Redtail Rise We are close to war.

Connecting the dots wasn’t a strong suit of Riley’s. He looked back to where Avicus had disappeared as Masque clarified; but if she had picked up on that glance knowingly, did that not mean she was already more forward thinking than him?

As a blue blooded, bona fide man, the prospective of mating was very appealing to Riley. His standards were ‘upright and ventilating’ and that is where the prerequisites ended. So far, no one had ever expressed an interest in intimacy with him, and so, he’d done what any self respecting man would do and found other ways to, well, discretely expend himself.

His skin felt hot against his fur. This wasn’t a conversation he had anticipated, and being inexperienced in the mating department, he felt ill-equipped to counter it.

He hadn’t met Ashlar, and his interactions with Avicus had been threadbare. He shook his head as Masque asked about his history with her mother. I don’t share. Riley responded darkly. There was a possessiveness in his family that boiled in his blood, too. That small detail struck Avicus from Riley’s pool of applicants — not that she truly would have found him riveting company to begin with.

A sensation stirred along his ears and belly. Does everyone share their partners here?