would say,” Chieftain Swift Tail murmured to his mate.
“I am.” Lady Bright Coat winked at him flirtatiously again. “My dear, did you know that Lady Penelope and I were talking in the necessary room and she tells me that she and her mate have never participated in a Hulu-rah before?”
“They haven’t?” the Chieftain raised his eyebrows in apparent surprise and looked at V’rex. “But what a shame! You haven’t lived until you’ve tested your will as a male in a Hulu-rah.”
“What’s a Hulu-rah, exactly?” V’rex asked, frowning.
“It’s a kind of sexual contest,” Penny explained, blushing a little. She felt embarrassed to be contemplating what Lady Bright Coat had proposed, but there didn’t seem to be any other way to get the Eye.
“A sexual contest?” The big Hybrid’s voice had dropped to a low, interested growl. “Explain.”
“Maybe I’d better let the Chieftain or Lady Bright Coat explain.” Penny felt her cheeks getting hotter and hotter and she bit her lip.
“Well, it’s simple, really,” Chieftain Swift Tail said to V’rex. “You enter your female and I’ll enter mine and we see which male can hold out and keep from filling his female with his seed the longest.”
“Is that so?” V’rex growled, looking at Penny again. “And what do you say to that, sweetheart?”
“I say it…it sounds fine to me,” Penny looked up at him uncertainly. “But, well, I wasn’t sure how you might feel about it.”
“I’d love to be inside you, you know I would,” V’rex murmured, stroking her hot cheek gently with one finger. “But you know, sweetheart…”
“I know what you’re going to say,” Penny said quickly. He was going to protest entering the contest on the bounds of their Foreswearing, she was sure. “But this really shouldn’t count—since it’s in the service of our, uh, mission,” she told him.
“I suppose you could make a case for that,” V’rex nodded thoughtfully. “Well, then…if you really don’t mind…”
“I don’t mind,” Penny said breathlessly. “I…I think it’s a good idea.”
“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea, but if you want it, I can’t deny that I do too,” V’rex growled softly, stroking her cheek again.
“Well, then—it sounds like we have a Hulu-rah in the works,” Chieftain Swift Tail exclaimed. “Tell me though, Merchant—what is it you wish to play for?”
“They…they want to play for my necklace,” Lady Bright Coat said, looking at her husband apprehensively.
“What?” The Fox’en Chieftain frowned. “But I gave you that necklace in front of the entire tribe! If I should lose it—”
“You won’t lose it, my dear!” Lady Bright Coat exclaimed. “When have you ever lost a Hulu-rah?”
The Chieftain’s furry chest puffed out with pride and he nodded.
“Well, you’re right about that, my mate. Then if you’re certain you don’t mind wagering your necklace…?”
“I have perfect trust in you,” she assured him.
“Then, it’s agreed.” Chieftain Swift Tail nodded decisively. He looked at V’rex. “I challenge you to a Hulu-rah. If you win, you will go home with my mate’s valuable necklace.”
“And if we lose?” V’rex asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Then you shall give me the entire box of Silka spice.” Chieftain Swift Tail’s blue eyes flashed greedily.
“That’s a high price to wager.” V’rex frowned, pretending to hesitate. “But I can see that my mate really wants that necklace,” he added, casting a half-lidded glance at Penny that made her squirm.
“I do…I really do,” she murmured.
“Well, then—no price is too high to make my mate happy,” V’rex decided. He looked at the Fox’en Chieftain. “How do we start?”
Chapter 105
As it turned out, the royal Fox’ens had a whole room devoted to the Hulu-rah. Which surprised Penny until she remembered that V’rex had told her that the Fox’en people loved contests of will. She just hadn’t known they’d be participating in a contest quite like this one.
The Hulu-rah room was a kind of sunken grotto which had been carpeted in some kind of thick, spongy dark blue moss. There were several clusters of big, puffy blue and green and turquoise cushions as well, which seemed to delineate four different areas in the large room.
“You take one corner and we will take the opposite one,” Chieftain Swift Tail instructed V’rex. “There does need to be some privacy, at least in the beginning of the contest so that we can take our time exciting our ladies and getting them ready to be entered.”
His words made Penny breathe an inward sigh of relief. She really didn’t want to watch the Fox’ens make love—or almost make love—and she didn’t want to be watched herself, either.