Abducted

18

She chewed on her food- some frybread and potato. It had never been her favorite meal, but she supposed it made due. From her spot at the second floor of the mansion she watched humans toil in the fields, getting them prepared for a new season. Conner and Ziracuny were down there as well, helping. Jolon was in the brooder- a room tucked into the lower level of the house, preparing chicken eggs.

This was a horrible time to be hatching chickens, but she supposed his warmth might be passed onto them.

They were having to start anew. This was something she never expected to happen- she'd never had to see seeds being bought, or eggs. They were there. Then they weren't.

She would have loved to hunt, but the bison and elk that had once been her feast had now become endangered and moved to reserves, to save them. She supposed she could get deer, but even then it was questionable. You couldn't just go into the backwoods and hunt anymore.

She breathed deep breaths, the window fogging where it met her heat.

"Coahoma."

It was a voice she knew, although the holder of its vocals probably had never learned of her before now. England stood, facing her, his hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed in a suit, fine pressed and quite possibly new. For a second she thought of lashing her claws into his eyes.

"England," she replied, "is there something you need?"

She needed to be on guard now, especially with what had happened with that Polish nation. He might be here to question her about it. From what she had learned about the blond, he was one to blab.

It has been a new day since then. The past had fallen into snappy nations going to their rooms in her home, all while trying to make it seem like they weren't poking their noses where they didn't belong.

She heard one of them speaking of taking states home with them. She'd kill all of Europe before that ever happened.

"I was wondering," that didn't seem to be a good thing, but she allowed him to continue, "what is our payment for doing this for you?"

She looked at him with a raised brow, but he might not have noticed it over her cougar's face.

"What do you want?" she hated this. She never wanted help from Europe. The African countries seemed nice. South America was pleasant. Most of Asia seemed to have sweet hearts. Why had Zaltana gone to these nations? She knew her sister to be no fool- maybe reckless, but not a fool.

From the bag draped over her back, she pulled out an audio recorder- an old, crappy device, but a functional one.

"I ask only for one thing," England said, and her stomach twisted, "The United States of America's hand in marriage."

She stood prone, waiting for him to start to laugh. She ended up doing it first, drawing her thumb off the device and tucking it back before moving her hands in front of her. The noise from her was nothing less than a crackle, with the added addition of something adjacent to a big cat's growl.

He never started laughing, and she looked at him like he had grown two heads.

"Oh, you were serious," this caused some form of alarm in Coahoma- frankly, she didn't want to be family with this nation, and she knew that Dyami had some strong emotions towards him as well- but she also knew that Europeans expected something for their actions. If they didn't get that something, they took it by force.

She did not want to think about the thoughts of her injured brother being defiled by this nation. Again.

"On my family's name, absolutely not," she growled, "by my mothers blood you will never have his hand. He is already married."