Chapter 36

• Aislinn was speechless. Her brain was trying to grasp what Rissa had just told her. Rissa continued in the silence. "But really the men around here, especially Lord Arnauk refrain from any number of things if they aren't serious about a woman. I mean take Lord Arnauk for example." Rissa thought she'd approach things a little differently. She figured that there really wasn't any way all of the mating stuff had happened. But everyone knew Lord Arnauk's normal habits. If he had taken her up to his room there had to be more to it than the two of them just having a nap in his bed. She reeked of him. "Lord Arnauk never takes women to his room. He almost never takes all his clothes off. He tends to like women who are strong, intelligent, and show as few signs of remaining interested in him as possible. He never sleeps with the same woman twice in a row. He tends to make it short and sweet with as little affection in it as he can manage. He's always on top, usually with the woman on her hands and knees regardless of the form he's in. And probably the most important thing is that he never marks women. He'll come on the floor before on a woman if he can help it. He never comes inside a woman. And if he does accidentally get some on someone he sends her to the showers immediately."
• Aislinn couldn't believe how much she seemed to know about Cullen's bedroom habits. She held herself in check. Different cultures, she reassured herself. "So do you know details about the sex life of everyone around here? Or have you experienced him first hand?"
• Rissa saw the hurt look on Aislinn's face and realized she might have gone too far. Not to mention her tactics didn't seem to be working. "No, Ais, I've never been with Lord Arnauk. He'd never lie with a theta," she said with a guilty tone. "But we do tend to be relatively open about this stuff. I could take you down the hall and show you a room where people who've gotten bored with waiting have started to entertain themselves in the mean time. We don't hide sex the way humans do. I mean we've all seen him with the women Lord Arnauk beds. Like I said, he doesn't tend to take it private. That's why we're all so curious about you. It makes it look a lot more serious than he tends to get."