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I sat there for a moment, thinking about what it said. I didn't want to ask the next question, but I did anyway.

"How did I do that?"

"With your offering, last night".

My head sunk downward again toward my lap, and my hands reached for my forehead, running my fingers back through my hair before nervously grasping at it. Good god, I thought, I've accidentally summoned a demon with what I did last night.

"My offering?" I asked, just to confirm.

"Yes. Your life essence. I was on death's door before you came along and rescued me with that little bit of life. I cannot thank you enough."

As terrifying as this was, I did feel slightly at ease that it seemed indebted to me, and my head would rise as my hands slid from forehead down to my cheeks, pulling my face muscles down with them as they slid to my jawline.

"What do you mean by that? What sort of creature are you, exactly?"

It rose up a bit as it seemed a bit enthusiastic to explain it to me.

"My species is unnamed, but we normally do have faces. We are spirits of the wild, and of the forest, and we live in a dimension directly beside yours. We watch over travelers that stray into the woods, and we keep the creatures that live here safe."

I nodded along as he spoke.

"I have been plagued with a terrible curse, though. I was once known as the king of the woods, or 'The Wild King'. I was known as the mightiest of my kind, and I oversaw all the other watchers of all the woods in the world. But, one night, I made a terrible mistake. In a particularly ravenous hunger, I killed a deer as I was known to do at times. Our species may be watchers of the woods but we are creatures of it's graces just the same, and we hunt as all creatures do. I had, unknowingly, though, killed an expectant doe--the bride of a Forest God. He cursed me with a wasting disease, a blight that affects his kind, and I struggled to survive. My body decayed and my fur and flesh sloughed off. My muscles went next, and I dragged myself through the woods on bare bones. They would fall from me, one by one, until only my head remained. You found me in that terrible state earlier this week, and I saw you look at me. I wanted so badly to cry out to you for help, but I lacked the strength. I knew you saw me, though, and I knew you were thinking of me all those nights."

I recoiled a bit as he spoke, my eyes squinting with suspicion as I asked what he meant.

"You sat outside pleasuring yourself, wanting to be seen. You knew you were being watched, and it thrilled you. You knew I was watching you. I knew you wanted me, but I had no body to present to you. You yelled for me, though, to look at you, and you asked if I liked seeing you. I couldn't believe how much you wanted to mate with me, it filled me with such excitement. I knew you were the one fated to save me, so I used the last of my spiritual strength to throw my head down that hill and make my presence known again. Imagine my surprise when it actually worked."

What a terrible string of assumptions to make. I didn't know how to break it to this beast that I wasn't fantasizing about him watching me specifically, but rather just the thought of anyone seeing me. Even if I did know how to break it to him, though, I didn't want to tell a seven-foot-tall forest monster that he was flattering himself and that I only fucked his throat because I was drunk and wanted a hole. With that all in mind, I simply nodded and let him believe what he wanted to believe. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.

"You gave me a bit of your life, which no one had done since I was cursed, and now here I am with you to thank for it. I will love you forever for this."

Love. My eyes widened a little at the word, and I bashfully turned away from him.

"Well, uh, thanks...your...majesty? I really appreciate that. Surely you have a queen to love, though, r--"

He cut off my question with an urgent "NO! No i do not. I am alone outside of you", leaning forward as his hands rose from between his legs to pressing on his thighs. He was surprising natural in his mannerisms, he must've learned behaviors from having watched anthros in the woods before me.

"You're alone? What about your species?"

"We are few and far between nowadays, with the thinning of Wild Land, and I never wed as some of the others did. In my arrogance, I never saw someone worth being my bride. But you,"

My head was still turned away, but my eyes looked to him.

"I love you." he said it again. The cold fear in my body had been replaced with a heat, a rising heat that started in my core and was traveling outward. I didn't like that he kept saying it, but I didn't hate it either. It felt nice hearing someone say it so soon after meeting me, even if I knew it probably wasn't entirely honest. Still, the word activated all sorts of feelings in my body. I felt like my stomach was on fire. My snout and cheeks felt hot, my mouth was dry, though I dared not let him know that for fear he'd snake that earthy muscle around in it again.

