Page 10 of Stolen By The Beast
It turns out I wasn’t alone.
“Little one?” A deep rumbling voice came from the elongated skull that sat on the black-furred body.
The blurry memory of seeing a skull like this one as decor whispered through my mind, far too vague for me to bring it into focus.
Maybe it was an elk skull? But they didn’t have fur… or did they? Did skulls talk?
I thought bones meant the person or animal had died, but this being in front of me seemed pretty alive.
Lost in the terrifyingly empty expanse of my mind, I forgot to respond. The furred-skull creature reached out, his clawed hand catching my chin and lifting my face to meet his searching gaze.
The instant he touched me, the tightness in my chest eased and a sense of peace unfurled in my chest.
I was safe.
Instinctually seeking comfort, my body moved on its own, crawling onto his lap. I slid my arms around his waist, and pressed my cheek against the silky-soft fur of his chest.
My complete trust in him made zero sense. How could I know if he would kill me or not?
Because he wouldn’t.
It was that simple.
I couldn’t even remember my freaking name, but I was more sure of that fact than of anything else I knew at the moment. Curiosity wormed its way through me. “What’s your name?”
He remained silent for so long that I thought he wouldn’t answer. “Karvik.”
“Kar-vik,” I repeated, trying out the unfamiliar name.
An odd rumble came from his chest, but I couldn’t decipher whether it was annoyance, agreement, or something else.
“I would tell you my name, but I don’t remember it.” Absently, and as if they had a mind of their own, my fingers brushed at the thick fur on his chest, enjoying the vibration.
“Juniper.”
A flash of familiarity shot through my brain. Was he right? Was that my name? I chewed my lip and tried to remember.
“The male in the human abode called you by the word.” He nodded his pale bone skull toward my feet. “It is a fitting choice, although ‘Fawn’ would be more apt. You are unstable like a young deer when walking.”
“Juniper.” I repeated the name, hoping it would be the magic word that unlocked my memories.
It wasn’t.
Sighing in disappointment, I dropped my forehead against his chest, “Juniper it is. It’s as good a name as any other, I suppose.”
The birds fluttered in the thick branches, and the wind whispered through the trees as the minutes ticked by. Finally, Karvik broke the silence.
“The thing we are doing now, what is it called?”
It took a minute to understand what he was asking, and then another minute to find the right word inside my aching skull. “Cuddling.”
“Is there a purpose to this… cuddling?”
Tilting my head back, I searched the lines of his face. “It can be to give comfort, or to make someone feel less alone. Plus, it’s nice...” I trailed off. “Why do you touch someone else?”
It was Karvik’s turn to tilt his head. “I don’t.”
I gaped up at him. “Never? That’s so sad!” A new thought popped into my head. “Then again, maybe I’m a loner, too.”
