brown spots. She paced forward and tilted her head as she looked at them. In this form, she had no fears about her scars or limitations. The two men were gorgeous tiron. She’d been right when she thought they might be larger than the tiron she’d seen before. They were both bigger than most male tiron, with Colm being the larger of the two beasts.
She gave a rolling grunt and pulled her chin down and in, a friendly nonthreatening gesture as she took a few steps toward them. She wanted to meet their animals. Their muscles relaxed and they stared at her. Most tiron would mimic her gesture in a friendly “come on over” response, but not these two alphas.
“Come.” The rolling grunt came from Colm in feline form. Even though they were from entirely different worlds, she had no problem understanding him. The language was ingrained in a Santir at birth or transformation. It was more of an order than an invitation, but Cami ignored her irritation in favor of satisfying her curiosity.
She moved slowly forward, but stopped when they made a space between them so she could greet them both at the same time. Fear shot through her and her ears went back. She couldn’t put herself between the two large cats, not when they were so close together.
Stepping to the side, she approached Colm and rubbed her face against his, taking a deep breath and drawing his scent into her. The scents were wrong. It was because of the herbs she’d taken, but it didn’t stop her annoyance. The cat part of her wanted to know how he really smelled.
“You still smell different than a Santir.” Colm growled. His tail swished sharply and she saw him stiffen.
“That’s not going to change anytime soon.” Cami kept the tone of the mewls and grunts even, but she wasn’t backing down from this.
Their alpha tendencies were going to have to adjust to the fact that everything wasn’t going to go their way. She eased back and approached Linc. Rubbing her muzzle along his, she inhaled as she greeted him. She purred and her tail twitched in a friendly greeting. She turned and walked away, looking back over her shoulder to see what they were doing. Greetings were done. She was ready to run.
“He’s right.” Linc’s lips pulled back, baring his teeth. “Your scent is wrong. Better adjust fast. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to play nice and not throw you into a tub and scrub until it’s off you.”
“I can tell you two aren’t at your most diplomatic when you’re in this form. I’m going for a run. If you want to come, you can, but no more growling or threats. I want to enjoy this.” She narrowed her eyes on the two males and then stalked forward, her gait stiff.
Linc strolled over to her in a graceful glide of feline muscles. “Don’t be angry. You have to realize that our patience isn’t inexhaustible. There will come a time when we can’t wait any longer. Hopefully by then, you’ll know you can trust us even if you don’t like our decision. We don’t want to take your things and push you too far, but we can only deny our instincts so long.”
Colm joined them, but he didn’t come up on her other side. He strode up beside Linc. Linc’s words made her nervous, but their actions reassured her. It was hard to see them as a threat when they were doing everything possible to make sure that she was comfortable with them. Arguing with them wasn’t going to solve anything. There were no easy answers. She really wanted to run and explore, so decided to let the comment pass without a reply. As to trusting them, in some instances she did, but this was her life they were trying to run as they did their Thent.
“For now, don’t brood about it. Everything will work out as it should. Are you ready to run?” Colm’s suggestion sounded more akin to an order, but the last part was really all that she needed to hear.
She nodded and trotted forward, looking over her shoulder to see if they’d follow. She didn’t mind running alone, but they’d said that they wanted to run with her. They bounded forward and Colm dashed in front of her. She followed, but after a while she got tired of simply tagging along with them. The urge to hunt and chase pounded through her. Linc moved