"Well, thank you." I said, unsure of how to handle any of what was happening. My hands were nervously gripping the fabric of my slowly drying jeans.

"Do you love me, too?" he asked. Of course he had to fucking ask that, putting me on the spot immediately. The strange thing though, is that I was somewhat fond of him. I was fond of the concept of him, at least, the Wild King before me that seemed trustworthy and enamored with me. He was still very much a large monster, and I found myself struggling with accepting that something like him could have my best interests in mind. In that moment, though, he wasn't so bad. I'd certainly been with worse.

"I...need to get to know you, more, but I like you so far" I said, and his ears stood up in response.

"You wish to get to know me?" he asked, insisting "I want to know you as well! I want to know all about you!" as he became visibly excited, leaning forward more with every new thing he said. It was incredibly charming, and having a man desire to know more about me definitely warmed my heart a bit. I'd been with so many men before who asked very few questions, and had very little interest in anything about me outside of what I was like when I was around them. Buck was the first one that wasn't like that. King, though, not only seemed interested but eager.

"Let's go for a walk, then, and we can talk" I said as I pressed hands to dirt and slowly rose to my feet. He rose as well, holding my shirt, and it was then that I not only got to fully witness just how tall he truly was, but also that he was clearly male. I was correct in my earlier assumptions, he was certainly at least seven feet tall, and I found myself feeling miniscule standing only 5' 4" myself. He was...generously gifted between the legs, and it hung heavy and distracting, like a pendulum. I tried not to focus on it, and instead took my place beside him before trying to strike up a casual conversation with the beast.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Nico." I said, to which he tilted his head.

"Name? That's fascinating. I've heard of those. My kind doesn't have names. Some of us have titles, but we do not have names."

I found that a bit sad, and asked "well how should I refer to you? As The Wild King?"

"I suppose, if that's what you'd like."

I pondered for a moment as we started our walk in a direction away from my truck.

"How about King? Is that alright?"

"If that's what you'd like to name me, then I'll answer to it, Nico."

"King it is, then" I said, offering him a short smile that he seemed excited to see. We'd cross the stream again and wander up the hill, down farther into the woods as I struggled to have short, casual conversations with him. I told him a little about myself. I told him I was in my 20s, and he said he was several hundred years old but that he couldn't remember the exact number. I told him I was unemployed, and then proceeded to have to explain the concepts of jobs and money to him. He told me a bit about what he does, how he watches over the woods and how his kind are responsible for things like fairy circles and the way some sticks are stood up like tents.

"I thought that was from homeless people needing a place to stay" I said.

"Sometimes it is, but sometimes we make them for them before they get there. Where do you think they first got the idea to arrange them in those ways? We build shelters for those who choose to stay in the woods."

"You do, huh?"

He nodded. "Yes, we do. Many who wander in the woods do not truly want to stay, and those are the ones who get lost. But those we can sense want to stay, we take care of them."

I imagined it in my head. A man, building a house for me? Just so I could stay with him? That's the kind of thing men used to do, but they never did things like that nowadays. I didn't want to admit it to him, but I was starting to not mind the woods so much.

"You know, I was getting ready to go home," I told him, "until you took my clothes while I was bathing."

"I know. That's why I took them. I wanted something of yours to keep."

He just kept getting sweeter.

"You wanted something of mine to keep?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I didn't want you to leave, but I couldn't stop you. It wouldn't have been right to force you to stay and, besides, I am still far too weak to have overpowered you. I am happy things worked out the way they did, though, because now you are here with me."

I swallowed nervously. I was smitten by him, sure, but I hoped things weren't moving too fast in his head. I HAD been planning to leave that day, and that still wasn't off the table. I couldn't just uproot my entire life for some weird monster I'd accidentally saved. Still, I found it hard to imagine leaving him here after how suddenly we'd started bonding. He was so attached to me, and I did find it admirable how he was idolizing me. It certainly felt good, after a recent breakup. I guess it was rebounding, in a way, but I felt like this situation was different.

