Page 1 of Stags

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

ONE THING THEYall three agreed on was that they had been worrying something was wrong with them.

Tawny wouldn’t admit it to them, of course. She did worry about that very thing, actually, a lot of the time. She worried she was damaged beyond hope. Too loud, too opinionated, too forceful, too brash, tooeverything. But if a person said that to someone else, it was a risk. What if that other person agreed?

No.

Better to keep the entire idea inside her head where she could try to corral it into the back of her thoughts, where she could try to shush it up. Nothing good came of eventhinkingthat thought.

They were standing in the lobby outside the auditorium of the Cypress Center, during a break in the orientation presentation. The rut was going to be held on these grounds over the next few weekends. This presentation was given only to does, and they had sat down next to each other by chance.

No one probably would have sat so close, but the staff kept coming through before the presentation started and urging everyone to scoot towards the center and the front of the auditorium, telling them not to be shy, and not to leave empty chairs between themselves, to get close and comfy! This last bit had been delivered with a wide, wide smile.

Most of the staff at the Center were deerkin, but not all of them were. There were a few raccoonkin and squirrelkin. The Center was used for other preykin besides deerkin on occasion, after all.

Anyway, now, they were on a break in the middle of the presentation, and they were standing in a group of three eating donuts or coffeecake and drinking coffee or tea, all of them standing together for no other reason than they’d sat close inside the auditorium.

“Obviously, it’s silly to think anything’s wrong,” said a doe named Eiren. She was taller than Tawny, but lither, her limbs and neck graceful and long, her ears pointed and expressive. “It’s sort of just an appropriation of large predatorkin culture. It’s natural forthemto pair bond, but it’s not natural forus.”

“Yeah,” said the one named Rora. She was shorter than both of them, younger, too, Tawny thought. Rora’s cheeks were round, her doe-eyes wide, her figure full and youthful. “Yeah, that’s what my ma always says. And my gran, too. That I’ve gotten my head full of junk from all the romance novels I’ve read about wolkfin and eaglekin and everything else. My ma says does are stronger than prey women, that we don’t need men to raise our babies.”

Tawny shrugged. “Well, that’s not true, though. I was raised by my uncles and great-uncles just as much as my ma. It’s not like bucks weren’taround.”

Eiren lifted one finger, pointing up at the ceiling. “Exactly. Wehavea workable culture. It takes a whole herd to raise a child.”

“Sure,” said Tawny. She sipped at her coffee, rueful. “On the other hand, I’m not exactly living with the family right now, and neither are most of my brothers, for that matter.”

Eiren chuckled. “Me either. But then, I’m not doing this to get knocked up.”

“Me either,” said Rora.

“Oh,” said Tawny, taking them both in. “Really? I’m the only actual breeder here? You two are just here for kicks?”

Eiren shrugged. “I was on my way back from getting coffee at my favorite coffee shop, and I saw three women going in to the Center, and I asked them what they up to, and they were like, ‘Rut weekend!’ And I followed them in and signed up.”

“This morning?” said Tawny, raising her eyebrows at the woman.

Eiren nodded, giggling. “I’m not always impulsive, but when I am, I’mveryimpulsive.”

Rora shook her head, her eyes even wider. “I could never do something like that!”

“Sure you could,” said Eiren, grinning encouragingly at her. “But are you really here because your mother made you come?”

Rora’s face fell.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it,” said Eiren. “I’m only saying, if you don’t want to be here, maybe you shouldn’t. This is a serious thing. It’s sexual intercourse, no matter how much that woman up on the stage wants to go on about the sacred traditions of our heritage and how important it is to uphold the old ways and everything else. This is a big deal.”

Rora squared her shoulders. “Well, I’m just ready. And I don’t think it’s going to happen any other way. I’m a junior in college, and I’ve resisted it for years now. My ma wanted me to do it the minute I turned eighteen, of course. She would have been happy enough to have me preggo. She says she wants grandfawns to spoil.”

“What do you mean you’re ‘just ready.’ Ready for what?” said Tawny, looking the younger doe over. “You’re not saying you’re a virgin?”

Rora nodded. “Yeah. And I want to actually get laid sometime this century—”

“Okay, you don’t need to comehere,” said Eiren.

“Definitely not,” said Tawny. “Men of all species don’t take a lot of coaxing. If you just want to lose your virginity, there are easier ways.”

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