Page 4 of Stags

And shamefully, this talk of breeding lairs and being “his” was making her feel a little bit, uh, excited. She resolved to turn that part of her off, to approach all of this from a perspective of academic curiosity.

Arica was still talking. “Now, I also want tostressthat we are very anti-non-consent. So, if—at any point in time—whether you have agreed to a breeding lair or no—you may say, ‘Stop,’ or ‘No,’ and the buck is honor bound to do as you wish. If he does not, you will file a report and he will face severe disciplinary consequences, which will include being barred from these rites for life, no questions asked. We have no tolerance for that sort of thing. Not at all. And I want to be entirely clear about that to each and every one of you. One thing we must acknowledge is that our traditions are a tradition that honors the strength of females, the resilience of females, and also the reverence by which females should be treated. Though bucks may compete with each other for access to a female, it is ultimately her decision if she will allow herself to be mounted by the winner. Even in the wildest and most savage of our history, this has always been true. We are not a species who has ever invited forcefulness or rape.”

Right, thought Tawny.Yup, this is true. Back in the day, when a doe in heat tried to wriggle out from under a buck, he didn’t just use superior strength to restrain her and force her to take his big stag cock. It was so consensual. Uh huh.

She was sarcastic because there was no species on the planet who had a past that was full of true consent. Consent didn’t enter into the picture until a species had reached a certain level of social connection. Consent was about preserving social bonds. Morality was about social bonds. It had precisely nothing to do with reproduction, which was pure instinct.

However, thinking all of that was just making her feel more excited. She was embarrassed at herself. Shewashard-up, it was true. It had been a while since she’d gotten laid. This whole situation, it was kind of hot in a way. Sex with a stranger out in the woods, both of them giving in to their natural desires…

Well, anyway, here she was.

But I’m doing this for a baby,she reminded herself.Not for a buck.

Hell, she’d never really truly considered a relationship with a male of the deerkin. They were notoriously solitary, and many of them liked to claim that it was natural for them to be this way, not that they weren’t all suffering from an avoidant attachment style.

Except when it came to their moms and their sisters and their moms’ and sisters’ children, of course. It didn’t make sense, but then, traditions died hard.

She didn’t think her brothers would come live with her once the baby was born or anything, but she knew they’d be available, ready and willing to help out with anything she needed. It would work out. Everything would be fine.

But she couldn’t help but wonder, really. She’d only ever had sex with a buck once, and she had to admit there was something alluring about the antlers, about the size of them, about the way they were made to fit together. Of course, that time, neither of them had been in season, so…

What would this be like? Would it be as intense as she hoped it would be?

Damn it, shewasexcited.

Arica was talking again, and Tawny had missed half of what she was saying. “…a doe may leave the fields and wooded areas any time she likes. Leaving the breeding grounds means that she may not be approached by bucks for sexual intercourse. If you are accosted by men who wish to accompany you to your rooms in the Center and you find their advances unwanted, please tell themno. If they do not stop or harass you in other ways, you may fill out a form to report the incident. But I will say that bucks are in a highly excitable state during a rut. If you are absolutely certain you wish to restrict your interactions to the fields and woods, the safest thing to do is to stay out of common areas that are shared with bucks.”

Tawny thought about this. So, this was really just a big singles free-for-all weekend, wasn’t it? Like the little events that were always being pushed at her on the apps.Come do an evening of rock-wall-climbs with singles!Except this was a big sleepover in a nice conference center where all of them were horny out of their minds.

“That would include the bars in both the Oak Room and the Ash Veranda, which will be open this evening,” said Arica. “We recommend that neither bucks nor does drink alcohol during this sacred rite, because of damage to physical prowess, endurance, and mood when hungover. But drinking is not forbidden. Some people will wish to participate in the midnight run to open the rite this evening. Others will wish to wait until mid-morning tomorrow. There are two events on Saturday and only a morning event on Sunday. Checkout is 4:00 p.m., as noted in your welcome packet.” A pause. “I think I’ve covered everything, so we have time for questions. Raise your hand and wait for someone to bring you a microphone, if you please?”

CHAPTER TWO

“IS YOUR UNCLEhere this weekend?” Athos was saying, leaning against the bar in the Ash Veranda, waiting for the bartender to notice him.

“I don’t know,” said Stockton, who wasn’t sure how he’d ended up at the bar with Athos, who he didn’t really know very well. Athos had to be thirty-five or something, more than ten years older than Stockton, who only knew him because he was interning at the firm where Athos worked. Athos was probably going to make partner later that year. None of the partners would be here, buying drinks for young bucks before the midnight run.

Of course, none of the other partners were deerkin, so that could explain why Athos was palling around with him.

“You haven’t spoken to him?” Athos furrowed his brow, his antlers towering high over his head. He had a decade on Stockton, so he had a lot more tines than he did. Stockton’s twenty-two-year-old antlers were nothing impressive. “Don’t you live with him?”

“Sure,” said Stockton. “He gave me a place to stay in the city, but we don’t see each other much. He’s always gone by the time I wake up and when I get home, he’s either asleep in bed, napping before he does whatever he does in the evenings or he’s still at work.”

“Right, and what does he do again?” said Athos.

“Do?”

“As, you know, a job?”

“Oh.” Stockton shrugged. “He owns things.”

Athos raised his eyebrows, clearly confused.

“Like, buildings and shit,” said Stockton. “Then he sells them or rents them out or whatever.”

“So, he’s in real estate.”

“Amongst other things,” said Stockton.

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