THE DEFINITION OF PEACE

Chapter 24: Meeting the Relatives

Feral was drawn out of his thoughts by their arrival before a huge estate. His eyebrows rose at the sight. He hadn't known Sheara's family was the landed wealthy. It was a beautiful place and he admired it as the car drove up the long drive.

When the car halted at the front of the mansion, the huge double doors fairly erupted with excited people. He blinked as Sheara was followed by a very large following. He'd been so startled, that he hadn't made a move to open the door to the car yet. Major Briksor had exited and was now opening his door as if he was someone very important. That made him shake off his shock and get out of the vehicle. As he unfolded his body to stand, he towered over most of the relatives that nearly surrounded him.

"Wow! He's tall!" Came many an excited whisper from several young fems standing huddled in an awed clutch to his left. "And big!"

Sheara managed to get to his side though she was being jostled a great deal. She turned her back to him and shouted, "Enough! Give us room. You have better manners than this."

Embarrassed, the kittens fled back inside in a mad rush. Finally, there were only a pawful of older Kats and Sheara left standing outside.

She turned back around, a blush on her face. "I'm terribly sorry Ulysses. I......"

Raising his paw to halt her, he smiled warmly. "That's alright. I understand perfectly." Then he leaned close so only she could hear him, "I'm trying to get used to the notoriety but its hard."

She grinned, saying teasingly, "Well, you shouldn't have saved the world if you didn't want to be fawned over." Keeping her voice low as well.

A tug of humor pulled at his mouth and eyes as he stood straight again. Very pleased at his presence and enjoying teasing him, she put a more formal look on her face and made proper introductions.

"This is Commander Ulysses Feral, Chief Enforcer of Megakat City. Commander, this is my family, the Wenstar Clan." She said then pointed to each person who shook Feral's paw until all had been introduced.

"Welcome to our home, sir. You do us a great honor by your visit. Please enter our home." Her grandfather said formally.

"I thank you for your generous offer of hospitality and I accept the invitation." Feral said equally formal back.

Taking Sheara's arm in his, he let her lead the way into the mansion. The foyer was huge with a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and veined amber marble on the floor. Beautiful paintings graced the walls and huge bouquets of flowers in decorative urns were placed here and there as they walked down a richly carpeted hallway.

He was being taken to what appeared to be their formal sitting room. Sheara led him to a loveseat that wouldn't allow anyone else to sit near them. He was alright with that. He found to his discomfort, that he didn't like anyone being too close to Sheara. It made his inner tiger very protective as well as possessive. That wasn't a good combination right now when he needed to stay polite and calm.

It really wouldn't make a very good impression for him to turn tiger and kill all those he felt were rivals even though he knew that was really ridiculous since these were her relatives but his tiger didn't care about blood relationships.

Sheara could feel Ulysses tense up beside her and her nose detected a rise in testosterone from him. Her own tiger reacted to that by wanting to rub against him to calm him down but she couldn't do that in full view of a roomful of family. The best she could do was to move the paw that was behind him at the moment and gently caress his back soothingly.

Feral blinked in surprise, Sheara was caressing his back and it had the effect of calming his tiger, much to his relief.

Sheara was relieved when she felt Ulysses relax somewhat. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and waited for her grandfather to start his questioning. She wished he would wait until they'd had dinner and were more relaxed (and so she could at least have a moment alone with Uly). But she knew that was simply too much to ask of her tradition and hide bound elder.

"Commander Feral, please forgive what I must ask but my granddaughter's fate is in question. It is the custom of our land that all females that are pregnant be married unless their mate is dead. It matters not that it wasn't her fault she became this way, the fact remains that she is and it must now be dealt with." Her grandfather began ponderously.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir. With all due respect for your customs, I have offered to take up my responsibilities but Sheara did not want to entrap me for something that was neither of our faults. I respect her wishes and will not make any demand of her." Feral interrupted politely but firmly.

Her grandfather's expression became thunderous with anger. "What do her wishes matter in this?" He demanded. "It is your kitten is it not?"

"It is."

"Then she will do her duty and wed you. That is the end of the matter." He growled.

"I was brought up to respect a she-kat's wishes in such important matters. It is her body, her decision. Forcing a person to do something against their wishes is against the laws of my country." Feral said frostily, his temper rising.

"But it is the custom of ours, sir, that our females who are pregnant be cared for so that their progeny will be protected. This is why we have this tradition." Her grandfather explained firmly.

"I understand and that is commendable but it is still forcing a female to accept a male she has not chosen as her mate and that is illegal and wrong in the eyes of my country's laws. As an officer of the law, I cannot contingence such an action." Feral said equally firm.

Her grandfather was getting red in the face with fury. Her father suddenly interceded as he could see the huge tom beginning to bristle with anger of his own. This was a warrior and his father shouldn't be goading him like this. It was too dangerous.

"Father! You shame us with your behavior before such an honored guest. He must abide by his country's rules. We cannot make him obey ours simply because Sheara bears his kitten. It would cause an international incident and I doubt the Khan would look favorably on us for insulting and angering the person who has saved our whole world." He said urgently, trying to make his father see reason.

Her grandfather sucked in a breath and tried to rein in his temper. As much as it annoyed him that his son had interrupted, he knew Liam was right. He tread on dangerous ground here. He eyed the powerful tom carefully. The gold eyes stared at him coldly and something else was peeking out through those eyes as well, something that suddenly sent a thrill of fear down his spine.

