Happy New Year!
Thanks to everyone for the comments and voting!
Please enjoy this installment and let me know what you thing good or bad.
Many thanks to Steve150177 for his work proofreading!
The next chapter should be out Jan 18
Enjoy and please vote! DW
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After dinner we took a long, meandering walk to our rooms. The men were looking all over very surreptitiously. It became a game to find the
cameras
nestled in the walls.
Kein was good and hard to beat. His sharp eyes could easily pick out the aberrations in the solid stone walls. It was Christof that determined the pattern, though.
The
cameras
watched entrances and exits to the mountains. One pointed to watch women leaving and one pointed to watch them coming in. During the long stretches of closed in caves, there was no one watching. Once you moved deep into the mountain a single camera would occasionally watch places where men would congregate. Essentially the
cameras
were on the women, though.
Damien understood defense and he understood what the
cameras
were for. The women didn't really care what the men did, but comings and goings were monitored. The threat here was other women.
Evan imagined this mountain home had to be hard to defend. There were too many entrances and exits. If there were an attack you'd waste valuable fighters guarding superfluous openings in your defense.
They should limit access in order to limit the number of defenders necessary to hold off an invasion. The way it stood now all your fighters would be busy watching openings that may or may not be attacked and none would be in reserve. The danger would come at you from all sides. The attackers should be funneled to a few key access points. The men were surprised the women had not thought this through.
"It wasn't designed, though," I argued as we walked down a corridor heading for our own lodging. "The women mined here and then used it once the mining was done. This is a secondary use for this space."
Bane grunted his displeasure at such obvious ignorance of defensive strategy. If the women were just passing through, camping here would be fine. The women knew they would stay. They should have built a mountain stronghold and ignored the hunt for the ore in this area.
"Wasteful," I chided knowing how much had probably been pulled from these walls.
"Strategically foolish," Bane argued as we entered the short hallway to our rooms.
My mind was bombarded with what they knew about defending your territory. It was crash course in military tactics. Bane was right, from his perspective. The women had left themselves wide open to attack.
Basin's family and Stayne's family were both lounging in the pool as we entered. They called a greeting to Damien and we responded. I was stripped of my outfit and we all got into the large, warm pool.
"They told you your slave would clean your dwelling for you?" Basin asked pulling Rose onto his lap.
Damien responded that's what I'd done last time. The admission did nothing to lessen the anger on Basin's face.
"And the swimming?" Basin asked splashing the water with an angry hand.
No one had said anything to us about swimming.
"The human slaves are required to swim back and forth," Basin indicated the longest length of the pool, "thirty-seven times per day."
Damien was surprised and so was I, but Basin continued to talk.
"Damned Healers did some calculation. They determined inactivity would damage the humans. This is to be their exercise every day," he finished gripping Rose.
I knew Rose and I knew she feared water when Basin was not around. Frankly I wasn't sure she even knew how to swim. Poor girl was being tortured since coming here with every fear she'd ever had.
"Can your girl swim?" Damien asked gently.
Basin was silent for a moment before he admitted Rose could not. They had tried to teach her, but she couldn't move in the water like they did. The men feared the women would come and punish Rose for her inability.
Damien did not understand human psyche, but he understood that Rose felt safe with Basin. Perhaps she could learn from another human with her owners present.
"Ciara will teach her," Damien offered, "while you are here."
Basin agreed and moved closer to us. He did make a point to remind Damien slaves are not women. Rose was not a 'her' or a 'girl'. She was an it.
"Don't be foolish and believe everything you have been told, cousins," Damien laughed. "There is much to learn if you are open to it."
That first night with Rose, I just taught her to float. She was so panicked that she could barely accomplish that. Eventually, I realized if Basin kept a hand on her she calmed down. By the end of our evening she could float without any support.
"That is not swimming," Kein informed me several times.
"If she becomes fearful in the water, Master Kein," I finally explained, "she can float on the surface until she calms. It is an important first step."
"Don't call me Master," was the terse reply. "You are not my slave. You are family."
I looked up at him stunned. Kein looked impassive, but I felt a tiny bit frantic. His friends did not look at the world like he did. They would hurt me if they thought I was an unowned slave.
"They won't harm you," Damien answered my unspoken plea while watching Basin's family over my shoulder. "They know what we would do if they wronged our family."
The large room seemed to freeze in time for a moment. Basin broke the silence as he lifted Rose out of the water and then leapt out himself.
"You have some strange ideas," he said calmly, "but we have no wish to challenge you. If you say the human is under your family protection, we believe you."
Stayne's family had watched the encounter with amusement and followed Basin out.
"I wouldn't advertise such strangeness to the other men, though," Stayne added thoughtfully. "They probably would not respect your wishes."
Damien agreed and pulled me out. Evan wrung the water from my hair with an absorbent cloth as Kein dried my body and we bade the other families a good sleep.
Stayne laughed openly as he slung Fuji into his arm.
"We don't rest yet, cousin, there is still much to do," he said grinning and turning toward his leather flap.
Damien and his Brothers laughed at the implication. I blushed furiously. Although I'd had the displeasure of watching them with Fuji on many occasions, I still was embarrassed for her. Sex should be private and not advertised.
"Then we will be quiet..." Bane whispered in my ear.
They wanted me. I looked into his eyes and saw raging desire.
My hand travelled from his muscular shoulder down his arm until I held his hand. Pulling gently I guided him into our quarters. The air hummed with longing as I tugged him toward the sleeping chamber.
"I want you, big Brother," I said pulling his broad shoulders down.
It was a sweet gentle
kiss
that gained fire as it went on. Bane's tongue swept into my mouth as he pushed us further toward the bed. His Brothers followed, each thinking of how they would like to relieve their now rampant erections. The sexual energy started to make me much more excited than I had been.
"How do you want me, little Sister?" Bane whispered into my ear.
I liked to face my lovers and be buried under their masculine forms.
"As you wish," Bane said softly before capturing my lips with his own.
While we kissed Bane's hands ran down over my hips and the ample swell of my bottom. He squeezed it lovingly and caressed the round cheeks. Where he and his Brothers were all hard muscle, I was soft and pliant. Bane loved my curves.
The image of my bottom striped came into my conscious mind suddenly. As I kissed Bane, I saw an image of myself as Bane had seen me. My hair was mussed and my skin sweaty. I'd been looking back at him as he touched the lines Damien had put across my ass. The look in my eyes had been seductive and confident.
Bane broke our kiss to look down into my eyes now. The idea of being hit terrified me and I could not understand his memory. Bane's big hand cupped my face gently as his thumb ran over my lips. Their velvet softness reminded him how fragile I was.
They'd made a horrible mistake. Although I was family, I wasn't like them. They couldn't hurt me to teach me. It only left panic.
"No more, little Sister," Bane murmured sincerely, "only softness. Do not fear the pain. Let me pleasure you."
"Never pain, again," Damien promised from the side before walking into the closet.
The way I felt was not healthy. I didn't trust them not to hit me and that just would not do. We would solve the problem tonight.