Mason slept without dreams, and woke before the dawn. His bed felt strange. Too soft and comfortable, with warm, soft flesh pressed against him.

He was beginning to think of the forest floor as the norm—the settlement of Nassau as the 'temporary'. He wondered how long until mortal danger became the standard, with peace and civilization little more than a pleasant fiction.

Maybe it was always the case. Maybe humanity had just gotten too rich, too soft.

He crawled out of bed, smiling as he set Haley and Naya down and pulled the sheet over his naked wives. Their long hair spilled together, two streaks of light and dark mixing like paint. Mason wished he was a poet, that he could capture the image and feeling of his women still deep asleep after a night of lust with him. But he was a man of a different kind of talents.

And it was time to sort out a whole host of things.

Some he would delegate, others he needed to deal with personally. He realized he needed to meet with all his players, and maybe the whole settlement, and talk about the Nexus and the changes to come. He didn't know 'exactly' what was going to happen, but he knew it would be a big deal.

The outside world was about to come to Nassau. Maybe it would just be central 'communication beacons' and pretty easily controlled. But who the hell knew. Maybe every single house was going to get some kind of ability to talk to others, like a post-apocalyptic telephone or video system. And then there was teleportation.

Again maybe this would be extremely limited and easy for Mason and his 'officers' to keep a handle on. Or maybe people were going to be able to swap around from settlement to settlement. For all Mason knew, there were whole classes out there, whether civilian or player, devoted to traveling around.

However many humans were alive, and however large their numbers, they were about to do what humans did: search for opportunity. The other settlements and patrons would be sniffing around Nassau like a hundred packs of dogs, if they could. And the people of Nassau needed to be ready.

Was Mason being paranoid? Maybe. But the paranoid survived.

He woke Carl and Phuong, first. The former came out grumbling and wiping at his eyes, the latter bathed and alert with a small bow.

"Good morning, Patron."

"It's not that good." Carl yawned. "It's getting bloody cold at night. I expect winter won't be that pleasant."

"I'll tell all the drivers there might be ice on the roads," Mason said. Carl grinned. Both of Mason’s ‘player leaders’ waited for instruction, knowing he wouldn't have bothered them unless it was important.

He took a moment to appreciate the loyalty and competence of both—and the strange, warm feeling in his chest at not being alone. Then he remembered his brother was still in that God damn tower playing house with orcs and goblins.

"Fucking Blake," he muttered.

When the men raised their brows he shook his head.

"Nevermind. It's Nexus day, gentlemen. And we need to be ready for..." he shrugged, "pretty much anything. I don't want to spend any patron points until it's up, because maybe there's something we can do with them. But I want every player available and...shit, I don't know..."

"Fighting fit," Carl suggested, and Mason nodded.

"For all we know it sparks some kind of challenge. Or maybe demons attack us from the sky. Or...well who the fuck knows, it's roboGod."

"I-T-A," Carl said, and Mason raised a brow. "It's the apocalypse," he clarified. "Means crazy shit happens, basically. All the kids are saying it. You know, kids. People your age."

"Great." Mason rolled his eyes. "Well. Get them armed and ready...I'm going to head down to..."

"Perhaps you should check on the wolves, Patron," Phuong interrupted. "They are getting...unruly."

Mason sighed. "I'll do that first."

He let his 'officers' go, then made his way outside the wall, hop-climbing it and winking at the gate guard as he dropped to the other side. He wasn't sure exactly where the wolves had made their den, but...it didn't take long to figure it out. First of all, he could smell it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The animals had made an unholy mess of the east side of Nassau's outer wall. It reeked of shit and rotting carcasses, the sound of wolves playing and fighting easily heard hundreds of feet away. It was clear they'd abandoned any pretense of trying to be subtle, their obvious feeling of dominance here oozing from the casual openness of their den.

A few of the younger wolves smelled Mason, yipping and padding over to check him out before they caught a good look and bolted in terror. He slowed and entered in plain view, watching snarls of alarm and menace dry up as they remembered him. Streak yawned and stepped out from the trees, growling at a few males just to remind them what was what.

Not that he really needed to. Streak was at least twice the size of the biggest wolf, and looked increasingly like some terrifying, tattooed, glowing eyed hellhound. He flopped over and stuck out his legs for a belly rub.

