My Three Protectors [MXMXMXM]

Chapter 7

You know you've had a rough sleep when you wake up with either a dead limb, a stiff neck or by simply feeling cold with no idea where you lost the covers during the night. 

Imagine my annoyance when I wake up from my nap with all three of the above.

I mean sure going to sleep against a concrete wall wasn't the best idea and was bound to result in a stiff neck, but I'm pretty sure there were three fur-covered bodies to keep me warm against the chill that the cell possessed.

Now I'm cold, have a neck that refuses to rotate without a pinching pain and a dead arm after having been crushed under my body. 

Don't blame me if I'm grumpy for the rest of the day.

With the lighting not being the best I open my laptop to see what time it is to note that I have roughly two hours before the zoo closes. Seems I was asleep for longer then I intended to be, as I wanted to spend as much time with the cats as possible since I won't be able to see them tomorrow.

Talking about those three, where did they scamper off to?

Using the wall to stand up, I shake my dead arm to try to 'wake it up' and get the blood flowing back into my hand again, what a weird sensation that is, but it nonetheless works.

"..."

A noise draws my attention to another cell down the corridor, so I hobble my way over to it and question in my head why they went into a different cell in the first place.

I round into the small room to be greeted by the three of them assembled in a circle. They all turn to glance at me stoically, as if I've just interrupted a private meeting that I'm not apart of, and then carry on communicating, but silently this time with the occasional head gesture towards me. 

Why do I get the feeling that they're talking about me? 

After a few minutes of just awkwardly leaning on the wall by the entrance to the room waiting for them to finish whatever it is they're doing, they all get up to rub affectionately against me before retreating a few feet away.

"Oh so now you want my attention." I whisper with a childish pout. I'm not jealous that they were ignoring me or petty that they left me while I was napping I swear, it's just . . . whatever, it doesn't matter now anyway. 

I mumble some more to myself with my head tilted down, but my ramblings are cut short by a series of loud, unsettling sounds.

Crack, pop, crack.

My head shoots up and the sight before me churns my stomach into mush, my mind heavy with disbelief. Each of the animals thin layer of fur retracts into flesh, the uncovered skin stretching and twisting over popping bones, the face along with the body morphing into a more humanoid shape.

Never in my life have I experienced such a disturbing visual experience, and I watch horror movies (sometimes).

I had somehow ended up on the floor, my knees most likely having collapsed due to being reduced to jelly and shaking so much.

In place of what was once three animals, stood three breath-takingly handsome naked men, each sharing a likeness to the animal that was present before. 

Seconds of deafening silence pass before I eventually snap out of my frozen state to take in their appearances.

The man on the left had deep black hair that appeared really silky, making me want to run my fingers through it to see if it was, and the strands had been pushed back to reveal his insanely vivid forest eyes. He had very high killer cheekbones and a lean physique of at least 6'5 which was accentuated even more from my position on the floor; the panther.