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She looked away. “That was never in doubt.”
The thrumming started, and she was startled into laughing.
The tail with folded stinger nudged her harder.
He started to sway with her, and she snorted. “Really? Now?”
“Well, not with my family watching, but as soon as we have some privacy. Please?”
She blinked. “Wait. Are you asking me?”
“You are no longer in heat, and I am not yet in rut, so manners matter.”
She stared into his black eyes. “Um... in that case... yes? Oh, but you have to do all the work. I am still recovering. And you owe me for that second mark.”
“It was needed to save your life.”
“You still didn’t ask. Not the first time, nor the second.”
He growled as they headed back to the patio. “There will not be a third. If someone tries to scrub that mark, they will be dealing with the toxin and not nearly as gracefully as you did. It normally kills within two minutes.”
“Oh. Lucky me.”
“You are very lucky. The limited exposure you had prior to the extraction of the mark offered you a bit of resistance, but as you found, the resistance didn’t last long. Your mate is venomous, and he has taken steps to make you resistant.”
“Should I be thankful?”
He chuckled. “No, I am. I thought you were going to fight me during the marking.”
“I couldn’t even fight my way out of my nightgown, and that was quite a while afterward.”
He sighed. “Ah, yes. My slippery goddess.”
She held onto his arm, and her feet enjoyed the feeling of the grass.
They took a few minutes to return to the patio, and Khytten was feeding the newest arrivals. Salat walked up to her. “Ylara, sit. Hold one.”
Ylara laughed and was settled into a chair, and the baby was shoved at her a moment later. She chuckled and stroked the chubby face, and a bottle was placed in her hand. She slipped the nipple into the mouth and started to rock softly and sing to the newborn. The upset squeaks and snuffles of the siblings stopped, and she just kept crooning softly to the baby in her arms.
She set the bottle on the table and burped the little critter.
Salat took the baby, and she took the one that Khytten handed her. A fresh bottle, and she was singing again, and Ciro gripped the bottle with his chubby fist.
Khytten smiled at the rest of the assembled. “They eat twice as much when she sings to them and no colic. She’s a miracle worker with the portable ones.”
Ylara smiled and kept singing softly. When Ciro was done and burped, Tigel swapped for the other twin, and she fed the last baby. The other two were with Khytten.
Cira was a bruiser. She hauled on the bottle, and when the stocky princess was done, she was burped and whisked away by her nanny. Tigel grinned. “Thanks, they are going to be out for a few hours.”
Ylara grinned. “Always a pleasure.” She removed the spit cloth and tossed it to the table.
Salat smiled, showing a lot of teeth. “We can always use another nanny.”
Baola’s eyes got wide. “Then you can say here!”
Riithan leaned forward and looked at the young woman. “No, she can’t.”
Baola frowned. “You make her sad.”
