Master Damien jerked me to my feet and started to remove my coverings “I will take you to the posts


    until you learn to address us properly,” he fumed.


    Christof stopped him. “I told it to address me as such,” he said putting a hand over Master Damien’s.


    “Brother, what is wrong with you?” Master Damien asked exasperated.


    Master Damien had threatened the posts and I knew I should stay quiet.


    I waited and watched their boots as the two men stared at one another.


    Tentatively, I reached out and took Christof’s hand in reassurance. He could do this. I had faith in him.


    Christof spoke finally giving my hand a squeeze, “I spoke about the women. Ciara argued with me. It


    thinks I am being foolish to not share what I know with you. I do not wish to see you destroyed the way


    I have been. I do not know what to do.”


    Ang’s Library


    Master Evan broke the next silence as he came to stand next to Master Damien, “We are being


    destroyed as it stands,” he said addressing his brother.


    I felt really ufortable and released Christof’s hand. This was their family, I was just a visitor. It


    would have been better if they had just put me in the bedroom, but they didn’t. Master Damien pulled


    me to kneel in the sitting room.


    “Tell us,” hemanded sitting down, “all of it. You may surprise us but you will not destroy us.”


    Finally, Christof let it spill. He told them everything; how the world worked, how the women were in


    charge. Christof even told them how they had wanted to take all the brothers to live in the mountains.


    He told them he felt the bond break when the women told him that; it stressed him too much. There


    were things he told them he’d never told me.


    The life in the mountains was much Like it was here. The men worked in jobs the women chose for


    them. Women would mate with them at their discretion; which sometimes meant daily. Many of the men


    Liked living in the mountains, some did not. No man ever left them without permission, though. The


    women exercised absolute control.


    “I saw vers when I was there,” Christof told them. “The women choose which ves would be


    suitable for us. If they really want a ve, they pay for it themselves ahead of time. What we use for


    money is worthless. The true payment is made by the women before or after we have left. The vers


    are not allowed to give us the option of certain races. The vers seemed terrified of our women. I was


    whipped because I saw that; I had snuck out of my ce.”


    I thought back to the auction. It was a blur of fear, but I seem to remember only stopping in front of men


    Like my owners. There were other creatures there, but I only stopped in front of Paterian Looking men.


    A flush lit my cheeks when I realized I was pre-paid. It was an odd honor.


    Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    There was silence for a Little while and I was d Master Damien had fed me. My stomach growling


    would have been very distracting now. The only sounds in the room were the gentle crackling of the


    fire.


    “Once,” Master Kein said quietly, “we were on a hunt for a lost man. I was hiding, staying in one ce; I


    had heard the women’s wings nearby. Theynded less than a body’s length from me, but didn’t see


    me.”


    The men murmured and Master Kein continued.


    “Do you all remember? I stayed very silent and watched. Theyid the man we had been looking for on


    the ground. They put a little jug of water beside him. He was sound asleep. Once the women left, I


    went to him and woke him up. He told me he had run away, he seemed very confused. We’d never


    seen anything Like it.”


    Master Evan was the next to speak. “The marks on our shoulders, do the women ce those?” he


    asked.


    “Yes,” Christof answered hesitantly, “I think so. That is what the other men told me.”


    “I thought as much,” Master Evan said confidently. “The marks do not taste Like us, they taste of


    something else. I have always wondered. Do you know why the women ce them?”


    Christof seemed relieved to be talking and more relieved by the reaction he was getting. I nced up


    and the tension I had always seen marring his features was slowly dissolving.


    “The men in the mountains seem to think the marks are moreplicated than we understand. If you


    know how to read them, they can tell you who our breeders were. I have studied ours, while they are all


    simr; there are differences.”