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Chapter 11: The Zubari Pride Compound

Feral sighed and tried to get comfortable in the tight quarters of the airline hopper they were taking for the short two hour flight. Going by ground would have taken about four to six hours and he was glad they weren't doing that since it would have offered the die hard hunters more chances to snatch him. He was hardily tired of being kidnapped.

Tendaji was in the seat beside him giving his mate an equally tired smile. It had been a very busy and trying twelve hours. He could only hope the pride would allow them time to rest before being plunged into the introduction phase of the ceremony.

"How many greetings will I be expected to do?" Feral suddenly asked.

"Oh, only about fifty."

Feral turned his head and gaped at him. "Fifty?"

"Well that's just the closest family plus the King and Queen. Eventually, over time you will meet and greet the rest of the pride, over two hundred strong but for acceptance to the pride, only the immediate family is necessary." His mate said with a shrug.

"Fifty is just family? What do you do? Spend every waking hour breeding?"

"A pride female normally has twins. I have innumerable aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then there is my own siblings. There are six of them."

"Then from what you're saying, you should be a twin?" Feral grimaced, a nasty suspicion growing in him.

"Well, normally yes, but my twin sister died at birth. Something wrong with her heart they said. So I'm a loose number seven. I have three brothers and three sisters."

"Crud!" Feral groaned, suspicion confirmed.

"Don't worry, my love. You won't be jumped on all at once. That's what the lengthy time of the ceremony period is for." His mate smiled in commiseration, mistaking his mate's reason for being upset.

"Is there anything special I have to do?" Feral shook his head. This was already too overwhelming.

"Well yes. There's a specific greeting gesture you must do." Tendaji said seriously. "But let's save that instruction for when we are alone in our room."

"Very well." Feral agreed reluctantly. He turned to stare out at the view flowing past the window and stayed silent the rest of the trip.

Two hours later, they were stiffly rising from their cramped seats and heading for the exit door. It was evening now and the stars were just coming out. Bright lights lit the small airport as they walked down the portable stairs and across the tarmac for the terminal building.

As they walked through the doors, Tendaji was immediately set upon by four people. Each one gave him a greeting that looked strange to Feral's eyes. Each of the four would wrap their arms around Tendaji, put their face in his neck and sniff deeply. Tendaji would do the same to them.

In Kat society this would be considered the height of bad manners but apparently in lion society it was an important greeting habit. He would ask Tendaji about it later.

Once the greetings were done, Tendaji turned and held his paw out for Ulysses to come forward and stand beside him. Feral did so reluctantly under the interested stares of the lions surrounding them.

"My family, this is my mate, Ulysses Feral."

"Well you did good, little brother. A handsome hermaphrodite he is indeed. What a catch!" " A large dark gold lion said, casting an apprising eye over Feral's form. "Welcome to the Zubari Pride, Ulysses. I am Ten's older brother Kayode." He said directly to Feral but didn't come close or offer a paw.

"Nice meeting you." Feral said politely then waited to see what was expected of him.

"It's so good to have you home, Ten, after so long. Mother and our sisters are anxiously waiting for us at the compound so let's get your luggage and be off." Kayode said turning to lead the way out of the terminal.

Feral didn't fail to notice the pride members forming a loose ring around him and Tendaji. He sighed inwardly, this was getting ridiculous. Wisely, he made no comment on it.

Soon they were loaded aboard a caravan of vehicles, he and Tendaji at the center of the convoy riding in a nice SUV. He watched the scenery and kept an ear on the conversations around him as Tendaji caught up with the latest new of home. He learned his mate hadn't visited the compound in more than two years. His business was located in a country north of Megakat City. What little he could glean from the talk, was his separation from his family had to do with one of his sibs. He hated family intrigue...it always meant trouble.

The drive through a semi-arid countryside took about forty-five minutes and lead up to the foothills of a low mountain range. He eyed the large edifice with an experienced eye. A high wall of some kind of white stone surrounded the compound. Directly behind it and running up to the foot of the mountains was a large forest.

Just barely visible and only spotted by a trained eye, were security spikes embedded in the top of the wall. Each spike was only a foot apart and had a line running through them. A modified and very effective electrified net would greet any foolhardy invader trying to climb that wall. Impressive!

The huge gates were black wrought iron and Feral had no doubt they were super-reinforced to withstand a car trying to ram them. There was also a guardhouse just inside the gates. They drove up the long paved drive to a sprawling mini-town. Many modern-style sandstone buildings dotted the landscape. Their caravan was heading for the largest building here. It was an obvious mansion with sandstone walls and black trim, the roof was covered in rust colored red tiles. If it weren't for the extensive gardens everywhere, this place would be nearly invisible from the air, it blended that well with its surroundings.

When the cars stopped, everyone piled out and gathered at the bottom of the steps to the mansion. When Tendaji and Feral joined them the group split up except for four of them. The four males picked up Tendaji and Feral's luggage and began to walk away from the mansion and toward another fairly large dwelling not far away, not in the class of the mansion but still very nice.

