Mold Me [Dungeon Masters 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) by Cara Adams Page A

Lachlan’s hair and eyes were both black, but in the early morning sunlight she noticed for the first time that Callum’s hair and eyes were actually dark brown, not black. She’d always seen them indoors in the evening before, and had just assumed Callum was as dark as Lachlan. But he wasn’t. His coloring was very dark but still brown. That was one fascinating thing she’d learned already today.
    They left the house through a mudroom packed with coats and boots, and walked past a barn and then down a gravel track to some trees. As they got closer she realized it was their orchard.
    “We planted the trees over three years, so they’re at different stages of growth, but they all bear fruit now. The apple trees are on this side of the orchard and the peach trees are on our right.”
    Phoenix didn’t know much about gardening, but the trees looked strong and healthy to her. “Yum, imagine growing peaches. I’d never stop eating them. Although, I suppose you grow them to sell and don’t eat them really.”
    “Both. We can plenty for ourselves to eat all year round, and sell the rest at a local farmer’s market,” said Lachlan.
    “That makes sense.” She walked slowly though the plantation, enjoying being among the sweet-smelling trees, and noticing the occasional piece of fruit sill hanging there.
    “I should have bought a bag with us and we could have picked them,” said Callum.
    “Why don’t you go back and get a bag. Lachlan and I can pick them while you do that.”
    “Do you mind? We didn’t bring you here to work,” said Lachlan.
    “It’s not work. It’ll be fun.”
    Callum ran back toward the house and Phoenix walked on through the orchard, holding the bottom of her sweater up like a kid and carefully piling fruit into the bag she’d made.
    “Your sweater will be dirty,” said Lachlan, although she noticed he’d done exactly the same thing.
    She shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll wash.”
    By the time Callum returned they had enough fruit to almost fill the three bags he’d brought with him. They left the bags at the end of the orchard to collect later, and walked along a narrow dirt track that was just wide enough for her feet, and headed up a small hill.
    It wasn’t much higher than the surrounding fields, but Phoenix did get the sense of being able to look out at their land. “Show me which is your land and which is your neighbors’.”
    The men drew lines in the air following the fences which were the borders of their property. “I see. You actually have two fences. An inner one and an outer one. Is your land like that all around or just this bit?”
    “It’s right around it. We have an electric fence so the cattle don’t stray. They know not to go too close to it,” said Lachlan.
    “But wouldn’t a regular fence work as well? Why are there two fences?” It didn’t make sense to her.
    “Animals like to lean on fences. After a while the fence falls over and they walk away and get lost. That’s why farmers are always fixing their fences. But the cattle know not to lean on an electric fence, so the outer fence lasts much longer,” explained Callum.
    “I see. But if you had the electric fence as the outer fence wouldn’t that work even better?”
    “For a start the outer fences were already here when we bought the farm. But also, this way, if some child touches the electric fence, they’ve already had to climb into our property through the outer fence to do that, so they must know they’re trespassing. We also have signs on the electric fence saying it’s activated,” said Lachlan.
    “That property there, the one immediately behind us, is up for sale. The sale board makes it clear they’re hoping a developer will buy the property and build family homes. They’ll be on large allotments. There won’t be dozens of them, but still it’s worrying us that soon there’ll be a lot more people who might choose to trespass on our land, eating our fruit, and frightening our