Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (54 page)

“Her pheromones?” Triska asked. “But what does that have to do with us not getting pregnant?”

Daniel chuckled as the girls looked to him curiously.

“An ant girl’s pheromones cause a man to go crazy with lust,” he clarified. “To make them want to make love over and over again so they can be tested by the ant girls and used for the queen. It gives the men stamina to keep going and makes them disregard everything else in favor of having sex until they pass out.” The girls all nodded to that before he smirked and glanced to Squeak’s abdomen as the ant girl watched him with wonder.

“I read up on everything about ant girls before Squeak’s date night, wanting to know all that I could about her. And something that we had written down in the book struck me as interesting. Did you know they don’t want their lust-induced humans to go wild with any other female that may be nearby? If a lone ant girl, such as Squeak, is separated from her nest, her pheromones will change based on what’s around her,” he explained, with the group looking at him with confusion.

“What do you mean they’ll change based on what’s around her?” Triska asked before looking to Specca questionably, the others also doing the same to see if their appointed guide would illuminate that for them. Specca looked down in thought for a moment as all eyes were on her, thinking hard about that detail before she suddenly showed clarity as she remembered what Daniel did.

“An ant girl doesn’t want her own pheromones to help induce pregnancy with other females,” she recalled. “So her pheromones will change to prevent that.”

“Correct,” Daniel agreed. “After all, if she used her pheromones out in the wild near humans, they may run around and try to mate with other humans or even monsters that may be nearby. That wouldn’t help her but rather her rivals.”

“But how does that mean that we won’t get pregnant now?” Alyssa asked shaking her head. “Daniel came inside all of us.”

“Yeah, like
a lot
,” Triska reminded with a small smile at Daniel. He glanced to her with a weak smile in response before shaking his head.

“Yes, but you were all
near
Squeak last night when that happened,” he pointed out.

Triska and Alyssa looked at him confusedly before a smile came across Specca’s face.

“Her pheromones will only act normally when she’s alone or by related ant girls,” she remembered. “When she’s around other
females
her body will change the pheromones to prevent her victims from impregnating other women by accident.”

“How though?” Triska asked. “Daniel went wild with lust last night, just like all the ant girls’ victims do from the pheromones. What was different about that?”

Daniel chuckled and glanced down to his penis with a raised eyebrow.

“The pheromones change so that the men will lose all their potency,” he said, with Triska and Alyssa looking to him with confusion before down to his penis with wonder.

“What?” Alyssa asked.

Specca giggled and nodded as she looked to Squeak with a relieved smile.

“During the period of lust-induced hysteria the men will become sterile when having sex if any women other than the ant girls are nearby. Daniel’s semen, under the drug’s effects, would have lost all its potency. As long as we’re around Squeak her pheromones won’t let Daniel impregnate any of us with their effects.”

The group turned to Squeak as she tilted her head with a curious expression before she glanced to her abdomen with a raised eyebrow. Daniel nodded with an amused smile then looked around at all the girls.

“I knew that as long as she used her pheromones I would still be driven to have sex with all of you with all my strength,” he reasoned with a shrug. “But none of you would have been impregnated with me doing so. I know if any of you have a baby now then traveling with me would become almost impossible, so of course I wouldn’t risk that happening last night.”

“You knew,” Specca concluded with a curious smile at him. “You knew that with Squeak’s pheromones being used you would have made love to us completely, while also ensuring that we couldn’t get pregnant so early in our journey with you.”

Daniel nodded before noticing Triska and Alyssa staring at him with frightful expressions.

“Wait,” Alyssa nervously said. “So you’re saying you’re
sterile
now?”

“You’re never going to be able to have children again?” Triska cried out while grabbing her hair in a panic.

Daniel blinked then shook his head with a weak smile.

“No, I’m perfectly fine. With the pheromones gone now my body is acting normally, that was only a temporary thing,” he assured, with Triska and Alyssa then breathing out in relief. All the girls looked around at each other with warm smiles before turning to Daniel again, with him slowly rubbing the back of his neck as he wasn’t sure what to say at a time like this.

