Filwui,” he warned, as his grooming mate reached out a hand to tug at Kirin’s hair.
Filwui gave a little growl of frustration as he stood. “I was only looking. What are you doing with it?
I thought it was Kadit’s.”
“She gave it to me, and why are we talking about a jopa when I’ve not seen you in nearly a
moonsweep?”
Filwui chirruped and flung himself at Gredar, claws extended and teeth bared in lust. Gredar took him
hard and fast over the desk, biting Filwui’s neck with less care than he’d give a more inexperienced lover,
and breathing his familiar scent in with joy, reanointing Filwui with his own scent, claiming him. Ah, he’d
missed Filwui. Casual couplings were fine, but there was something about having someone hard and warm to
curl up against in the evening.
Filwui pulled him onto the bed when they were done, and began to rake his claws down Gredar’s
back as Gredar stretched extravagantly on the furs and said, “I hear you’ve been filling Buhi’s head with
nonsense about my technique.” He turned and looked over his shoulder—Filwui’s yellow eyes were full of
mischief, but this was nothing new.
“The kitling’s a little gullible—is that my fault?”
“If my mother learns what you’re telling her grandson, you’ll have to explain yourself to her. The
lad’s more than a handful already—the cheeky brat propositioned me in the street today.” Filwui only
laughed at Gredar’s pout. “You’d think these white hairs would earn me some respect, but no....”
Filwui bent and licked at Gredar’s muzzle where those white hairs told the world that Gredar was an
old daiyne and deserving of kindness. “I respect you,” Filwui growled, and Gredar felt himself tighten with
need again, for all that he’d just spent his lust so forcefully.
He surged and flipped his young mate, pinning him down, biting his neck almost to blood point.
Filwui began to purr, his claws retracting and extending in reflex as he rubbed his groin against Gredar.
Gredar held him down long enough to exert proper dominance, then moved down and licked his unruly lover
to climax while Filwui squirmed and purred and clawed at him.
Gredar loomed over him when he was done. “Respect me always, kitling,” he murmured, rubbing his
face against Filwui’s jaw.
“I can’t. I’m dead.”
Gredar chuckled and rolled off him, keeping a proprietary hand on Filwui’s powerful chest. “So, dead
one, tell me your news.”
They lay together, tails companionably entwined while Filwui brought him up to date, and Gredar
told him all the gossip from the gathering. “And did many females present to you?” Filwui asked, his tail
sliding slyly between Gredar’s legs.
“One or two.” More than Gredar could have expected, actually. He could have sworn at least one of
them was even in her fertile phase, which seemed a little unwise. Gatherings were notoriously wanton affairs,
but he would have thought a fertile female would be looking for a male of proven potency, and not an old
daiyne like himself. “I know you’ve been busy—I don’t even need to ask.”
“It’s my duty to the clan, you know that.”
Gredar poked him. “Duty to your balls, you mean,” and Filwui flicked an ear at him. “You should
come to the next gathering.”
“Can’t. We’ll be raising the new barn and stables soon and that will take at least a moonsweep to
complete. Kadit will eat me if I don’t apply myself.”
“She might well do.”
Filwui nodded absently, his eyes drifting across the room to the jopa. “You still didn’t explain how
you ended up with it. Can I have a look? Kadit never let me get close enough—she said it was too bad-
tempered.”
“It’s not, actually.” Feeling a little guilty at abandoning his pet just as he was trying to settle it in,
Gredar got up and went over to the table under which Kirin was still hiding. “Come on, pretty one—he won’t
hurt you.”
Kirin was