disgust off her face but she wasn’t entirely sure she succeeded.
“Why, of a surety, my lady!” the merchant exclaimed. “For instance, do you want to spice your mating life up a bit? Simply rub some exotic anal scent from a different tribe all over your fur before your mate begins biting your neck. It will be as though you were a strange and lovely female come to tempt him. He won’t be able to resist mounting you!”
“Before he starts biting my neck?” Penny asked.
“Of course! Or maybe you’d like to switch things up a bit and you mount him instead?” the merchant asked, grinning slyly. “I sell male mating scents for females to wear and female mating scents for males to wear. It confuses the senses most delightfully.” He winked at Penny. “So if that’s your desire, you’ll find no judgment here.”
“Well, that’s…very nonjudgmental of you,” Penny said weakly. “But I just don’t know—”
“What have you got to barter?” the merchant asked, looking with interest at her white fur pouch. “I’m running a special right now—three anal seepages for the price of two—providing you have good items to trade, of course.”
“Um…” Penny began, not sure how to turn him down.
“Perhaps we’ll come back later, friend,” V’rex said, giving the scent merchant a genial nod. “At the moment, we’re going to be introduced to Chieftain Swift Tail and his lovely lady.”
The merchant’s eyes widened.
“Oh, why you must be very important persons indeed! Don’t let me keep you. Here…” He pressed a blue cut-glass bottle into Penny’s hands before she could protest. “The finest female anal scents—my most expensive blend—a mixture of three different Alpha tribes,” he explained. “No, no—I can’t take any payment—it’s on the house.” He winked. “Though of course, if you might happen to open the bottle and let the scent waft out past the estimable Chieftain’s sensitive nose, I would be forever grateful.”
“I’ll try,” Penny promised, tucking the blue bottle with its cut-glass stopper into her furry white pouch. “Uh, thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome, lovely lady!” The merchant bowed low, his bushy tail wagging joyfully as they finally resumed their walk.
“Told you that wasn’t your kind of perfume,” V’rex murmured.
Looking up, Penny saw amusement dancing in his pale gold eyes.
“You could have warned me!” she hissed. “I mean anal gland scents?”
He shrugged.
“Hey, what can I say? I told you the Fox’ens have an incredibly strong sense of smell—scent is what turns them on more than just about anything else. Though they do like a female with a shiny coat, too,” he added, stroking the black fur over her shoulder.
“Oh, you!” Penny gave him an elbow to the ribs but the big Hybrid just laughed and she couldn’t help grinning herself.
At last, after winding their way completely through the busy marketplace, they came to a vast set of carved double doors that stood at least three stories high. There were two more guards in front of the doors and the guard who had brought them from the front entrance introduced them formally.
There was a polite bit of shuffling while the guards at these doors said they thought the Chieftain might be too busy to receive guests. However, when V’rex produced two more of the strong smelling meat balls, the new guards appeared to remember that this was actually the perfect time to introduce visitors to their Chieftain after all and the carved doors at last swung open.
Inside was a shining cavern with hundreds of gleaming stalactites hanging from the vaulted ceiling—some of them almost a hundred feet long. Seated in the center of the cavern, on thrones that appeared to be carved out of the same kind of stone as the stalactites, were two extremely well groomed Fox’ens.
“Chieftain Swift Tail and Lady Bright Coat,” the guard intoned and bowed low so that the furry tips of his ears brushed the stone floor.
Penny and V’rex bowed as well and when they came up, she was able to get a better look at the Fox’en ruler and his mate.
Chieftain Swift Tail had pitch black fur and brilliant blue eyes that reminded Penny of an Australian Shepherd. Lady Bright Coat certainly lived up to her name—her fur was a brilliant, spotless white, tipped all over with the barest hint of silver. The color combination made her fur appear to shimmer and flow like liquid when she moved even slightly.
But it wasn’t her gorgeous coat that caught and held Penny’s eyes. On a bright silver chain link necklace around her slender