'Are there other ways females test males?' Another one appeared over Dimatri's shoulder and I do mean over.
'Holy tiger alert!' I said, with a gasp. The male looked at me with orange brown eyes and a yellow cream coat. His chest, upper legs, and mane was covered in white tiger stripes. At his mouth there were two canine teeth that peaked out. They were just a bit too big for his mouth.
'Tiger?'
'Another kind of big feline on Earth,' I stated. While lions were my favorite of the big cats, tigers were a close second. As both had been associated with my line at some point, so I felt a sort of kinship with them. That did not mean I wanted to be staring one down without some kind of safety measure in place.
'Your reaction suggests tigers are more dangerous,' he said.
'Lions and tigers are pretty on par when it comes to danger levels. Tigers have a much higher reported kill count than Lions. As in tigers have been seen killing or eating humans more,' I said. I began backing away. Every hair on my body bristled.
'I am not going to hurt you. My name is Misha,' he told me. That made me laugh. While the name was said differently it remained me of a very similar name on Earth.
'Mi-shh-a,' I tried.
'Very good,' he said.
'What was your question Misha,' I asked. With more distance between us my body relaxed a bit but not nearly enough.
'Are there other ways that females test males?'
'Yes. There are more ways to test a male than days in a month... sun cycles in a moon cycle.'
'How?'
I was flustered by the question, "Dancing, fighting-"
'We can not understand that,' Dimatri reminded me.
'I don't know. I know of dancing. We test to see if our partners can keep up with us. Fighting because we want protection when necessary as well as an ability to take mating marks without complaint. Everything else takes time. If our male will help clean or cook. If they will tolerate me being who I am. I mean there are the displays but most of those are stupid. I used to help my brothers do them,' I was stumbling over my words. My brain clouded by fear and desire.
With all four of them directly in front of me I could imagine why the ladies at court had followed my brothers around. I suddenly had a new appreciation for groups of males.
'What displays,' Misha asked.
'My brothers would have me stand on them while they did push-ups. Or carry me around. Take off their shirts to show off in the sun. Cover themselves in water or go swimming so the court ladies had a reason to stare. What you are doing right now!'
'We aren't doing anything,' Kylian pointed out.
'Exactly,' I hissed back. 'You don't have to do anything outside the usual bullshit. Displays are males just doing what they would normally. A group of males standing together without tops is a outright display. I already said that.'
'You said you helped your brothers?' Misha's voice stroked at me. Like a dark feather of temptation. What the hell were they feeding Leoc'ain to make them all sound like walking sex?
'Yeah I would help them color match their clothes or do their hair. Seeing how loyal they were to me made them more appealing to the other girls.'
'Hair? Like our manes?' Dimatri asked.
'Yes,' I said while nodding.
'Well that, at least, is similar,' Kylian huffed walking back to his original spot by the wall. It only served to give me a better view of Misha. His arms were cut muscle that threatened domince.
'Think Princess. I am sure like many other races you test your males without realizing it,' Misha said. It forced me to look back up at his face.
'We touch them. If we are close enough to touch we can normally pick up their smell,' I said. I hadn't considered it before. Humans females were normally more sensitive to smell than males. 'Touch can also be a way of marking. Touching in certain ways or for a certain time tells the rest of us that a female is interested. The food we are offered is another test... I think. We want mates who eat similar foods so we don't have to work harder to keep us fed.' I was making shit up. I knew I was. I had never tested any male. Never wanted a male enough to test him. I had been used to test males however.
'Anything else?' he asked. He walked closer to me backing me up to the wall. He was close enough for me to smell him now. Was he inviting me to smell him?
'I don't think it counts as a test but we watch them. I don't know if your builds are just genetics but our males normally have to work for a similar form. Females watch them train,' I said. My eyes met his while I fought the urge to jump on him. He smelled of dew covered grass, chocolate, and almonds. Of spring. His hands rose to the wall behind me. His face leaning down to look at me was confusing the hell out of my body. Fear of the tiger my eyes said he was. Desire of the man my nose said he was. He stepped closer and I wanted to wrap myself in him.
