Chapter 297: Symbiote 0297: Healed

Symbiote 0297: Healed

The week that passed was very eventful, as Alex healed Gwen’s mind and used a mixture of hypnosis and Mind Authority to heal Gwen’s fractured personality, finally making her whole again. The process also helped him increase his understanding of the connection between the soul and the mind. After fixing things with Gwen, he realized that the reason that he hadn’t even thought of increasing the bond level beyond the skin bond with her was because of her fractured mind, which had also led to her soul being damaged.

Since her soul was damaged, Alex instinctively knew that deepening the bond with her wouldn’t be the best decision due to the nature of his symbiotic relationship with her. As the level of the bond deepens, he receives a certain amount of feedback from the soul of his host, that is the main reason that the symbiotes need hosts despite their advantages. Having a host helps them better their souls.

He even received some understanding of the Bonding Rate that the status panel of each of his hosts always showed. It was essentially the degree of compatibility between his soul and his host’s soul.

“Alex?” Gwen pulled him out of his inward musings as he looked down at her.

“When did you wake up?” He asked her, tightening his arms around her lithe frame.

“Just a bit ago,” She answered. “You looked to be deep in thought.”

“I was just thinking to myself,” he said. “How about we go out? Sex is good and all, but I want to spend some time enjoying my healed girlfriend’s company.”

“Dress me up. Let’s go,” Gwen frowned after saying that. “Did you put some mental suggestions in my mind, Alex? I don’t usually ask you to dress me like a doll.”

“Do you really think I would put in such a tame suggestion? If I did implant a mental suggestion in your subconscious, it would be much wilder. Something like making you salivate whenever you see my cock. Or —“ Gwen stopped Alex from speaking any further by putting her hands on his mouth. “Stop … Help me dress up, and we can go out.”

“Sure,” Alex nodded and freed Gwen from his arms before standing up from the bed in the dungeon. A set of fitting trousers and a shirt appeared on him before Gwen sat up.

“Stop ogling my tits and give me my dress,” Gwen put her arm across her chest, hiding her chest from his gaze.

“Fine,” Alex shook his head and snapped his fingers as a flowery sundress appeared on Gwen’s body. “Happy now?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Now all that I’m missing is a countryside farm where I can frolic among a field of flowers.”

“Then you tell me what you want,” Alex sighed. “You asked, and I delivered.”

“I don’t mind the sundress; I mind the basic ass floral pattern you chose. First, turn it into a lighter shade of sky blue; it goes well with my hair. Then make it more form-fitting; I maintain my body very well and wouldn’t mind showing off my curves for my man.”

“Oh, you’re the one who maintains your body?” Alex raised a brow. “Going by your usual eating habits and how little you work out, without me, you’d already be bloated.”

“Are you trying to call me potentially fat?” She looked at him with a hostile expression.

“Come on. Let’s go. A couple of hours of fucking will burn all those calories away.”

Gwen looked at Alex’s extended hand before looking at his face, “Yeah, let’s go. Now that I’m off that sex high, this place is downright creepy.”

“Understandable,” Alex nodded. “This has too much of a dungeon vibe. I’m going to renovate this place to make it more appealing.”

“I’d rather you don’t,” Gwen shook her head, pulling Alex toward the exit. “If you really want a sex dungeon vibe going, do it in our basement. I don’t want to come all the way here just for that. And before you ask, no. I am not turned on by doing it in the White House … that much.”

Alex laughed as the two of them left the building for their date.

…

“Do you want to come home with me?” Gwen offered, staring at Alex with unblinking eyes.

Alex had just bitten into a juicy ham sandwich when he froze.

“We’re in Washington — ahem. We’re in Washington. New York is still some distance away.” He licked his thumb clean.

“Teleport,” Gwen said dryly. “Mom’s invited us for dinner. I want to go.”

“Do I have to join?” Alex asked.

“What’s wrong? You’ve already met.”

“That was the most awkward interaction that I’ve ever had, Gwen,” Alex said. “Your mom looked at me like I was the whole reason behind your estrangement.”

“You were, Alex,” she looked at him pointedly.

“Well, she

doesn’t know that,” Alex said.

“Just come home with me? I’m going to invite her to come with me to my graduation ceremony, and it would be nice to have someone with me. You can try to win my brothers over as well.”

