The next morning, Astri feels something soft on her hands, and when she opens her eyes she sees her hands holding onto a tiger. She gets startled getting away from him.
"Sorry!" She blushes looking somewhere else and keeping a safe distance.
The tiger rubs his face on her head like a cat, a giant cat on his case, like saying she doesn't need to apologize. He shifts back to his human form and, like yesterday, he doesn't let her do anything. He didn't let her wear her shoes alone, he was extremely careful not to hurt her.
"Your skin clothes are very different." He speaks.
"These are not skin. It´s made of cotton." She says softly.
"Cotton? … I didn't know it was possible to make clothes with cotton. Females normally use them when they're bleeding in the mating season."
"Yeah... That too." She doesn't want to talk about women's periods, so she focuses on organizing her backpack.
She stands up and then wears her backpack.
"Let me carry this bag on your back. It's heavy." He says.
"It's not needed. I have things here that I really don't want to lose, so I prefer having them stuck with me."
"I understand." The female still doesn't trust him entirely, so he needs to accept her conditions. "I'll carry you either way. You can't keep walking with your foot injured like that. Let me know if you get tired and want to rest and eat." He speaks and then undresses again.
She turns her face, to don't look at his parts, but she already noticed that he really doesn't mind being seen naked. He shifts into his tiger form, then he lays down and calls her to ride on him.
She protested a bit, but he didn't move until she accepted riding him. Thinking better, maybe she needs to let him help her. It will be much safer and easier to find safety and the village.
Deep inside he's happy to have the female riding him, only mates do that and he wonders if she knows that or if she accepted him. He doesn't care which option it is, he's not planning to leave her side.
After getting used to his movements, she decided to take notes about what she learned until now.
"Good morning." She hears Claud in her mind.
She looks at Wayde and he really didn't see to hear Claud indeed, so he's in her mind for sure.
"Can you hear me if I talk in my mind?" She asks in her mind.
"Yes. Why can't you talk normally?"
"A beastman found me yesterday. His name is Wayde, he's a tiger."
"That's good. I'm actually relieved to know that. Is he taking you to the village?"
"Yes. He said he wants the doctor to check on me."
"Good. I told you normal beastmen would want to help you." Claud is relieved indeed, he couldn't rest properly thinking about whether Astri would survive. "Do you know how powerful he is?"
"How can I know that? He's a tiger, that's all I know."
"Did you see any pattern on his body? Like a drawing." He asks.
"Yes. On his arm, looks like a black tiger tattoo, but I didn't pay attention to the details."
"On these patterns, there are marks on it. You can measure how powerful someone is by those marks. Didn't he tell you how many marks he has?"
"He just said that no animal or feral would come after me if he is with me." She tells.
"He must have at least five marks then. You can rest assured that you will be safe with him on most of the occasions in this forest." Claud explains.
"How many marks do you have?" She asks.
"Only six. My abilities are more about knowledge if I can say that."
"So the marks measure physical strength? Or battle abilities?"
"Thinking like that is not wrong. It's a simple way to put it."
"I see… He wants to be my mate. Will he want to harm me if I keep saying no?"
"No, but he will be around you if he wants to. If he likes you, he will stay with you accepting him or not. Even more that he knows you will be alone if he leaves. He might give up if you simply say he's not worthy of you." He answers.
"I can't say that. It's more like I'm not worthy of him."
"So he will stay. Don't think too much about that. If he didn't force you until now, you shouldn't worry."
She sighs. As long as he doesn't force her into anything, it's better than nothing.
"Will you still find a way to come and get me?" She asks.
"I will find a way. Until then I'll be contacting you like this whenever possible." Claud answers.
"Until then I should stay in the village where Wayde will take me?"
"You should take the opportunity to learn about the Beastmen's World. Learn how we live and how you can adapt your life."
She stays in silence for a while.
"Am I a beast?"
"What do you think?" He asks after a short silence.
"By your reluctant question… I'm not a mother, but I helped take care of dozens of kids. I know that making the other answer has two reasons. One option is: You don't know the answer. The second option is: The answer is yes and you don't want to be the one to say it." She speaks. He chuckles softly.
"You're too smart. You're not a common beast."
Her eyes are wide with what he said and he realizes his mistake.
"You're VERY smart."
"I'm a beast… How is that possible? You said that there are no beasts in the world I came from. I never shifted into a beast."
"I'll only tell you that you're a beast. But I already told you that it's better not to know something that you're not ready to learn. You never shifted because you never knew you were a beast and your environment didn't tell you needed to. Learning how to shift is something you have to learn since you're a child. You can learn now, but it will take time."
"That's why you told me to learn about life here. You want me to learn how to live as a beast, to then go to you and learn the reason I'm here."
She's in shock to learn that she wasn't a human at all. But thinking better… It makes sense. She was never like other humans. She only pretended to be one.
"I'm sorry. One day you will have all your answers. Day by day you will understand better about yourself, but please be careful. Others can't know about your beast form and you need to stay safe no matter what." Claud speaks.
She stays quiet not knowing what to think at that moment. Claud could sense that she won't talk anymore.
He felt horrible, he felt like betraying her for not telling the whole truth, but he also needed to protect her and it was too much for her to learn in a short period of time.
"Please, trust me, Astri."
"OK.. " She answers.
She falls silent again and keeps looking to nowhere. He sighs and decides to leave her be.