a snarl on his lips, he headed toward the hapless male.
Diana paused from where she was clearing snow from the walk around her home, her eyes trained on the male. She noticeably tugged her fur-lined hood closer around her face with her gloved hands in the pretense of being chilled as she strained.
“Diana! Good morning!” the male called cheerfully, his eyes glancing over her longingly as a waft of pheromones hit Selvans in the face.
He bristled, his teeth baring with menace. The only thing saving the foolish human’s life at that moment was that Diana did not return his smile. Her fingers tightened around her shovel as her eyes narrowed warily.
“Devlin, what are you doing here?” she inquired politely.
Selvans gnashed his teeth. He wouldn’t have been that polite. He wasn’t going to be that polite once he got his hands on the male. A low growl stirred the air, making the perhaps-not-quite-idiotic male pause before masking his unease with a confident smile as he turned his full attention on her. A wide smile pulled at the human’s cold-reddened lips, revealing a flash of white flat teeth in his bearded face.
“I just came to see how you were doing and if there was anything you need,” he returned with pitifully transparent joviality.
Selvans wanted to rip the male’s vocal cords and hand them to him so that he could keep his false speech to himself. Selvans had staked out this territory as his own. Even if he was uncertain whether he wanted to pursue the female or not, she was bound to him and he wasn’t going to allow another male to interlope on his territory.
“No,” Diana replied flatly. “There is nothing, thank you. I went to town and picked up a few supplies yesterday. My hunt has also been successful.”
The human stared at her in surprise. “That is truly impressive. No one in town has been having any luck in the parts of the forest we typically hunt. If we had known that you were that skilled, we would have invited you with us a long time ago.”
“Thank you, but I do better by myself.”
The male flushed in discomfort and embarrassment. “Yes, I suppose so,” he muttered. His hands clenched as he seemed to struggle to find another reason to linger. Selvan’s tail whipped behind him, silently bidding the human to leave before something unfortunate happened to him.
“Perhaps something that needs doing around the house. We can make a day of it. I can give my useful skills in trade for a lovely meal by my hostess, and you won’t have to muss yourself in unpleasant chores,” he offered.
Bristling, Selvans strode forward. He had heard enough. He knew the moment that the male caught sight of him striding through the snow because the human became rigid with hostility, the sharp scent of masculine challenge in the air. Selvans bared his teeth in an unpleasant smile as he eyed his rival. Diana chose that moment to turn, her greenish eyes falling on him and widening.
“Silvas,” she whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Only seeing what our visitor required,” he cut in smoothly, his eyes running over the male disdainfully. “Welcome to our home,” he purred dangerously. “It is fortunate that my bride was out here to greet you. If she had been indoors with me, we might have never taken heed of your arrival. In fact, you might have stayed outside for an uncomfortably long time,” he bit out.
“Bride?” The human, Devlin, turned accusing eyes upon Diana. Selvans had to forcibly stop himself from plucking them from his head. “Since when did you marry?”
“It was recent,” Selvans cut in smoothly as he circled the male before coming to rest at Diana’s side. His female stiffened warily at his presence, which he didn’t particularly enjoy, but his attention was focused on the male, whom he would take great pleasure in terrorizing. Oh, how sweet his terror would taste.
He nudged her back as he grinned at his rival. The human shifted warily, his eyes sliding over him. Selvans knew what he saw: the large but peculiarly pale human that he presented himself as. He whipped his tail out and struck the male with it across his knees. Delvin yelped from the sharp contact and stumbled back. He looked around wildly, searching for the source of the attack before his eyes flickered back to them.
He swallowed. “Did you see anything?”
Selvans raised his eyebrows and made a show of looking around with confusion. “No. All is quite as