Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 22: brought to you by the chocolate man

Yumminess is now personified. Men quarrel. Shay oozes snot like a dying sea sponge. I forgot to update because I have no excuse. And mud comes back in fashion!

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Shay woke up on her side, encompassed about by warmth and fur. She lay on stone, but it was warm, and for that she was grateful. Everything about her existence felt vulnerable and raw, as though she had been rebooted without warning or any short-term memory to give her grounding. What she did have was aches and pains everywhere, especially in her stomach and throat, and a gutted out sensation as though someone had thrown her off a cliff and left her to die.

Something like wire tickled her sky-facing ear. Hot air puffed over her face.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to find darkness, lit by full moonlight and stars. Black fur blacked the vision of one eye, but the other could see the hunched form of a young man with golden hair and drooping, speckled cat ears.

"Parker?"

The ears twitched, but only raised a little bit. He lifted his head to give her a happy smile, though it lacked his usual energy.

"You sound terrible," he said, very softly, as though he might hurt her if he spoke too loud. And, with the way she was feeling, that may just happen.

The warmth behind her rumbled. She touched the panther arm her head rested on and let her fingers sink through the silky fur of his paw.

Parker's smile fell away.

"You're in this terrible state because I failed to protect you," he said. "I called myself your mate and then left you unprotected. I should have at least taken you with me, but I was so stupid. I'm still stupid."

His head hung off his shoulders, which had begun to tremble.

"I'm so sorry, Shay. I'm so sorry, I don't deserve to be your mate."

She ached for him, knowing all too well how it felt to be so weak. She also ached because, as his tears caught the starlight on their way down, his affection for her finally seemed real rather than just the clingy possessiveness of a child over a favorite toy.

Weakly, she reached out and touched his knee.

"It could have happened to anyone," she said, though she still sounded like a chain-smoker even after clearing her throat.

"But it happened to you because I was rash and stupid...and acted little better than a feral myself..."

After a moment of quiet sobbing, he tentatively reached out and touched the end of her fingers.

"I love you, Shay. You don't have to mate me, just get better, okay? I'll get you whatever you need, so you don't have to worry anymore. We'll be taking you back to The City of Beasts, where no feral could touch you. Neara will be there too."

She turned her hand and captured his fingers, giving them a gentle squeeze. A hand squeeze was a good reward for a love confession, right?

His eyes then flickered to her ankle, a familiar twist of jealousy wrinkling his nose, but ruined by the softness of guilt.

"My mom...my mom can help you get rid of that thing."

She followed his gaze to a red snake tattoo coiled up her ankle and calf, except it was unlike any tattoo she had ever seen. It had a surreal 3D effect to it brought about by the detailed scales and the clear, red eyes staring unseeingly from her skin.

Her heart stuttered in her chest. "That..."

"Unless you wanted to be married to him..." Parker's tone couldn't be more obviously choked with jealousy.