Chapter 4

"Daddy ... please don't make us do this ... not yet, please ... not yet!" Laurie's face was white with terror.

And their father's look of dominance softened immediately.

"I won't force either of you to do anything that you are not ready for ... but you have to understand – we are so few now, we must protect our clan and ensure our future."

He leaned forward and patted her hand, and he was once more their daddy.

"Please, meet these men, and talk to them for a while, and then I will send them all away again ... but just meet with them."

Iris stood for a while under the shower, allowing it to run down over her and sooth the heat that was beginning to gnaw inside her.

She would have stayed there all afternoon – had Laurie not come a knocking at her bathroom door.

"Iris!"

She switched of the shower and pulled a towel off the rail and wrapped it around her dripping hair, and then pulled a second one from the rail.

"Just a second," she mumbled as she stepped out onto the mat and then began to rub vigorously at her skin.

She was tingling all over when she slipped into her lightweight silken robe – the only thing that didn't seem to chafe her skin.

She opened the bathroom door and joined Laurie in her bedroom.

Laurie had also showered, although much quicker than Iris, and was covered in a similar robe.

Her hair was still damp and she had combed it back ruthlessly.

Iris sat down on her bed and unwound the towel on her head.

Again she rubbed vigorously until her hair was all frizzy and almost dry.

It fell in soft auburn tangle around her face, and Laurie sighed enviously.

"Here," she murmured holding up a brush. "Let me do that for you."

It was Iris's turn to sigh as she felt her sister's gentle hands on her hair, slowly pulling the brush through the snags and snarls and lifting it up to give it volume.

"Are you nervous, Iris?" Laurie sounded so timid that Iris turned to look at her sister.

"A little," she admitted. "But daddy will protect us; he won't make us do anything that we don't want to do."

"But it's like he said earlier, daddy won't be around for ever and without his protection – we will be..."

"Aunt Trudy always managed ok without a male, and I don't think that she would just abandon us," Iris tried to sound defiant and flippant, but she knew that Laurie realised as much as she had, that the only reason that aunt Trudy had survived, and retained her independence was because of her brother's – their father's protection.

"She would be as vulnerable as us!" Laurie whispered.

"Daddy is still strong and healthy – he's just trying to pressure us into making a commitment of some sort."

"But why?"

Iris shrugged her shoulders, and rubbed at her arms. "I don't know ... maybe he's just tired of having to be responsible for us, all of the time?"

"Do you really think so?" Laurie sounded gutted at the thought, and Iris reached out to hug her.

"Don't be silly," she begged lightly. "Daddy will always want to take care of us – even if either of us does find a male – a mate, who will take us on!"

She laughed and was rewarded by Laurie's tearful laugh. But then her sister sighed again. "It might be nice though," she mumbled. "To have someone to love me, who is not family?"

"Yes," once again the image of James Atherton flashed before Iris's eyes. "Yes it would be nice."

Their little reverie was stalled by the loud chiming of the door bell, and the sisters looked at each other knowingly.

They would have liked to have remained upstairs and out of the way, but their father had issued instructions and they would follow them.

The light robes that they wore did not conceal much, and so Iris pulled on a long woollen cardigan, and then offered another one to her sister.

"Thanks."

The sun was already beginning to drop in the sky and the itchiness and, and discomfort would only increase.

The silken robes helped since they were so light, but for the sake of modesty the sisters were prepared to endure the scratchy discomfort of the cardigans.

They could hear voices downstairs, loud and boisterous and very definitely male.

Testosterone fuelled males, if Iris was any judge.

"Iris – Laurie!"

Their father was summoning them and they would attend.

"Hi, you must remember me and my brother, I am Ben, this is Mark and these are our friends Ray and Phil."

The large burly man leaned down and drew Iris into his arms, for a great big bear hug.

He inhaled her scent, and his nose wrinkled as he smelt the fresh soap, and he nuzzled at her hair, but was again disappointed at the fresh clean smell.

He liked his females to smell like females – that earthy sweaty smell, these sisters were just too feminine – but they were so beautiful too.

He could feel the stirring of his blood, but Iris were just too human, it made him feel uncomfortable.

He stepped back with a little sigh of regret and half bowed at Laurie who had just looked on in terror as her sister had endured this mauling.