4 Dimatri

A male?' I asked confused. 'As in just one?'

'I am a royal it is expected that I take only one partner my whole life. As to make sure we can keep track of the lineage,' She moved her shoulders up and then down, 'Not that it matters for me. As the first true born Royal Female in a thousand years it is expected for me to have a harem to sire as many young as possible. Plus my brothers have wives now,' her scent soured with envy and sadness. 'I am free to do as I wish now.'

'Humans only mate with one male?' I questioned. My brothers listened in intently as Kylian preped the medgun. She was apparently dehydrated and extremely hungry.

'Females are only supposed to mate with one person. Ideally after marriage so that she can prove her innocence,' her lip curled up. Clearly she disliked the practice. 'Males are encouraged to enjoy as much as possible so maybe they will know how to please their wives if only in the bedroom.'

'What is the difference between husband and mate?'

'I think for you they would be much the same. For humans marriage is a promise to remain together until death. To only be with that one person. Noble females are to remain pure until they marry. The first time we take a mate we bleed. Not the male just us females. If a noble female is found impure, already having mated on her wedding night, her husband may leave her. It is unlikely any other noble male would claim her afterwards.

I do not know how mating is for your people but for our females it is rarely a good experience. I have been told by many married women that it is better to simply lay there and pretend we are somewhere else. It is worse for me as a royal female. If I take a husband and we have a child I am no longer needed. My husband may see fit to kill me to rule through the child.'

I suddenly wondered if she had the implants put in. 'A marriage, being husband and wife, means you can not mate with others then?' Her lips curled at the edges but her teeth didn't show until she opened her mouth and pearling sound came out.

'Not at all,' the sound was mental as well as verbal. Mentally it translated into cuff though. A sound of amusement. 'Just because humans marry doesn't mean they can't mate others. Just that we aren't supposed to. Many females do by the way. We are supposed to marry in our own ranks. Our husbands are rarely anything we actually want. Like I said, the mating isn't fun for us. So once children have been had we seek out... another. Someone better at seeing to our needs and desires.'

'So you have married then?'

'No. I refuse to tie myself to a male who only cares for himself. Besides too many have tried to take what I did not offer. Speaking of what is it you lot want with me? Do you intend to mate me whether I wish it or not?'

All of us reared back as if our own mother had swiped us. 'We would never!' I yelled.

'Are you saying human males force themselves on females?' Misha asked ears flat in horror.

'Our mother would hunt us down and skin us herself,' Amiri stated.

'Yes human males will force mate females. In fact one out of every four females are forced to mate whether we will it or not. Considering how hands on... or rather paws on he was I figured that was what you intended to do with me.' She looked over at Kylian who was wide eyed and flat eared.

'We do not do that,' Misha stated firmly. 'If any of us did the rest of us would kill him. If our females did not get to him first.'

'So then it is standard for all of you to be bare chested?' She gestured to her own torso which was fully covered aside from a single shoulder.

'Yes, we only wear our armor when we forsee a fight. What did you think it was?' I asked her curious.

'A male walking around top less as all of you now are... It is a display. An invitation for females to look at their natural coloring and build,' she said. She seemed unsure if she should continue. 'I thought you were trying to court me since all of you have what would count as a very desirable muscle build. Although a bit different given the short fur that all of you have.' Her face went pink across her cheekbones.

All of our ears went forward into alert position. We looked between eachother. She had said our builds were desirable. 'Is build a deciding factor?' All of us were curious. They let me ask though.

'There are so many factors!' She let an audible huff that needed no translation.

'Before you continue with answering Dimatri's questions I think it's best we get to making you feel better.' Kylian held up the medgun and I watched her go from somewhat okay to attack ready in an instant.

'Where does that go,' her voice held a growl and I understood all I needed to. Medguns were gonna set her on edge immediately.

On the screen her nerve endings and muscles lit up on her upper arms and upper legs. The neurons in her brain lit up like a star. A new line of information popped up. I knew all of us saw it and read it. Her body was flooding with a hormone very similar to our Spree. Basically she was ready for a fight.

'It is a quick injection of nutrients and liquids. You are dehydrated and seem to be in need of food. We can feed you but this will help get you back where needed faster,' Kylian told her. Awear of what the hormone could do.

Her muscles were lighting up now, 'Make it fast.' She looked away. Her eyes locking on mine. Her pupils were wide. Her jaw clenched. Kylian took the opening she forced herself to give him. He was fast but gentle. As soon as the needle went into the skin of her neck a warning flashed across the screen. Mentally she was willing to give us this chance to help her. Physically her body was pissed. As Kylian pulled his hand back the delicate hold she had snapped. She spun on him, teeth bared. She launched herself at him. We went to go forward but she stopped.

Her nails dug into his shoulders. Her hind paws were bare now putting them on display so we could see them. They were low on his torso, the oddly shaped appendages were curled up pulling on his fur but he said nothing. Now that we knew she found us desirable as mates on even a low level... it was more than we could hope for our own kind. A female would often cause worse harm then this while checking if a male was worthy to be a mate. None of us knew if her people did something similar but that didn't mean we were gonna get in Kylian's way to prove himself.

She breathed deeply on top of Kylian for a bit before shaking her head and upper back while climbing off him. 'It's a good thing you did not attack me back,' she said. She looked down at him and the dusty smell of guilt hit the air. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes. If I could not handle at least that much I would never be seen a desirable mate,' he said standing up.

'It sounds like your females are our males,' she said.

'Females let males attack them?' Misha asked.

'Let? No. Male humans have more muscle mass naturally than females. When in a one on one fight, provided they have the same amount of training, our males almost always win. It is not a desired trait.'

'Having a strong mate isn't desirable?' I asked.

'No, having a mate that enjoys beating his female just because he can isn't desirable,' her eyes swung to mine. I was beginning to think if females of the human race were stronger than their males the females would kill them all.

'Please continue what you were saying before,' Misha said.

'Right. It depends on the female. Some go for coloring. My skin color is considered the most desirable but as I am female... For some it is hair color. I myself like the darkest hair color. Blondes are just too bright in the sunlight and normally so pale. Blonde hair is pale yellow sometimes almost white. Honestly I think I could find white hair desired on the right male. Build is a huge factor. Some like males that are visibly fitter, such as yourselves. Others like males with less visible muscle.

Another way for females decide on a male is how they fight or dance. Sometimes both. Typically the big thing is gifts. Depending on the gifts a male gives a female it shows how much a attention he pays to what she likes. I don't know about the rest of you but this one here,' she gestured to Kylian, 'He feels like velvet which wins major points in my book.'

'So there are a great number of things that go into who a female mates with?' I asked.

'Indeed.'

I noticed she had made a point not to look at our torsos since she had told us she had found them desirable. All of us were considered less desirable by our own females. The fact she had had the mental fortitude to stop herself from attacking Kylian in hormone filled rage, that she had been fair in her discipline of him, and willing to explain about her kind already told us a lot. She was unsure about us and we were unsure about her. We all had time to get to know eachother more.

'Any chance we can talk more over food?' she asked.