Xander didn’t let my hand go as he led me back to his room. While that might have been because he didn’t wao run again, it felt o be wanted in some way. To be cared for, not because of what I might do for them but because I was a friend. Just why had I run? Where did I think I was going to go? Back to those who had simply used me as a pawn in their game? Yeah, that was not going to happen ever again if I had a choice.

  He didn’t pause as we reached his room. His hand opehe door while the ently tugged me in front of him as he held the door for me to pass. Only then did he release my hand, freeio head to the bathroom to ge.

  I didn’t hesitate to ehe room, close the door, and lock it. Sure, it was uo hold the guy if he really wanted in but it made me feel better. Plus, he would get the message that I didn’t want him to follow me.

  My mind stalled out as I caught sight of the panties and bra on the ter. It was as if he had expected me to agree to e back with him. That or they had beehe eime. I had been a bit distracted when I was st in this room after all.

  Another pile of clothes set to the side suddenly reminded me of my old clothes. A quick check firmed that they were still in my iory, ready to be worn. How could I have fotten that they existed? It wasn’t like I had suddenly lost a few brain cells or something. Hell, it wasn’t that long ago that I was stantly wearing them.

  I debated putting on the proffered clothes or not. Then again, I could just put on the underwear and pants and call it good. It wasn’t like I would be wearing them long anyway. Not if I was going to be trying on multiple outfits again. Then again, maybe a part of myself didn’t want to take off this shirt. His shirt.

  Yeah, that thought caused my face to tur red. Just what was going on with me? Why was I wanting to wear his clothes? As I rubbed at my face I got a good whiff of both myself and his shirt. It smelled of sweat and other things.

  I retty sure that my transformation affected my sense of smell because once I got a good sniff I couldn’t not smell the rancid odor. I had to practically rip the shirt off and throw it into a er as I flicked on the shower.

  Thankfully the initial wave of steam was enough to deaden the smell. As I stepped in and started to wash my body I found myself thinking about the real world and how I had just taken a shower. How could somethings in one world affect the other while other things didn’t? Did eating in one mean I didn’t have to eat as often iher? That would expin why I was never hungry when I logged off.

  Soon enough, I lost my train of thought as I ehe shower. The water pressure of this pce put my apartment's semi-modern plumbing to shame. It felt as though someone was massaging my scalp with millions of fingers as the thin streams dug through my hair without issue.

  A soft kno the door startled me out of the rexed stupor. The sounds around me ged as some of the noises deadened while others became sharper as my ears worked to pick up Xander’s voice. He spoke softly as if he knew I would hear him. “Are you okay in there?”

  I didn’t know what to say. On one hand, I hysically fine. Oher, I was mentally unglued. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Especially after having, not just their view of the world ged, but their entire body.

  Either he uood my silence or something else because he didn’t say anything else. He simply stayed where he was as he waited. As he listened for a sign that I might need help. I took that as my queue that I o get a move on. With the shower off, I grabbed the owel. The thing must have been made out of the fi material because it was the softest thing I had ever felt.

  Mostly dry, save my hair, I pulled my clothes out of my iory and started to get dressed. The shirt was a tiny bit tight around my chest but after a few moments, the material shifted. It loosened up in a few pces as it shrank in others. I bent down to pull on my spare underwear and caught a glimpse of my borrowed shirt. It hadn't shrunk to fit me. Or maybe it had. Maybe whatever magic caused clothing to ge also allowed it to detect what the user was going for?

  But that made no sense. If one could simply ge their wardrobe with a bit of mental work, there would be no need for people to sell various styled clothing. The entire issue was going to bug me to death until I got an answer. I debated asking Xander as I slid my under my legs.

  The material felt scratchy and odd. While most of the hem sat where it was supposed to, the back quarter had nothing built in to aodate my tail. Something that wouldn’t have been a problem if what I had thought about how clothes worked here was right. Some sort of button or hole should have formed ierial to aodate my tail. It didn’t. I would have to put up with wearing it until I found something that would work. That wasn’t too bad. The problem was my pants. It would have a simir ck of hole and I didn’t feel like showing off my ass to the entire world…again.

  With a resigned sigh, I ed the towel around my lower half and opehe door. Xander’s eyes popped open as soon as the door opehey flit down my body before jumping up to meet mine. her of us spoke a word, choosing io see who would break the silence first. Which, given that I was the ohat needed something, I was the first to break. “My pants won't aodate my tail.”

  The er of his lip lifted as he spoke. “Try these.” A pair of pants appeared in his hand. I took them and shut the door in his face.

  I let the towel drop to the floor as I unfolded the pants. The moment I did so, something else dropped to the ground. A shudder ran down my spine as I got a good look at the dropped material. Based on the shape and the fact they were bundled with the pants, the additional item air of panties. Panties with a tiny v-cut in the edge.

  I hesitantly picked them up. The soft material slipped through my fingers. It felt still sent a shudder of fear through me at the idea of wearing anything designed with a woman in mind. Too bad the cut at the back promised fort that my current choice didn’t. Before I k, I sed the two.

  The soft material slipped up my legs and into pce without issue. It didn’t feel bunched up at the base of my tail.

  Not willing to stop and i anythiher visually or with my hands, I slid my new pair of jeans on. They were tight and reminded me of skinny jeans. Something I had not dared to even try on since going through puberty. Now though, what was the point in hiding the obvious curves? It wasn’t like I could fight in super baggy clothes.

  As the material reached my tail, I reached bad guided it through the provided hole. I don’t know how to expin the feeling but my fur did not like being bunched up and pushed in the wrong dire. I had to spend a full minute running my fihrough my fur to get the feeling to diminish.

