Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 50
Mindy had woken up when Boyd had leaned in to give her a kiss on the head and decided, sore or not, that she could go for another round. Laughing, Silvie had snuggled with Raev, the two of them watching as Boyd let Mindy set the pace. Though moving a bit gingerly at first, when Boyd brought his tail into play—stroking it along her thighs before vibrating it against her clit—Mindy had gone for broke. Raev was up for another go after that, and things just sort of spiraled on him from there.
Boyd would normally have insisted on getting a decent amount of rest so close to a big event, but the duel wasn’t set to happen until tomorrow, and they wouldn’t be leaving for New Eden until the late afternoon. Plus, he had been in bed. Technically.
They barely had time to take a quick—no fooling around—rinse and get decent before it was time for breakfast. Boyd made it to the long island with the stools they had taken to having breakfast at before Raev, Mindy, and Silvie.
Seeing his little inventor, both hands wrapped around a mug of tea nearly as big as her own head, brought a smile to Boyd’s face. He planned on adding a few more copper highlights to her hair this afternoon, when they were ostensibly scheduled to go over his equipment for the duel—not that Boyd would be using much. He didn’t want anyone crying foul, that Boyd had too much of an advantage with Tinker in his corner.
Kayla was sitting in front of an already cleared plate that likely hadn’t contained nearly enough calories in the first place. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t concerned about Miss Bailey’s diet and exercise habits—just her skills as a reporter. She had adopted something of a business casual wardrobe around the base, wearing slacks and blouses much like Daisy remained dedicated to, even at breakfast.
Kayla’s were typically brighter and more attention-grabbing than their fairy cook’s wardrobe. Often snugger, too. Despite that, she still maintained that all-important sense of professionalism.
Laura was in a pair of gray yoga pants that clung to her athletic legs with dark purple piping up the sides and a matching purple tank that showed off her toned arms. While Kayla and Daisy stuck to business casual, Laura mirrored Raev’s taste, preferring to lounge around in her athleisure wear. At least she hadn’t taken a page out of Silvie’s book—yet.
“Good morning, Boyd,” Laura sang brightly. She had proven her status as a morning person several times over. “Tinker, you look a bit less-than-awake as usual. I take it Boyd wasn’t kind enough to show you a good morning. Maybe he’ll find time to make up for that after you’re more awake.”
“Huh? Um… Oh! Good morning, um, maybe?” Tinker replied with some embarrassment that was overlayed by a mix of hope and eager expectation across their Bond. Her cheeks flushed a bit at the call out, but not quite as brightly as they might have before.
“Good morning, ladies,” Boyd added with a grin. “I hope everyone slept well.”
Tinker scooted over into the seat next to him as he sat, for the time being. The women tended to move themselves about according to some indeterminate schedule, although he had yet to figure out how it was communicated.
“We all know Mindy did,” Daisy snicked as she flipped pancakes. These were round and buttery, their interiors fluffy and light inside a golden-brown, slightly crispy shell. Even her breakfasts had come a long way. “Is that going to be a regular thing? And if so, do they make earplugs for it?”
“Yes, and no… at least not for civilians—though I wouldn’t recommend using them, even with permission,” Boyd replied with a smirk at his goth lover as she walked up to the breakfast bar a little gingerly, trailed by a grinning Raev and Silvie.
Grin as wide as could be, he took a sip of his coffee.
Mindy slipped into Tinker’s seat, who literally hopped over a seat to make room, using her pink gravity bracelets. No words were exchanged, nor were there any subtle signals. He didn’t feel the presence of Mindy on his Bond with Tinker. He would figure out how the breakfast seating was determined, someday.
“Not that you’ll need something like that,” Mindy grinned, light sparkling in her already bright purple eyes. “While what caused it will undoubtedly happen occasionally… fine, fairly often… ugh, okay… a lot.” She glared at Boyd. “I hope to be able to control myself in the future. I’ll say sorry again, now that we are face-to-face.”
