(From Leandro's Perspective)
Hearing my name in her voice made my heart skip a beat. I did not know why, but I felt as though I had never felt this way before. Nobody had ever made me feel this way before.
She was the first person to live with me without fear, even after knowing that I could turn into a monster at any moment.
"By the way, do you sleep on the left or right side? It's your bed, I mean mattress. So, you should get the right to choose the side," she said.
This was now a problem. I was going to have a terrible time controlling myself if we slept in the same bed. And there was a possibility that my monster would emerge if I lost control. She was going to be dead for sure in that case.
"Left side," I found myself saying even though I did not want to. Part of me wanted to feel her beside me. I knew it was going to be hard to control myself, but she was also the one who made me regain my human form. If I turned into my beast, I could never turn into my human form before morning. It was the first time I was able to get back to my human form. And that's also because she touched my face without backing away in fear. Perhaps I was going to manage to control myself.
"Good. Bye then," she said and went to the bedroom. From where I was seated, I could clearly see the bed. She kept the door open, but did not know what kind of thought it was giving me. My body was taking it as an invitation.
I watched as she climbed up on the bed. She lay down on the right side and got under the blanket. I kept my gaze on her as she watched the ceiling of the cave.
She looked heavenly. I quickly looked away from her and focused on my drawing. It was hard. I had to force my eyes to look away before my legs would take me to the room and do things that were not appropriate.
I drew the route and wrote down everything she needed to know. It took me almost half an hour to finish.
When I was finished, I carefully laid the sketches on the table, weighted down by a notebook. I went into the bedroom. She was sleeping on her side. She appeared calm, with a tinge of innocence on her face. Her damp hair was over her head, revealing her flawless face.
It was going to be difficult, very difficult, to keep myself under control. I removed my shirt and pants. I slept in my shorts all the time. I knew it was not appropriate to sleep in my shorts in front of her. But I still wanted to do it. I wanted to see how she was going to react.
I put out the candles, leaving only the fireplace light in the room. I climbed onto the mattress and lay next to her. It was surprising that she did not even try to sleep as far as possible from me. She was just being comfortable.
I rolled onto my side and looked at her face. I could see her features perfectly in the little light that was illuminating from the fireplace. I touched her face. Her cheeks were soft against my fingers. I trailed my fingertips across her lips, nose, and closed eyelids. My fingers traced a line down her neck. I wanted to go lower. But I quickly brought my hand to myself. I was hard. I wanted to take her right away. I hastily widened the distance between us and lay on my back, keeping my gaze away from her.
I remembered all the things she told me. I never expected myself to remember them. But even to my surprise, I remembered every single thing she told me. Her name kept roaming into my mind.
Ella. Ella Griverd. She said that her mother had a boyfriend named Owen. She did not like him at all. I wondered why. She also had a stepsister named Linda. She did not like her as well. Ella had a tendency to tell the truth, even if it was not something normal. I had a feeling that she had a valid reason for not liking them even if the reason was unusual.
Ella was unusual. She said that she had been going to a house inside a forest that was rumored to be haunted. No one, especially not a girl like her would go anywhere like that. Instead, she said she went there at least once a week. And she also went through the portal when she found it. She was curious, very curious. She even touched my fur out of curiosity.
I let out a sigh. What was I going to do with her? Now I did not even know how she was going to find a way to get inside the castle as a servant. What if they took her as a slave?
I returned my gaze to her sleeping face. She was not ready. She was never going to be ready to be a slave. Forget slave, she was not even ready to be a servant. I had no idea how she was going to do so.
I tried not to think about it and tried to sleep a bit. I had no idea when I fell asleep. But when I woke up, I knew it was morning. But something else had awoken me. I felt something on my stomach.
I looked down and saw that she had her right leg on my stomach, still sleeping. She did not have any body hair. I felt compelled to stroke her pale, delicate leg. What if she woke up and saw me touching her? She might get the wrong impression, or maybe the correct impression.
She moved slightly and opened her eyes. I quickly looked away from her face, pretending that I had woken up just now as well.
"Oh, good morning," she murmured, her voice groggy. "I'm sorry," she muttered quickly moving her leg from my stomach, making me suddenly feel blank. "I have this habit, you know, to throw my hands and legs while sleeping. I sleep alone. So it wasn't really a problem. But now... You don't mind, do you? I'll try not to do this. By the way, do you have a girlfriend?"
"That's..."
"I know that's none of my business. You say this too much, like really too much. But come on. We can try to be friends," she said.
As if we could ever be friends when my mind had already pictured her naked and moaning my name when I fucked her!
"No, I don't have a girlfriend," I said.
"Cool! I don't have to explain to her that you haven't done anything and that we're just working together, nothing more," she said. "So can we be friends?"
"No."
"Why not? Am I not worthy of being your friend? Or am I too annoying? Or do you want to be that tough all that time? Or..."
"I'll tell you one day, maybe," I said and got out of bed. I watched her as she examined my body. She most likely had not noticed before that I was wearing nothing but my shorts. I waited, standing there long enough for her to see as much as she wanted.
She did not look away. She watched my muscles with great curiosity. She did not look down my torso to my disappointment. She then stepped in front of me, her petite form scrutinizing my six-packs.
"Do you work out every day?" she asked. "No, you don't have to answer. You are really strong. I mean, you carried me here effortlessly as if I am nothing but a piece of paper. And you have a cool body, you know."
I looked down at her and saw that she blushed. She perhaps realized what she had just said. "I'm being weird. It's just... I have never seen anyone like you. I mean, you are just... Never mind. I'll just freshen up. You said you are going to give me clothes. I need to head to the castle today. I need to make sure I'm in as a servant."
"What will you do if they want to take you as a slave and not a servant?" I asked.
She paused for a moment to think. "They will not take me as a slave. They're not going to want me like that."
"Why not?"
"Because slaves are used to pleasure the royals, right? So, they need to have a great body, perfect curves, a seductive voice, and loads of experience. That's why I'm out of the list."
I sighed silently. Only if she knew what others were going to think laying their eyes on her. It was just her who could not see what she was.