"Well, I'm glad to be here. I don't know how long it'll be, but i'm here now at least". His long ears tilted back a bit as I said that, and he asked "do you still plan to leave?"

"Well," I started, "I don't really know. I do have a lot of things I should get to doing back home."

"Like what?"

"Well, letting dad know i'm safe, looking for work, uhh..."

I paused. I really didn't have anything I needed to go home for, honestly. People knew I was going to the woods for an indefinite amount of time, I had my phone (that no one was calling), and I had no job. If King was going to offer me shelter, and hopefully food, I...really didn't have anything pressing waiting for me outside the woods.

"I guess it could wait a few days, though." I admitted, seeing his ears rise up once more as he wandered along with me.

"I shall build you a shelter, then," he began, though I protested with "no, no, i've got my truck to sleep in, it's alright".

He would shake his head, though, and insist "no, it's what we do. I will give you a place to stay, with me."

The thought of him actually building me a home worried me a bit, though. He was moving really quickly with all this. Plus, he'd just said earlier how he felt too weak to even stop me from leaving. How could he build me a home? I asked him exactly that, and he nodded knowingly.

"I was hoping for a bit of your strength, yes. I am alive but I am still very weak. Only a little bit of your life would do so much for me".

"Well, it's the least I can do if you're gonna...build me a home..." I said, still feeling guilty.

"What do I have to do? Am i gonna, uh, yaknow..." I paused, thinking about how exactly i'd gone about giving him that previous bit of life. He seemed to pick up on what I was about to ask, and shook his head.

"Actually," he started, "I'd like to try something a bit different this time. May we indulge?"

I tentatively nodded in agreement, and he stopped walking. I stopped as well, and it sank in to me how far we'd walked together in the past while. I had no idea where I was, or where the truck was. I couldn't see it. King got down on his knees before me, closer to my height now, and was looking at my face. His snout was so close to mine, now, and I could see the details of his dirty skull. There was still meat right at the line where his fur thinned into bone, all three stages of decay present in his face. His skull was covered in the same grey and brown dirt all over his body, a dusting from having set laying in the woods. He smelled strong, pungent, like a mixture of rot and musk.

"Close your eyes, please" he requested, and I did so.

"And lie down on your back."

I was a little unsure of where this was going.

"Why?" I'd ask.

"I want you relaxed."

"What are you going to do, though?" I pressed, and King's ears folded back a bit.

"Do you not trust me?" he asked, and I felt my stomach sink a little. Of course I didn't trust him, i'd just met him. Sure, he said he loved me and was indebted to me, but I had no reason to believe that right away. Still, I was...partially afraid of him, and I didn't want to disobey him. Who knew what would happen? He'd been so well behaved up until now, but I was still fully aware he was a beast, a massive beast with a skull for a face. He was a creature i'd reanimated, summoned, like a demon. I had no idea what he was capable of doing.

I reluctantly sat, then eased myself onto my back. My eyes were still closed, my face was pointing to the sky, and my hands were resting on my stomach. My knees were drawn up a bit, though, and I felt him push them apart as I felt his hulking body get on all fours and crawl up between them. I could feel him rising up over me, his hands on either side of my stomach now as his snout was at my chest. I could feel his breathing, smell that earthy breath. He continued to climb over me, his arms scooping up under mine as his elbows rested in the dirt just under my armpits. His hulking body was looming over me, warm, imposing. My breathing was fast and heavy now, I'm sure he could tell I was nervous. His snout was at my neck. I could feel the weight of his...manhood drag against my leg as he shifted some. It was huge. He was huge. Every part of him was huge. The bones of his teeth grazed my neck and I whimpered. He hushed me with a short "do not be afraid".

"This will only hurt for a moment".