Boyd smirked at the way his love corrected herself in response to his thoughts on her word choice. He sensed her presence in his mind, as if she was touching him—although she was not. She wasn’t doing anything, just sort of hanging out, but he sensed her elation at not automatically hearing any of the other’s thoughts on their fully realized Bond.
His smirk soured a bit when he sensed her frustration at being so sore. He’d have been mad at himself, if she hadn’t insisted it was worth it in the moment, urging him to continue.
‘You don’t have to sit there and preen, you little shit,” she huffed. ‘Next time it happens, I’ll broadcast more than just my words… see if Daisy complains about it then!’
Boyd choked on his coffee, coughing and sputtering as he simultaneously tried to swallow the hot bean brew and laugh. Tinker levitated from her chair and thumped him on his on the back between his wings, her doll face the picture of concern while the others all laughed.
“Kuh-he-he-he!” Boyd heard Mindy’s signature chortle.
***
After a busy morning that started with two hours of lifting and yoga with Silvie, Raev, Mindy, and Laura—led by their trauma nurse—Boyd had focused on several hours of slow-kinetics, moving deliberately through each motion of his close-combat kata. It was something he’d developed himself, combining at least four and sometimes as many as six different styles and forms—the additional two coming into play when he did so with Silvie’s assistance, which allowed him to slowly work through his grappling moves, as well.
Those sessions usually ended up getting cut short, though. Silvie inevitably got too excited, wrestling with Boyd on the mat, and ignored the choreographed steps of his kata to distract him in a way that usually ended up with the two of them practicing their sheet-wrestling forms, instead. He couldn’t afford that today, so opted to forego the extended version—despite Silvie’s pout.
Even worse, Laura watched it all… and Boyd knew she was taking notes. The last thing he needed was for her to master Silvie’s pout and make it even more difficult for him to refuse her. Of course, his Gestalt grumbled that they shouldn’t be refusing what was so obviously being offered to them.
Today, he kept it to solo practice and worked his Black Flame into it, focusing on the timing of activations and deactivations to make the best use of his now increased pool. He felt like he could hold his Black Flame like this in his fists or weapons for hours, if he needed to.
He decided he’d have to time it—when it wasn’t the day before a big event.
More importantly, to his pride, at least, was that he was closing in on S-Ranked strength with the boosts he had gained from Tinker and Mindy. The effect seemed to be cumulative—he was almost exactly five percent stronger than he was after Raev, with Tinker, and then five percent stronger than that again, today.
Boyd was able to complete two reps of squat presses at sixty-nine and a half tons. Tinker had insisted he try it at the half-ton point after running the math. That was just shy of the arbitrary requirement of being able to lift seventy-two and a half tons over your head, which was the current S-Ranked threshold for strength.
If his personal growth stayed consistent, he would surpass after he brought Hope into their little family.
‘Oh, she will just love being the one that pushes you into S-Ranked strength,’ Mindy commented, almost off-handedly.
He would have to get used to that; it was her Enhancement after all.
She could effectively leave a bit of her Power in a single person, which made it as though she was perpetually touching them, no matter how far away they were. She had immediately assigned it to Boyd and had no plans of moving it to anyone else—ever—if she could help it.
That was mostly because it allowed her to control who she listened to. Rather than being overwhelmed with everyone’s thoughts within range, she could now cherry-pick individuals at her discretion to listen in on—or block everyone out but Boyd. She also said she felt like she could project her mental voice to more people with greater clarity than she once could. It wasn’t enough to push her into S-Rank, as she couldn’t control anyone but Boyd at a distance, but it was exactly what she had hoped for.
This reminded Boyd that his fiery and silver-haired loves had gone off to test their new limits and he needed to check in with them. He didn’t have to wonder at their location, automatically sensing both their direction and general distance from him.
Their Bonds had grown stronger, or the Power behind their Bonds had increased. Boyd could now send more complete ideas across their Bonds to his loves—not so much thoughts as his intent. It was more than a simple, ‘I’m looking for Raev’… and something along the lines of ‘I wonder what Raev is up to right now, and if she will be back soon.’
