I stared in the direction Azura was pointing, trying to spot the wolves she had mentioned, but I couldn't see anything besides trees.

  Could Gemma really have taken down the b already? She wanted to do it as fast as possible, and she had told me about it in the night. If she had attacked the b not long after, even before morning, they could have done it already, and it was close enough to the b from Ortas so they could be here.

  “Do you think it’s your mother?” I asked.

  Azura took a deep breath through her nose before she quickly turned toward me. “Yes!” she gasped, staring at me with her dark blue eyes.

  “Okay, we’ll meet with her,” I replied, turning toward Cassia. “Thanks for exploring today. Again tomorrow?” I asked.

  If it really was Azura’s mother, then Tori splitting from us wasn't an accident, and she was separated on purpose. Whoever wanted to meet with us there wanted to do it with only trusted people, and Cassia wasn’t one of them.

  “Sure,” she replied, gncing into the forest.

  “And we could do a training session after exploring?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she replied, shifting her gaze back to me. “You need to practice a lot.”

  “Well, good thing I have such a great teacher,” I replied, smiling.

  Cassia actually returned my smile. She had been acting a bit warmer toward me all day, so maybe it was just a matter of time before I melted her cold demeanor.

  After a short farewell, Cassia headed toward Ortas. I shifted my gaze back to Azura, who was shifting from foot to foot while still staring at me, waiting.

  “At least put on clothes, please,” I said, gliding my gaze over her naked body. If her mother was there, I really didn't want her to see Azura running naked around us. On the other hand, she was a wolf shapeshifter too, so perhaps it was normal for them.

  Zoe passed the clothes from her bag to Azura, and after she put them on quickly, we moved toward the forest, with Azura leading us.

  “Let’s be careful,” I said, gncing at Zoe and Mari as we stepped between trees.

  We marched for a few minutes, as I was matching Azura’s quick pace, before we finally stepped into a small clearing, where a group of women was standing, looking our way.

  Azura stopped in pce, her gaze locked on them as tears appeared in her eyes.

  Suddenly she dashed forward. Moments ter, an older woman moved out of the group toward us. She was the oldest out of all of them, looking around forty, maybe even more. She was short, with bck hair reaching only to her ears, dark skin and brown eyes, looking really simir to Azura, and I had no doubts that it was Hannah, her mother.

  As they reached each other, they fell into a tight embrace, holding one another close. I smiled, watching Azura reconnect with her mother after so many years, grateful that we had truly managed to help her escape that b.

  Shifting my gaze to the group of women, I realized it was rger than I had expected. A tall, lean woman stood confidently with a sword at her belt, wearing a dark brown vest. Her sharp brown eyes were locked on me, a small smirk pying on her lips. She looked to be in her early twenties, maybe twenty-five at most, with brown hair barely reaching her shoulders.

  Next to her stood a much shorter woman, though with longer brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She was stunning, no older than twenty, with rge tits, especially for her slim frame.

  As I looked at her, I realized she reminded me of Gemma. Not exactly in appearance, but in the way both of them looked fwless, like photoshopped models on a magazine cover. It was clear she was using magic to enhance her looks.

  The first one was clearly a warrior, likely sent to protect them, so I assumed the shorter one was the healer Gemma had promised to send.

  But, to my surprise, that wasn’t all. Two girls stepped forward and approached Azura and her mother. One looked about fifteen, the other maybe ten, and both resembled younger versions of Azura, with slight differences in their features.

  As I stepped closer, I realized that not only had Azura’s mother been rescued from the b, but she also had two younger sisters.

  Azura and Hannah were still clinging to each other, crying, arms wrapped tightly around one another.

  “Oh my gods, baby,” Hannah gasped. “Is that really you?” she asked, pulling back slightly to hold Azura’s arms and look at her face closely.

  “Mom,” Azura whispered, burying herself in her embrace again.

  “I always dreamed you’d find a better pce to live, baby,” Hannah said, stroking Azura’s long bck hair.

  “I did,” Azura replied.

  “You must tell me all about it,” Hannah murmured. “Oh, baby,” she gasped, pulling back and turning toward her other two daughters. “Azura, those are your sisters,” she said. “Alysson and Anna,” she said, pointing first at the older one and then the younger.

  “Sisters?” Azura asked quietly.

  “Girls,” Hannah said. “That’s Azura, your older sister. She helped to get us out of that horrible pce,” she expined. “Come on! Hug your sister!” she added.

  Both girls moved to hug their mother first, but then Hannah pulled Azura into the family hug too, and they stood there, with tears streaming down their faces, clinging tightly to each other.

  Azura gnced at me with tear-filled eyes, and as our gazes met, she hummed softly and smiled. I was gd to finally see her happy and smiling in her mother’s embrace.

  “Let’s give them a moment and speak on the side,” the taller warrior woman said to me.

