"We should go to the temple!" Misty looked over to the woman who looked like Sephie's mother. Except for the shade of her hair, she was almost like a copy-paste of her. She even recognized the boldness in her as she stared intensely at Misty.
"The temple?" Misty asked. Leon smiled at his wife, nodding his head.
"Yes, that is a good idea." He turned to Misty. "My second wife, Haphor, and third wife, Qiya, will take you tomorrow!" Sheena smacked her husband, but he didn't look very apologetic. "Come on, Sheena. Jay's other moms want to spend some time with her, too!"
"I've barely gotten to have a conversation with her!"
"But you know as well as I do that you can't get away tomorrow." Leon waggled his eyebrows at his wife.
"Oh," she said, sheepishly. She turned to give Misty a wide smile. "Misty, are you alright with that?" Misty looked at everyone around her and nodded. Everyone settled into the meal in earnest, leaving after finishing. Sephie's mom, Haphor, introduced herself and talked about her son Persia. He was out with his brother Rem. Rem's mom, Qiya, was also a lovely woman. Misty felt herself relaxing and enjoying the wealth of food and love from her new family.
As she stood, her empty plates were snatched from her. Jay also stood to walk her to her room. When they reached the hall, Misty turned to Jay and smiled. Jay bent down for a gentle kiss. Misty could sense the wildness he kept tightly leashed. She was so thankful that her mate was considerate of her needs. It wouldn't be long before she was ready to accept Jay fully. His patience made her fall a little more for him every day.
As she entered her room and shut the door, Jay watched her, eyes dark with desire. He could sense that Misty was starting to get more comfortable with him. When they got back from the temple, Jay decided that he would take her to his house. He loved his family, but they were keeping him from spending time alone with Misty. He headed to the bath to cool down before going to bed.
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Misty fell into a deep sleep and went to the entry hall early. Jay was standing with Haphor and Qiya. Jay was dressed in his kaunak, and he had a bag strapped to his back. Misty stared at his bare chest, again appreciating the muscular ripples and hard abs. She couldn't help but wonder when she would be able to spend time with him.... alone. Misty blushed at her thoughts. Shaking her head, she walked over.
"Good morning." Misty said happily. "I'm sorry I made every one wait."
"No, dear. We are just early." Haphor said. "Are you ready?"
"Yes! I am excited to see the town. It was dark the last time I came through."
"Don't worry," Jay said with a smile. "We should get done at the temple quickly and be able to look around afterwards." Misty grinned and he felt the tightness in his chest. "After we are done, would you like to see our home?" Jay asked.
Misty blushed again. She was having a hard time suppressing her heated thoughts. She looked up at Jay. There was a marked tinge of red on his cheeks. The room fell away for a moment, and she could feel herself falling into his eyes.
"Alright, kids." Qiya interrupted. "First the temple and then Jay can take you around." Qiya and Haphor shared a smile. They were ecstatic to see their stepson so happy after being lonely for so long. After San found Josilyn, Sheena had been so worried about her son that she had talked to them about seeing if they had some relatives Jay could be introduced to. But it seemed as if Jay was destined to be alone because no one shared his compatibility. Misty and Jay came out of their trance and grinned sheepishly at the moms.
"Let's go!" Haphor announced. The group gathered together and stepped out of the house. Misty could see a giant space in front of her. The bonfire she had seen when she first got here was in the very middle of a large clearing. Close to the fire, the earth was packed down and there were several makeshift seats surrounding it similar to the ones she had seen around campfires in photos. From the center, hardened paths branched out. One was the path that Jay and Misty had followed into town. One led to the door of her in-law's house. There were two more leading into the village.
Jay took the lead and followed one of them, passing the bonfire pit and leading them into a cluster of homes. Misty hadn't been able to see much on her first night, so she had assumed that the village was not very advanced. She decided to rethink her initial impression. This world seemed to have a combination of hunter gatherer culture mixed with more advanced middle age technology. She could even sense the random flickers of magic around her. While the world was in no way as technologically advanced as her own, it wasn't like a cave person culture as she had originally thought.
When she had first met Jay, he hadn't known about anything that she was talking about. She wondered why he hadn't known what a ship was. Her inner mind filled in the blanks. In this world, no one had built the kinds of ships she had told Jay about. Most beasts tended to avoid deep waters and so a boating culture never really took off. Fishing was done from the shores and the most they built were river floats. There was only a single continent and resources in the land were abundant. Exploring beyond the shores just hadn't been done yet. In addition, this was still a new world and was still undergoing creation.
Soon a beautiful alabaster building came into sight. It stood at the edge of the forest with tall palms surrounding it. In front of the temple stood all different kinds of beasts. Misty could see the Lion and Jaguar among them and guess that the statues represented all of the different kinds of beasts that the people of this world could shift into. Crimson fabric was draped across the entrance. When the wind blew, it would flutter. From a distance, the temple looked almost like an animal with its maw open.