Once he trained it up a bit, it should vastly improve their ability to function as a unit. It also had the effect of alerting them in what they reassured him was a non-distracting way every time he thought of them. In his semi-merged state, Boyd didn’t have to wait for his Gestalt to tell him that it would allow him to steal anything he wished from his Bonded loves. He could remove their pain, their fear, or anything else he didn’t want them to experience.
Then, once the harm he could not prevent was removed, he could return it to their enemies.
Chapter 51
Boyd found he liked the improvement to his power, even if it wasn’t immediately useful for combat, almost as much as he enjoyed the sight that greeted him when he followed his Bonds’ directions to find them. They were in a smaller general-purpose room off the weight gym, the one with floor-to-ceiling mirrors along one wall that they normally used for yoga.
Raev appeared to be engaging in grappling practice with Mindy, both wearing very snug yoga pants and tank tops in their favored colors. Raev had a clear advantage, Mindy was pinned with one leg locked up and out, her shoulders pressed into the ground at an angle that robbed her of any ability to generate momentum. It was something to behold.
Of course, so was the Raev that was grabbling with the much more athletic Laura a few yards away. This Raev had the advantage there, as well—she did have some strength enhancement, after all—but seemed to be taking it easier on this more serious opponent. The similarly clad pair exchanged a series of holds and breaks on the mat, rolling and tumbling over each other.
“Oh, hi Darling,” Silvie chirped from the side where she likely served as referee.
She was dressed in itty-bitty booty shorts and a sports bra “I now have a little more control over my fist bolts and increased intensity for the eyebeams, with a boost to my physical strength. I didn’t get faster, but I got a little tougher. As you can see, Raev got something much cooler.”
“Yeah,” Boyd swallowed as he, with effort, removed his eyes from the way Laura’s flexing glutes had been aimed at him for a moment. “I’d say, how does it work?”
The Raev wrestling with Mindy sat on her so she could reply with a knowing smirk. “I have five duplicates, one for each tail.” Said tails thwacked Mindy about the head and shoulders.
“Each of them can provide 20% resistance, has 20% of my strength, and so forth. But if I combine the five of them together, they merge into a single, completely tangible version of Raev. I’m the illusion by the way… I’m her.” she hooked a thumb at the other Raev. “It’s like we are one person, but we aren’t. It’s weird, so I’m just going to go with it. Especially since I’m fully functional…” She gave him a lewd smirk. “If you catch my drift.”
As if the smoldering look or the way she ran her hand along Mindy’s outer thigh could leave him any doubt.
Mindy, for her part, found the situation amusing and more than a little arousing. It seemed Boyd may have awakened Mindy’s long-dormant libido—something they were both going to enjoy exploring together. He wondered if… but then Raev’s next question derailed that train of thought—actually, it derailed his ability to think.
“Of course,” the illusionary Raev grinned lasciviously, “now I really want to see if I get the ability to make more than the one tangible duplicate as you take more lovers. When a one-man gang bang hooks up with a one-woman orgy, who wins?”
“You need at least one more for a proper orgy,” Silvie quipped. “Happy to volunteer!”
The duplicate’s eyes locked on to where the real Raev wrestled with Laura, and then tracked back to Boyd. “On a completely unrelated note, wasn’t it nice of Laura to volunteer when I needed a second sparring partner? I love her, but Silvie isn’t the best person for me to practice with. And Tinker, well, she would work, but I would feel bad if I accidentally hurt her.”
“Yes.” Boyd chuckled but then shook his head. “Thank you very much, Laura. I’m going to return to my training now.”
“Heh!” Laura grunted as she broke Raev’s latest hold and went for the foxy woman’s leg to get a lock. “No problem!”
Boyd wondered how she managed to sound so upbeat as the door to the side room closed behind him.
