Kiara's lips parted on a broad smirk.

"Perimeter is clear of ferals, Rick, only some tamers fucking their monstergirls." Her finger pointed to the side. "Over there... and over there... and over there..." Clockwise, she pointed towards the woods. "Oh, and little horsey wants to fuck wonder boy over there." She then pointed at Tomas as he sat at the opposite edge of the clearing, though it seemed she'd not been loud enough for him to hear. "Would that be all?"

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you motioned her to sit. "I did have a question for both of you."

"I'm all hornies, Rick, ah, I mean all ears." Kiara's lips parted into a smirk and a chuckle.

"It's precisely about your dietary needs," you replied evenly. "I know Diane's an hour away before she needs a meal, and that if I pull Monica out she'll want food within half an hour tops. But I'm not quite sure on how 'food' works with you."

"Oh." The question had her tap her chin, and then she shrugged. "I eat more when someone feels powerful strong things towards me, and is nearby. The stronger and closer, the better. Orgasms are best, not really anything that can compare in intensity."

"So if I fucked Diane you could eat that?"

"As a snack, sure." A leisure shrug of her shoulders. "But it wouldn't really be aimed at 'me'. Her focus would be on you, and yours on her."

"Diane?"

The nurse's glare receded as she nodded. "Succubi need taming at least once a day, but to remain healthy they would need at least two."

"More if I go around spending all that energy."

"Meaning that if I keep you balled most of the day, you could go on with just one taming." Your comment earned narrowed eyes, and you shook your head. "It's just a mental note." The eyes did not change any as you turned your focus to Diane. "I wanted to bring up how both of you will be helping with the Monica situation."

Kiara frowned, Diane did so as well.

"I don't like my girls not being able to read," you continued. "So both of you are going to help fix that."

"How do you know I can read?" Kiara blinked.

"Wild guess, glad I was right." A little chuckle left you at her scowl. "Anyway, I got my hands on some paper and pens to help with that."

"Master?" Diane's eyes flickered towards Kiara and then at you.

"Kiara gets food out of sex. Monica likes sex as a reward. Using it as an incentive would help cover for both needs at once," you replied. "Diane sets out the reward schemes, and that pushes all parties involved to put effort. Because that means more rewards and 'snacks' for either of them."

The infernal's eyes narrowed, remaining quiet before leaning back. "This is the first time I'm put to use as a teaching aid for something that isn't sex." A smouldering grin spread across her lips. "But I wouldn't consider fucking the cat as a reward, more like part of the job."

"Sure." Your words caused Diane to do a double-take. You only arched a brow at the nurse. "Her demanding better rewards means you'd get ones too. It would only be fair." And that caused the Succubus to growl. "So, anyway, rewards, teaching reading and writing would be an ongoing project, so I guess we could make it based on milestones."

"Milestones?"

"Every time Monica reaches a certain comprehension level objective, I give a proportional reward to her and her teachers," you explained with a shrug of your shoulders, feeling as the muscles soothed and unknotted slightly. Habit, familiarity, this was closer to what you knew. "And if I think either of you put more effort than the other, then I add a bonus to the one who did the most." That ought to keep them focused on trying to one-up one another. Your gaze turned to your belt- you sighed for a moment and brought out Monica's ball, handing it over to Diane. "Questions?"

With a furrow of her brow, your alpha looked at Kiara and then back at you. "Could the rewards include special requests?"

"I don't see why not, we'd have to talk them over first though."

A nod of determination followed. "I'll start right away."

"And me?" Kiara arched an eyebrow as she leaned towards Diane for a second. "Think you can handle the cat on your own?"

"Yes." Plain, simple, direct. Her stare was aimed at the Succubus, intense in the glare. "Feel free to rest or watch."

The infernal monstergirl returned the look with a smooth one of her own, eyes half-lidded, lips thin, her jaw set. "I will... help." Her voice was slow, each word measured out, as her eyes flickered at the sphere Diane held before turning towards you.

No words were spoken, and yet there was something in that look that made the hairs in the back of your neck stand on end.

"I'll leave you to it, then." You dusted yourself off, standing up and grasping the last capture device before taking a handful of steps away from the two while they glared at one another.

With a flick of your wrist, you released Raven from the sphere.

The spider popped into reality with all her eyes open, a slight quick twitch of her head left, then right, her hands moving from her flanks to her front. She proceeded to close all but the two main eyes, focusing on you while she lowered her shoulders and bowed. "Master," she greeted with slowness to her gestures.

"Stick around for a bit, I'm going to talk about clothes and you're probably going to be of help." A little nod from her was all you got, which left you wanting to sigh as you turned towards your third objective. Your feet felt like they were filled with a little bit of lead with each step.

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Your steps took you towards Tomas.

The approach didn't go unnoticed. Kat had been talking with the Milktits and gone quiet, Mr. Gabriel had raised his eyes from whatever he'd been reading, and finally, and Freya's focus shifted from the forest directly towards you. The intensity of her gaze made the young man glance up from his conversation with the horse monstergirl, directly at you.

The slight smile died an early death, turning into a scowl.

"Do you have a minute?"

"Why are you here, Rick?" Tomas spoke as he crossed his arms.

To the point, then. "This is Raven." You gestured at the Arachnae standing slightly to your side. "She knows how to weave, and her silk is really good. I was thinking that she and Freya could work together to make clothes for the group."

"You came for Freya." There was a growl to his voice that tried to hide the casualness he tried to use.

You ignored the sarcasm weaved into his words. "If you think it's a bad idea, I'll just ask Raven to do things on her own," you pointed out.