Before I had a chance to panic at those words, I felt it. He bit me. He bit my throat open on the side. I felt the huge canines of his maw sink like knives into my neck, followed by the smaller teeth. He clamped down with a brute force that pierced numerous holes into my skin that immediately boiled with pain. I sucked in air and arched in agony, my mouth opening and exhaling empty air for a moment, followed by a shrill cry out in protest. It echoed through the trees, and I cried out again, shrill, terrified. Only for a moment, though. After that...it felt numb. I could feel him slurping, I could feel the pressure of that meaty tongue clearly pressing and lapping at me, and I could hear the obscene sucking sounds he was making, but I didn't feel a thing. There was instead a dull numbness to it, like novocaine. There was only pressure, the pressure of his mouth on my neck, the way in which his movements forced my head to move with him. I was still hyperventilating, and I could feel my inhales pressing my chest against his, but he seemed so calm. Was I going to die? I knew I was bleeding, I could tell by the pressure his teeth had sank deep into my neck. He could've bit open my carotid, for all I knew. My eyes welled up with tears, and I thought about life. Was this how it was going to end? I pictured myself being at least a little older before I was offed.

My mind lost itself to thoughts about what I could've done with life, the regrets I had, and how despite all that had happened...dying to something that loved me wasn't really the worst thing I could imagine. I'd felt for years like I was going to be the kinda guy that would've died alone in some filthy home, drank myself to death with no one having spoken to me in decades. Relationships were just so hard for me, I couldn't imagine a distant future where I was anything but alone. Yet, instead, here I was embraced in the warmth of another body, possibly in my last moments. I wondered in that moment if being murdered was always as romantic as this felt. It could've been worse. I could've died cold.

Before I had a chance to think too much about it, though, my train of thought was interrupted by a disgusting hock from King's throat. He made an awful, snorty pull from his throat before spitting on my neck, slathering it around with his tongue. The sounds were right in my ear, and they were nauseating. Crackly, bubbly, loud, amidst the snorts and gurgles from King's maw. I could feel the mucus had matted down my fur and was sitting there in a thick, viscous wad on my neck. It began to run just a bit, but the fluid was so thick it ran slowly. He would then rise up, crawling backward off me and sitting with his knees splayed before me. I instinctively drew in my knees again and rolled to my side, thinking I was still bleeding but was now risking infection.

"Pardon the noises, the coagulant is more stomach bile than spit."

"What?" I asked, slowly turning to look at him in confusion.

"Well I have to be equipped to not kill you when I feed, of course. My spit has numbing properties when applied to open wounds, and my stomach bile stops the bleeding."

"...What?" I asked again, feeling like the answers I was given still didn't explain what just happened. King seemed so comfortable, though, so lively.

He proceeded to explain things to me in my dazed state. Apparently it was something he'd simply discovered in his times feeding before he'd met me. Perhaps it was an extension of the curse, that he didn't have to kill something to get nutrients from it. I was too tired to care. He may have closed the wounds, but he had definitely drank a good pint or more of my blood. I felt a little cold, and tired. King could clearly see this, too, and laid the shirt he'd been carrying with him over me as he insisted "rest. rest for a while, you will wake to a surprise".

I didn't really have a choice. I fell asleep having to accept what had just happened, far too tired to do anything but. My sleep was filled with dreams, but I couldn't recall any of them. I awoke to dew on the forest floor around me, and my body chillier than when I'd fallen asleep. Birds were chirping. The forest was quiet. I was alive, I was sure of it, but I still felt exhausted. I'd barely had anything to eat before King drained my blood, and I doubted my body had had the strength to recover on such an empty stomach. My head hurt, I felt hungover.

Still, I sat up and actually slipped my shirt onto my body, wiping my eyes of crust before staring at what was before me. A house, or cabin rather. "Cabin" was actually still a generous term, but it was certainly a structure. He'd made it of logs, and had laid down what seemed to be branches and moss alongside some logs to act as a roof. It was somewhere between our heights, taller than me but not big enough for him to stand upright inside it. Though, it seemed rather cozy from the outside. It seemed like it had taken a lot of work, though, and it made me wonder how long I'd been asleep. I went to stand up and found myself dizzy and weak, and I staggered a bit as I padded slowly to the entrance of the home. It had no door, but it had a rectangular shaped entrance, and I wandered inside to find that he'd cleared the forest floor inside to be bare dirt. In the corner was a filthy looking old blanket that had been laid out flat, as if to be a bed.