It was shortly after dinner—normally much too early for Boyd to call it a night—when Mindy and Tinker led Boyd by the hand back to the ‘medium’ bedroom. Tinker wore a pair of ruffled pink pajama bottoms and an oversized ‘Never tell me the odds!’ sleep shirt. Mindy wore a surprisingly demure black silk nightgown that covered lush form from her neck to just above her knees. It was likely a good thing they both wore the modest sleep wear—else there was no way he would fall asleep and stay asleep the whole night through.
Mindy insisted that Boyd be in top form for tomorrow’s duel. And for that, she said he needed a full ten hours of sleep.
Boyd couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept for ten consecutive hours. Maybe when he was six? He didn’t see how it would be possible, but was willing to play along if it meant he got to snuggle Tinker’s delicious little form while being held by his newest lover.
Thus it was that Boyd found himself playing big spoon to Tinker, and little spoon to Mindy. He nuzzled the side of Tinker’s head until she turned it to kiss him goodnight. He wrapped his right wing that Tinker lay upon around her while tucking his left wing around them both. From behind, he felt Mindy’s delicious softness press into his back and rear.
“Goodnight, Tink,” Boyd rumbled. “Goodnight, Mindy.”
Tinker yawned, “G-goodnight, Boyd.”
‘Goodnight my little shit.’
Mindy’s voice in his head was the last thing he remembered as a wave of black pulled him under.
***
Everyone had gathered for breakfast, each excited for their own reasons. The majority were looking forward Boyd showing Archangel why you shouldn’t fuck with demons—though each had their own reason for this.
All his loves shared his excitement at having Hope join the team and family—as much for the security blanket she represented as for her kind nature and affectionate manner. Kayla was looking forward to the dramatic conclusion of her story, but Daisy was perhaps the most excited of all.
Royce had gotten together with Davis and rented out a box at the stadium where the duel was to be held. They used a loophole in the Hero Duel rules to invite a bunch of school kids to be their guests—most of whom were Changed—in New Eden’s Gold District. It was a mixed group, part school-aged kids from all over the Authority, part retired Heroes or others that could be trusted to keep them safe. There would be a meet and greet before the duel and everything.
But most important to the fairy woman, was that Connor was one of the invitees. He would be ported into Glorith this morning and they would pick him up on the way. She had even dressed up in a cute little yellow sundress with some flower barrettes set in her already attention-grabbing hair. Her shimmery wings fluttered a little faster while she prepared the team’s breakfast, a real smile on her lips as she hummed a little tune.
“Someone’s excited,” Silvie giggled as she snuggled under Boyd’s arm. She was a little clingy this morning, after being separated for the whole night. “Looking forward to seeing your brother?”
“Of course I am! I’m going to spoil that kid rotten, just you watch,” Daisy chirped as she floated a plate over to Laura while still working on some pancakes for Boyd. “But you literally came squealing into the kitchen about today being the day over and over again, so… stones and glass houses, or whatever.”
Silvie beamed. “No stones thrown. I am really excited. I’m just happy that you are, too.”
“I swear, I think I get you people, and then I realize I don’t.” Laura sighed, shaking her head. She was the only one who wasn’t visibly excited about the day’s pending events. “You understand that we aren’t going to a show, right? As Boyd likes to point out, Archangel is a dangerous Powered who will be trying to kill him.”
“Yeah, but that’s nothing new.” Silvie leaned around Boyd to address their trauma nurse, causing her lustrous silver hair to cascade over his legs pleasantly. “Besides, he promised to be careful this time.”
“Mhmm…” Boyd nodded as he chewed a mouth full of fluffy scrambled eggs. She was rapidly closing on his skills, they were amazingly fluffy with just the right amount of spices.
“And that will magically make Archangel miss or something?” Laura rolled her light green eyes and scowled at her plate.
“No.” Raev shook her head from where she sat on his other side, close to him, but not attempting to crawl all over him. “Being careful means being cautious and paying attention to the situation and what you’re doing. It means avoiding mistakes, accidents, or bad outcomes. Most importantly, to address your concerns, it means being willing to abandon unsafe conditions.”
