Layla woke up to the smell of something delicious, damn she could recognize that smell anywhere and now.
With a small yawn, she sat upright and stared blankly at the empty cave with the Husky nowhere in sight. Her body ached from the retribution she had suffered and still she could feel her muscles tense up each time she tried to move.
Growl~
Of course, yet again, Layla was hungry.
Lucky for her no one was around to hear such an embarrassing sound, but then it occurred to her the reason she awoke. Not far from her was a plate of familiar fruits. Some wild berries, grapes, bananas, and strawberries, the Husky had done some shopping, so it seemed. But where was he?
She gathered all of her strength and stood up, "Bigo! I know you're around here so show yourself, otherwise the next time I see you, you'll be frog soup," Layla yelled angrily, she didn't care what she had to say, she didn't even like frog soup, hell she hadn't even had frog soup, but so long as it was enough to get Bigo out, she didn't seem to care.
Bigo jumped out immediately, terrified at what a terrible host he was made to serve, "hey, what's your problem, can't you call for me without threatening to eat-"
Right before he could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by Layla. The toad struggled for air in her tight grasp, "look, you better tell me what the hell happened or bet that I would not think twice about actually making that soup."
"Okay, okay! Just- just let me breathe!!!"
Layla finally put him down, he gasped for air as it crawled a safe distance from her. "You're the one who wanted to mark gone, and that was just the punishment of your actions, besides, you were quite lucky, if that Husky had called out your name before then, you best believe that there was no going back," he said.
Layla leaned back as she let out a sigh of relief, "it was a success," she muttered, she had just narrowly escaped the life of a breeding tool which was worth celebrating, or was it?
Although she had spent just a night with Kai, he didn't seem like a bad person to her in the least. She couldn't help but feel guilty as Kai did seem to be genuinely interested in her but it was too late for regrets now.
A glance at her side reminded her of the fresh fruits which were begging to be feasted upon, she could almost taste them, the juicy squishy grapes, those sour strawberries, oh her cravings were sky rocketing at this point.
"Just go ahead and eat it, he kept it for you," Bigo said.
Hearing the truth made it a lot more difficult than she had expected, she would have gone ahead to feast on them, if Bigo hadn't reminded her of who brought what.
There was no way she could eat the food of the man she had just greatly rejected. Tired, she looked around, it was still quite early, so a simple thought crossed her mind.
"I could probably get something to eat myself." Not exactly the best plan she's had but it was worth the shot.
She didn't need to think about it anymore. Layla got up, "where do you think you're going, I told you, it's for you," Bigo yelled as he hopped behind.
There was not a single idea for a spot to visit, and since she didn't know where she was going she marked her way back on the trees, numbering them with a small sharp stone but each time she raised an arm to carve a number, her nose wiggled to a disturbing smell.
It wasn't until she had reached number 37 that she realized the smell was coming from her. She needed to take a bath, she hadn't taken one since she arrived at the beast world.
Instantly her plans had changed and her priority was to find a nice spot to bathe, now that she thought hard about it, the reason why the rabbit Beastkin hated the rain was probably because Rabbits didn't like to take a shower otherwise they'd get sick from a cold, lucky for her she had passed by a small lake during her walk.
She quickly retraced her footsteps, Bigo tiredly following her when suddenly, she heard a rustle. "Shh~" Her guard was up. Her experience had done enough homework at this point.
Wasting no time she ran towards a nearby tree to take cover as there wasn't any bush in sight except the one with an already approaching predator.
Silently she waited, careful not to utter a sound, her eyes never left the spot to avoid a surprise attack.
Steady!
Steady!!
Hop!
Layla was speechless, it was a rabbit. Nothing but a small, grey rabbit, who would have thought she was a rabbit herself. L
"Phew," she breathed in relief, "I thought I was a goner for a while back there."
She pondered for a while, she could finally come out and introduce herself to the rabbit so they could get to know each other since they were both stuck in the thick forest.
"I might have found a friend," she thought.
