She does not want to have my young.

  I dig my cws into my palms until blood trickles down. This is absurd. The st thing I want, or need, is a bunch of brats running around, and yet her admission guts me.

  She does not want to have my young.

  “How long are ya gonna pout?”

  “Silence. I am in no mood to entertain you.”

  “What? Did ya come too quick?” Katsuro snickers. I flick my wrist and he is thrown into a tree. “So, I was right! Ha!”

  I close my eyes and count to five. Still annoyed. “You left them alone?” What an imbecile.

  “They’re safe.”

  I leap down from the tree and head for the tree house as Katsuro so eloquently puts it. While there is the height advantage, his home cks many things because of how limited the space is. Though if it were just him, then the limited space is a moot point. It is not a home that I would build for Megan. No, she loves her hot baths, and despite the strong persona she puts forth, Megan is terribly afraid of heights.

  I should not have left her.

  “Oi! I said that they’re safe.”

  “You have no other security measures besides a height advantage. Not good enough. You should not have left.”

  Katsuro jogs over to my side and huffs. “Nah, seriously. What’s got your balls in a twist? You two were gone too long for a quick bath. Ya fuck it up or something?”

  This cat is annoying. Persistent. Does he think because we fought our way through the dungeon that we are now comrades? “Worry about your own mate.”

  “Ha! I knew it.” He crackles. “Ya fucked up. Not so smooth, huh? Thought that’s what you foxes are all about. Smooth talking and orgies.” He ughs again. “And tricksters. Can’t forget that.”

  “Are you done?”

  “Maybe. You gonna stop being a bitch? Fox up and apologize or something. Ruining the mood.”

  “Canines eat felines.” I snap my fangs at him. He does not flinch and instead, he smiles. “You have nothing better to do than to pester me. What a sad life you live.”

  “Grumble all you want, ya like me.”

  “We are not friends.”

  A look of hurt fshes across his face before he psters on another smile. Is he so hard up for friendship that the first demon who comes around is automatically his friend? Friendship and retionships do nothing but hold me back. My stomach churns, but I push the bile down. Megan does not want to have my young, fine. My life was peaceful before her, and it will be peaceful after her.

  “I consider you a friend.”

  “Because you are an idiot.” My eyes snt in his direction and I heave a sigh. This is ridiculous and her fault for invoking these emotions within me. “We will be traveling to the capital if you wish to join. Megan wishes to find a way back home to her world and your human may wish for the same.”

  He nods his head. “Chloe doesn’t really want to go back. Maybe. Shit, I don’t know. But she seemed more worried about others being pulled here, then getting back home.”

  “She wishes to stay with you?”

  He falters and rubs the back of his head. “I ain’t ask her to stay. She’s just... shit, I don’t know. Chloe. Ya know? Like she’s here and I’m here, and we’re just taking it day by day.”

  “Is she even your mate?”

  He shrugs. “Does it matter? Humans don’t have mates. They choose each other based on other shit.”

  I stop. Humans don’t have mates? Megan did not know about my markings or what they meant. She hasn’t asked who my mate is either. “They tie their lives to someone based on if they like each other or not?” My brows pinch together. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the human customs.

  “Guess so. Or maybe that’s how they do things in their world. Can’t say I interact with too many humans. At least not out here.” He motions with his hand at the trees and small creatures scurrying by. “Humans don’t come out here unless they’re adventurers. And even then, the number of visitors has been dwindling.”

  “Because of the spell,” I say. “The beast was sin, and the dungeon is no more. Perhaps others will venture into these parts.” I resume walking. The house is not much further. “There is a vilge that made sacrifices to the beast. They gave up most of their food in exchange for little.”

  “Probably their lives then. Can’t say I know of this vilge, but did they have no other beasts to hunt?”

  I mull over his words as we continue the trek back. The vilge bothers me. Why not venture in the other direction? Even the Undead Forest has beasts that can be hunted. Was it a spell cast on the vilgers themselves? A lie that scared them into submission? Or did they hope sacrificing us would lead them to more fruit?

  “Journeying with us could lead to your death.” I pce a hand on the dder that leads up to his home.

  “Death does not scare me.” He scoffs. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to get some stuff for Chloe... if she decides to stay. There’s only so much I can rig.” He motions to the dder, which is just wood pnks. “Gonna make some stairs. Something safer, so she doesn’t feel like she’s gonna fall.”

  “Why not a home on the ground? You can expand.”

  “I can expand now. There are plenty of trees around.”

  “So, it is simply your nature as a cat.” The dder is pointless since I can leap to the wraparound balcony, but my mind is a war zone and climbing up each pnk dismantles the traps lying in wait. Katsuro is leaning against the door with his arms behind his head. He must have chosen to jump rather than to climb behind me. I flex my fingers to stop myself from wiping my palms on my pants. Nervous is a foreign emotion and yet it will not dislodge itself from my throat. “We leave for the vilge in the morning and then we will make our way to the capital.”

  He nods and then motions for me to follow him inside. Apollo lies in the middle of the room with his head facing the door. Off to the side, Megan sits on the floor with Chloe behind her. I track Chloe’s movement. Why is she touching Megan’s hair?

  “I wanted some braids,” Megan says. “Easier to manage for now.”