“Are you trying to get me to join your family or something?”

“Some normalcy will do you good, Alex,” Gwen said. “You have a habit of getting too detached from reality when you are working.”

“You’re one to talk, Miss ‘I don’t need food or water when I’m working in the lab,’” Alex jabbed. “You stay cooped up in your lab for weeks on end when working on something.”

“Don’t I have you to drag me out of there when I lose myself?” Gwen smiled. “I’m doing the same for you.”

“Fine,” Alex said. “Let me finish my sandwich; we can leave then.”

…

“So, Gwen. Honey. Tell me something …” Gwen’s mother spoke up.

“Sure thing, Mom,” Gwen nodded while still focused on the fish that was on her plate.

“You didn’t end up getting any … tattoos or anything, right?”

“Hm?” Gwen looked up with a questioning look. “Why do you ask?”

The older woman hesitated before taking a breath and speaking, “You’re wearing darker clothes than you used to … not to mention that choker — which I am not against, just to be clear — are you being influenced by … gothic fashion?”

Even Alex stopped eating and looked at Gwen with a curious expression that said, ‘Are you, Gwen?’

“You don’t need to talk to me as if you’re trying to dodge landmines, Mom,” Gwen sighed. “And no, I did not get any tattoos. I wear sunny clothes all the time. But black is a little on the formal side, don’t you think?”

Hearing her daughter’s words seemed to remove a huge weight off of the woman’s shoulders. “That’s good … that’s good. What about the choker?”

Gwen coughed and glanced at Alex for a moment before answering, “It’s like a lucky charm …” Her words weren’t fooling anyone.

“So you gifted a choker to my sister?” Phillip, the oldest of Gwen’s three brothers, asked Alex with a confrontational tone. While younger than her, he was already an adult.

[A rock and a hard place …] Gwen’s amused words perfectly captured Alex’s situation at the moment.

“I’ve given her a lot of gifts over the years,” Alex said, trying to smooth things over and move on from the topic of the choker. “That bracelet, for example.”

[You should really grow out of this choker fetich, Alex. Once in a while is fine, but it is a bit of a bold fashion statement, don’t you think?]

[I’ll deal with you later, you scheming woman.]

Helen, Gwen’s mother, seemed to be satisfied with Gwen’s amusement and the uncomfortable situation that her son had put Alex in.

“These are real diamonds, son,” Her address toward Alex shifted noticeably.

“It’s no big deal,” Alex shook his head.

Just as Helen thought he was being humble, Gwen interjected. “Really, Mom. It’s nothing. He makes enough that this is barely worth pennies for him.”

“It’s not about —“

“Really? Then can you get me the new PS5?” The youngest of Gwen’s brothers, Simon, shot his shot, interrupting his mother.

“I’ll get you a prototype of the 6,” Alex was showing off. “It’s a restricted testing model that has Sony’s entire library unlocked.”

“Stop showing off to my family,” Gwen lightly punched Alex’s arm. “My mom already thinks that you’re some kind of mafia man.”

“You do, Mrs. Stacy?” Alex looked at her with wide eyes. “You don’t need to worry about any of that. Everything I do is done above board and through the legal channels.”

[Be clear, Alex. Tell her that you just bend the legal channels to allow you to do whatever you want.]

He ignored Gwen’s words and looked at her brother again, “Just give me a call later, okay? I’ll have it delivered here. Let me know if there are any issues.” He subtly handed a business card to Simon.

Just like that, Alex had won over not only the youngest but Gwen’s other two brothers as well.

“Mom …” As Alex was distracted, Gwen looked at her mother with an earnest expression, “Do you … um … mind coming to my graduation? It’s in two weeks. I’ll fly all four of you out to Oxford. You can stay at our place; we have more than enough rooms.”

“Are you sure?” The woman seemed a little hesitant.

“Definitely,” Gwen nodded. “I want you there. You missed a huge chunk of my university life … I want you to at least be a part of my graduation.”

“Done,” The woman seemed ready to tear up. “I’ll definitely be there. I should call your brothers’ schools. Simon and Howard will have to apply for leave … Phillip is still working on his applications for university —”

“Calm down, Mom,” Gwen grabbed her mother’s hand. “Let’s finish dinner and we can deal with the rest after that.”