I was famished and trembling at this point, and I sat down on the blanket and drew my knees up to my chest, resting my head on them. King wasn't around, and I wondered if he was ever going to come back. I still had my truck keys, but I had no idea where the truck was. All my belongings, phone included, were inside. I sat thinking for a minute if I should start out looking for my truck or if I'd even make it that far. My stomach was growling and I felt dehydrated. I decided it best to lie down on the blanket and wait to see if King was going to return with anything. Surely he didn't intend to let me die here of starvation. The blanket reeked of musk, it smelled as if it had been used by a vagrant and left in the woods afterward, and I had to lie on my back so my nose wasn't pressing into the fabric. I closed my eyes and listened to the forest ambience, the birds and the rustling of leaves, and drifted off again I suppose.

---

I awoke an unknown time later to the sound of someone rummaging around outside. I assumed it to be King, but I still sat up just the same and crawled over to the doorway to peer outside. It was indeed him, and it looked as if he had been here for a while. Upon watching him, though, I realized he had tools. He'd started a fire and had assembled a fireplace of sorts, with sticks holding a bucket over the fire. I could see steam pouring out of it, and King sat squatting next to it occasionally poking at the water with another stick. He noticed me right away, and his posture straightened up with visible excitement. I was surprised he seemed so happy, as I was feeling terrible.

"I am making you food. Please don't overexert yourself until it's ready" he'd say, to which I'd ask "where'd you find all that?"

"Vagrants and campers. They often leave behind things when they exit the woods. I scavenged these." he said.

"And you know to cook?"

"I have learned from watching. I can boil many things."

I nodded. Couldn't argue with that, boiling sure did work. I wondered what he had in the bucket. It didn't smell very appetizing, but at that point I would've eaten bugs from the ground, or so I'd thought.

Time passed and food was finally ready, King having drained the bucket and waved me over to sit with him. As I peered inside, I was greeted with boiled crawdads. And worms. From the clarity of the remaining water, though, it seemed as if King had known to skim and change the water as he boiled. They were probably actually edible, but I wasn't really concerned about my safety as I cracked into the first one.

"What're the worms about?" I'd ask.

"Nutritious. Not exactly the best flavor, but good for you."

I figured I'd stick with crawdads, and I sucked my way through a few of them quickly to get my strength back. They were soft, tender, and my stomach felt delighted to have some real meat inside it again. The worms, though, I really wasn't prepared to try.

"Give them a taste" he said, though, and nodded to the bucket. I declined, continuing on with the soft crustacean meat. King sat quietly and watched, prompting me to ask him if he was going to eat any.

"I do not eat food like this," he explained, "I have to get my fill from life essence. My stomach does nothing with food but expel it". That was a little sad to hear.

"So just blood and, uh..." I paused. He nodded.

"The humors".

"Humors?" I asked. "Like the four humors?"

He nodded again.

"Your humors contain your energy. When you expel them, you expel life with them. I consume that life. Blood is the most nutritious and energizing, but they all contain a bit of life of them."

"So it's not just blood and semen?" I asked.

"No, anything the body expels can be used for sustenance."

"Got it".

"Now try the worms" he'd insist, and I looked to him with a bit of frustration.

"I don't want to. I appreciate you boiled 'em for me but I don't want to."

"Please."

I squinted.

"Why?"

"I...want to see you consume them. Whole." he admitted.

"Whole?"

He nodded. I declined again, and King crossed his arms and looked away.

"What? You're mad about that?" I asked pointedly.

"No, but you are being spoiled. The woods are not always fresh fruit and crayfish. We are not always given the seasoned meat of beasts and clean water to drink. You must learn to not be picky if you're going to stay out here."

