In a moment, the fox went from being in a good spirit with bright blue eyes to a completely different person. Keturah's eyes turned black and a she whipped around. Throwing Maverick on his back to the ground, she pinned him before he even had a chance to register what had just happened to him.
"Whoa! Ket! It's just me!" Maverick quickly let go of her tail and put his hands up, showing he meant no offense. Keturah let out a low growl in his face. Baring her fangs at him in a clear and obvious threat. "It's just me, Ket." Maverick whispered to her again.
"Maverick!" Kiera hovered over them, her hand resting on her forehead. "You know better than to touch a fox's tails!" She scolded him, an exasperated sign coming out from her as she moved over to Keturah, calming her down as she backed her off of him.
Kiera waited for her friends eyes to go from black back to blue before she hugged her with a chuckle. "Bet he ain't going to do that again." She heard Keira whisper to her softly, an amused grin on her lips.
Adam waited for Keturah to move off of Maverick before he reached down and gave him a hand up. "Dude, you two often share a bed together and have raised a kid together. I thought you would of figured this out by now. Foxes are extremely protective of their tails."
The werewolf followed his mate's lecture of him as he helped him dust off. In a show of friendship, he put his arm around his shoulders and guided him back over to the side of the table that the ladies had been previously sitting on.
Maverick's wings stretched out behind him and ruffled to readjust from being thrown onto them. "Guess I took my chances and lost." He responded with a shoulder shrug. He knew he was in the wrong. He had no right to take offense to her reaction to him.
Adam chuckled. "You're lucky she didn't break your arm." He then responded. "Kiera told me a poor recruit this morning wasn't as lucky." He added, eyeing the phoenix to get his point across. He knew even Kiera didn't try to touch her tails.
"She wouldn't break my arm." Maverick responded with a huff. He picked up, what he assumed to be Keturah's drink, and took a drink from it. Considering what they would do sexually, he wasn't concerned about swapping spit with her through a drink. "She'd break one of my wings. That would hurt more."
Adam laughed. The werewolf knew that what he said was true. A phoenix's wings were often rather strong. As a result, they were hard to break, but when they did break, they were painful! "Then count yourself lucky that she felt like sparing you the pain." He chuckled.
Once calmed down, Keturah took a few moments to inspect her tails. Gently she smoothed the fur on all six of them before being reassured that they were fine. "Thanks, Kiera." She said warmly to her friend, hugging her to show that she was okay.
"Anytime." Kiera responded, letting her go once she felt her pull away from her. The fairy fluttered her own blue wings before gently taking one of the fox tails in her hands. She carefully soothed out the white fur. "You smelled him, didn't you?" She asked with a smirk.
Keturah chuckled quietly at her question. Kiera was one of the only people she truly trusted to touch her tails. "Maybe." It was an instinctual thing with foxes and it was never something to be taken personally. "He did surprise me."
While it had not been something that had personally happened to her, Keturah had learned from her birth clan a long time ago that other clans often sought out foxes for their tails. In the past, foxes had been hunted down for their tails by the other clans.
It was believed that their tails were where foxes held their power. As a result, the idea that cutting off a fox's tail would take their power away. There were even some beliefs that if a person ate the tail, they would be able to gain some of the fox's powers.
Of course, every fox knew that it didn't exactly work like that. Their tails represented their powers, this part was true. Though that didn't hold true for their tails being the source of their powers. That was a myth, but it never stopped it from being something others believed in.
As a result, it never stopped their strong instinct to protect their tails from being passed down through the generations. It was also part of the reasons foxes learned to value speed so much. After being hunted down, it was only the fastest ones that were able to keep their tails.
"Ket, I'm sorry." Maverick then called out to her from the table, gesturing for her and Kiera to come join them. His voice snapped the fox out of her thoughts. "Let me buy the next round." He offered, giving her a soft smile.
Maverick was trying his best to admit his wrong and smooth things over with her. He was arrogant, but not to the point when he didn't recognize that he needed to kiss her ass a little right now. He had also already polished off her drink without her. He kind of owed her one at this point.
Returning to the table with Kiera, Keturah sat on the opposite side from where the guys were now sitting. "Looks like you own me a drink anyhow." She pointed out, the one corner of her mouth twitching upwards in a smirk. "First you pull my tail, then you drink my booze. So rude."
A smile broke out on both his and Adam's mouths as the ladies rejoined the table. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! The Nyderians arrived a day early!" Maverick then quickly said, remembering what he had been excited to tell her about.
With the Princess coming of courting age, they were used to visiting clans coming to the castle. Even with the Capital being one of the most diverse cities in Laderia, it was still an exciting time to experience other clans. Even if the princess hated being courted so far.
"So that's why you were late!" Keturah wasn't surprised by the early arrival. It was a common trick of the trade when working with royals. They never wanted anyone to know exactly when they would arrive. It helped to prevent ambushes along the way. "Does Amelia know?"
Maverick nodded. "I told informed her after they settled into their housing arrangements." He then stood up, holding Keturah's mug. "Let me go grab our next round and then I'll tell you all about it." He then started walking back into the tavern.
"Hurry up." Keturah encouraged him. She didn't like waiting, especially when it was exciting news such as this. "I'm dying to know what they're like." She added. She watched him walk into the bar.
Under normal circumstances, he would likely end up sleeping at her place again. However, given the events that had recently occurred, there was no way that he was getting laid tonight. He would likely end up in someone else's bed, a fact that Keturah was unbothered by.