It first appeared in the anthology The Alien Condition, edited by Stephen Goldin, published by Ballantine Books in April 1973.
[1] The story is told in the first person by Moggadeet, a self-aware male of a species which appears to be the apex predator of its environment.
This possibly anthropoid species is apparently cold-blooded, with various features that come into play in battle, nurturing the young (for females), and sex.
Unusually Moggadeet's mother and an older male have supplemented his instincts by making him aware of the Plan, i.e., the normal life-cycle of his species.
"[3] The Washington Post considered that the "image (of) an intelligent species whose biological imperatives compel females to devour their mates (...) is dramatized with the directness of an arrow striking a bullseye".