As they walked up to the door, it was just opening. Standing, waiting for them, was a beautiful lioness. She stood about five foot ten, had long golden hair, and wore a cool summer dress that showed off a pair of beautiful legs. She wasn't young, perhaps in her fifties but still quite lovely to look upon. Standing behind and peering over her shoulders were three lovely, young lionesses.

"Tendaji, it is soo good to see you again, my son." The lioness said as she gave him a hug and did that same greeting Feral had seen the others do.

"Hello, Mother. Sorry its been so long." Tendaji said warmly, greeting his mother back the same way.

He released her and gestured for Feral to come close. He walked up till he stood by Tendaji's side.

"Mother, this is my mate, Ulysses Feral." He told her. "Ulysses, my mother, Jenna."

"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Feral said politely, keeping his paws behind his back and giving a small bow with his head.

Jenna studied him for a long moment then seem to come to a decision. "Welcome, Ulysses. I know you both must be tired, its been a long day. Son, take your mate to your quarters and take a hot bath. I'll have a meal sent there so you can go straight to bed afterward. Tomorrow will be soon enough for everything else." She said warmly.

"Sounds heavenly, Mother. Thanks, we'll see you all in the morning." Tendaji said, a definite note of tiredness in his voice. His mother stepped back and each of his sister's greeted him but didn't hold him back from heading further into the house.

Feral sighed in relief at that. He was feeling dirty and hungry. As Tendaji lead him through the house, he was really too tired to take note of much except to see it was a beautiful home.

Two of the males followed them and when Tendaji reached a certain door and opened it, the two males pushed past and dropped the luggage on the bed. They gave Tendaji a smart, brotherly smack on the back and twin smirks before letting themselves back out. His mate shook his head and stepped into the room with Feral following him and closed the door.

"Nice place." Feral said with a smothered yawn.

"Thanks, love. Let's strip and get a bath. I know you're dying for one after what you went through today." Tendaji said, yawning as well.

Pawing through his suitcase, Feral found his personal grooming kit and a robe. Tendaji fished out his stuff too then they stripped off their dirty clothes and put them in a laundry basket in the bathroom. Wearing only their robes, Tendaji opened the door and led his mate down the hallway to another much larger door. When he opened this, Feral blinked in amazement at the nearly pool size tub of hot water. There were fluffy, thick towels hanging near powerful dryers on one wall and on a long tray at the tub's edge was a display of many types of soaps and brushes.

Pleased at his mate's appreciation of their bathing room, he helped Uly remove his robe and dropped his own. He jumped into the warm water. Feral snorted and opted to slide in more slowly.

He groaned in relief. He hadn't really noticed just how stiff he was until the hot water eased his muscles. Tendaji was sighing as well. He was soo glad to be home if only because he missed this a lot. He moved to his mate's side and gave the tired face a warm kiss.

They floated in the water, nearly drowsing, for some time before finally moving to shallower water to wash. Tendaji grabbed a brush, poured an herbal soap on the bristles and began to use it on his mate. Feral didn't object and stood quietly as the lion worked the brush through his fur.

When he was done, Feral returned the favor, his mate sighing in pleasure under the brushing. Finished, they moved into deeper water once more and rinsed off then they both climbed out to use the dryers. When they were finished, robes were put back on and they returned to Tendaji's room. Dinner was waiting for them and smelled delicious.

Feral prepared to sit down to eat when Tendaji murmured for him to wait a moment. Frowning in puzzlement, he watched as his mate went to his kit bag and drew out the tubes he had used on Uly before. Feral realized what he meant to do so went to the bed and laid down on his back. Ten applied the creams where they were needed then signaled he was through.

With a sigh of relief, Feral got up and made for the small table with their meal, he took a seat and set to eating. Ten smiled and took the other seat and hungrily made short work of the meal his mother had sent.

Comfortably replete they prepared for bed.

"A moment more, my love. I promised to show you the proper greeting among the pride. Just stand there. Now, when a member of the pride greets you, they will lean forward and rub their face against your neck and sniff. This is to gain your scent. You do the same to them. Now let's do this." Ten said leaning toward his mate and nuzzling his neck and taking a deep sniff.

Feral noted there was nothing sexual Ten did even though he did like to nuzzle when they were being intimate but he could see this was entirely different. For one thing, Ten's body was not too close, his paws were lightly placed on each of Feral's biceps and the greeting itself was only a few seconds. Feral tried to emulate the behavior.

"Excellent love but you need to dip your nose a little deeper and make a louder sniff. Do it again! This is vitally important." They repeated the greeting. "That was perfect. Remember that and you won't make anyone angry." His mate said, pleased.

Feral snorted, "Well that's certainly good to know. Bed now?"

His mate grinned. "Yes, bed definitely now. Tomorrow will be very busy."

"Oh joy!" Feral grunted sliding under the bedding. A deep sigh escaped him as he settled into the thick and comfortable bed.

Ten climbed in behind him and wrapped an arm around Feral's body, burying his nose in his neck fur. Very quickly the two fell asleep.