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It was ht to find a Katagari male who could be so kind

"Thank you" As he ain "Really, thank you"

He offered her a kind, fatherly smile and patted her hand "Ani this to helpit to help you If they were to hurt you, they’d never forgive themselves, and I’d have to listen to the her, he moved to the door and left the room

Pandora took a deep breath, and for the first tian to relax a little

Now all she had to do was stay put until he returned

But that wasn’t as easy as it would nor womanhood was all too aware of the fact that there were three unmated panthers at the hotel

That alien and new part of her wanted with a vengeance theritual that would induct her into adulthood

It craved it

For an Arcadian, the ritual was simple Had she stayed at hoently introduce her to the animal side of herself Once he unlocked her full powers by copulating with her, he would have taught her how to shift from human to panther and how to protect herself and use her newborn powers

The Katagaria were completely different She’d heard the horror stories directly froin fe--and allowed every unmated male of the pack to have sex with her to see if she was the mate to one of them

They would use her without mercy until all their males were fully sated

Her sister Sefia had been one of the lucky ones On the night they had deflowered her, Sefia had been ari panther who had then decided to keep her aria females left their mates once they were out of heat, and only returned whenever they were in season If a ari female when she wasn’t in heat, she would attack and possibly kill hiaria females left their males and stayed with their sisters to travel about until their next fertile cycle If the fe her sisters, and as soon as the cubs eaned, she would take them to the father to raise

Arcadian pantheresses were much more coveted since they were ruled by human hearts that wouldn’t allow them to abandon their children until adulthood Unlike their Katagaria cousins, the Arcadians stayed with their young and their mates The male panthers didn’t have to wait for an Arcadian feo into heat She would be receptive to her mate at any time

The worst part was that a panther male couldn’t rape a panther female when she was in heat All he had to do was coly accept him It was nature and a pantheress had no control over her body at such times It wouldn’t listen to any reason or rationale

She would beg him to fill her

The sha was done Then, the Arcadian pantheress would feel embarrassed that she had acted like an animal and not a human

Pandora ain and coiled through her Her breasts were heavy, her body hot and alive with need

Go…

The co, but she refused to heed it She was a huariher own kind again

Then everything would be noret the fire out of his blood The ani

One whiff should not have affected hih the dense crowd of people pretending to be aliens and paranor to find her scent again

It was all he could do to stay in human form and not revert to his true ani to hilimpse of Acheron Parthenopaeus across the vendor booths Oblivious to the huht, the Atlantean Dark-Hunter was reading a Dark Horse Grendel co with a friend, Dante headed toward him

"Ash," he said as he drew near "You seem remarkably relaxed" Which was true In all the centuries he’d known the man, Dante had never seen him so at ease

Acheron looked up fro "What can I say? This is one of the few places I can take Simi where she doesn’t stand out Hell, she actually looks norhed at that Ash’s pixielike de like a de Siured it was probably quite true "I tried to call your cell phone e got in to see if you made it"

Ash immediately tensed as he put his comic down and pulled out another issue "I turned it off on the day I got here"

"Really?" Dante asked, stunned by Ash’s confession It wasn’t like hies "What if one of the Dark-Hunters needed you?"

Ash shrugged "If they can’t survive alone for four days once a year, they deserve to die"

Dante frowned "That’s harsh, for you"

He looked at him dryly "Harsh? Tell you what, you take et every day and night and see how harsh I ay and phones in particular I haven’t had a full four hours of sleep in over fifty years ’Ash, I broke a toenail, help me Ash, my head hurts, what should I do?’ "

Ash curled his lip in repugnance "You know, I’ve never understood it They make a deal with the devil herself and then expect me to bail them out of every minor scrape Then when I show up to help them, they cop an attitude and tellfour days a year to be left alone, then I’m just a selfish bastard Sue me"

Wow, someone was cranky

Dante took a step away from the Atlantean "Well then, I’llyou"

Ash pulled out another plastic-covered co white box on the table "You’re not botheringto zenon hty-twoon voice ing again All I want is a little break and no daravated breath "Besides, I’m the one who told you to come"

"Yeah, thanks This is…"--he hesitated as a centaur pranced by on what appeared to be modified ski boots that looked eerily like hooves--"interesting"

Ash son Beauty Pageant It’s soood bands should I check out for rabbed three Dark Horse Tales of the Va pile "Last Dance is really good They’re playing tonight, and Ghoultown too But the one band you have to see is the Cruxshadows They’re right up your alley and rule the Darkwave scene The lead singer Rogue’ll be over in the Hyatt later signing autographs at their booth If you want, I can introduce you"