Cat walked up the steps of the two story wooden house with a nice red wood finish. The front of the house had a single window on the first floor, with two more on the upper floor and from what I could see there were no signs of life in the house so far. As Cat opened the door to walk inside, I paused for a moment to check and make sure I wasn't going to drip too much blood onto the floor, only to find my nose had stop bleeding and the gash on my head was scarring over already. This almost caused me to panic before I took a deep breath and sighed realizing this was just how I was going to be now. I quickly wiped away the dried blood onto my now ruined shirt and then followed Cat inside, hoping to find a bed where I could l lie down and try to sleep off this headache, only to find a beautifully decorated home with Cat no where to be found.
I wondered into the first open door to find a kitchen illuminated by a few candles. There was a wooden table there with two chairs positioned opposite of each other and all three seemed to be hand crafted. As I looked farther in I could see a small furnace that was on and was slow roasting what looked like meat of an elk alongside a closed pot. Moving away from the kitchen, I entered the room with the window facing the front yard to find it was a cozy living room. A very spacious room with a single couch below the window and a fireplace, the walls were adorned with paintings that looked like pieces only a king would have. The couch itself was made of the fur of a black bear and as I ran my hand across it, I could feel the subtle warmth the fur skin was able to hold to keep you from getting too cold while sitting on this couch at night. I took a moment to look out the actual window and was surprised to see Lukos sleeping under the tree itself, but beside him sat an eagle on a low hanging branch. The eagle itself was calm and at ease, though only a few feet away from something capable of snapping its neck in two in a matter of seconds, and yet Lukos seemed to not mind the eagle's presence either.
"As a hunter, you learn very early that what you are doing isn't just killing animals for sustenance or for sport. You perpetuating the circle of life. Animals feel just like you and I so sometimes killing a wounded animal swiftly and free it from the pain of this world, and others animals see this as a truth. That eagle comes and goes from time to time as he likes Lukos's tree, but Lukos has never once tried to hurt it. It's because Lukos knows that eagle is taking a break from perpetuating the circle just like Lukos is. He sees the eagle as an equal in the circle and respect his presence, as the eagle does the same in return." I turned as Cat had began speaking to see that she had changed into a pair of normal sweat pants and a t-shirt that looked like it could fit me that surprised me. She looked down to see what I was looking at and smiled. "Gifts that were given alongside prayers back when the world was more.....decent than it is now. No one else seemed to want them so I have a few pairs of human clothes in my room, come on, there should be some that fit you." She smiled softly as she led me up the stairs, but as we walked towards her room, we passed another room that was furnished for a man to stay in, but had obvious dust showing that no one had stayed here in a long time.
"Cat.....do you live here by yourself?" My question caught her off guard as she hesitated before answering.
"....Yeah I do now. I used to live here with my brother, but he left a long time ago......Here the clothes are in this room." We entered what I imagined was her room and I was surprised at what I saw. In her room sat a simple Queen-sized bed beside a bedside table that had a lit candle on it. On the shelves of the table sat numerous books that I couldn't catch the titles of as Cat moved me to the closet. After a few minutes I was able to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top, but as I changed I noticed that my body had changed on the outside as well as the inside. I had felt no different before now, yet my muscles were actually defined now. I left her room after a few moments and went back downstairs to see her tending to the food, so I decided to lie down on the couch and close my eyes for a few moments to relax my head.
When I opened my eyes again, the sun that once illuminated the room was no where to be found, and as I looked up, I spotted Cat right above me staring into the light of the fire coming from the fireplace with a soft smile. It was at this point that I realized my head was lying on her lap and that her hand was ever so softly caressing my chest as she watched the fire. I could feel myself grow slightly more red as I bathed in her beauty. but the moment was ruined as my stomach growled loudly in hunger causing Cat to look down directly into my eyes and smile before giggling softly.
"Dinners sitting by the fire to keep warm, so you can eat whenever you like." I couldn't help but smile up at her as I once again contemplated just how amazing she was. Even as inexperience as I was, I knew I couldn't let a moment like this pass by, so as I sat up straight, I stopped Cat's hand from leaving my chest and stead pulled her closer. I moved her arms to the back of my neck as I watched her eyes widen and blush grow, while I moved closer to her. Our lips inches away now, I could feel her breathing heavily against my own lips and I couldn't hesitate any longer, softly kissing her lips. We explored each others mouths for what felt like an eternity as I let my hand roam her sides down to her hips. As I continued to move my hands down towards her round derriere, I started to softly kiss away from her mouth and down to her neck. Her mouth now free, I could hear her audible agreement to my action as she growled softly and moved her hands to my back. She lightly clawed at my shirt, leaving light scratches as I nipped her neck lightly, then sucking on the bitten area to enhance the feeling. As this continued, I grew more brave and started to pull up lightly on her shirt, but this movement brought Cat back to her sense as she suddenly tensed up and moved her hands to my own, stopping me.
"Justin......I don't think I'm ready to go that far." I felt crushed, but what hurt worse than any beating I had taken so far was the look pain on Cat's face as I realized how stupid I was being. She wanted this just as bad as I did, if not more and it was killing her to stop me, so the look of hurt on my face must have been like daggers to her. I felt horrible for letting her feel this way and tried to fix it by moving my hands away from her shirt giving her one more soft kiss on the lips before pulling us both back up to sit on the couch again. I pulled her into my arms and held her close as we watched the fire dim.
"I won't rush you Cat, I'm sorry for making you feel that way. I just-" I was cut off by Cat moving my hand down to sit firmly against her ass as she leaned up and licked the side of my neck before sucking on it softly, sending a shiver down my spine as I'd never felt that before. My reaction caused her to giggle as she moved to my ear and whispered softly into it.
"Thank you, you are too sweet to me Justin, but I just don't want to go too far tonight." She paused to kiss my cheek softly before moving my face to make me look at her. "If you really meant what you said today about protecting me, then I will do the same, just don't ever leave, okay?" I could see the worry return to her face at these last words as she truly feared me leaving her. With no more words to say I could only nod before kissing her softly and then leaning back and closing my eyes once more. As the fire reduced to ashes, the food she had made for me would go untouched tonight. As slept was just overtaking me, I was brought back to my sense by a loud banging on the door.