“So, is this what you wanted, Daniel?” Triska asked with a smirk.

Daniel glanced to her then looked around at all the girls as they slowly gathered together in front of him, all of them watching him with knowing smiles.

“To have
all
of us as your lovers?” Alyssa asked coyly.

“Or did you only say what you did last night because of Charlotte being here?” Specca asked with a worried smile.

Daniel watched as the four girls showed some concern with Specca’s words as their smiles faded slightly, all of them remaining silent and waiting for his answer. He slowly looked from one girl to the other, seeing all of them naked before him and feeling a strong, unyielding connection and desire for all of them. Remembering how he nearly lost each and every one of them, Daniel understood that he did feel love for all of them, equally. The idea of losing even one of them, having to see them walk away or die before him, was too much to bear. Knowing this, he felt he had the right, and only, answer to Specca’s question.

“No, Specca,” he answered, with all the girls watching him curiously now. “I said I loved you all because I do, not because Charlotte was listening. I know that this isn’t how you all wanted it to end, with me choosing all of you rather than one, but-”

“No, we actually prefer it this way,” Triska interjected while shaking her head.

Daniel paused for a moment then looked at her with confusion.

“Wait, what?”

Triska giggled then shrugged with an innocent smile.

“Daniel, we told you before,” she reminded. “If we have to share you with each other to have you, then we’re alright with that.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa agreed with a hop. “Since you can’t pick one of us, you’ll just have to love us all.”

Daniel looked at them with stunned silence for a while before shaking his head slightly.

“But, wouldn’t you all have preferred me choosing just
one
of you?”

The girls looked to each other then to Daniel while shaking their heads with worried smiles.

“No, we wouldn’t have,” Specca replied. “You see, the truth is if you had picked just one of us, the other three… would have had to leave. We would have lost each other, and three of us would have lost you.”

“We told you we all love each other, and we do,” Alyssa said with a shrug. “It took us a while to admit it. I mean we
were
fighting over you so much.” She then looked to Triska who glanced to her with a smirk before turning back to Daniel.

“Triska especially,” she mentioned, with Triska jumping a bit then looking to her with annoyance.

“Hey! You were just as bad! And we were fighting
each other
most of the time, remember?”

“Triska,” Alyssa lectured while shaking a finger at her. “Now’s not the time to discuss that. We all love each other now, right?”

Triska opened her mouth to speak before Specca quickly rested a hand on her shoulder, with Triska looking around to seeing the nixie and Squeak just shaking their heads at her.

“Seriously?” Triska asked tiredly. “We’re just going to let that slide with her?”

Specca and Squeak merely nodded while Alyssa smiled proudly at Daniel. Triska held in her grunt and glanced away with a dull expression on her face as Alyssa then continued.

“And we’ve come to realize that… we really don’t want to say goodbye to one another. If you had picked one of us, we would have had to, and we would have been sad because of it.”

Daniel stuttered some form of response, which wasn’t anything coherent, then shook his head before showing a bewildered look on his face.

“But… I thought me picking
all
of you was a cowardly and pathetic thing to do,” he nervously said. “I mean, couples in love normally don’t involve more than two people, right? Isn’t the man supposed to just choose
one
woman to love in his life?”

Squeak started squeaking something at him, with the group watching as she showed a saddened smile and gestured around at all the girls one by one with strange and indecipherable hand signals before she motioned to Daniel and shook her head with a shrug as she kept saying something in her own language. After a while of silence passed Daniel just showed a nervous smile at the girls.

“Am I tripping on Squeak’s pheromones still? Is this a dream?” he asked, with Squeak showing a puzzled expression as she failed to see how her reassuring words didn’t reach the boy at all.

“No, Daniel, you’re not dreaming,” Specca said with a small laugh. “This is how we really feel. And you’re not cowardly with picking all of us, it’s actually what we wanted all along.”

“We love you, and we love each other,” Alyssa agreed with a hop. “This is what we want. You made the right choice.”