  Finally dressed, I looked at the outfit he had left on the ter. It was a near copy of the one he had handed me. Which was a bit odd as he said he only had one such outfit. With a shake of my head, I picked up the nightshirt and opehe door. Xaood there. It didn’t even look like the guy had moved a muscle since I had shut the door in his face.

  My breath was strained as his eyes roamed over my body. It caught in my throat the moment his eyes met mihey had ged and I hadn't noticed until this moment. Until I had no other choice but to look him in the eyes for lohan a moment.

  An off-grey color, closer to mercury than silver, ringed his irises. Even with the ge though, I could tell that his gaze was full of heat and desire. While I had seen the look in the gazes of random strangers before, it wasn’t something I expected from him.

  And I wouldn’t have to decide as a cough forced its way out of my throat to break the tension buildiween us. Xander’s eyes darted away as he spoke. “You look good.”

  My cheeks were likely a light shade of pink as I sheepishly replied, “Thank you.” He started for the door. As he held it open, he looked in my dire. I almost had the feeling that I rey and he was hunti that couldn’t be right. Still, I avoided looking him in the eyes as I moved to join him. “Shall we go meet your sister?”

  He shut the door and took the lead. We were both silent as we walked. I didn’t let the time go to waste. I took the opportunity to take the p. Small points of light on the ceiling reminded me of modern LED lights, though these things were likely magic-based rather tharic. The light red wooden walls were only broken up by a door every ten or twenty feet.

  My studying ended with the ground where I realized I was walking around with bare feet. The stone floor was smooth and warm enough that I hadn't even noticed the ck. Still, I asked hesitantly, “Um, what happeo my shoes?”

  Xander sighed as he spoke, “They were destroyed.”

  “What will I wear outside?”

  “If,” he emphasized the word, “we o go outside before you get shoes, I will carry you.” My face heated up as his words brought back the memory of him carryio the bed after I had found out about the ges.

  The sileween us returned as we desded the stairs. We passed through multiple floors as we made our way to, what I assume, was the ground level. From what I could see as we stepped off the stairs, the room was rge enough to rival most professional sports stadiums. The vast hall buzzed with tless versations as both natural light and magical lit the space from high above.

  As we joihe crowd I found that none of them were willing to get close to us. Some of them eve so far as to ge dire as soon as they saw Xander. Given that he did nothing in response, I wondered if he even noticed what was going on around him.

  Without warning, a streak of red and browhrough the air. Whatever it was smmed into Xander’s side with enough force to cause him to stagger a step to the side. His voice came out in a low growl. “Ginger.”

  “Oh, don’t be like that.” A feminine voice purred from where she hung off him. A braid of reds and browns reached her lower back where it almost reached a very lively tail of the same color. “When was the st time I saw you?”

  Xander spoke as he tried to pry the girl off him. “Two weeks ago.” Something about how closely she g to him sent a spike of pain through my chest and nearly caused me to turn tail and run.

  “Why?” She sounded like she outing. “It isn’t like you left the city. You could have at least joined me for dinner when I got back from my trip.”

  “I was busy,” he said as he struggled to pry her off. Something about his ck ress and her giipped me over the edge. I started to turn in a random dire but his words froze me in pce. “Not so fast.” Somehow I khey were directed at me.

  “OH,” the girl’s voice perked up. “Is this my project? I mean, victim. Wait, no, that sounds worse.”

  “This is the person I was telling you about.” Her graceful drop from him to the ground was the only warning I got before I found myself pulled into a full-body hug. I could barely breathe as she smashed my fato her chest. “You will kill her if you keep holding onto her like that.” My ck of oxygen slowed my ability to process what Xander said and who he was talking about.

  Thankfully though, she uood because her arms vanished as she released me from her deadly embrace. “Sorry, sorry, I just…sorry.”

  “And that is why you ot take Kyren anywhere without me present.” Xander’s words were packed with enough power to spell death to her if she dared to defy him. Around us, the room went silent. “In fact, I don’t want any of you going near Kyren here without first talking to me.” Something about how he spoke sent shivers down my spine. Given hoeople around the room shifted and the looks I caught, I wasn’t the only one affected.

  The girl let me go as she spun around to face him. Shock, coupled with glee, tinged her voice as she spoke. “How bold of you. Whatever happeo the plete refusal to even sider dating someone? What was your excuse again? Oh, that’s right, you were too busy leveling for anything.”

  “Nothing,” he growled. “Nothing has ged.”

  “So, you don’t mind if I take her for myself? Or, if she doesn’t want me, one of the uys here?” What the fuck. Just how much of a death wish did this girl have? Couldn’t she see that she ushing him too far?

  “No.” The room around us visibly darkened as his growl grew deeper.

  “What could you do to stop me?”

  “If you, or anyone else, dares to defy me in this, I will send them back to respawn. Damn the sequences.” His lips lifted into a predatory smile as he tinued. “Say, did you ever set your spawn to somewhere iy or is it still in the capital?”

  The two of them stared at each other before she suddenly ughed. “Goddess, how I missed you.”

  Both the predatory look and the darkness vanished as he smiled back. “You too, little fox.”

  The way he looked at her was something one would see before two people kissed. A knot tightened in my stomach as I wondered if the two were somehow involved. “I will just give you two some room,” I muttered as I started to slowly back up.

  “Oh no you don’t,” the girl said as she spun around to grab onto me. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. “I have to know just what is going oween you and little Xander here.” Her insinuation caused my brain to stall out for a sed.

  Thankfully Xander, unknowingly, covered my freezing up. “When was the st time I was shorter than you? Ten years? Fifteen?” He snapped back as the silent crowd started to whisper. “Now, we get on with getting Kyren some clothing?”

  “Yay…Shopping!” Her tail blurred through the air as she grabbed my hand and led me toward the crowd. A crowd that rushed to get out of our way revealed what had to be our first destination.