Horizon Ridge A Flicker in the Wind

"It's okay," Pied told him, despite the warmth in her cheeks. "It's kind of flattering, knowing how eager you are," she quipped a bit daringly, biting her lower lip and glanced at him from beneath her eyelashes. Never before had she had a romantic interest or partner, yet she was close to sexual maturity. Her parents had filled her in on the facts of life long ago and instinct would fill in the rest. She didn't know shame, just a touch of shyness.

When Kisu mentioned her piebald pattern and heterochromatic eyes, she gnawed on her lip for a very different reason. Though she didn't say it, she actually worried about these very features. Her litter mates had been born with various defects. Although she'd won the proverbial lottery in that department, she'd always feared the same would happen to her offspring. She'd decided it wouldn't stop her from trying parenthood, at least once, but until they arrived in the world, healthy and whole, she would metaphorically hold her breath.

"I hope they take after you," she countered him in a playful tone. As she spoke, Pied flopped down next to him, lying upright like a pale sphinx and gazing down at him. "You're handsome, you know." She fell silent for half a second, then asked something that sprung suddenly to mind. "Do you have a surname, Mr. Handsome?"