That made Tomas' eyes narrow further. "So you think a couple of shirts are going to solve things?"

"I'm not here to make amends, Tomas, I'm here to propose something that I think will benefit the group as a whole." You placed your hands on your hips, cocking your head slightly to the side.

A moment passed as Tomas' eyes took a blank look at them, mouth parting slightly just as it was quickly closed, lips thinning. With a frown, he slowly stood up. "Do you even care about what you did?"

The question took you slightly by surprise, though you held from groaning. "Tomas, if you want to talk about it I will, but are you sure you'd rather do that here, in front of everyone?" You gestured at the others nearby, and more than one quickly looked the other way.

"No, let's do that, here, you didn't care back then. Why should you now?"

"And what do you want, Tomas?"

"An apology, for one."

"Sure." You breathed in and let it out. "I'm sorry I didn't approach the situation with more tact, I hadn't quite fully grasped the situation as I should have." A pause, closing your eyes brought slight relief to the weight that hung behind them. The urge to rub them was held back in favour of letting a second pass. "I won't make the same mistake again, we're both adults, it was unreasonable of me to consider you couldn't understand what was happening."

"That I couldn't..." Tomas' mouth hung open. "Rick, you stole Rachel. Wait." With a clenching jaw and a furrowed brow, he glared at you. "You're not even sorry about that, are you?"

"No." The word was succinct. "Kiara was a free element in the group that was causing discord, over-draining you, putting your health at risk, and extending her actions to affect my girls and placing them at risk as well. You did not have control over her. I stepped in."

"It's Rachel." Tomas' voice shook. "Her name is Rachel."

"Was Rachel. She freely accepted the conditions of the challenge and lost," you stated with a gesture of your head towards the Succubus in question.

"And what? What now? She's your slave?"

"Right now she's under orders to help teach Monica English." Your shrug was a casual one. "I've rescinded most of her rights and freedoms, and I mostly intend to keep her in that position until she's earned her way up."

Tomas lunged, hands extended towards your shirt. The image of a crushed can crossed your mind.

Your right hand shot to the side, blocking Raven from taking a step forward. You were fairly sure there was a flash of red, but it was something the young man had not reacted to. Tomas' eyes met squarely with your own. Mere centimetres away, he held you by the neck of your shirt, his grip nearly driving you onto your tiptoes. "She's not a slave," the young man growled in a low voice, teeth grinding slowly.

Diane lifting you by your arms.

"She is now," you replied through narrowed eyes. "They all are," you added, leaning your head slightly to ease the pressure of the grip. "And pretending they're not is exactly what made you vulnerable to the threat Kiara poses."

"She's a person!" He gripped tighter, shaking you.

Kiara's glowing hand an inch away from your chest.

"Yes," you replied.

"Then what? Do you think it's right to enslave them?" Tomas's eyes were becoming wild as he leaned closer.

Raven's finger caressing your neck and drawing blood.

"I don't care whether it's right or not." The answer came out of your lips more easily than you thought it would've. "I do, however, think that you don't really understand what you're doing."

"And how do you figure that?"

The question lanced into your chest, deep heat and tightness coiling into your heart. The first image that came into your mind was of the young man riding on the centaur, taking to the wind, a wide smile plastered on his face as he laughed. Compared to that, Tomas right now looked as if ready to punch your lights out, face reddened and scrounged up, showing his teeth. He had some height on you, he was certainly better built and stronger and yet…

Monica, letting out a blood-curdling roar.

Your heartbeat was slow, steady.

Unflinching, you turned your head to look at the outstretched arm you'd held in place to block Raven's path. Tomas followed your gaze.

The Arachnae was looking at Tomas, unwavering, a faint lingering respectful smile on her lips, one that did not reach her eyes. "I believe this is yours, sir," she spoke with a slight bow of her head, reaching out and offering a sphere. There was a small thread of silk hanging from the device as it passed onto the young man's hands.

Confused, he looked at the capture sphere and then at his belt. There was a missing slot. Wide eyes followed, letting go of your shirt and stepping back. With the click of the release mechanism, Freya materialized into the world. The instant the elf had appeared she confirmed where Tomas was and lunged to stand next to him, her back pressing against his chest as she nocked an arrow, wild eyes focusing on Raven as her arm tensed, ready to draw.

The Arachnae did not move, not even looking at the elf and instead focused on Tomas. "Step back," you ordered. She complied without hesitation, bowing and taking a single step back, placing herself slightly behind and to your right.

With your eyes on Freya, you waited for the elf to relax her grip at least a bit before you turned towards the young man. "I think, Tomas." You dusted your shirt off, adjusting it slightly as you sighed. "That we can postpone the clothes talk for later."

Tomas had not even turned to look at you, his hand on the capture device and his focus on the Arachnae.

You turned to leave, steadying your breath as you felt your heart shoot into a wild beat. You glanced at your other three monstergirls, and each of them sat and glanced back in turn. The looks did not shy from meeting your eyes. Monica sat tall, firm, smiling, a short nod at your return. Diane frowned, lips pursed as her attention flickered at Raven next to you. Kiara, for her part, was looking straight at you, a wide alluring smirk, eyes shining as she leaned slightly back as if to tempt you to look over her body.

The focus was shifted towards the Arachnae. "Thanks for the help."

"It is my duty to protect my Master." Her words were cold and distant.

"Would you have... hurt him?"

Raven shook her head, almost imperceptibly. "No, Master, there would've been no need for that."

Inwardly, you sighed in relief.