“We areplete now,” Master Christof said quietly.


    They weren’t sure how the bond could reset itself so fast this time. I remembered thest time. They’d


    had sex with me and Master Evan had tasted them each intimately. This time seemed different.


    “You pulled us together,” Master Damien told me, “we did note together voluntarily, as we didst


    time.”


    The voices buzzed in my head. That was unusual. I should not have been able to do that. Nobody


    controlled someone like that, it wasn’t normal.


    Somehow I had found their wayward consciousness and forced them together. They’d never been


    bonded Like that. Of course, they felt some relief, but it was still disconcerting to be connected to one


    another like that and then connected to me.


    A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y


    Of course in a way it felt good to know I was bonded to them. I’d feared mental illness in myself for so


    long. It was a relief to know all those dreams and strange feelings had a reason. I hadn’t been crazy,


    but what I’d done was certainly not normal.


    “Masters,” I stammered, “I didn’t know, I don’t know…” “Perhaps because you are human,” Master Kein


    suggested.


    “Or is it something in the mountains?” Master Evan asked.


    Their curiosity over the strange bond was overshadowed by their desire to see my reaction. We turned


    a corner and were standing at an opening in the mountain.


    It was amazing. The mountains stretched as far as I could see and the enormous one we were in was


    almost small.


    “The women like to mine above the cloud line,” Master Christof said pointing up.


    “That is where Nu-reeh and her sisters mine.”


    “We can’t go that high up,” Master Kein said stepping closer to the edge. “We can’t breath above the


    clouds.”


    The cold wind in the mountains whipped around us and I was d for my outfit. Someone lifted the


    hood up so my head stayed warmer. Master Damien took a hand and slipped a mitten on it. Master


    Bane did the same with my other hand.


    They didn’t know everything about the mining. It was hard work, the men could not do it. Master


    Christof had been curious so she had taken him to see an active mine lower down the mountain.


    Nu-reeh told them you earned the right to work. Once you were producing you may earn the right to


    mate. Once they were old enough some women kept men, like Nu-reeh and some women just rented


    breeders. If the women were Lucky those breedings resulted in offspring.


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    The men weren’t sure how the women put the boys together once they were born. ALL they knew was


    that once a boy was joined into a family the mothers sold the five of them. They were very particr


    about where their sons went. Women that owned men were strong and protective, that’s how it was


    always done.


    I petted my stomach and frowned. If this was a boy, I didn’t know how I would raise him.


    “He would go to the Child Keepers after being ced with his Brothers, Ciara,” Master Damien said.


    It was obvious to them how a boy would grow up. There were details to that I didn’t understand,


    though. Things I was sure were important.


    “Who ces the mark?” I asked frantically.


    “How would I do that for my child? How would I know who his Brothers are?”


    Thoughts were whizzing around in my head. I felt faint. My child would not have the advantage of a


    mother with any knowledge. My poor son would have no mark, no family, and could be imed by any


    woman.


    Master Kein stumbled a Little and his foot slipped toward the edge. He looked physically ill. They all


    looked sick. Master Kein started to fall and a scream caught in my throat.