“I don’t want to be calm!” I said turning angry eyes on Kein. “It is absolutely absurd to me how nosy everyone is. I feel like we are living under a microscope and I DO NOT LIKE IT!”


    Christof grunted augh under his breath and I turned to find him trying to hide his amusement. “It isn’t funny. This is so RIDICULOUS!” I railed.


    Temper tantrums were funny to watch here, just like on Earth. On my home I would not have been subjected to feeling how outrageous my actions were to everyone around me. Their humor infuriated me and I mmed our bond closed, so I didn’t have to hear them thinking.


    “FINE,” I shouted throwing up my arms, “have a big fight! See what that solves! I am going to eat.”


    Feeling a little foolish, but still quite upset, I marched toward the dining hall. Damien and his Brothers could battle it out in the hall. My patience for this game had worn thin.


    The men that had stopped to watch the disagreement stepped quietly to the side so I could pass. No one got in my way as I walked toward the tes on the buffet table. There was not a line yet, because most of the men were in the hall watching the excitement.


    I refused to take part in themunal conversation Damien and his Brothers were having as I picked out my dinner. I settled myself at a table in the mostly empty hall and stared down at my food, suddenly feeling lonely. Rose and I always ate together. Tonight I’d been looking forward to sitting with my family. Dammit.


    What a jerk I was to leave them out there. Especially after the indignity of yelling at them. Family should not do that to one another. Perhaps they wouldn’t want me for family after all, maybe we’d made a mistake.


    I looked up to see Damien and his Brothers getting food. The men they’d been ready to fight with were picking out dinner behind them. All of them seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.


    Kein turned when he noticed I’d looked up and gave me a friendly wave. I was confused but waved back. When I peeked into their thoughts, I didn’t get the sense they were even irritated with me.


    My men’s musings were all about what was on the table for the evening meal. They were really hungry and the food looked great tonight. They were d that Abram’s family was back to leading the cooking. Bane noted the rich smells from the roasted meat and Evan was happy the sporta was seasoned spicy how he liked. Kein had noted green stalks at one end of the table and he was absolutely getting a couple on his te. They were all ravenously hungry.


    The men were still happily buzzing about the meal as Kein settled on one side of me and Bane on the other. Damien was talking with the head of the family from the hall, discussing a way of preparing this type of meat that the other man didn’t know about. It was something my men had discovered during the many moons they’d had to fix their own food.


    “Kein,” I whispered softly putting a hand on his arm, “I’m sorry for acting badly. I apologize if I embarrassed you.”


    He quirked a smile at me and patted my hand. The family was not even perturbed.


    “We understand,” Damien answered for him, turning away from his conversation with the other man. “You do not enjoy having others invade into our family affairs. It is your Earth heritage. Privacy is much more important to you than it is to us.”


    I felt flustered at the family’s seeming eptance of my actions. They certainly had not been pleased in the hall.


    “Kennedy educated us,” Christof exined. “There is a great deal we do not understand about you, because we did not try to in the past. We are trying to be less ignorant of your motivations. We apologize for our humor in the hall. It was not appropriate.”


    I couldn’t fight the sincerity in their faces and stuttered out a thank you for the apology.


    The other men at our table weren’t interested in the family drama. They were curious about Earth and asked how things worked there when it came to creating children. They were surprised that two humans could choose to mate without getting approval first. It seemed to them that would be a very messy situation.


    Here mating was monitored by the Administrators, as was everything else. What I considered a personal choice, everyone here considered a societal choice. It was very odd to me, as were Earth’s ways to them.


    All this conversation still didn’t exin how men ready to fight Damien a few moments ago were now engaging him in friendly exchange of information about culture and friends inmon. I prodded Christof’s memories and found my answer quite fast. My scene in the hall had changed their minds.


    Men from Pateria had never seen a human yell at a Paterian family and then walk away. Everyone understood how a ve should act and that wasn’t it. Damien and his Brothers hadn’t even been put off by my disy. My family had merely watched me leave and then continued where they’d left off with the other men. It had amazed the onlookers and stopped the fight cold.


    We finished dinner and it was very rxed. The men were happy we were together and so was I. For the first time in a long time, I felt I was where I belonged.


    After the meal, I walked with Damien and his Brothers out of the dining hall. Since we were done hiding, I threaded my arm through Christof’s and we sauntered casually toward the area Damien and his Brothers had their rooms.


    “You will stay with us now, won’t you?” Kein asked earnestly. “Some women stay with men, but I know some women prefer to keep their own dwelling space.”


    I smiled at Kein’s bright eyes. He always appeared so much younger than the other men. There was a genuine quality about him that bled into the rest of the family, but it started with him.


    “I love you, Kein, and I want to stay with you,” I said reaching a hand out to him.


    A man on either side felt good and I held onto both of them as we walked and talked. In the back of mind I knew that we needed to talk about our son. The small blonde boy was still dangerously alone in the undefendedpound. His tender skin would be in trouble if the warships reached him.


    I imagined Jonathan would be terrified when the alien ships attacked. There would be no one in thepound that could exin to him what he was seeing. The men there didn’t cherish the young like we did here. I wasn’t sure they would not even try to protect him. He’d be alone with his family of boys, and with no one to defend them. They would be ughtered like sheep.


    “WIFE!” Bane scolded, “you will worry until you are sick! Stop this nonsense.”


    I hade to a standstill in the hallway and was gripping Christof and Kein fiercely. The emotion threatened to overwhelm me.


    “YOU MUST STOP THIS!” Bane said loudly.


    He felt my terror and it had to stop, losing control solved nothing.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    The other men in the hall watched closely when Bane’s voice rose when he addressed me. I couldn’t pay attention to them as I started to breath faster. My attention was refocused on my little boy and my concern for him.