The rabbits at the nearby warren were multiplying like, well, bunnies this summer. Peregrine felt like a fox in a hen house or, better yet, a wolf in a sheep's pen as he slew one after the other. He laid out the carcasses, rearranging them by size. Even after he killed his sixth, he didn't stop. This was kind of addictive, actually, and the meat definitely wouldn't go to waste.

He wasn't the only one after rabbit blood, though. As he slunk through the grass, sneaking up on his seventh kill, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Peregrine reacted but he was not quick enough. The snake struck his right foreleg, sinking its fangs deep into his ankle. He snarled and kicked it away, then immediately began licking the two beads of blood that emerged from the puncture wounds.

Still convinced that Peregrine was the one who had set her up with the mysterious lady lover, Fox sought him out as soon as she returned to Redhawk Caldera. She'd had no luck in finding Njal, but maybe Peregrine had assumed the same. Perhaps he had met the dark, yellow-eyed cutie at some point, told her to keep an eye out for Fox, and then grinned all the way when Fox said she'd go out looking for her old friend. It was the only explanation she could fathom.

She spotted him not far off, slaying rabbit after rabbit. She'd intended to let him finish his business, but he stopped short and licked his leg. Worried, Fox bolted toward him, heart racing. "You okay?" she asked, concern apparent in her eyes.

Suddenly, Fox appeared at his side, obviously worried. She must have seen the attack. Peregrine lifted his head and met her eyes. "I think so. It got me good, though," he said, swallowing the taste of his own blood. "Hope it's not venomous," he added, glancing toward where he'd kicked the snake. It had already disappeared into the grass. It hadn't made any noise, so he was pretty sure it hadn't been a rattlesnake. All he'd really noticed was its typical brown coloration.

Well, there wasn't anything he could about it one way or the other. Trying not to fret, Peregrine sat, then motioned at the nearby row of dead rabbits. "Want something to eat? It could be our last meal together," he quipped dryly, brow furrowing as he took another look at the bite mark. It hurt, of course, but he didn't notice any other effects... yet.

He was playing it awfully cool for somebody who had set her up. Of course, there was the possibility he hadn't set her up at all. In which case, Fox would be glad she'd played it on the safe side when revealing as little as possible about herself to her mystery lover. She blinked when he asked if she wanted to eat, clearly lost in much dirtier thoughts. When he mentioned it would be their last meal together, she gave him a stern look. "Don’t you talk like that," she scolded, lips pursed.

"But I think I’m too… wound up to eat," Fox said, unable to contain the big grin that spread across her face. "Was it you? Did you tell her to do it?" she asked, unaware that he would have no idea what she was talking about. She did not expect him to admit it right away (or ever, for that matter), but she figured it couldn't hurt to ask. She just couldn't believe that the circumstances were so good.

Fox took his mind off the snakebite by mentioning her current mood: too wound up to eat, she said. Peregrine tilted his head, though before he could ask what she meant, she shot two very confusing questions at him. They sounded accusatory, though he didn't see any kind of anger on Fox's features. Baffled, he tried to think of who she might be talking about and whether he had told this mysterious her to do something.

"Well, that's not a lot of information to go off of. Let's start with the who: who are you talking about?" he asked, crooking his foreleg to absently lick at the still oozing wound, jade eyes fixed on Fox's pointed face.

She shot him a glance. Either it really wasn't him, or he was being rather coy about it. "Dark-furred lady, yellow eyes. You know, the one you set me up with." Fox was feeding him clues now, expecting him to pick up on it and realize that she'd figured him out. Only now was Fox really starting to consider the possibility that Peregrine hadn't planned the whole thing. It had seemed practically impossible for the stars to align in the way they had… but perhaps that was exactly what had happened.

Dark fur, yellow eyes? It didn't ring any bells. But her next words shot Peregrine's concentration entirely. The one you set me up with, she said. A spark flickered in his jade eyes. He had no clue what or who she was talking about but, boy oh boy, he wanted to!

"Babe, I have no idea what you're talking about... did you hook up with a lady?" he asked, perhaps a bit overly eagerly, his eyes suddenly riveted to hers.

She pursed her lips, still not quite ready to believe that he hadn't done it. "You're joking, right?" she asked, her voice wavering somewhere between accusatory and nervous. "You set me up with her, didn't you?" Fox was giving him a quizzical look, wondering if he had somehow forgotten what he had done. Maybe that was a memory-inhibiting snakebite he'd gotten. "We, erm, yeah. We hooked up. I told her to meet me again in two days. Is that okay?" she asked, suddenly feeling rather... unsure about the whole thing. And now she would have to decide whether or not to tell her lady lover about Redhawk Caldera, Peregrine, the children. Perhaps her first foray into the fairer sex would not be long-lived.

She seemed so uncertain, which was a side of Fox he didn't often see. Peregrine was torn. On one hand, it was really endearing. On the other, it was so unlike her. He almost didn't like seeing her look so unsure of herself. His head tipped and he smiled at her reassuringly, then bumped his black muzzle against hers.

"Nope and nope," he replied, eyes still burning curiously. "Really?" he added when she confirmed the answer to his question. "Well, it's only okay if you tell me all the hot deets," he reminded her in a playful voice, giving her rib a poke. "So? How was it? What did you two do to each other?"