"I never said I was going to stay out here forever, King." i said, having now stopped eating.

"I have made you a home and given you food, you have no reason to leave" he said, now looking at me again.

"I appreciate that, King, but I have a life outside of these woods that needs tending to as well. I can stay for a while, but I can't live here forever."

King's posture rose and he uncrossed his arms, almost as if he seemed angry for a moment, but he proceeded to slouch again and flop his hands in his lap once more, his head looking off in some other direction.

"Well, I hope you'll at least stay here for a while. The woods are good for you, they're going to free you of a lot of your worries."

"You think so?" I asked.

"I know so. If you let yourself be here, it will free you. See how differently you felt a week into the wild? You were skittish and afraid the first day, but then you became braver and more confident. Your libidinal strength pushed you to explore and dominate the land around you. That will continue to happen, you will grow stronger."

I couldn't deny it, he had a point. I did feel mentally stronger having spent a week here now, plus however long I was unconscious for. At that moment, I hadn't thought to ask how long that had been.

"I'll stay here for at least another week or two, we'll see." I said.

"I am happy to hear that" he replied.

We eventually finished up with food, and he disposed of the worms, seeming a bit frustrated I'd never agreed to eat any. Now that I had my strength back, I had the urge to go exploring for a while, and offered King to come with me. He happily obliged, and we wandered out into the woods, marking trees so we would know how to get back to our cabin. I was sure he probably had a way of knowing himself, so it was more for me. I was hoping we'd head in a direction back toward the truck so I could mentally determine where I was in relation to it, but we never did.

We did, however, have a surprising bit of fun together. We went to the creek and I stripped, and we played in the water together. He behaved like an excited dog, bounding around with me and splashing me. I'd hop on his back and wrestle with him, and I found it exhilarating how easily he could throw me around and pick me up how he did. Afterward, we laid in the sunlight and dried off together, enjoying the nudity of the wild once more. He let me climb on his back and carried me through the woods, running with me and letting me experience the thrill of his speed. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having with him, so much so that I'd forgotten about even going to the truck.

Nightfall came and we made our way back to the shelter, King sent me inside and told me he was going to forage some safe berries for me to have before bed. I obeyed him, losing my clothes again and heading over to that musky blanket and sitting on it. Lunch earlier had been awkward and tense, but I couldn't deny how much fun it was to get to play with him afterward. He was good conversation and he knew how to cut loose and be animalistic with me. He made me a home, he cooked for me, he foraged for me. For all the backseat anxiety I had about needing to go home, I couldn't deny how much King was growing on me.

A good half hour would pass before the beast came back. He was walking on all fours, a somewhat apelike gait alongside his bent posture, which I'd seen him do a few times throughout the day earlier. I wondered, though, where was the food he had supposedly gone to forage? He approached the "bedside" and greeted me, sitting on his knees and leaning forward with his hands on the dirt.

"Welcome back" i said, smiling to him.

"Open your mouth" he answered.

"What? Why?"

"Nico, please don't ask so many questions. Open your mouth."

My earlier apprehensions about the worms had the freedom of the outdoors to bolster my confidence a bit, but I was now sitting in the corner of a shelter King had made for me, blocked in by his hulking body, leaning in toward me. I didn't want to open my mouth, but there was nowhere for me to go.

"I...don't want to do that without knowing what's going to happen" I said, my eyebrows furrowing up in worry.

"Do you not trust me?" he asked.

"I do, but...we are very different, culturally. I wish you'd explain things to me instead of just asking me to trust you."

He didn't reply to that, but rather just sat there staring at me. I could smell him alongside the musk of the blanket, his earthy breath, the raw stench of his mouth and his odorous body. I leaned back a bit to break the awkward silence between us and said "I should...go pee before bed."

"You will eat first" he replied, one of his large hands rising to rest against on my shoulder. He wasn't even applying pressure but I could feel the weight of him on me. He was so much heavier than me, he felt so dense by comparison. When we were getting along, it was comforting, but when he was acting like this it only added to the worry I had.

