I wanted to follow her. The smell of her desire hung in the air like a blooming flora tree. We had been ready for her to into our respective rooms and do something about it. We had not expected her to run. No female Leoc'ain would have ran.
Sorrel had all but begged her to take him. Instead she ran. When we went to follow her his growl stopped us. Sorrel retreated back into the depths of his room. Which left us to do the same. I thought back to through the events. She had not attacked me when I had backed her against the wall. She had grabbed my mane but that had seemed to be a show that she was not going to let us just push her around. She had smelled of fear when I had caged her in with my arms.
She seemed afraid to harm me. Was that the test? Would females look for male who could take what they dished out? No. She said her males were stronger than the females. It hit me then. She was afraid of our retaliation. She was afraid of our reaction to her. It would make sense. The way she had rose to my challenge. The look of defiance in her eyes. The desire that had sparked there.
I smelled her before I heard her. She had taken off her feet coverings. Shoes, Dimatri had told us they were called shoes. She came directly to my room. Much to my shock. I figured she would go to Dimatri's room considering how much time they had spent together. I knew my brothers were standing at their own doorways. They were waiting. She still smelled of desire but it was tamer now. Nothing like smell she had going when she run away from us.
I looked her over as she entered the room. Her hair hung pleated down her back along her spine. Smooth and tame now that she had seen to it. My surprise came at her clothes. She wore a much different dress than before. This one was shorter showing off her legs. The top wrapped around her neck but left her neck bare. A back that was on full display to me as she snuck into the room. Her eyes scanned the room looking for something. I hid in a corner not wanting to spook her into bolting from the room again. My hiding paid off when I got sight of a swirling display of black lines across her back. Those lines seemed concentrated on her shoulders and spine.
As she moved towards my bed I walked up behind her. 'I know you are in here,' she said.
'How?' I asked, moving closer.
'Your scent is stronger in here now.'
'And yet you came in anyway,' I ran the back of my claws along those marks as I said it.
She spun to face me. Her cheeks bright and the smell of her arousal picked up. 'Yes.'
'Why?'
'I thought I would sleep here.' Her eyes met mine. Her light green eyes so different from her black hair.
'So you have come to chase me out?' I flicked my tail towards her.
'After I answer your question and you answer mine.' Her eyes tracked my tail as I moved towards her.
'I had a question?' I ask. I let my tail move forward and wrap around her arm the same way Dimatri had. My tail was the shortest of us. I wondered if that too was similar to her tigers.
'We ask them to do things. Mainly things we know they do not normally care to do,' she ran a finger over my dorsal stripe.
'Such as?'
'Get us food. Hold us. Help with our hair. Will you let me help with your hair?'
'You do not have to ask for that. You are a female. If you were Leoc'ain you would take what you want or order us to do what you want us to. We have no mate. You outrank us.'
'So if I want to do this?' Her hand grabbed onto my tail and curled it around her hand. As she did so her head lifted higher to look at me. She was so small. She stepped closer to me. I felt her breath fan across my sternum. I felt the others move into the hall.
'Do it,' I said. 'I told you we'll take anything you can dole out.'
'I'm far more worried about what you will dole out in return.'
'I can not speak for my brothers but I would not do anything to hurt you,' I said. I let out a little growl warning my brothers away. She tensed at the sound.
'How do Leoc'ain let their males know they want to mate with them?' Her hand traced one of my stripes on my side.
'They aren't gentle about it. They invite us to fight them,' I said. My hand twitched to touch up. 'How do humans tell females they want to mate?'
'They start with kissing the female. Or at least trying to,' she smiled.
'What is kiss?' I asked.
'Your too tall for me to show you.' I picked her up by her waist. She gasped. Her hands grabbed my shoulders. I felt her legs hook on my waist.
'Do not worry Princess. I will not drop you.'
'But I'm heavy!' I began to walk us to my bed.
'You are not heavy,' I told her while sitting on my bed. She wasn't. She was heavier than I had originally thought but not by much. I figured it was her dense bones that accounted for it. 'Now show me this kiss you were talking about.'
Her skirt had ridden up, bunched at her hips as it was. It allowed her legs to sit on either side of mine. Her hands ran over my mane. She bit her lip and I realized that she was nervous. She placed her hand on the side of my face. She pushed herself up from where she sat on her knees to put her mouth on mine. Her hand went to the back of my head where it tangled in my fur before she pulled back. 'I am not very good at it. I have also never kissed someone like you before,' she said, while shifting on my lap.
'I would not call it bad. It was interesting,' I said. I leaned down and tried to kiss her. She made a light noise that didn't sound bad. She flicked my lips with her tongue. I growled at the feel. I rolled us so she was on the bed with my bulk covering her. She squeaked and pulled on my fur. She pressed her fingers flat to keep her claws out of me. I place a paw on her hand and dug her little claws into my skin. 'If I can not handle a female being a bit hard on me I would never be a worthy male,' I told her.
'I am not trying to see if you are worthy,' she hissed.
I huffed in amusement, 'It is also a way to show affection.'
'What?'
'Some light scratching and fur pulling is expected. Being a little ruff with someone you are interested in is a sign of affection.'
'Yet, you are all so gentle with me so far.' I felt her nails scratch lightly at my chest. 'Human females tend to be aggressive during mating. If we mark a male it's because we want others to know they are ours. The placement of a mark means a lot during mating.'
'You can mark us as much as you want Princess. We have to be gentle with you. It would be bad if we hurt you on accident.'
She buried her head into my fur. 'Why do you all smell so good?'
'We smell good?'
'You smell like my childhood home. Dimatri smells like the jungle, a place with dense vegetation, right after a rain storm. Amiri smells of mountains and winter. Kylian smells of the harvest season, when the air is heavy with the smells of fruits and vegetables. You all smell like Earth in her many changes.'
I placed a hand on her face as she pulled back, 'And Sorrel?'
'Is he the one that was sitting in the dark? The tallest one of you?' She rubbed her face on my hand. I almost thought she was trying to scent mark me but her scent didn't seem stronger on her face nor did it linger on my fur.
'Yes, that would be Sorrel, our eldest brother.' Her tongue flicked out across the pad of my paw. That left a scent mark.
'He smells of temptation. Of desire. He smells of my favorite dessert.'
'So why run from him?'
'He smells like the most delectable food. I wanted to bite him. I almost did bite him. I know nothing about any of you other than the fact that you are not after my title. I don't know if you want to mate with me and I certainly don't want to offend you.'
'Believe me I am not offended,' I said. I lowered myself so she could feel my zashic straining in my loincloth. Her eyes widened but I felt as well as saw her arch up to rub herself there. I grabbed her hip. Her eyes were hazy like a cub who was fighting sleep. 'You need to sleep Princess.'
She yanked at my fur. Her eyes glared at me. 'If I don't want to?' There was that defiance again.
'You really do not like being told what to do.' I complied with the silent demands and lowered more of myself. Being low to anything was not a Leoc'ain natural instinct. I was not low now. I was above. She was letting me be dominant only as long as I gave into her needs. It made me want to push her. To find that invisible line.
She yawned and pouted, 'Sleep is a dangerous thing for a Princess.'
'We will protect you. Do not fear.'
'There is always something to fear,' she smiled at me. She gave me a push, 'Go then, sweet tiger. You have denied yourself the right to eat me this night.'