Page 136 of Stags

“You are exactly the right amount,” said her mother, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “You are my beautiful, brave girl, and you’re going to be the best mother in the whole world.”

Tawny flushed under the praise. Her mother didn’t dole it out often, but when she did, there was a sincerity to it that buoyed her up.

“Now, where are those sonogram pictures? You promised me pictures of my grandfawn!”

“Right,” said Tawny, fumbling to find her purse. “There’s not much to see yet. Just a little blob.”

“An adorable blob, though!” exclaimed her mother. “The most adorable blob I’ve ever seen, I’m sure. I’d expect nothing less of my grandbabies.”

IT WAS COLDoutside. Eiren could see her breath and there was frost on the leaves that crunched beneath her feet as she hurried through the woods, running and leaping over fallen logs, glancing over her shoulder now and again to see if Lyall was behind her.

He always was, and she knew he was just toying with her at this point. He could have caught her already, but he was following at a distance, stretching this out.

He wouldn’t catch here out here, in the cold and frost.

They would run, and he would stare hungrily at her little white bobbing tail in the dusk, and she would lead him on a circular route through the woods around his house, and then, she would head back towards his house, and he would close in on her, and then, just when she was getting close to the porch, then he would catch her.

They had done this before.

Maybe they did this too often.

It was good exercise, though. If she needed a way to get a workout in, this was a fun way to do it.

This time, when he caught her, he picked her up and threw her over her shoulder as she squealed.

He secured her, one hand firmly around her tail, and carried her into his house, careening through his living room and back to his bed, where he tossed her down onto her back, and she bounced, squealing again.

He loomed over her there.

It was growing dark outside, so there was only a bit of light coming in through the windows, and he was all hulking angles and just a hint of sharp teeth as he gazed down at her.

“Try to get away,” he ordered in a gruff voice.

And she squealed again, laughing, rolling over and trying to crawl across the bed, until he caught her and stopped her, and tugged on her tail again.

She panted, excited, knowing that he’d hold her down and peel away only enough of her clothing to get at the parts he wanted to get at. Knowing that he’d find her wet and ready and he’d rub her in all the best places, work his thick hardness all the way deep into her sleek core, fuck her into his bed with energetic abandon. Knowing this, waiting for this, ready for this.

“Are you going to let me go?” she gasped.

“Never,” he growled.

IN THE SPRING, Rora finally declared her major—and yes, she was going to get a degree in education and be a teacher, she’d decided—and she went in with three other does in her class on a little apartment in Alberdeen, which was more of a hullabaloo than her having a boyfriend, moving out of the family house!

Stockton spent so many nights there that he practically lived there, too.

He was accepted to the law school in their university, and they talked about getting a place together in the fall, just the two of them, even though they wouldn’t have been together a whole year by then.

They talked, and they looked at listings online, and they schemed and they planned.

She liked looking at him when he talked about their future together. She liked to believe it was true, that they were mates, that this was a lifetime commitment, that they’d found each other and they’d never be separated. He seemed to like it, too.

So, it would probably happen, she thought.

All of it.

She’d get a happily ever after, just like a book.

Everything she’d ever wanted.

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