'We train as well,' I faintly heard someone say.
'If you don't want to touch me back up please,' I said. My voice was shaken, even mentally.
'Anything you can dole out I can take Princess,' Misha said. I could hear the smile in his voice. My left hand shot out grabbing his mane and yanked. I wasn't gentle about it but all I saw was him flinch. There was no other reaction.
We stayed like that for who knows how long. 'I'm tired,' I finally said. Still looking at him. Still holding his cashmere mane. I had tangled my finger in it during the exchange.
'Then I should let you go pick your room Princess,' he replied backing away. I had to pull my hand from him as he did. I had to fully extend myself to reach him as it was. If I had to guess he was over eight and a half feet tall. I turned from him back to Dimatri.
Dimatri was flicking his tail in my direction on either side of him. As if temping me to come closer. I did. 'Let us see where the Princess wants to sleep.' He lead me the room to the right first. The inside was pretty bare. I found it odd since there were shelves around the room. Perhaps to rooms were left bare to be filled by whoever was using the room temporarily. There were pillows at the top of the plain grey bed and a chair in the corner. There was a smell to the room however. Like someone had called it home very recently. I could guess who. I bet if I searched the blanket at the foot of the bed enough I would find black, grey, and white fur.
The smell of the first fresh snowfalls, ocean salt, and frost covered mable curled in the air. I would bet this was Amiri's scent. I wondered about the other rooms. Did they too smell of the males? I looked at Dimatri and he lead me across the hall. Kylian was standing close to the door. The room was cluttered with furs and beads on the shelves. The smell I had tried not to enjoy on the ride here was heavy in the air. Crisp apple, sugar cane, and autumn. Definitely Kylian's room.
The next was Misha's. Getting hit with one male's scent after another was heating my blood even further. Misha's room was clean with a few things decorating his shelves but nothing I recognized. By the time we reached Dimatri's room I knew they could all smell me. The way they were taking deep drawing drawing breaths was telling. Dimatri's room had a tablet bigger than any I had seen before. There was a table and a chair in the corner.
The last room floored me. I must have been too out of it to catch the strong scent as we approached but as soon as I crossed the entrance it knocked the wind from my lungs. The room was dark but I caught a pair of glowing green eyes that reflected the light of the open doorway. My eyes closed while I tried to remember myself in the smell. It was male. All male. It was dominant. If the smell alone made me want to drop to my knees and beg I feared what the actual male could do to me. I could feel his eyes on me as my knees shook from strain. I needed out but I wanted to go further within. I turned to the door to find the other four watching me.
'Are you okay, Princess?' I heard him say from behind me. Sweet sin. This man smelled of sin. He sounded of sin. I was willing to bet from the way the other four stood just beyond the door that he was sin. As I started to fall to my knees I felt an arm wrap around my waist. 'Easy Princess.'
'Oh please no more.' My hand was on his arm. His arm fur felt like silk and it took everything in me not to shatter. What was happening to me? 'Not okay. Not okay. Too much. Smells too good.'
'What does Princess?'
'You,' I moaned. My body twisting in his grip so I could get closer to that smell. 'You smell of dark chocolate and mint. Of summer nights and the full moon. Like the forest during a hunt. Like male!' My face pressed into him and I realized I was just tall enough for my head to reach above his navel. He had to be almost nine feet tall.
'What of it?' he asked.
'So good. So very good. Temptation and sin. All wrapped together in one male. I need to go. To leave,' I said. My fingers tightened on his corded arms. I rubbed my face on him basking in the smell.
'Why? You seem to like it here.' In his room. In his arms.
'Want to. Dangerous. Too much too soon,' my thoughts were becoming a mess. I couldn't think past the smell. I opened my mouth and moaned as the taste coated my tongue. I forced myself back. Forced myself to stumble backwards out the door. Where the smell of the other four awaited me. I went to my hands and knees crawling to get away from the smell. Away from the male who had made me a mess of desire. I found my feet and ran. I ran back to the cleansing room and locked myself within.