Stronger Together chapter 80 (Patreon)

I spent the next few hours sitting in Marcus watching the girls try  on clothes. Despite one might imagine it wasn't exactly thrilling since  they were trying on winter clothes. My hopes of gorgeous girls in skimpy  lingerie were met with thick ass jackets and cable knit sweaters, which  while very cute, didn't exactly show off their figures. I'm all for a  man waiting for his female friends shopping but as a man I see almost no  difference between any three red sweaters and trying a bunch on and  asking me to compare them would be confusing even without the  existential nightmare that is women's clothing sizes.

After  my two hours in purgatory I get to help them carry the stuff back, and  after that I managed to slip away to meet up with Harry, who was reading  in his room. I knocked on the door politely and waited for him to open  it up before gesturing to see if I could come in. The big wizard waved  me in and I turned to face him. "So I ran into an old friend of yours  while we were out. Tera West wanted me to give you a message. Apparently  the 'corpses' have been tracking you, which based on what I know of  what's coming is probably the Black Court."

Harry's  face twisted in confusion "Wait, wolf girl Tera West? MacFinn's baby  mama? I haven't seen her in years, what the hell is she doing around  here? I know she was in touch with Joe at one point, did he call her?  And why couldn't she just tell me herself. Also what do you mean there's  Black Court following me?" He seemed to get more frazzled with every  question, and I couldn't blame him, with everything going on already he  must have been reeling from all the new information. He closed his eyes  and took a deep breath. "Ok, sorry, now, from the top, why was Tera West  here?"

I  paused a second to make sure he was good after the overload then  responded "Apparently the tribal lands protect her and the baby from  being scried remotely.Baby Loup Garou is a hot commodity apparently. The  town nearby was pretty safe because the Skinwalker avoided shitting  where he ate so to speak, but since he appears to have lost the plot and  the town is being infiltrated by thralls she and the baby decided to  bounce. They said they might swing by Chicago soon." I very carefully  didn't mention anything about Demonreach, I couldn't afford to fuck up  the Sanctum invocation by scaring Harry off.

Slumping  back onto the bed to sit Harry sighed loudly "Damn. Well that's all  this nonsense needed. Fucking vampires. I'll look into the thralls next  time I head into town. You just focus on your own training and your  downtime. I'm assuming they aren't attacking because there are so many  powerful wizards around, plus even if they decide to try something Kara  and Cinder are basically built to kill vampires." That seemed to be all  he needed to say on the matter because he waved me off and went back to  his book, clearly wanting me to go spend time with the girls while I  could.

I shot  my mentor a grateful smile and headed back to my room to clean up and  change into my new suit. I took my time showering and getting clean  because we had another hour or two before we needed to leave. I let the  hot water leech the stress and excitement of the day from me as it  pounded down on my back, this place has amazing water pressure. Finally  when I finished getting ready I put my new suit on. At around six feet I  had slightly wide than average shoulders, most of the time when I  bought off the rack suits sat wrong on me, nothing obvious but still a  noticeable thing if you were looking. The tailoring made this 0ne drape  just right and I winked at myself in the mirror before heading out to  the lobby to wait.

The  girls had already picked their new dresses by the time I showed up and I  wasn't allowed to see them. They wanted them to be a surprise. Cinder  of course wore her immaculate red gown to dinner, but the other two  seemed excited for a chance to dress up. Thinking of my suit I could  understand the sentiment, everyone likes to look their best sometimes,  and dressing formal makes you feel like a different person. I opted to  stand so I didn't crease my pants before the girls saw me. I finally  heard the door open and turned to see the girls entering the lobby and  froze.

Cinder  looked amazing of course, she always did, but she decided to curl her  hair gently tonight and used some makeup I realized she had never  bothered with before. She was just naturally heart stopping and seeing  her put in and real effort sent me reeling a bit. Barb was the next into  the room, she was wearing a gorgeous black dress that hung so perfectly  on her it looked like someone invented dresses with this moment in  mind, her hair was done up in a bun with a pair of chopsticks exposing  bared shoulders and a neck adorned with a gorgeous emerald and gold  pendant that matched the tear drop earrings in her ears.

Finally,  last was Kara. Her dress was cerulean blue to match her beautiful eyes  and she was wearing a gorgeous mini dress and a pair of bright blue  heels to match. She had a shawl around her bare shoulders and her eyes  were smoky with well applied makeup. Her lips provided that one speck of  red that softened all that blue and gold and they were quirked in  satisfaction at the stupefied expression on my face. Seeing them all  like this I was glad I'd found such a fantastic suit or I would've felt  completely outclassed. As it was I simply raised an eyebrow and schooled  my stunned expression into a smirk.

