Chapter 147: A Not So Little Misunderstanding
"Quick," I said, getting out of the nest. "Tell me about your culture," I continued, looking around the cabin of the X96 fighter.
"What do you want to know?" answered Ye’tab, still staring at the screen in front of him. "There isn’t enough time to go through everything."
"Do you guys take multiple mates?" I shot out.
"No. We don’t take mates. One female chooses what male she wants, and after a successful copulation, the males are told to leave," said GA, never taking his eyes from the still-closed hatch.
"Do males compete for the attention of the female?" I asked a very sketchy plan forming in my head. The biggest problem was Midnight. How did I explain him?
"For the most part," answered Ye’tab. He and GA shared a look before returning their attention back to their stations. "But we have never been known to compete."
"That doesn’t matter. Chances are they might not even recognize you. By your own admission, the choosing has changed your outer exterior," I said, shrugging off his concern. "You also said that a female who was nesting was always looking for more furs, right?"
"Yes," growled GA.
"Are there any appropriate furs here?"
"There is a medvjed species here that is completely white that would be appropriate to gift a nesting female," said Ye’tab, and I thought back to where I had heard that term before.
"Medvjed? Like the black fur I... you gave me?" I asked, rubbing my hand on the fur in question.
"Yes, but the ones of this planet are about four times the size and considered to be the deadliest of all of them," answered GA.
I nodded my understanding. "Female dominated society?" I quickly shot out.
"Yes," growled Ye’tab. "They are here," he continued just as there was a pounding knock on the outside of the latch.
"Then all of you keep your mouths shut, and I will deal with it all. If that doesn’t work, Night... kill them all," I snarled as I got into my nest. "Midnight, go stand by the console. I have an idea for Zeus if anyone asks about you."
Silent as the night, Midnight stood up and walked over to the command console while Ye’tab came to take his spot, standing guard just outside of my nest.
Getting myself comfortable, I sat like a queen, my legs curled behind me and my arm resting on the edge of the fur.
"Open," I commanded, hoping that my words came out in Saaja rather than the Ethawainian that I was hearing.
GA grunted and opened the hatch, his wrist blades on prominent display.
"Our female needs your craft," clicked the first male, attempting to push past GA so that the newcomers could enter. I watched as GA raised his left arm, and a laser blaster appeared on his forearm. "You threaten males that are providing for a female? Are you suffering from The Madness?"
I chuckled, bringing the male’s attention to me for the first time. "I think he is more upset that you think your female trumps his own," I said, tapping my clawed nails on the outer edge of my nest. "I am pretty upset about that assumption myself."
"A female?" he demanded, his eyes raking me up and down. "You have brought a female here?" he continued, spinning around to face GA again. "What were you thinking?"
"And yet, you bring a female of your own; what are you thinking?" I shot back, not happy with the way he was looking at my mate.
Sensing my displeasure, Night crawled up on my nest and into my lap. His six eyes stared at the unknown male and the others behind him. I gently pet him, taking special care not to let my claws hurt him.
"Is that a voragyvis?" asked the male, taking a step back. Huh, it always surprised me just how much people were scared of Night and the rest of them. I scratched under Night’s chin with the tip of my claw and chuckled as he purred.
"My female has... unique... tastes," growled GA, and if I had a pillow, I would be throwing it at his head right now.
"He’s friendly," I said, my helmet hiding my smile. I was just happy that the unknown males were too far away to be able to scent me. The last thing I needed was to be dealing with a male that already had a female being chosen. "Want to pet him?" I asked, and Night stood up and scurried across the room.
The male took another step back, bumping into the male behind him. I didn’t bother to suppress my chuckle as Night climbed up GA and hung off his back. The larger male acted like it was nothing. Still holding his arm with the blaster up, he retraced his wrist blades and reached out to scratch the Nightmare.
The unknown males stood frozen, not knowing if they should go forward and potentially die or stay where they were. I was just happy that my armor kept out the cold because I was losing hot air out of the open hatch like there was no tomorrow.
"I am not heating the neighborhood," I grumbled under my breath, and all the males around turned to look at me. I shrugged my shoulders, not at all caring that they heard me. "Get out. Your female can stay in one of the two ships that you brought. Not mine. I don’t share," I growled, loud enough to be easily heard by the Saalistaja standing outside.
"Who are you to tell me that?" demanded a low voice. There was a commotion at the hatch as a huge Saalistaja pushed aside the smaller males to stand in front of GA. Night hissed, the fine hair covering his body standing up at the new threat.
And this new threat was huge. He towered over the other males by at least a foot and a half and had to be easily over 8’5" tall. He was also twice as bulk as the others, so it was no wonder why they bowed their heads and gave him as much room as the ramp could afford them.
"I said to go tell their female," I shot back, not at all concerned. Night had taken out a snake the size of a dragon; I had no doubt that he would be able to take out this male, too.
"I am their female," he... she growled from a foot over GA’s head.
Fuck me. That was their females?!?
