I saw the wound on one Brother that must be keeping them here. He had a nasty, deep burn across his chest. The Healers had coated it in a clear salve, but I could see the edge of a bone beneath the treatment. The man stayed very still on the b, but he did look over at the woman. Even he was eyeing her like he’d eat her for dinner.


    “Are you even old enough to breed?” she asked curtly, although it was obvious they were.


    The lead Brother wasn’t injured and slid off the b to approach the woman. His three uninjured Brothers followed him like they were stalking prey. They were quite good looking men, in a rough animalistic way. The woman must have thought the same thing, because I saw the look she was giving them.


    “I am Eran, born in the T’lynien Mountains,” he said proudly before introducing his Brothers. “I am fifteen moons past old enough to breed. We enjoy powerful women and are still looking for permanent mates. None of the women we have met have matched our needs, though.”


    The men had reached the edge of her b and they lined up along it watching the woman. Their eyes took in her muscr physique and her prominent fangs. One Brother slid his hand along the edge of her powerful wing as it sat next to him. She seemed startled at first, but I think their bravery was wooing her. She finally relented to her obvious interest.


    “I am Sotar, of the T’scan Mountains,” she told them haughtily.


    It felt so gross and so wrong to watch this happen. I twisted my body so I was no longer facing the ufortable conversation and watched my boys color. In my time at thepound I’d had more than enough of watching other couples together. This was not an interaction I needed to see.


    The drawing was good for the boys. Theyy on their tummies around the paper and each drew part of the picture that was in their collective thoughts. This activity was entertaining and it connected them. I’d have to remember this.


    After a while I realized none of the boys had used thecquered pots all morning. In my worry and anxiety, I had not either. Since I did not want to clean up a mess on our warm stone, I got us all up.


    “Come on,” I ordered, “let’s go relieve ourselves of fluid.”Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    The boys jumped off the b and started to look curiously around. Now that they were down, they wanted to see everyone else in here. Most of the other Paterians on the bs were badly injured. They didn’t need curious little boys crawling all over them.


    I remembered seeing Trenal walk with the boys. She’d picked up Mycah and the others followed obediently. It had felt like she was abusing their bond, but it had worked, so I decided to do that.


    Mycah was a little surprised as I lifted him up and settled him on my hip. Luckily, he wasn’t heavy, so it was easy work. Mycah wasn’t used to being carried and looked back at his Brothers before looking quizzically at me. I took several confident strides forward before turning my head to look. The boys followed their lead Brother without straying. They would go wherever he did.


    We moved without pause through the wounded toward the back of the healing chamber. There was a room withcquered pots back there, but almost no one used them except those doing the healing. Most of our patients released their fluid into the urinal like gourds.


    I put Mycah’s feet on the floor and he went to the closest pot. Jonathan and the rest of the boys followed him so they all stood and used the same pot. Pulling up my skirt I sat and used one beside them. They finished first and now I had their full attention.


    “Why do you sit down to urinate?” Aiden asked putting a hand on my thigh.


    Jonathan stood at the other thigh and tugged at it. Mycah was peering between my legs and I couldn’t have been more ufortable.


    “Come sit with me and I’ll tell you about it,” Molly called from the doorughing at my predicament.


    Five heads turned to me and I dly gave them permission to go with Molly, anything for a moment of privacy.


    I left the room with pots and found the boys perched on the edge of a healing stone. Molly was exining to them the differences between men and women. She was doing a very good job of distracting them, while teaching them. There was so much they needed to understand. It was good to know I would have help.


    A rustle of activity alerted me and more men were brought in injured. They were beingid on bs and I knew Molly would be needed. We took our leave and let her get back to her new job.


    Molly went right to work with Tyle’s family on the badly wounded men. She was obviously trained and I got the feeling the Healers really appreciated her. Unlike me, she was not squeamish and did the job with confidence.


    Mycah’s family was content to color again in our original ce. I looked them over and assumed it was Jonathan’s and Aiden’s age that had us confined to a sick bed. Compared to everyone else in here using a healing b, my boys were in excellent condition.


    Along the far walls I saw the make shift ssroom that Kana and Rysell had set up. Older boys and men from thepounds sat and listened as the women talked.


    I’d been vaguely aware of Damien and his Brothers all day. Most of the thoughts and emotions were geared to the hunt and asional skirmishes with aliens. None of it had seemed overly concerning, so it was just background. I wasn’t really listening and they weren’t intentionally projecting.