She gave him another stare, still not quite believing that he was telling the truth. But what choice did she have? "It was different," Fox replied, "but not in a bad way. But way, way different. Like... I don't even know how to explain." She stopped there, not wanting to waste her breath on meaningless words. Fox had never been one for doing such things, and she attempted to gather her thoughts into meaningful sentences that weren't just strings of vague, incomprehensible feelings. "It was great," she decided, "Kind of how all meat is great, but some tastes a bit different than others."

"We didn't talk much beforehand. I mentioned she was cute, she reciprocated... and then we got down to business. Or rather she did, since I had no idea what to expect." It had been much the same with Peregrine, hadn't it? She assumed it had been, even though her memory did not reach that far into the past. Fox went into the nitty-gritty after that, explaining the whole encounter from start to finish, right down to the lack of introductions and her quick exit.

For a moment, Peregrine impatiently wondered whether his mate was going to continue to be vague or get down to the juicy details. But of course Fox did not disappoint him. He listened raptly, feeling himself getting all hot and bothered. Had she really done all that? With a perfect stranger too? The whole scenario was like one of the Alpha male's fantasies come to life. He could listen to this dirty audiobook all day long (particularly because of the particular narrator's voice).

"That's fucking hot," was his only comment after she finished. He suddenly pressed against her, tail up and wriggling, a lusty rumble pouring from his mouth. "You've gotten me all wound up," he murmured in her ear, wondering if she would be game for a good old game of hide-the-salami following her notably phallus-free encounter.

She should have expected it, but Fox was still a little surprised by Peregrine's reaction. Instead of being jealous, he was downright turned on by her story. And she would be lying if she said she wasn't turned on by retelling it. In a way, she got to experience it all over again. Again, there was that taste of power that Fox loved so very much. With just words, she had managed to make him want her. Okay, not just words, and the fact that they'd done the deed numerous times before probably had something to do with it… but she'd ignore those facts for now.

"Oh did I?" she asked, feigning amazement that she could do such a thing. "You sure it's not because of that snake bite?" Fox grinned, licking his muzzle. She knew that was highly unlikely, unless its venom happened to cause his hormones to go into overdrive. If that was the case, he must've been bitten by snakes a whole heckuva lot in the past.

Fox asked, putting on her best "innocent" face. "Is it because I've been… bad?" She taunted him, teased him by pressing her hip against his own as he slid up next to her. Her lip pouted out (as much as a wolf's bottom lip could), and she gave him wide, puppy-dog eyes.

He had forgotten all about the snake bite by now. He glanced down at the broken skin. The blood had clotted. He did feel a bit lightheaded but attributed that to Fox's story, not the bite. His dusky jade eyes lifted back to his mate's face when her tongue swiped over his muzzle. He responded by licking her nose, then her jaw, and even gave her lip a little nibble.

She pouted at him, asking him if she was a bad girl. On the contrary, Peregrine though it was great that his wife had gotten freaky with another lady. But he understood that she was role playing (oh how ironic) and leered at her in response. Their hips were touching but he pulled away, lifting his good foreleg to give her a smack right on the meatiest part of her ass.

"You're a dirty girl, firecrotch," Peregrine rumbled even as he moved into position and reared behind her. He bent over her, his muzzle floating near her ear. "And I love it," he hissed, right before he began to buck... only to fall sideways off her no more than three seconds into it and collapse in a dizzy heap beside her.

Fox smiled wide as he mounted her, downright titillated by the whole exchange. She could have sworn the temperature rose several degrees when his breathy voice hissed in her ear. But it was not meant to be, for Peregrine flopped to the side, causing Fox to immediately be concerned.

"Perry!" she exclaimed, rushing to his side and licking his face fervently. "Perry, are you okay?" She was mildly aware of his recent headaches, and she wondered if it had something to do with that. Then, she remembered the snakebite, which only caused her anxiety to skyrocket further. "Peregrine, don’t joke around!" she added, her voice a mixture of anger, confusion, and worry.

Fox's shrill voice helped him focus a bit, as did her licks. "Hey," he replied woozily, "hey, I'm fine. Really. I think I need to lie down, though." The funny part being that he was already on the ground. "Oh. Well, I need to stay down here, I think, and maybe take a nap. I'm super-duper dizzy all of a sudden." He blinked hard, trying not to swoon again.

"Sorry, this snakebite..." he murmured after a moment, blinking down at the puncture wounds. If dizziness was the worst of it, he would take it. He could sleep it off. "It's such a clam jam," he groused, flashing Fox an unsteady smile before letting his (light) head sink onto his paws. He let out a long breath through his nose, jade eyes lifting apologetically to his petite mate's concerned face.

Fox couldn't let the concern just slip away, and she snuggled right up next to him. "It’s okay," she assured him. Fox was far more concerned with his own well-being than her carnal desires. Those could wait. For now, the Redhawk Alpha was content to settle in and take a nap right along with him. As she drifted off to sleep, she began thinking of the girl who had captured her attention, wondering if she would actually show up when Fox went back out to greet her. If not, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world… but Fox did hope she'd come back for a second round.