Orm is sleeping deeply, as if the excitement of the early events had finally caught up to him.
He was sleeping too deeply to notice me taking his cloak and leaving my room.
I'm starving!
I found my way towards the kitchen and thankfully, nobody was there.
Surprisingly, even though it's evening, the rest of the pack isn't back yet. I have a feeling that their training sessions are getting intense after that scene with Yilan.
Not to mention, that Leon is sadistic when it comes to training sessions.
I should cook a lovely meal for all of them. It's been so long since I've cooked for them.
Hmmm.. what should I make?
Ah! It's been so long since I had Italian food! Mmmm.. spaghetti.. lasagna.. pizza.. cotoletta.. Florentine steak.. tiramisu.. gelato..
I better get started if I'm planning to cook all of them.
All kinds of lovely smells filled the kitchen as I was soon engrossed in cooking everything.
Too engrossed that I didn't notice Ghost joining me in the kitchen.
By the time I noticed him, I let out a scream of fright and nearly dropped the bread I had just made.
In a flash, Ghost instantly caught the bread and apologized for frightening me.
Oohh.. great reflexes!
He looked interested in everything I just cooked and ate a bit of everything.
Except the meat, of course.
Eating a bit of everything only increased his appetite, so I had to cook another batch of everything, which I didn't mind, as Ghost assisted me with the preparations.
While cooking, I asked him if they are all done with the training.
Ghost grinned at me in the middle of his "tasting" and told me that Leon excused him early from the training session.
Why?
Ah.
After what happened with Yilan, the pack and Leon decided it would be better for two pack members to watch me.
I see.
That's a great decision. In case we encounter a stronger opponent, we can call the rest of the pack for back up.
And no, I should not change into my monster form to help them. There is a reason for it, which they will discuss with me as soon as everyone is together.
I wonder why.
Hmph. Hopefully they will explain it to me. Otherwise, I will find out why myself.
.....
Imagine Orm's surprise when he woke up and saw me and Ghost placing the food inside the room.
I tried not to look at him as Ghost chatted all sorts of gossip he had heard and a lot of them were extremely amusing.
Too amusing that I soon had a severe case of hiccups because I laughed uncontrollably.
Despite Orm and Ghost's efforts to stop my hiccups, they didn't go away and it got to the point that I involuntary transformed...
Into my deserter form,
In all my naked glory.
But to my surprise, they didn't have the same reaction as Sly.
In fact, they looked extremely fascinated.
For Orm, he has an artistic eye and seeing me in another form gave him an inspiration, perhaps because he looked too interested in looking at my body.
But as for Ghost...
It took all of my self-control not to punch him as he kept making all sorts of.. comments.. about my erection..
And that we should see whose is bigger.
I want to punch him, not out of annoyance, but out of silliness, as I'm quite tempted and curious.
Oh heck, I want to know!
But to my embarrassment, Lion, Sly and Alpha entered my room unexpectedly, just as Ghost and I were trying to measure each other's erections, with Orm making all sorts of comments on how he couldn't determine which was bigger.
Um, this is a definitely weird and extremely awkward situation that needs a lot of explanation.
If you could only see Lion's, Sly's and Alpha's faces.
Lion gave a huge sigh and asked us what on earth we were doing.
As for Sly, he was so traumatized by what I did to him back then that he hurriedly excused himself and went to the bathroom, where we could hear him vomiting his stomach out.
Alpha looked at the scene strangely before asking the others what the heck the stranger was doing inside my room.
The rest of us went silent as we realized that Alpha hasn't yet gotten a grasp of the situation.
I gave a little cough before telling Alpha that it's me.
He didn't say anything as he approached me, sniffing me all over my body before unexpectedly giving a little lick on my neck that made me yelp in surprise.
Lion was about to say something when I asked Alpha what he was doing.
I felt goosebumps when Alpha grinned at me and told everyone that even though I'm in a different form, it's still me and yes, he still finds me desirable.
OH I DONT WANT TO KNOW THAT!
I kept saying all sorts of expletives as I backed away from Alpha, whose eyes looked like he was having too much fun teasing me..
While looking a bit aroused too.
OH MY GOSH! GET AWAY FROM ME!
He chased me around the room while the others simply looked perplexed, not knowing what to do, especially Lion.