'Fool! Have you so quickly forgotten you're goading a tiger sitting there in the guise of a Kat?' He warned himself. Smoothing his features into a more conciliatory expression he spoke more calmly.

"Please forgive me, Commander. I tend to get carried away when it comes to the traditions of my people. I meant no offense. I am understandably upset and concerned for my unwed grandkitten's progeny. It just isn't acceptable for her to remain unattached. She has been asked to wed another who is interested in providing for her if you are not an acceptable mate." He said cautiously.

Feral had worked hard to control his tiger and his temper. After all, he was a guest in this country and it wouldn't look good if he got into a wrangle with its citizens on a matter so delicate but when the old Kat mentioned another would take his mate he saw red.

Before he could control his impulse, his body morphed into his warform in the blink of an eye and he roared in fury. His powerful body now stood tall enough to nearly brush the ceiling and his uniform had suffered multiple rips as his body pushed its way upward. It looked more like rags than the pristine uniform it had been moments before.

The room went still as death and all the Kats there except for Sheara, cowered in shocked fear. The door to the room burst open and several middle aged family members hurried in having heard the commotion but they too halted in shocked fear.

Sheara jumped to her feet and pressed her body against her enraged mate. Feral was far too angry though and snapped at her. She hissed back at him and suddenly boxed his nose though she had to reach up to do so.

He yelped and ducked his head for a moment then leaned down so their faces were close. He blinked his gold eyes in confusion and eyed her questioningly.

Relaxing her stance now that he was focused on her, she rumbled a purr of conciliation. "Sorry, Ulysses. Couldn't have you ripping my grandfather apart even if he deserved it for that suggestion. Calm yourself and change back. I think you've frightened everyone enough right now." A trace of amusement was in her voice as she coaxed him to stand down.

For the first time since he'd altered, Feral noticed all the frightened Kats around him. Mortified, he hurriedly changed back to normal. He was even more embarrassed at his now shabby appearance.

Sheara sighed and shook her head. Pressing her mate to sit down, she turned to her grandfather. "That was singularly the most stupidest thing I have ever witnessed you do grandfather. I know you didn't forget that we are now more than we used to be and goading a tiger that could kill you in the blink of an eye was not the smartest thing you could have done." She chided him. "What were you thinking?"

Her grandfather swallowed and took a deep calming breath. He couldn't take his eyes off the now quiet tom sitting behind Sheara. What a formidable creature he was and he realized so was his granddaughter.

'My God! She needed no protector! She was just as deadly as the male behind her.' He thought, finally believing the stories he had heard. However, something bothered him about the tom's reaction. Once he recovered his dignity, he frowned and dared to ask something he knew might anger the tom again but it needed asking.

"Why did he get angry? He already said he wouldn't force you and he said you refused his offer of marriage. So why did he become so furious?" He asked, confused.

Sheara paused in surprise. She turned to look into Ulysses' eyes and saw confusion there as well. "I don't know." She said hesitantly.

"I'm not so certain either except that I believe our primal selves have decided we're mates because we did mate while you were under an enforced heat." Feral said, spreading his paws in frustration. "You know our primal selves are rather pushy when they don't get what they want and apparently we aren't being given a choice here."

Sheara cocked her head to the side and frowned. "What did you feel when he said that about another male wanting me?" She asked curiously.

Blushing Feral said, "Blind possessiveness."

She blinked at that and didn't know what to say.

"Sheara!" Her grandfather called to her. She turned to look back at him.

"When he reacted so did you. You leaped to stand in front of him without fear and boxed his nose. You behaved exactly as if you were his mate and he responded as if he was. So tell me, if you aren't mates what are you?" He asked bluntly.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. Closing it she frowned harder then threw up her paws in frustrated confusion. "I don't know!"

She looked back at Ulysses. "Don't look at me. I'm just as confused as you are." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Her grandfather nodded. Perhaps all was not lost after all. Perhaps all they needed was time to sort out their feelings, after all they never really had time to according to what he heard about their rescue then subsequent debriefing. At no time did the two actually have time together except for that one unfortunate moment that brought them to this point.

"Sheara, might I suggest the two of you spend time together and sort out your feelings and motivations? I will not pursue this matter any longer for I feel it has already been decided. You two just need to know it for yourselves but if after discussing it you still feel you are not right for each other, I will not push you to mate with anyone else since it is obvious to all you are quite capable of taking care of yourself." He said quietly.

She stared at her grandfather as if he'd grown two heads. That was the wisest thing she'd ever heard him say before. He was usually too hide bound to entertain a different point of view but here he was offering one to them. Such a thing had never happened before. Perhaps he'd finally seen the light. Well one could certainly hope so. It was a refreshing change.

"Well that's the first sensible thing I've heard you say in a long time grandfather and for once I agree with it." She said, sighing. "Come, Ulysses, let me take you to my room so you can change your clothes and we can talk."

Thoroughly confused by the sudden turn of events, Feral followed her without protest.

Everyone sighed in relief as the pair made their way out of the room and headed up the broad staircase just to the right of the parlor.

Sheara's father was relieved things had settled down and now maybe they could move forward. Privately, he looked forward to having such a powerful son-in-law in their family. He was already planning the wedding in his mind. A glance over at his wife revealed she was thinking the same thing. They traded small secret smiles.