  We stepped a bit away so we could talk without interrupting the family reunion.

  “I’m Tobias,” I said, reaching my hand toward the warrior woman.

  “I know,” she replied with a smirk. “It’s me,” she added.

  “What?” I asked, frowning and trying to remember if I had ever seen her before.

  “I used a spell to change my look, so no one would know that you work for me,” she said, gesturing over her body. “Do you like it?”

  Was that Gemma in disguise? If so, then it changed how she looked completely, because she wasn’t even a tiny bit simir to her normal appearance.

  “I won’t get a welcome kiss?” she asked, stepping toward me.

  Zoe suddenly stepped between us with her dagger raised toward the woman.

  “Oh wow, someone’s possessive,” she said, raising her hands and taking a step back.

  “She’s not using any skills or illusions,” Zoe said, with her pink eyes locked on the woman.

  I stepped back, shifting my gaze, wondering if that was a trap.

  “Sage, stop making jokes,” the shorter woman said, stepping forward. “I’m Zelda, nice to meet you. Gemma sent us to meet with you. This is Sage,” she said, looking at the taller woman. “She’s one of the best warriors in the guild, but-”

  “I’m the best,” Sage cut in.

  Zelda rolled her eyes before she spoke again, “But she’s never serious, and believe me, you don't want to try to understand her, because you would go crazy, and I’m a doctor here.”

  I looked from Zelda to Sage. Not only did they have Hannah with them, but they also knew that I work for Gemma, and she had mentioned Sage before as a person who managed her information network, so I assumed that it was really a joke and not a trap.

  “And you, old hag, when was the st time you had some fun? Two centuries ago?” Sage asked.

  Zelda just shook her head. “Sage rescued Hannah and her daughters from the b and escorted them here. And I’m supposed to heal someone,” she said, shifting her gaze to Mari, who stood slightly back.

  “Right,” I said. “That’s Mari, she needs your help,” I said, gesturing at her.

  “We’ll need to talk about details and go over the whole process,” Zelda said. “But I can put you back together, better than ever.”

  Mari nodded, staring at the woman. For the first time when meeting someone new, she wasn’t hissing or gring. Instead, she looked unsure of what to do or say.

  “So, those are Hannah’s daughters?” I asked, when I realized Mari wasn't going to answer.

  “Yeah,” Sage replied. “Alysson’s the older one, Anna the younger. I was kind of surprised as no one mentioned them,” she said, gncing at me.

  “I didn't know about them either,” I replied, wondering why Azura hadn’t said a word about them. It was possible that Anna was born after Azura had run away, but Alysson certainly was there together with Azura.

  “Fortunately, I'm a master at multitasking,” Sage said with a smirk. “So whether it’s one person or three, it doesn’t really matter to me. There are a few things we need to talk about, handsome,” she added with a wink at me.

  “Yeah?” I asked, smiling back at her obvious flirting. Gemma had forbidden me from sleeping with Zelda, but she hadn’t said anything about Sage, and not only was she clearly interested, she was also hot and fit.

  “Can I talk around them?” she asked, shifting her gaze to Mari and Zoe, who was still gring at the tall brunette.

  “Yeah,” I replied, grabbing Zoe’s hand to calm her down.

  “I pulled Tori away so I could talk with both of you,” Sage said.

  “Wait, what? How?” I asked, confused. It had only been a moment since Tori left, and if she was supposed to be talking to her, how was she suddenly here? And had she really left Hannah and her daughters without protection?

  “That’s interesting,” Sage said, tilting her head to the side. “I told you, perfect at multitasking,” she replied with a smirk. “But stop interrupting me, you already distract me too much with your handsome face. So, the version Tori knows is that I was following you, and when you stumbled upon a boratory I pretended that I was observing it too, and then recruited you to work for me.”

  “Now,” she continued. “The question is if you want her to be around or not. I can send her away on some new mission, or I can task her with watching you, in case you would want to betray me or something.”

  I nodded slowly, wondering what I wanted to do with Tori. On the one hand, I wanted to get rid of her from my life, who the fuck knows what other things she was hiding, while pretending and pying to get more for herself?

  But also, there were a few reasons to keep her around. Safety while traveling, faster progress in the dungeon, and she had organized all the previous jobs we had. And I still wanted to fuck her at least once.

  “Let me think about it, but I think she should stay around for the moment,” I replied, choosing safety and progress.

  “Also,” Sage said. “Gemma took steps to ensure Tori’s cooperation and that she won’t go work for someone else.”

  “What steps?” I asked, frowning.

  “Well,” Sage replied, smiling. “You should ask Gemma about that, but let’s say that Tori’s mother and brothers got themselves new, very lucrative jobs in guild headquarters,” Sage replied, her gaze crawling over my body like she was already imagining what she’d do to me.