In my panic, I unintentionally transformed back into my human form.
But with a tail.
Now both Lion and Alpha are trying to catch me!
I'm awakening their predatory instinct!
Sly had just come out of the bathroom when he saw the chaos and me pleading for help.
He was about to defend me when I hiccupped and transformed into a tiny version of my dragon form.
Now three of them are trying to catch me!
....
Nooooo!!!
All of them are trying to catch me!
They called my name in a lingering, playful way, telling me to stop running away from them.
Orm and Ghost tried to help me when they saw me almost out of breath, just before the stupid transformation stone went out of control and turned me into Violet.
But with a short hair.
I'm so exhausted!
Thankfully, the chasing stopped when I collapsed on the floor and transformed back completely into my human form.
Finally.
They could see I was sweating profusely and out of breath. Then Lion licked me all over my neck and shoulders before gently carrying me inside the bathroom.
The rest of the pack followed and there we all took a bath together.
We also had our meal there, where all sorts of liquors appeared out of the blue, which the pack quickly consumed.
All the early activity drained me, so I snuggled up to Lion and closed my eyes.
He held me tenderly as he positioned me properly on his lap and nudged me as he told me that I haven't yet eaten.
Sleepily, I told him that I was too exhausted to eat and just wanted to sleep.
I didn't hear the rest of what he was saying because I finally passed out from exhaustion.
....
By the time I woke up, Ghost was snuggling and embracing me in his sleep.
The rest of the pack seems to have left for their training.
To my surprise, I can hear someone bathing.
That's right. Ghost told me earlier that two from the pack would be watching me.
If Ghost is here, I wonder who else is watching me.
At this point, Alpha came out of the bathroom while drying his hair with a towel.
He grinned at me as he approached me without a word and carrying me in his arms to the bathroom.
Seeing the fire in his eyes didn't yet die down, I had an idea what else we were going to do inside the bathroom besides bathing me.
And I was right.
Thankfully, Ghost was sleeping so deeply that he didn't hear us, even though we were a bit noisy.
Mercy for my thighs!
...
Alpha dressed me in a lovely attire that he bought for me while Ghost had a good time fixing my hair.
To my lovely surprise, despite my hair a tiny bit below my shoulders, he gave me a fancy, elaborate hairstyle.
He grinned triumphantly towards Alpha, who had commented something earlier about my hair being too difficult to fix.
Alpha doesn't want to be upstaged that he changed my clothes into something more elaborate.
Um. Why am I wearing this if I just ended up staying inside my room?
It turns out that we are accompanying Alpha while making his rounds around the territory.
Despite not being originally from here and having a bit of a grudge towards Leon, he did his job extremely well.
Too well that many forgot he wasn't originally from here.
I wonder how he feels about knowing that Leon turned out to be Lion's father.
I hope this revelation won't cause a rift in the pack in the future.
...
To my delight, the citizens didn't act differently towards me, unlike those at the palace.
If you think about it, it's mostly the elites who are hostile towards me, though they can't be open about it, or they face the pack and Leon's wrath.
It was quite fun accompanying Alpha in his rounds and Ghost and I did a little shopping too.
We also visited our businesses, which are doing so well that we are thinking of expanding again.
I visited Puma, who looked extremely excited to see me, her excitement rose to a higher level when she saw my four mating marks.
Of course, she didn't believe me when I told her nothing else happened.
I had to bring her somewhere private where the other two couldn't hear our conversation and I told her some details, though not everything.
She guffawed and reminded me again of everything that I said a long time ago.
Yeah, yeah.. I'm eating my own words.
The best kisser?
Sly.
The best in...
Oh, stop it!
I playfully slapped her arm when she asked me how many rounds Lion and I...
None of her business!
With a grin, she told me she has plenty of potions on hand and will send a lot of them to the castle.
No charge.
And if I plan to have intercourse with whoever has the biggest erection among them, she is also giving me a special potion.
With that, she gave me a knowing look while raising one of her eyebrows.
After giving her a glare, she laughed uncontrollably for a long time.
....
I sighed and looked down.
Maybe she knows why I can't get pregnant.
She instantly became serious and asked me what's wrong.
I told her what Myra told me.
I cried when I told her about everything. She looked so bewildered that it took her quite some time to talk.
She sighed and asked me if Lion knows.