The more she stared at the rabbit which just remained in one position, eating some greens and getting its belly full, the more her appetite grew. She couldn't help it, it looked as appetizing as she could imagine, its fat, juicy tender thighs could keep her a day, or two perhaps.
She was probably as fast as the rabbit since she was one as well.
"Bigo, would you like to have rabbit steak for dinner?" she asked with the eyes of a hungry cavewoman.
"What? Host, that's a bad- and there she goes," Bigo tried to call out but he was too late, Layla was drooling as she approached the rabbit.
At long last, the both prey came face to face with one another and it all balled down to who would make the first move and who would remain standing as the supreme predator.
Layla's gaze was fixated on her prey, there was no going back from there, but she sure didn't expect to see the Rabbit draw closer without an ounce of fear on its face.
"Host! Listen to me," Bigo warned, "there's a reason why beastmen are outcast over here." He began, "The beastkin here are either beast who failed to transform fully and goy stuck in their animal phase, dangerous beasts, or female like you who are deemed worthless."
Layla frowned, the last part pierced deep into her dignity, significantly wounding her but that wasn't her problem.
It wasn't until the rabbit stood on two's, its bones reconstructed that it became twice its size that she knew she was no longer the predator. It had grizzled russet brown with pale belly, amber eyes, black-topped white tails and longer black-tipped ears. That was nothing like a wild rabbit, it looked more like an aggressive hare instead. That was an abomination.
"Well don't just stand there host, run for it, that thing could kill you, it doesn't eat just green, it eats meat too, get the fuck out of there!"
It was the first time Bigo cursed, but she couldn't give two fuck as she dashed out of there with all her might.
Her survival instinct, topped with dopamine kicked in which made her move with great speed, and her eyes scanned the trees as she recounted her footsteps on the way back. Layla had just awakened her abilities but the situation was dire, there couldn't be any more crazier time than this.
Suddenly she spotted a marked tree, eighteen, just seventeen more to go, it seemed, but she was wrong.
A quick glance to her left and her eyes met with the dead hungry gaze of a carnivorous rabbit, its tongue licked around its lips as it tasted the thought of fresh meat. The rabbit moved slightly to the left, and with a great leap, it kicked Layla off course.
She came tumbling down with a great force, and forcefully came to a stop after she slammed into a rock, her arm dislocated from the force, with wounds all over as she cried aloud.
The rabbit satisfied with her reaction drew near, its sharp claws, clearly visible as it prepped its attack. Layla knew there was no way out of this, there was no way she could get out of this on her own without her full powers which would help.
She recalled her nature powers and summoned green vines to wrap up the rabbit to keep it from moving, but it was too flexible. With high jumps and enough tossing and turning, along with some sharp claws, her opponent made its way neatly towards her.
There was only one person who could save her now. It was a gamble, whether or not he would help, whether or not he was close by, it was all out or nothing.
"Well fuck it," she thought, "Kai! Help me!"
A bright light like lightning flashed from behind Layla who ducked immediately, she could feel a cold breeze pass by her and relaxed, although she was unsure if this was his ability, Layla had a feeling that help had arrived, "are you okay?" A dent of worry of fear clouded Kai's voice, it wasn't his usual cheerful self, it was pure concern.
When she opened her eyes, Layla found herself staring at a very worried Kai. Seeing Layla safe, Kai embraced her in a hurry, her head rested upon his chest, his heart beating faster than it should as he chanted, "it's gonna be okay," almost as if he were chanting those words to himself instead.
"He was worried about me?"
Yeah no shit, of course he was, but she was just too hungry to see it until now.
Kai looked back, the rabbit, completely frozen, wouldn't last a day trapped in his Ice trap, Layla had finally gotten what she wanted, however just as they could catch their breaths Kai's ears perked.
Standing up, he shoved Layla behind him and stood in a protective stance. Five men walked out, "So, you were here Kai, we were wondering what had happened to you." One of the five said.
Layla could sense they weren't good news, Kai's body was obviously screaming red flags at this point.
"Kai, who are they?"