Page 87 of Stags

She forced herself to laugh. She put the pen down. “Forget I said anything.”

Still, he didn’t respond.

She raised her gaze to his, and now it was a challenge.

His eyes widened, and she could swear he actually looked afraid. “Fine,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Like you said, that’s better. Honesty. No one’s feelings get hurt.”

“Yeah,” she said, lifting her chin.

“Yeah,” he said.

They held each other’s gaze, and their gazes quickly became glares, as if they were both trying to prove something, and she thought what she was trying to prove was that she was, in fact, not vulnerable, even though she was. She was dying inside, hating this feeling, this rejection.

He stalked over to her and snatched her chin between his fingers. He kissed her roughly. His voice was a rasp. “You still don’t let anyone near that pussy for the rest of the weekend, got it?”

She let out a sharp huff of air.

“Say it, little preykin,” he ordered. “Say you’ll honor your promise.”

“I will,” she gasped.

He looked relieved, letting go of her. “Good.” He turned away, shrugging into his shirt, and then she watched him walk across the room, away from her, out of her life, and she wanted to say something, do something, but she couldn’t now, because she had already given it up, been too frightened of being weak and it didn’t seem worth it, now, and she wished that she would just—

He stopped, hand on the doorknob. He didn’t look at her. “What’s your last name?”

“Dasan,” she supplied.

“Eiren Dasan,” he said. Then he repeated it, as if he wanted to memorize it. “Eiren Dasan.”

Then he was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY

RORA DOMINATED THEconversation at dinner, and Tawny found herself caught up in the girl’s new bubbly effervescence. She was transformed, really, a completely different doe than the shy and insecure girl she’d met yesterday.

Tawny listened to her story about her day, finding Stockton in the elevator, then running into him after he’d been wounded, their little lunch date, his buying her books, the brush with the vulturekin, the kisses, and the fact they had plans to see each other next week, after she’d had the chance to talk to her friend Maibell.

“It’s probably a good thing,” said Rora, “because I kind of wanted to, you know, let him. Have sex with a whole different person the day after losing my virginity to someone else! Which is, like, really slutty and not even like me. And anyway…” Her voice dropped as her cheeks turned pink. “I’m sore.”

Tawny laughed, remembering that, actually, all those years ago, after her first time, that tenderness in the wake of it. Sometimes, she still had that lingering feeling—probably would after all the raw footage with Athos today, actually, but it had never been quite as intense as that first time, had it?

“I didn’t think I would be,” said Rora. “It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t like those bodice ripper historical romances or anything. No bleeding.”

“That’s a myth,” said Eiren. “Hymens stay intact forever, and if they get damaged and there’s blood, it’s only because someone was needlessly rough.”

Rora’s eyes widened, thinking that through. “So, there was this whole mythology about bleeding with virginity because men were brutal assholes for hundreds of years?”

Eiren shrugged.

Tawny shrugged.

Rora grimaced.

Tawny should have told Rora that she’d spent the afternoon with Stockton’s friend, but she felt embarrassed about having done it, especially when she’d been so adamantly against Athos, and she couldn’t find a way to explain it. Rora was talking enough that it didn’t matter.

Eventually, Rora stopped to ask if either of them was planning on the evening run.

Tawny shrugged. “Remains to be seen, I suppose.” But if she did it, it would be with Athos again. She might be up for nighttime sex in the woods, or for watching Athos lock antlers with some other buck out there, she wasn’t sure. She wanted it to be him, though.

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