“Mama, I was a good girl today.”
I nodded, stroking her soft fox ears.
I gave her one of the chickens and asked, “Did you see Silas?”
Annie pointed a paw towards the cramped staff room.
“He’s been in there all day.”
I knocked on the door.
Silas sat on the bed with his back to me, wrapped in a blanket like a burrito.
The bed was too small for him.
His magnificent tail drooped sadly to the floor.
I held out the chicken, the savory aroma filling the small space. “Here. Eat something.”
He didn’t move.
I placed the perfectly roasted bird on the flimsy bedside table and waited.
After a long silence, his voice, muffled by the blanket, finally came.
“Why didn’t you come to comfort me?”
The bite on my finger had scabbed over, but the memory still stung.
I was twenty–nine years old, and for the first time in my life, I’d had to get tetanus and rables shots.
Comfort him?
11:22 PM
d
4
The fact that I hadn’t beaten him senseless was a testament to my years of education and high moral character.
I didn’t feel like speaking, so I remained silent.
He didn’t get a reply, but he continued anyway.
“It’s been long enough. You should realize you were wrong by now. If you just bring Jenna back and apologize to her, I’ll forgive you. I’ll even let you touch my tail.”
Was his tail made of platinum?
When I had adored him, it seemed like the most precious thing in the world.
But now, Annie offered me her tail freely every day.
The novelty had worn off.
Silas, still not looking at me, kept listing his demands.
“And you have to get rid of Annie. Jenna and I will move back into my old room. And from now on, you are not to interfere…”
He sounded completely delusional.
I picked up the chicken and tossed it directly into the trash can.
“I didn’t come here to apologize. You can eat this or not. I don’t care.”
The scent of roasted chicken mixed with the faint, unwashed smell of a neglected fox, fouling the air in the small room.
A wave of nausea hit me.
Silas finally turned around, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He looked so pitiful.
But all I could see were his fangs from that day.
Silas was a beastman who could not be tamed.
I informed him coolly, “I’m here to tell you that I sold you. Your new owner will be here to pick you up shortly.”
Without waiting for a reaction, I walked out and shut the door.
I needed to have this room professionally deep–cleaned.
The lingering presence of Jenna and Silas felt like a curse.
I never expected to see Jenna again so soon.
I was waiting outside my building for Silas’s buyer.
And Jenna showed up.
She marched into the lobby, her eyes burning with resentment.
