At some point later, he woke angry at himself. He was happy for the intimate time with Ina of course, and he thrilled because he had felt his Path advance, somewhere along the line of their.. He should probably just be honest with himself. Their love making? There he said it. They had sex. Why was it so hard to talk about it before? Some gate or barrier had come crashing down in his mind, and he felt freer, more relieved, but.. the things he had done.. They hadn’t been meant to be hurtful, but definitely satisfied whatever requirement he felt needed for his Path of Domination. Ina, hadn’t objected, and had enjoyed herself, he thought? He tried to tell himself that many-tailed mating was probably something similar. Beasts didn’t mate softly, or tenderly. Usually mating between predator beasts involved blood, and more of a fight than Ina and he ha.

He still felt some guilt. Some of the guilt was perhaps due to his indoctrination from the church, or the insults he had received growing up. Joy, guilt, and sometimes anger, seemed to come in waves as he thought through everything. Occasionally, he spared a thought for the way the bond had acted to magnify and reflect both their feelings, their urges. The bond was amazing, offering so much pleasure it would be potentially addictive. It was no wonder Tamers choose this option despite the taboo of it. He had to be careful.

Eventually, though he decided to leave his ruminations and appreciate the beautiful beastwoman in his arms. While he had been castigating himself, and congratulating himself, in equal measure, she had woken, yawned, and turned to face him. She look him the eye for a moment, and licked the side of his face a few times, like she was grooming him. Her tails danced around them, lightly touch here and there.

“Ina..?” Once again he was deeply curious about what she thought, but couldn’t make much sense of what he got from their bond. Her emotions seemed to work differently than his own.

“Yes, Dem?”

“Are you..alright? Was what we did.. fine? Was it good?” The first question was out of concern, but the last question was for his ego, he had to admit.

“Hhmmm, you are a good mate, Dem.” Her voice was surprisingly husky.

“Ah.. I’m very happy then, Ina.”

How could he ask this next question?

“Uh.. Ina..? Was I too rough? Are you in any pain? Was the way we did it.. fine with you?”

He was dying from the awkward nature of the conversation. While he felt freer to discuss sex, he was still rather bashful about asking whether she was fine with him taking control. He also had cast a healing spell on her earlier, just in case, but he needed to know if she was alright.

“I am in no pain, Dem. You were gentle enough, more gentle than my bloodline memories indicated for a first round of mating.” Her voice had some humor in it as she said this.

“That is great Ina, I’m glad you’re well, but.. ah.. your memories? Wait, f-first round of m-mating?” His voice sounded utterly baffled.

She drew him a bit closer.

“Yes, after the first time two many-tailed mate, the female then instigates another mating session. The female tastes a bit of the blood of the male, which pushes her into a frenzy and makes her more fertile.” Her hands moved to my shoulders, and I could feel her begin to lean her weight on me.

“Oh! Uh.. I see Ina. So the first round is.. just to get things started?” He would have to be stupid not to know where this was going..

“Yes, it is mostly for the sake of the male. Male many-taileds are proud. They want their gifts to mean something.” She rolled him onto his back, her hips stretching to straddle him.

She spoke again, “I don’t know how you humans put up with being in heat all the time as you are.” He could feel the claw of one her tails scratch him lightly the chest, leaving the faintest trail of blood.

He suddenly felt very worried.

“In heat? All the time?” He asked as she brought the claw to her mouth, tasting the very tip with her tongue.

“I don’t understand it, but your feelings are affecting me constantly. I can feel a kind of heat from you through the bond. This new form of mine.. it also seems to be.. ready at any time. Many-taileds usually go into heat every four or five rotations. It lasts only a few cycles, but between you and this form.. well, I feel it all the time.” Her hands on his shoulders pushed him flat on his back, and she bent over him, rubbing the her face against his.

“Ah, I’m sorry Ina, maybe we can work together to close the bond little bit on your end, so it doesn’t affect you as much.” His mind had grown pretty hazy at this point.

“No, Dem, I think I like it this way.” She purred this into his ear in a low tone, giving another grooming lick up the side of his face.

He cast a stamina spell on himself, and one to toughen his body slightly for good measure. Perhaps he should cast a preemptive healing spell? Maybe he needed to Borrow Strength? He decided to ask her.

“Ina can I cast…”

She stopped him mid-sentence, silencing him with a tail moving in front of his mouth.

She looked him in the eye, and spoke slowly.

“It is my turn now.”

***

Their journey home took an extra cycle. After Ina had her round, she had claimed there was supposed to be a third round, though he didn’t think she had gotten this from one her memories. The third round had no owner, or winner. It was something of a draw. He had used his stamina spells to the point where it would take a couple cycles before they would have any meaningful effect on him again. Using the same kind of spell on yourself built a buffer of immunity as the spell overlapped in its effects with itself and other similar spells.

They had burnt an entire cycle on their.. mating ritual. Just saying such a thing, even to just himself, still brought a bit of color to his face. He could probably get an idea of what his Class was now that he had really begun to advance on his Path. He didn’t have the time though, he needed to get back and provision for another long excursion out into the Wilds. He needed to meet the party that was hiring him. Whatever benefits or problems his new Class would bring, he still needed gold to help his parents.

They hurried as fast as they could. He even let Ina carry him for difficult portions of the journey. He held onto her back as she climbed. Holding on to her so closely had nearly led to another round of ‘battle’ between them, but he stressed they needed to get home.

Ina, in her current form, would be an oddity, and anyone who knew him well would be amazed at her change, but he could probably explain it away as a freak occurrence due to her eating a particularly powerful herb or beastcore. She was worth a lot more now, beastfolk slaves went for a premium, and so someone might try to take her from him. He asked her to stay out of sight, high-up in the trees near his home.

He hadn’t brought her into the settlement since she was a kit. At first she was a source of interest for the other children of the hamlets, and even the children of the settlement. Eventually though, as they got a little older they realized he wasn’t going to sell her, and was intending to raise her. There was some jealousy, he was sure. The parents of one of the children, he didn’t know which, had gotten wind of what he was doing and explained what direction it likely meant for him later in life. The insults started then, and so he eventually started leaving her at home. He withdrew from the other children, and instead began focusing on what he wanted to do in the future.

He avoided stopping home. He would stop to see his parents before he left with the party, maybe he could leave them some silver. The two beastcores he brought back would pay for clothes for Ina, and the provisions he needed. Ina also stored away the grimoire for him, high in the trees, wrapped in a bundle of leaves. It would be safe up there, hopefully. No one had any reason to be in the trees above his home but Ina. They weren’t part of the most popular branchtrails people used, nor was his home near any of the main groundtrails.