  “Also,” Sage said. “I have a new task from her for you. Zelda here is very lonely at night, too busy with her work, and needs someone to warm her bed.”

  “Sage!” Zelda hissed, gring at her.

  “Oh come on, when was the st time you fucked someone?” Sage asked. “That would help you rex, and he’s handsome, young, hot,” she started listing, her gaze jumping between us, and I wondered if she knew that Gemma had forbidden me from sleeping with Zelda, and was doing it on purpose.

  “What Sage was supposed to tell you,” Zelda said, ignoring her friend. “Is that the b was taken down, many people were freed, and she’s really grateful for your help. Besides the deal you already had, she gave some money to Hannah additionally, so they would have an easier way to get back to life, and it won't be on your back.”

  “That will help with food and accommodation,” I said, gncing toward Azura, who was talking with her mother and sisters, gd that with three new faces to feed, I wouldn't need to pay for all of that. At least for some time.

  “That’s another thing,” Sage said. “You’re moving in with me.”

  “What?” I asked, turning back toward her.

  “Healing Mari is going to take some time,” Zelda said. “And I need to stay close to her throughout the process, so she’ll have to live with me. There’s also the other issue,” she added, shifting her gaze to Hannah and her daughters.

  “Are they okay?” I asked.

  “During the escape from the b, one of the girls broke a gss container,” Sage said, suddenly getting serious. “There was a green goo inside, it leapt at her. When Hannah was trying to peel it off, it shifted to her body and stuck to her.”

  “I examined it briefly on the road, but I still don’t know what it is,” Zelda said. “We tried to remove it, but couldn’t. I didn’t notice it causing her any harm, so I’ll take a closer look once we’re in Ortas. But because of it, it would be best if Hannah stayed under medical observation as well.”

  “I’m guessing you won’t want to part with them, so you can all move into one of my pces,” Sage added.

  “Gemma didn't want anyone to know that I work for her,” I said.

  “Scared of the blondie?” Sage asked, smiling. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” she added with a wink.

  “No one knows that pce belongs to Sage,” Zelda said, shaking her head. “She and I will go in through the back door so no one sees us together. That way, no one should connect you to her or Gemma.”

  “Okay,” I replied. “I have one more person besides the group here,” I added, thinking of Amber. “And what about Tori in that case?” I asked.

  “If you want her to stick around, she can move in too, but you should be the one to bring her. Just tell her you’ve found yourself a new sugar mommy and you’re going to live at her pce, and that she can come with you. We’ll pretend with Tori that we don’t know each other, so she’ll think we’re the ones pying you, not her.”

  “Okay,” I replied, wondering if this wasn’t getting too messy and whether Tori would realize something was off.

  Azura approached us, pulling her mother along by the hand, with the younger girls following behind. Once they were all in front of us, she let go of her mother’s hand and stepped up to me, pressing her small frame against my side.

  “Mom, this is my alpha,” she said, pressing herself against my arm as she looked at her mother.

  “Hello, I’m Tobias,” I said, reaching out my hand toward her, wondering when the st time was that I had introduced myself to a girlfriend’s parents. I’d only done it once, many years before, with my ex-wife’s, and as that thought crossed my mind, I realized I hadn’t thought about her in a really long time. And I didn’t want to change that.

  Hannah looked me up and down, pressing her lips into a thin line, and she didn’t seem excited to see me.

  “Hannah,” she said finally, without shaking my hand. “And these are my daughters, Allyson and Anna.” The younger one clung to her mother, while the older stood beside them, watching Azura as she hugged me.

  “Hey,” I said, smiling and waving to Anna. She waved back shyly, then pressed her face against her mother’s stomach.

  “Thank you for saving us,” Hannah said.

  “No problem at all,” I replied, wrapping my arm around Azura. As I did, her mother’s gaze shifted to my hand on Azura’s hips. Despite thanking me just moments earlier, she didn’t look particurly happy, and I got the feeling she had a problem with me. I wasn’t sure if it was just a mother’s worry after years of separation, or something about me specifically.

  “You’ll have plenty of time for each other ter,” Sage said. “We need to head to Ortas. I’m starving,” she added with a wink in my direction.

  “Let’s go,” I said, and we headed back toward the road we had been traveling before.

  --- Gemma’s office ---

  A knock interrupted Gemma, who was looking through reports about the b that were quickly piling up at her desk.

  “Come in,” she said, closing the folder in front of her.

  Monica, a woman in her te thirties with dark brown hair braided, entered the room with a small stack of folders that would only add to Gemma’s growing pile.

  “Hey, I looked initially through what they were testing there,” Monica said, sitting in the chair in front of Gemma.

  “It’s that bad?” Gemma asked, seeing in Monica’s eyes that something was wrong.

  Monica let out her breath slowly before she spoke. “Through the years, they had tested many things. There’s so much data that I’ll need weeks or even months to go through it, but I think I know what their main goal was.”