“You said you loved us all equally,” Triska reminded with an accusing smile and shaking a finger at Daniel. “That you couldn’t pick among us because we were all so special to you. Well, Daniel, we’re fine with that, but you’d better take responsibility.”

Daniel looked at her worriedly then around at the other girls as all of them showed promiscuous smiles.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked carefully.

“You’d better love us all, Daniel, just like you said you would,” Specca replied before all the girls tackled him down onto the bed together, the boy shaking his head a bit before seeing all four girls smiling down at him with loving eyes.

“We’re all yours, Daniel,” Alyssa giggled. “So you’d better take good care of us.”

Squeak nodded and squeaked something that was presumed to be in agreement.

“This is all your fault, Daniel,” Triska said softly. Daniel looked at her curiously as she gently rested a hand on his cheek.

“You’re just too desirable.”

*****

As the morning light slowly crept across the land a few rays from the sun pierced through the leaves and branches of a small woodland, the sounds of birds chirping before flying off from their nests in the trees being heard as a calm breeze blew by. Lying on the grass in a small clearing Forrus was on her back while her tail twitched slightly as the warm sunlight rested on it. After a while the lycan slowly opened her eyes with a quiet yawn, her arms stretching out as she awoke from her slumber. Almost instantly afterwards she quickly sat up and looked around, seeming to panic for a moment before seeing Sasha sleeping against a tree nearby. The reptile girl had her sword struck into the ground at her side while her arms were crossed in her lap, her tail resting next to her while her chest moved only slightly with each quiet breath she took. Cradled in her arms was the artifact that had been entrusted to her, with Forrus slowly standing up and watching as Sasha seemed to hold the relic close even in her sleep. Glancing around the lycan saw no sign of Daemon or Rulo, a quiet nervous whine escaping her lips as she seemed troubled by something.

“My lord, where did you go?” she asked looking around quickly.

Turning back to Sasha she slowly approached the reptile girl, watching as her fellow companion remained perfectly still while holding the artifact close to her. As Forrus got closer Sasha’s eyes snapped open, seeming to pierce right through the lycan’s with a cold stare that caused the monster to halt instantly.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Forrus said curiously. Sasha merely stared at her while remaining silent, with the lycan looking around quickly then back to her with concern. “I just awoke as well, where is-”

“He’s around, just as she is,” Sasha interrupted as she looked down to the relic in her arms, her hands slowly moving to hold the object with a gentle touch.

“Did he sleep last night?” Forrus questioned while looking around again with confusion. “I remember him standing guard nearby while I drifted to sleep, but that wasn’t too long ago.”

“He sleeps when he wants to, never before,” Sasha replied, seeming very cryptic at the least as she just examined the relic in her hands.

Forrus looked back to her curiously then over to seeing Rulo walking back towards the clearing with her hammer held over her shoulder while dragging a dead bear behind her, the large animal trailing blood behind it from where its head was smashed in from the orc’s weapon.

“So the mutt’s finally awake. About time,” Rulo said dryly before she dropped the bear down next to Sasha, the reptile girl merely glancing to it briefly before looking back to the artifact.

“You brought us a
bear
for breakfast?” Forrus asked with wonder.

Rulo scoffed and dropped her hammer down to the ground with a heavy thump.

“No, I brought
myself
a bear for breakfast. Go get your own food,” she snapped before she looked to the large animal with a hungry smile.

“Rulo,” Sasha commented dryly. “You know how you get when you eat bear. Go find a deer or even a horse if you’re that hungry.”

Rulo rolled her eyes then knelt down by the bear as she ripped open its side with her bare hands, blood and tatters of flesh pouring onto the ground and her hands as she licked her lips in anticipation.

“Weren’t any around. Besides, I’m hungry,” she replied causally before she just stuck her face into the animal and started eating with heavy grunts and oinks.

“When she eats a bear she does so like a pig?” Forrus asked flatly, with Rulo glancing back to her with a loud oink and a glare before resuming with her meal.