The other men acted like it was no big deal, catching dinner had been easy for them. However, they were obviously pleased when Evan pulled out several stones to give them. I smiled because their time in the mountain had made them quite rich.


    I couldn’t quite tell what Kein was doing at the table, but he seemed very focused on the task. From where I sat he seemed to be etching something very delicate. Kein finished whatever he was doing with a triumphant sound and handed a small brown strip to Damien.


    “Perfect,” Banemented, “as always, little Brother.”


    Damien approached me and I could see what it was now. A long strip of one inch leather carved with their symbol five times. It looked like the tight fitting choker nes I’d seen at the flea market back home.


    The men surrounded me for a moment before Damien spoke.


    “You have been cleaned and fed, ve. Despite your attitude, you have been treated well by us. We are putting our symbol on you and will protect you as long as you follow our rules.”


    The leather was tied securely at the back of my neck.


    “Will you behave for us now?” Damien asked. “If you do not, you will be punished. You are an owned ve again.”


    I looked up and Kein stood beside Damien, he nodded to me.


    “Yes, Master Damien,” I told him softly.


    My men were happy to see their symbol back on me. To be honest, I was d to be wearing it again. This mark and these men meant home and safety. The two times I had been separated from them had been very difficult.


    I was pulled to stand and escorted to the sleeping room. The other men took a side of the bed and we took a side. I was settled between Bane and Kein. It was sofortable and I felt safe, I dropped quickly to sleep.


    Despite how tired I was I woke up once in the night. Evan escorted me to the bathroom. When I was done he threw his arms around me and hugged me tight. I returned the sudden affection.


    “The others are not bonded to you,” he said quietly in my ear. “They don’t feel you anymore, but I can still sense you. Sometimes I would sense where you were, but then it would blur out. I did not like it at all. It is better now that you are close.”


    “I love you, too, Evan,” I whispered into his ear with a smile.


    He walked me back to bed and tucked me in before finding his ce. I fell back to sleep with a smile on my face.


    “They are really the Masters of a whole?” I heard a strange voice say.


    I snuggled deeper into the warm bed and tried to block out the annoying voices.


    “They will sleep any time,” Evan said shaking a shoulder, “with no thought to their own protection.”


    I blinked sleepily and remembered where I was before I spoke, “You protect me, Master Evan.”


    “Good answer,” Evan smiled as he pulled me to stand.


    I was left in the cabin while they went back to the search. Much like a disobedient puppy, I was tethered in the main room by a cord around my neck. While the other family was present Damien firmly informed me I could not break or chew through the line. They were taking all the sharp objects with them. After the second family left, my men kissed me and promised to return at midday to tend to me.


    It was the first time in a long time I wasn’t busy. I tried to sleep, but soon realized I was wide awake staring out the tiny window. My mind drifted to Hannah and I wondered what she was doing today.


    It wasn’t long before my thoughts turned tearful and I realized how much I missed her. She was so full of wit and spunk, I was sure she’d do fine. How I wished I had been able to offer her more in the way of help.


    The men had left me a nket from the bed to wrap myself in. Iy on a chaise curled into a ball and sobbing. It was the first time since Hannah had left I’d had time to mire myself in the sadness. I much preferred to be busy.


    A voice from the door broke into my gloomy reverie.


    “Geez, Mama, all you need is a gallon of ice cream and you’d be set.”


    I stood up suddenly realizing I wasn’t dreaming and I wasn’t alone. Hannah rushed into my arms before I said her name. Instead, I said the first thing that came to mind.


    “My God, you’ve gotten big.”


    Hannah was tearful, but she uttered a shakyugh. “Thanks, Mama, is that apliment or an insult?”


    It was my turn tough. Hannah was well over four feet high at her head. Her wings, at their tip top, were probably over six feet. Her brown hair was lush and thick except the crown of her head which sported a flowing mane of ck hair.


    “You should braid this,” I told her stroking her beautiful hair. “I think a braid down your back would look lovely.”


    “Yeah, Mama, like I came here for styling tips,” she said pulling me tight in a bone breaking hug. “I came back to see you. I found out from the other girls what Nu-reeh was doing to you. I tried, Mama, to get close, but the women wouldn’t let me.”


    “Oh, Baby Girl, it was just part of some borate set up. I was never hurt. It was just like a really strict exercise and diet program,” I said brushing off myst weeks of torment.


    “You look terrible, Mama. I’m so sorry,” Hannah cried burying her face in my neck, “I couldn’t make it stop.”


    “I thought of you every day,” I told her honestly. “Thinking of you as a happy, healthy girl out exploring the world made me feel good. It still does. Damien and his Brothers will care for me now. You have to go. Don’t let them catch you here,” I said suddenly afraid if the other women saw her.


    “Who cares what they want,” Hannah said not releasing me. “I’d rather die here with you than be off having a fun time while they hurt you.”Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    “It was fun?” I asked stroking her back. “Tell me what you did, what you saw.”


    I knew she wouldn’t leave until she’d gotten the reassurance she came for. Despite my desire to see her safe, I desperately wanted to talk to her, too.


    We held each other and Hannah told me what she had been doing. I understood North, South, East, and West, so she used those directions to describe where she had been. She’d travelled to the nearest mountain range to the West, the one the men called the red mountains. The real name was the T’ylene Mountains. It wasn’t that different from here.


    The amazing trip had been the one she took North.


    “The men are all held along the equator of this, Mama. The rest of the is too dangerous for them. The equator is safe and temperate. In the North women live and work inrge groups… I guess you would say centers of civilization, maybe you could say cities. Some women only leave them once a year to rent some men and try to mate.”


    “A year?” I asked, “Like an Earth year?”


    “Yes, the women track time by the sun, like you did at home. I think a year is longer here than on Earth. The men track time by the changing moons,” she continued.