Blacktail Deer Plateau This is hungry work

’Wait. So you don't have feelings for me?’

Grezig stopped, with her paw halfway to the ground. She closed her eyes. Opened them again. Turned to face him. She pulled her head back and looked at him sideways. She blinked and looked around, and then turned back to look at him again. “Nnnno?” she said, her voice raising towards the end in confusion. “Is that—is that what you thought I—?”

’I apologize, I seem to have misunderstood what you were asking.’

“Clearly,” she agreed, blinking at him a bit owlishly, unsure of what else to say at this point. How on Earth could he think she had feelings for him? “I only wanted you to… father my children. As in, physically. I do not—I do not love you. We are friends, as you said, but… you can have Liri. I do not want you.” She cracked a small grin, still unsure of the situation.

’I would have no issue fathering children for you as long as you understand I would still want to be involved as their father.’

This confused Grezig a little. “You do not wish to be my mate, but you do not mind fathering my children. Yet, despite not wanting an intimate relationship with me, you do want an intimate relationship with your offspring?” She shrugged. In the end, it didn’t matter to her, and she supposed it would be better for her children’s mental health if they grew up with two parents instead of one.

As for what Liri thought of the whole thing… “Yes,” Grezig agreed. “We only do this if Liri is one-hundred percent on board. I do not need hard feelings between the alphas and beta of this pack. I do not intend to destroy any relationships or any trust between the two of you—or the three of us, really. I only want to have sex with you for the babies that would come of it. You would still be Liri’s mate—not mine. And whatever children Liri bore from your relationship would not be mine. Although we would have to explain to them that they were siblings to prevent any kind of in-breeding, of course.”