  Right. Braids. Chloe is not seeking to steal my mate. This is frustrating. This overwhelming need to be her everything. My fangs ache. My body is tired, and I am emotionally drained. Too many conversations today. Hells, too many talks to sustain for me another century or two.

  “Almost done,” Chloe says, using her fingers to part the hair. “And then we can go get food for dinner.”

  “Ya ain’t gotta go with me. I know how to hunt.”

  “As nice as the meat is, we humans also need vegetables.” Chloe hums as she braids Megan’s hair.

  The end result is... sloppy, but my heart constricts all the same. Megan stands and stretches her arms above her head. She does not appear to be as bothered by earlier. The door swings shut as Katsuro and Chloe head out to hunt for dinner. I make eye contact with Apollo and gre. He huffs and shakes his mane.

  “Go catch some fish or something,” I mutter, getting the door for him. He snorts as he leaps off the balcony.

  “Maybe I should do something—”

  “Stay.”

  Megan pauses and juts her chin out. “You’re overreacting. Just because you are upset with me doesn’t mean you have to make everyone else uncomfortable.”

  “Overreacting,” I murmur.

  “That came out wrong.” She blows out a breath and brushes past me. Megan stares out at the trees and rests her arms on the railing. “I wasn’t trying to upset you earlier. You freaked and then I freaked, and this is all so stupid.” She picks at her nails.

  “Stop.” I cover her hand with mine and then tug her towards me. “I am...” Apologies are not my thing. My tongue is heavy, but my heart aches more. “I am sorry.”

  Her eyes widen. “You’re sorry?”

  Repeating myself is not something I am a fan of, so I brush my lips against hers. She sighs and presses her body closer to mine. “I am sorry for upsetting you.” This time, the apology rolls off the tongue like water.

  Humans do not have mates. Katsuro’s words ring through my ears. Does she not feel the same pull that I do? Megan leans into me and wraps her arms around my waist. Her lips curve up into a smile. She may not feel the same pull that I do, but her heart is not guarded either.

  “I still trust you.”

  “You should not. I do not trust myself when it comes to you.” Even now my cocks swell thinking about earlier. I fear this need will not let up until we are completely one.

  Megan ughs. “I know you’re trying to convince me, but it’s having the opposite effect.” She pulls away and lightly punches my arm. “You wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.” She bites her lip and tilts her head to the side. “Though I haven’t forgotten about you using me as bait.”

  “You were never in any harm.” I wrap my fingers around her wrist and pull her behind me. “It is far too cold for you to be standing out here.”

  “Overreacting,” she teases. “Hey, do you think we’ll be able to bring Apollo to the capital?”

  “He is a kelpie, and they can shapeshift. There is no reason your kelpie cannot do the same.” The treehouse has one main room and a sleeping area. It is cozy and custrophobic. I shove down the desire to lift Megan over my shoulder and take her away. “Is this what your home looked like?”

  “Well, not exactly. I have a one-bedroom apartment. So, there’s a living room like this, but my couch was bigger, and I had some fake pnts and some pictures on the wall.”

  “Fake pnts?”

  “Mhmm. I suck at keeping pnts alive. Killed a cactus once by giving it too much water and then I tried again, and I killed it because I didn’t give it enough water.” She rolls her eyes. “So yeah, a couple of fake pnts. A bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen area. Honestly, Katsuro’s home is retive to my apartment, even though he doesn’t have a bathroom.” She wrinkles her nose. “Thought for sure he’d have a bath at least.”

  So, she needs multiple rooms and fake pnts. Where the hells do I find a fake pnt? Is it some kind of woven design? A sculpture? And what is a cactus?

  “How do humans find their mates?”

  Megan coughs and pats her chest. “Find our mates? We have partners for one. Like we...uh...talk to each like this.”

  My brows furrow together. Her words do not make sense. “You partner with everyone you talk to?”

  “NO!” She ughs. “No, I mean like how we’ve gotten to know each other. We see someone that we are attracted to and, over time, it progresses into more.” She plops down on the couch made of wood and winces. “I’ve never had to expin it before. It just kind of happens, I guess. Let me think.” Megan holds up a finger and taps her lips. “When you’re just dating, it’s super casual. Some prefer to only talk to one person at a time... err, date one person at a time, and others like to date around. What matters is that it’s all communicated. So, when a human feels like this person could be something more, then they mutually agree to be exclusive to one another. Eventually, they want to be more than just a girlfriend, boyfriend, or whatever and they propose. So, a spouse is like a mate.”

  “Dating is like a courtship, then?”

  “Yeah. Something like that. Humans don’t have markings or anything that screams, hey this is your soul mate. I’m not sure how final a mate is for you, but if a marriage doesn’t work out, then the spouses can divorce and go their separate ways... Roharu?”

  “I am fine,” I bite out. Go their separate ways? Megan is attempting to do so with this quest of hers to find a way home.

  “You don’t—”

  “We will return to the vilge in the morning and then set off for the capital. The others will join us.” My ears twitch. Katsuro and his mate are back. I do not hear or smell Apollo. He must be sulking. “Does that please you?”

  Her lips part. “Yeah.”

  Good.

  AutumnBanks

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