Chapter 4.
He stood six feet tall, his build surprisingly skinny and yet, well built with a rather defined posture. His messy hair was a mixture of white and a tint of black strands singling out, his ocean blue eyes were rather difficult to ignore, he had long white ears and his smile exposed his very long canine teeth. Draped in bear's animal hides around his waist, and several bone ornaments formed into the necklace neck, his ears had the piercings adorned with bones.
From the look of things, this man was definitely stronger than whoever she faced back there. He was smiling, yet every inch of her body screamed at her to make a run for it, and she knew taking a step would be risky.
"I'd never thought I'd see the day a rabbit took down a leopard, you've given me something entertaining to watch…" the man spoke with a low, alluring voice as he drew closer.
"Please, I don't want trouble, I just- I really want to get out of here but I'm lost, and I don't know my way out."
"Really, but this kind of place people exactly wander off too, it's either you were abandoned here, or you were offered as a sacrifice, so which is it?"
Circling around June, he would sometimes lean closer to take a quick sniff of her. June lowered her eyes, like a prey within the grasp of a predator she trembled, "I- I was betrayed and cast out here because I was in the way."
"I see~"
The man stopped for a moment, and then swiftly swept June off her feet and onto his shoulder before she could speak. "What the! Put me down!!!" She yelled.
"Nah, you're coming with me now, I'll protect you rabbit, don't worry, I'm much stronger than that leopard, I can't believe he was stupid enough to die by fall, how could he keep a female safe when he can't even fight against one."
His constant blabbering had June silenced, he was overly cheerful, energetic even, and his guard seemed to have lowered and yet she had no openings to escape from him.
"Don't worry rabbit, my home isn't far from here, and you were trying to catch a fish, maybe I'll catch some after I get you somewhere safe."
After many miles of an uncomfortable carry, June and the man finally arrived at a small yet comfortable cave with only a small fur bed and wooden kitchen utensils. The man let her down gently and then sat right in front of her. She had failed to notice this before but then now that the man had a long tail that wagged cheerfully.
"What are you?" She wondered aloud.
"Me? You don't know what beastman I am, female?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the left. His face said it all, beastmen could tell other beastmen from just a single glance and yet she had no idea who he was, even though he seemed to have discovered her identity.
Amid the silence, echoed a small stomach growl. The man looked at June who covered her stomach in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed red.
The day was already over, late as it was, there was no way she was going outside, not after Bigo had warned her already.
"Although it is weird to see you want to eat fish, I shall get you as much fish as you want."
Leaning forward a bright blue light engulfs the man who crawled on his hands, the wind from the transformation pushes June back a bit as she covers her face for protection. "I'll be back in a bit."
June opened her eyes, her heart spiked a beat. She was expecting a canine but, "a Husky?" That wasn't in her expectant list, but here she was, talking with one.
"At least, now you know what I am, rabbit. Wait here for me, I've marked my territory so no one would harm you if you just stay put, see you later Rabbit."
In a jiffy he sprinted out the cash, a fast wave of wind ruffled June's hair as she watched him leave.
***
"Host! Are you there?"
Although the voice was shaky, she could tell who it was, the irresponsible Toad had returned. "Glad to see you're alive, and you've found shelter too."
June frowned, she marched towards the frog, angrily grabbed it in a tight grip and picked it up, "Get the fuck away from me you selfish toad."
"Woah, calm down, hey, at least I had a good reason for running away. If I died, who else would clean up your mess and help you find your way out of this place?"
"If I'm dead, there would be no leaving this place," she complained.
"Fair enough, but hey, I mean, at least you got something good out of it, yeah?! Besides, I saved your book for you, which is a good thing right."
She couldn't help but agree with its reasoning as much as she didn't want to. With a sigh she let Bigo down who cautiously took quick steps away from her, "so- plant element huh, pretty neat. But em, you do know that man would be back with some fishes soon, how are you gonna eat it if it isn't cooked?"
Bigo's question was the reality that finally dawned on her, "give me the book," she demanded. Opening the first page, she finally made her first research, "how to start a fire with nothing around in the jungle."
The book only took about a second before it started writing down the step by step instructions. Sunlight, sparks, friction. Every material needed to get the job done was listed, all she had to do was pick one, something which obviously was gonna work without sunlight. Her best bet is sparks.
"Alright," she said to Bigo, "you're gonna help me, get these things from this book so I can start a spark, I don't know where to get these stones from, so you're gonna find them for me. Got that."
"But–"
"No buts, now get to work, otherwise I might as well wring up your little neck," she said. Bigo did not hesitate to leave.
He returned later with two quartz stones, and using the directions, June gathered up branches around and wooden accessories to build a fireplace and started the fire. It was no sooner than she started that the Husky returned with his jaw dropped.
"You! You can use fire element too?" He questioned.
"No, but I can conjure fire from stones," she answered with a cheeky laugh. The husky reverting back to its human form hurried closer with the bundle of fish he caught and a trunk of water, and June dashed into his small kitchen to get the bowl and quickly proceeded to making dinner, although she was an amateur, she definitely knew how to cook, but with no spices, June could only make due with drying the fish instead.
"Tomorrow, I'll make breakfast and then be on my way," she said.
The mood instantly turned sour. "On your way? I saved you, and gave you a place to stay, you also accepted my food, so that means you've allowed me to take responsibility for you."
"Responsi– hold on, I only accepts it because you volunteered to help, I would have gone out to pick berries or something."
"And then what? Get killed by a pack of beast wolves?"
June clicked her tongue, he wasn't wrong but she also wasn't wrong, the both of them definitely had different ideas for what responsibility meant. "It doesn't matter, you're not going anywhere, you're my female now."
Adamant about letting her go, the husky made its way to the entrance of cave, sat there and transformed into its beast form, hurdled up and went to sleep, and June, losing her mind, also went wild, refunding to talk to him as she looked away from him, at first she refused to eat but with a second growl she quickly stuffed the fish into her mouth and proceeded to devour the tasteless fish while the husky peeked with satisfaction as she accepted his offering and just like that, the day came to an end.