Felicity reached out, her hand resting on Ivan's arm as he passed by Damien. "Hey, hey, it's okay, Richard is just grumpy."
She looked at Richard, her expression softening, but her eyes holding a firm weight. "I do pick up strays, Richard. That's how I found all of you, isn't it? A bunch of big, scary, lonely monsters who didn't have anyone to tell them they were doing a good job."
Richard looked at the ground, his face turning a deep shade of scarlet. "Sorry, Felicity. I didn't... I didn't mean it like that. "The air around Richard didn't just grow cold; it became a vacuum of lethal intent. In a world where the ratio was one female to five hundred males, and a successful mating bond was a literal lifeline that kept a man from becoming a mindless beast, Richard's comment wasn't just a "joke." It was heresy.