Barb  gave an appreciative whistle "Well, damn you clean up nice. All these  months of hard training and fights have definitely done you good. I  don't know how you found someone to professionally tailor you a suit in a  single day in this tiny town but hats off to their effort." She  strolled up and pecked me on the cheek, careful not to leave any  smudges. "You look amazing babe, I bet the others are totally jealous I  get you all to myself later." She shot a wink over one shoulder at Kara  and Cinder "Aren't you girls?"

Kara  rolled her eyes and smiled good naturedly, Cinder on the other hand  flushed and looked away. Barbara, in the spirit of making friends, chose  not to bring up that little slip, though I did notice she saw it. I  decided to interrupt "Well, all three of you look breathtaking . I took  the liberty of calling us a car, since walking all that way in formal  wear is a good way to arrive looking like a mess. Well, except Cinder I  suppose, she can walk anywhere without mussing a hair, which as I had  mentioned before was semblance like in amazingness to me.

The  car pulled up outside at promptly quarter past four, a nice dark town  car I'd gotten for a fairly reasonable price, if you were basing your  expectations on buying a black market kidney. Despite that I felt the  expense was worth it, and I expected we would have more than enough to  cover it. The ride there was fairly short, no one making much  conversation, but it wasn't awakward, we all just enjoyed the silence  and rest for a bit after such an insane few weeks. I could see Ebenezar  and Harry's point, we really did need this down time, we'd been running  on empty for so long it felt normal but a chance to catch our breaths  was welcome.

As  we pulled up outside Steakhouse no. three hundred and sixteen and  stepped out into the cool night air I took in the girls again. They all  looked stunning in the moonlight. We were led to one of the gorgeous  tables. The white tablecloths set off the dark wood and walls and the  red velvet cushions of our booth matched beautifully with the gold  framed mirrors studded with classy old photos. We all sat down, and I  pulled out Kara and Cinder's seats before taking my own spot next to  Barb on the booth side of the table.

After  the waiter came and we ordered out drinks I grinned at a flushed Cinder  "So, we haven't had as much time together as I'd like and most of what  we have been talking about is Aura control. Having been through a few  weeks with us, tell me honestly, what do you think of life now that  you're out of the world domination business?" I expected an immediate  response, maybe an eye roll or a sneer, but I got a genuine pause and a  thoughtful expression on her pretty face. The inquisitive pout looked  amazing on her full lips and I let myself stare for a few seconds before  snapping back up to her amber eyes.

I  saw mischief in her blazing irises as she noticed me looking and  purposefully licked her lips slowly, before giggling a bit and answering  "I...I enjoy it. I don't know how much of that is the new me, and how  much of it is just the safety and trust I feel. I've never really been  able to count on anyone before, but I know deep down I can count on you.  Even when my mind tries to tell me I can't and to look out for myself I  just can't feel it. I know you'll always be on my side, that's a heavy  thing to have after so long without it."

Kara  nodded with a smile and reached out to take my hand "Yeah, the rest of  us took a bit to get there, but we know how you feel. Going through so  much with him after such a big change was a bonding experience for sure,  but he never gave us a hint of a reason to doubt his loyalty. Seeing  him looking after you and the vampires like that after what happened  reminds me so much of how much he did for us." She flashed me a smile  "Don't think I don't know you only got involved in the Knight debacle  the way you did because of me."

I  flushed slightly and cleared my throat "I had plenty of fun with that  craziness, and I wouldn't have come as far as I have without it. Or  without you." I scanned my gaze over them "Any of you. Even you Cinder,  you were always pushing us even when we didn't know you were there. I  know the terrible stuff was mostly Jack, but without you around we would  all be weaker, and with whats coming that strength is going to be a big  help." I met her gaze intensely "So whatever else, thank you, for  keeping me and the people I care about, including you, safe."

I  looked away from the blushing ex villain to give her time to compose  herself a bit since I knew she wouldn't want that kind of vulnerability  on display. I smiled around me at the beautiful women I'd come here with  and just generally enjoyed their presence. I turned to look at my  gorgeous girlfriend, taking in her long graceful neck and smooth  gorgeous jaw and sweeping my gaze up to those breathtaking blue eyes.  Kara's eyes were cerulean but Barb's were more sapphire, a deeper richer  shade of blue.

As I stared though I  caught the motion of our waiter as he came back with our drinks, I gave  him an amiable nod and turned back to stare at my girlfriend, careful  not to show on my face the fact that I'd noticed something was amiss. As  he turned to move away from us I reached down casually and slipped a  pen from my jacket pocket to scribble on one of the classy upper crust  napkins, moving it to show all three girls. Anyone else notice our waiter didn't have a reflection?