out to be unoccupied, Fenrir began poking through the racks of sex gear the succubi had organized and set up that morning in search of a specific item he remembered them packing. "About a month ago I promised you a punishment for coming along on the scouting trip without permission, and said it wouldn't be one you enjoyed. However, as you did in fact make yourself very useful while on the trip, I'm willing to rex your punishment somewhat."

  Chellise rexed a little, but her curiosity remained as strong as ever. "So... what are you gonna do, Daddy?"

  "Ah, here." Finding what he sought, Fenrir lifted an object off the rack and turned back to Chellise. "I'm going to lock you in this."

  'This' was a chastity belt, designed to sit so closely about the wearer as to entirely block off the subject's orifices to any intrusion, even of something as small as a finger. It was made of metal and padded by leather on the inside to reduce chafing. Chellise went pale when she looked at it, but this was quickly followed by a blush of excitement.

  "I'm going to give Nelith a key, and it'll be her job to unlock you if you need to use the restroom or wash yourself, but you are not to attempt to get yourself off. Is that clear?"

  "How-" Chellise swallowed. "How long will I have to wear it, Daddy?"

  "Until I decide you've learned your lesson. Oh, and you'll also be wearing these." Fenrir picked up two plugs, one slightly rger than the other and curved to pce pressure on very specific points when inserted into the body. Unlike some of the other dildoes they had brought along these did not vibrate, but Chellise still caught her breath at the sight of them.

  Without a word she dropped her panties and allowed Fenrir to push the plugs into her, then fasten the belt around her waist. "It feels so weird," she whispered, shifting about in an attempt to accustom herself to the feeling. "Ah! It's rubbing against all my sensitive spots!"

  "Every time you come means that much longer locked in that belt, and I won't be fucking you until I decide you're allowed to take it off," Fenrir told her.

  "I- I understand, Daddy," Chellise said, though she didn't stop moving.

  "Alright, now get back to helping the rest of the girls," Fenrir said, giving her a light swat on the ass. "I need a good bath, and then I'll join you."

  Chellise squealed at the spank, though less because it had hurt and more because it had made her jump and therefore caused the dildoes to stimute her in new and ever more exciting ways. "O-okay." She wobbled out of the room, trying to find a way of walking which didn't torment her with pleasure.

  Fenrir watched her go in amusement and no small amount of arousal, then turned towards the bath hall. His mind was so full of Chellise and her newfound predicament that he entirely forgot Myrina would most likely be in the bath, and so he opened the door to come upon Myrina in all her naked glory, floating peacefully on her back in the center of the pool.

  This did not st. As the door opened, Myrina gnced over to find out who had entered and upon seeing Fenrir gasped, filed about in an attempt to right herself, and, Fenrir believed, swallowed about a gallon of water before she managed to get her head above the surface again. While she tried to clear out her respiratory system by means of a violent coughing fit, Fenrir backed quickly out of the room, saying, "I'm sorry, I completely forgot that you'd most likely be in here right now."

  He tried to close the door, but was interrupted by Myrina, who between coughs managed to force out, "Wait!"

  Fenrir paused, waiting as Myrina waded to the edge of the pool where her body (regrettably) was hidden from his sight by the lip of the pool, interspersing her progress with several more coughs to clear the st of the water from her lungs.

  Once she had recovered her composure, Fenrir began to apologize again for bursting in on her, but was cut off by Myrina's deprecating gesture. "It's your castle. You have as much right to be here as I do."

  "I should have at least knocked."

  She just shrugged.

  "I'll wait until you're done bathing." Fenrir made to close the door again, and was again interrupted.

  "If you want to wash yourself up now, you can. There's plenty of room."

  Fenrir stared at her. He would have expected this of his succubi and would not even have been too surprised to hear it from Saeko considering the game she was pying. But he most certainly did not expect it from Myrina, who -excepting the odd gnce- had shown no sign of wishing to become closer to Fenrir physically, and who tended to avoid physical contact in general. Yes, her outfits tended to show a lot of skin, but in contrast to the succubi who clearly dressed to seduce, her attire showed more of a tomboyish ck of awareness of her own feminine attributes. As he stared, a tinge of pink came into her cheeks and she looked away, but she gave no indication of wanting to retract the offer.

  "Very well, if you're sure you don't mind," he eventually said.

  Her only response was another shrug, and he stepped fully into the room, hanging his belt and sash on the nearby clothing rack before stepping into the cool clear water. He fully submerged himself for several long seconds, enjoying the feeling of the water flowing through his fur, before standing up and beginning to wash himself. Some feet away, Myrina did the same, and while he was careful not to stare, he couldn't help but notice that Myrina seemed to be showing herself off to him a little more than necessary. It wasn't so egregious as to be obvious, but she certainly wasn't taking any steps to hide herself.

  She also wasn't trying to hide her own ogling very much. While his fur was simply too thick to be fully overcome, the water had matted it down considerably, showing off the muscuture beneath to great effect, and Myrina could hardly take her eyes from it. Feeling a little mischievous, not to mention somewhat riled up by both the present situation and Chellise's earlier punishment, Fenrir deliberately flexed his muscles at every opportunity, washing them in a manner calcuted to draw attention to each in turn.

  By the time he was done, Myrina had completely forgotten about washing up herself and was practically panting across the gap at him. Smirking to himself, Fenrir finished up by swimming a p or two mostly underwater, and just so happened to resurface right next to Myrina. She had followed his every move, and now while she seemed to shrink into herself a little at his proximity, she made no attempt to back away.

  He stepped still closer, cupping her head in one hand and tilting her face up to his. Her lips seemed to beckon him, and he indulged himself in a slow, steamy kiss. She submitted to it without resistance, but made no move to continue the kiss once he pulled away. Her eyes, which had closed during the kiss, fluttered open, staring up at him, their scarlet depths reflecting an agony of desire, doubt, and indecision.

  Too much doubt. She wasn't ready for this yet. With a monumental effort, Fenrir restrained himself to one more, softer kiss, then turned to leave the pool. His ears only just caught a groan of frustrated need and it took everything he had not to turn around, but he did not want to lose her due to his own impatience, so he forced himself to continue as though he hadn't heard it.

  He dried himself in silence, but before leaving the room, Fenrir gave Myrina a smile and said, "The evening meal should be ready in about half an hour. I'll see you there."

  The amazon hadn't moved from her spot in the pool, still staring longingly after him. She jumped a little at being addressed, and gave a single rather jerky nod.

  Returning her nod with one that was almost a shallow bow, Fenrir left the bathing hall, turning his steps in search of Nelith. He needed someone to take the edge off his lust, and the end result of their joint project, assuming they were able to finish it in one final session, seemed the perfect method of achieving that end.

  TheBestofSome