Mason shook his head and got to scratching. The mood lightened, and soon the other wolves were coming closer to see if they could get in on the action, or at least figure out if they should. Mason glanced at the absolute state of their temporary home and sighed.

"We need to figure this out. At least some of your pack needs to roam. But it also needs to not eat people. We can house the pregnant females and cubs, but we need a good place. Any ideas, here?"

Streak panted and closed his eyes as Mason rubbed. The feeling was something like 'I trust you, you'll figure it out'.

"Super. Thanks for the help."

He glanced into the trees and winced, suddenly thinking of the nymphs in the great tree. One of them—Calypsa—had healed Becky after the fight in the goblin dungeon, and she'd demanded some kind of 'earth price'.

Mason still didn't know what that meant, but he'd agreed to it. In his mind he'd told himself that if the cost was too high he just wouldn't pay, and what the hell could Calypsa do about it?

But he knew it might be more complicated. It might be some system enforced rule he couldn't stop or fight. And sooner or later he had to go talk to them. In the Great Game, a problem like that didn't just go away.

Mason scrolled through his patron menus, glancing again at the 'menagerie' he'd gained access to after the Gaian theme to the settlement. He also had some elven options now that might work. He almost picked one right then, but decided this could wait for the Nexus, too.

"Things are about to change," he told Streak. "So keep your damn pack under control. Stop snarling at people. Stop staring at them. And if I tell you you're all going into a building, or wherever, you don't get to complain, because you didn't give me any suggestions."

Streak made a very 'sure, I don't care' kind of wolf snuffle, and Mason rolled his eyes. He smacked the big bastard hard on the back as he stood, then braced as the wolf leapt to his feet and charged his face into Mason's gut.

"Oh yes, you're very strong." He laughed and overpowered the creature with a bit of effort, then scratched the wolf's face, wrestling him off as he gave the others a quick challenging look. He had to remind them who was boss, too.

Then he walked back to Nassau and went to the chief hall, finding it abuzz with activity. Haley and Rosa were in the kitchen, giving orders to the other girls (except Naya).

"Oh there you are," Haley said, wiping her hands on her apron as she spotted Mason and smiled. "I talked to Carl. We're going to gather everyone in the square, make it a kind of barbecue so it can be a social thing, too."

"Good idea." Mason looked between his (human) women (and Lexi) and smiled, trying not to imagine each of them the night before. He mostly failed. Haley seemed to understand and gave him a slightly tilted-head look, coming closer as if to give him a taste of something.

"You talked to Becky and Rosa? We haven't mentioned last night."

"There was...a little talking."

Haley glanced back at the others and shifted her weight.

"Oh why did I have to fall asleep."

"Because you could barely move, and I'm pretty sure you needed it."

"No fair." Haley let out a breath. "Where's my superpowers?"

"Trust me, you have your own version." Mason grinned, and Haley stepped forward and put her slightly messy hands around his neck and kissed him with increasing passion.

"Hey! Some of us are workin' here. There ain't no time for that," Becky said from a bowl of dough. Haley shot back a glare, then sighed.

"She’s right. We have a lot to do. And since you hate speeches this must be a special occasion."

Mason nodded, then walked towards the others, giving Lexi a friendly nod. He grabbed Becky from behind and turned her head until he could kiss her, too, just giving Rosa's ass a good, hard slap.

Without another word he walked to the bedroom to find Naya still splayed across the bed, surrounded by pillows. She sighed, eyes fluttering as Mason walked in. Then she blinked and glanced at the window, realizing how much light there was.

"Did I oversleep?" she asked, scrambling a little as she pulled herself up, the sheet covering her dropping to show she was still completely naked. Mason wasn't sure what he'd planned, but he scooped up his new elven bride and set her in his lap without a word.

He kissed her until she melted into his arms and moaned, his hands all over her body.

"Good morning," he said with a smile.

"Good morning, husband.

She stared intensely into his eyes, as if all she wanted was to stay in bed with him all day. Just the thought was enough to get him going.

"Normally you'd have...wifely duties," he told her, running his hands down her back. "But I need you to gather the elves in the town square. They're invited to a barbecue."

"Yes, husband," she said, obviously enjoying using the title. She kissed him again to the point he knew he had to get out or give in, eventually sending Naya back to the bed with a little shriek as he stood.

"Later," he promised, adjusting his now slightly uncomfortable pants.

"Oh, um, husband?" Naya pursed her very kissable lips. "What is...a barbecue?"