Chapter Twenty-Five – The Dragon’s Favorite Strays
Chapter Twenty-Five
MURR
I drop three cattle – one for my cats, and two for my humans – before shifting back to my human form and returning. Dakotah has started a tiny fire as she likes to do, and Ribbit is chopping up bits of meat for the cats. They crawl all over her, meowing with excitement. Doh-dee and Ah-gee sit by the fire, perplexed expressions on their faces as they watch the proceedings.
Do they not understand the food is for them? I stride forward and rip a haunch from one of the dead cattle, then hold it out to the seated elders. “Big Meat.”
“Ohmigawd,” mutters Doh-dee.
The sound of excitement! “Ohmigawd,” I agree happily. “Yes ohmigawd.”
Dakotah moves in, touching my arm and trying to lower it. “Dankyoo, Murr,” she tells me. I recognize ‘dankyoo’ as a praise word she makes when she is happy. She beams up at me and pats my arm again. “Cook meat.” Points at her small flame. “Fire.”
I nod again and do as she has shown me. She likes the meat shoved through a metal stake and spitted over the fire so it can roast in the smoke and heat steadily instead of directly in the coals. I do this for her and once I am done, she grabs my hand and pulls me away from the fire and the other females. Curious, I let her, wondering what is happening. Humans have such different customs that sometimes they confuse me. She has not indicated that she is unhappy with me, or that she wishes to mate, so I am not certain why we are leaving.
After a moment, she produces a long length of cloth and holds it up. “Fr mi?”
“Fr mi?” I echo, touching the cloth.
She shakes her head, indicating she does not have the proper sounds to describe it yet, and reaches around my waist. As I stand still, she puts the fabric about my hips and knots it, wrapping my groin and covering me from abdomen to thigh. She says a few words, and I catch ‘Ah-gee’ and ‘Doh-dee’ and ‘no’, but the rest of it is lost.
It’s all right. I know what this is, and I throw my shoulders back with pride.
Dakotah does not wish for the other females to look upon my cock. She wants to keep my body for herself. She is declaring her intent to claim me. I have seen female cats chase away other females that get too close to the male they are fond of, and surely this is more of the same.
I could not be more pleased.
I wonder if this means she will kith me now. I lean in close, eyeing her face, waiting for her lips to distend towards mine.
They do not.
Her pulse races loud enough that I can sense it. Dakotah gets skittish, muttering something under her breath that’s too quick for me to follow. Her gaze flicks over my face, her cheeks reddening.
Then she gestures over her shoulder, indicating she is going to rejoin the other females.
No kith, then. I wonder why not.
I follow after her as she returns to sit near the fire. The wrap around my hips constrains my movements, but not enough to be a bother. I’m rather proud of the wrap, given that she put it on me deliberately. It means she’s claiming me.
The others notice this, too. Ribbit makes an excited sound and points at me. “S’werringpantz!”
Indeed. I have been marked by my female. I pat the fabric around my hips proudly, letting them know that she has made her designs on me clear for all to see. “Murr Dakotah yes.”
Dakotah just groans as if in pain.
Ah-gee titters again.
I sit next to my Dakotah by the fire, hands on knees, and I could not hold my shoulders any higher if I tried.