  Gemma nodded, waiting for Monica to continue.

  “They wanted to find a way for men to have mana,” Monica said.

  “Did they succeed?” Gemma asked.

  “No.” Monica shook her head. “Despite many horrendous tests, they didn't make any progress, nothing worked. They found out a few things, but nothing that would make it possible to infuse mana into someone who didn't have it.”

  “Why wolf shapeshifters?” Gemma asked.

  “A few reasons. As you know, male shapeshifters can transform despite not having mana or csses, and they hoped that somehow this made them better subjects for tests, believing that there must be at least some bit of affinity toward mana in them. Additionally… I found documents from long, long ago about modifying the birth gender rate, and they got the best results with wolves.”

  Gemma frowned. “Why would they want to have so many girls?” she asked. In the whole boratory, they found dozens of women and girls, and only three men, and four boys… and that was when Gemma realized that they didn't want girls.

  “Yeah,” Monica said, seeing realization in Gemma’s face. “They were breeding those women for boys, but because of the experiments, most of them didn't live until three or four. They believed that the older the boy, the harder it would be to infuse him with mana, so as they were getting older, the tests were… more radical, and most of the time ended up with the death of the subjects.”

  There was a moment of silence as Gemma tapped her fingers on the report about the captured scientists and guards. She had to find out who had set this up - something like that happening right under her nose for so many decades.

  “You wanted me to find information about Hannah, Azura, Allyson, and Anna?” Monica asked, breaking the silence.

  “Yeah,” Gemma replied hesitantly, unsure if she wanted to know in detail what had been done to them.

  “On the good side, the experiments on women were mostly less intrusive. That varied depending on the category they had assigned, and the category depended on how successful the change in the birth ratio and health of the newborns was. In short, if you were giving them a lot of strong boys, they treated you better.”

  “So, about Hannah…” Monica trailed off for a moment. “It has a good side and a bad one, but she was one of their best subjects, with a birth rate of 83% boys.”

  “Are any of them alive?” Gemma asked, thinking about those few small boys that they took out of that pce.

  Monica shook her head. “That’s the bad part of this. Through her time there, she gave birth to twenty-four kids. Twenty boys, and four daughters. All boys died in experiments, just as her oldest daughter. On the good side, she got rank A, and was treated well. Her daughters got A too. That could change ter on if they gave birth to too many girls, but none of them was of age to start breeding.”

  “So because they all were rank A,” Monica continued. “They got regur food, beds, nutrition, and the experiments weren’t radical. Mostly trying to make them healthier and enhance their birth ratio toward boys even more, while trying to make them as strong as possible so they could… live longer through the experiments. And… it's not stated in reports directly, but those in the lowest ranks have many injuries and signs of rape, whereas those in higher don’t have them at all, so… if that makes it any better, Hannah and her daughters had the best possible life out of subjects held there.”

  “Was Hannah born there?” Gemma asked.

  “No,” Monica replied. “She was from outside.”

  “Do you know where she was from?”

  “No, they didn't put it into the papers.”

  “What happened with the oldest daughter?” Gemma asked, wondering if she really wanted to know what they had done to her.

  Monica pulled out a folder and put it on the table between them. “Here’s everything I could find about them.” She opened it and started to read for a moment in silence. “The oldest, Alia, died when she was six, and Azura was two at the time. Ugh…” Monica grunted.

  “As I mentioned, those from rank A were treated better than the others. But… they were desperate. They wanted to test whether a full-body blood transfusion between children of an A-rank subject would give the boy mana. Both of them died during the experiment,” Monica said, closing the folder and handing it to Gemma.

  “Gods,” she sighed, putting it to the side, unsure if she wanted to look through it. “Are Hannah and her daughters healthy?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Monica replied. “She was giving birth to strong and healthy children, without any sickness or deformations.”

  “And those experiments didn't harm them in any way?” Gemma asked.

  Monica let her breath out slowly. “I’ll need more time to analyze all the experiments they have done, and even then I might not be able to predict long-term consequences. The amounts of substances they were putting into them are ridiculous. They state it was to make them give birth to even more boys, and make them healthy, so I think they should be fine. If I find something concerning, I will let you know immediately.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Gemma said.

  “Can I live in the b indefinitely?” Monica asked. “It would be much easier that way.”

  “Yeah,” Gemma replied. “But take people to protect you. We don’t know if someone won’t come back to the b, or to check on it. Set up warning wards, and… rest, Monica. Those papers won’t run away.”

  “Pff, there’s no way I can sleep. As outrageous as those experiments were… I want to know the results.”

  “You can go. Send me reports of anything important you find out,” Gemma said.

  “Of course,” Monica replied, leaving the room, and leaving Gemma with a rge pile of reports she still needed to go through.