No.
I didn't tell him.
To my surprise, she told me that it was good I hadn't told him yet and she was going to give me a special potion that Puoma had made recently.
Um. What kind of potion?
She brought me to the clinic, where Nyma and Puoma instantly hugged me and told me that they missed me a lot and wished that I would visit more often.
We chatted for a while and Nyma and Puoma updated me on their lives, telling me that they are bonding with someone and yes, they will still continue working after mating.
Hold on.
Are they both bonding with the same individual?
Yes.
I see.
But who am I to judge them if they both wanted it?
Anyway, Puoma gave me a bottle of potion and told me to drink only a drop each day.
I looked at her suspiciously and asked her if there are any side effects.
To my horror, she doesn't know as she hasn't tested it yet.
So I'm the guinea pig?!
But she assured me that it might help me with my condition.
Might?
Oh well. Desperate individuals such as myself can't be choosy.
With eagerness on her face, she told me to take note of everything, especially if I felt something strange or weird.
Right.
I definitely will.
.....
Uh, Ghost?
Ghost looked at me with a huge grin on his face as he was carrying all his purchases.
Seeing that there was an ord, he hired one, placed everything on it and instructed it to carry all his stuff back to our castle.
Then, he turned to me and asked if there was something I wanted to buy, as Alpha was quite busy with a few troublemakers.
I gave him a hug and told him that I just want to spend time with him.
He looked pleased at my answer and carried me in his arms, nuzzling me all over while his face turned into a pretty shade of red.
It took several moments for him to buy all sorts of food since he wanted to have a picnic with me.
How adorable!
I like it!
He brought me to a park, sat down on the bench and placed me on his lap.
Despite being a bit shy because we were in public, he enjoyed feeding me. However, after tasting some of the food, he made a face and commented that he could do much better.
I laughed and gave him a kiss, telling him that it's being with him that counts and that I'm looking forward to doing it again.
Oh, the joy on his face!
He told me about his plans for us and went on and on until he suddenly became silent.
Now what is it this time?
With tears in his eyes, he told me that he had done a great many sins towards me and how he had failed in his job of keeping me safe.
Not again.
I'm already over it! But I want to listen to his side of the story.
He knelt in front of me and bowed his head as he kept weeping, telling me of his shame, his failure to recognize me and the unforgivable sin of trying to kill me and...
Oh heavens. I'm tired of listening!
His words went in one ear and out the other, though I simply stared at him out of politeness until...
Say what?
I asked him to repeat what he just said.
It turned out that, from the time he tried to harm me in my monster form until he discovered it was me all along, he didn't eat or drink anything until I was released from the tower and shared a meal with him.
What.
The.
HECK??!!!
WHY NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT...
Oh.
The punishments they administered to themselves.
I remember Lion telling me about it, but he didn't elaborate.
But how come he is still alive?
With the help of potions that prevented him from fainting.
I see.
I stood up and began whacking him all over, not hard, just for effect and kept yelling at him for being stupid, though tears kept falling down my face.
I told him that I don't want him harming himself. I know he was sorry, but that was too extreme and I'm not happy about it.
He told me that he doesn't know what to do and that's the only thing he can think of besides killing himself in shame...
Let me clarify that I didn't hit him hard.
I kept hitting him everywhere and in between, I asked if I had hurt him. He simply gave me a tiny smile and told me that I was just tickling him.
Oh, for!
I sobbed in front of him and he immediately pulled me into a hug and tried to comfort me while he kept saying sorry.
With an embrace, I cried as I told him I don't want him to harm himself, that I will continue to trust him despite of everything and that I don't want to talk about what happened anymore. I'm already over it.
Sighing, i told him that we'll take it as a learning experience and move forward with our lives and hopefully, our relationship will grow better.
He wept for a while as I embraced him and he held me tight. We stayed in this position for a long time until he finally took my hand and placed it on his chest.
There he renewed his vow that he would protect me with his life and that his life is mine as always.
With a pause, he told me to wait for a little while.
Wait?
For what?
He didn't say anything but just smiled affectionately at me.
After staring at me lovingly in his eyes, he kissed me with such yearning, taking his time until he remembered that we were in a public place.
He stopped for a moment before smiling, murmuring about letting the others stare as much as they want.
And we continued kissing.