He flipped open a dark highly polished wooden chest beside the basket and turned to her, "Hold your hair up." Bella looked up confused, her hair was in a ponytail. She lifted her hands and realised many strands had come loose during the time since he had pulled her from her shower. She quickly gathered all the loose strands and held them up, as he removed the formal collar from her throat. As he moved to place it in the chest, she pulled the band from her hair and quickly retied her ponytail in place.

Mel smiled approvingly at her as he also removed the everyday collar she still wore, "Keep her hands on your head," he said softly. Bella felt naked without the snug weight of the collars she had worn for the last twenty four hours. The thought making her grin lopsidedly as she had worn no clothing all day bar the collars, Mel raised his eyebrow at her forcing her to explain her smile.