"Alright, fine. Fine." I opend my mouth wide, as if I was expecting the tongue depressor at the doctor. I had no idea where he was keeping the food he'd foraged, but I assumed he was going to hand-feed me. I did not expect what happened instead.

King would grab both my jaws, upper and lower each in a hand, and hold them pried open, tugging me forward and pulling my head up, so my snout was pointing upward. His head was over mine, tilted down toward me slightly. His mouth opened, and it began to set in what he intended to do. I started to struggle and pull, rising to my knees and putting my hands on his arms, tugging at them uselessly as he ordered me "hold still, this is good for you".

There was no warning. His body heaved once and from his open, rotten maw spilled a rich, textured crimson sludge. He had tilted his head toward so that we were only an inch or so from touching faces, our open jaws interlocked like puzzle pieces, and he retched suddenly. A waterly belch rose up his neck to his mouth and suddenly spilled hot gunk with the texture of applesauce into my mouth. It...thankfully tasted only of berries, raspberries to be specific, but there was that awful rotten smell of earth and meat from his muzzle all in my nose, and I swore I could taste it behind the sour of the chewed raspberries. I immediately gagged and struggled a few times, wanting to tilt my head downward but completely unable to do so. His mouth was still drooling a dark crimson color from it, berry juice, and I could feel it pooling on top of the half-eaten food in my mouth as I reluctantly tried to swallow it. There was so much in my open muzzle that some of it trickled out the corners of my mouth, running down my cheeks. He wouldn't let me close my mouth, though, holding me upright and open as I tried to throat it down. It would begin to disappear from my mouth down my neck, and I could feel my body ready to heave it back up as soon I was released.

Instead, though, he'd heave again, a second mouthful belched up into my mouth, hotter than the last. It had just been sitting, undigested, in his stomach. I felt awful knowing that, and I couldn't imagine what other things were probably residually mixed in with the raspberries as I closed my eyes and tried to hold my breath as I swallowed it. He was panting, as if it had taxed his body to regurgitate up all that food, and I could feel the pattering of his saliva and berry juice dripping down the sides of my face. The second mouthful went down much less easy than the first, but it went down just the same. My mouth was still full of seeds and fruit bits, though, stuck between my teeth and between my gums and lips, under my tongue. He would let go of my mouth and I would immediately jerk away, scooting backwards and pressing my back against the wall of our shelter. He began to close the distance and approach me as I snapped "DON'T move closer".

His ears folded back, his hands drawing inward close to his body.

"you're fucking deranged" I snapped at him, wiping my mouth of his saliva.

"Why are you so upset, Nico?" he asked, his posture shrinking down some, sitting back on his knees with his hands now wringing together close to his chest. His shoulders were drawn up, and he looked afraid.

"Are you kidding me, King? Are you fucking kidding me? After what you just did you're seriously acting like you're confused?"

"That is how my kind shows affection..."

I scrunched up my muzzle in a disgusted confusion, jerking my head back a bit with a shake of my head.

"Holding someone's jaws open and making them eat vomit?"

"You say it so hatefully," he started, shrinking back further like a kicked dog. "It's an intimate act for my kind. We forage for them and prepare the food for them, then feed them. I would've fed my bride that way, had I ever gotten one..."

"Would you have held her mouth open?"

"No, because she would have hopefully trusted me".

I was feeling a strange, intense mixture of anger and guilt. He seemed to very sincerely not know what he'd done wrong, or why it had upset me so much. Still, I felt sick, livid that I'd been handled that way. But, was it my fault for not trusting him? Was it my fault for struggling? Should I have just sat still? I couldn't help but feel an aching for him as he tried to explain his intentions to me. Maybe he simply didn't get how strange that was by society's standards.

"...I'm sorry, King" I finally admitted, looking off to the side, "that was just a very strange and startling thing to experience. I wish you hadn't restrained me, but...I should have trusted you, yes. It was only raspberries."

He sat quietly for a moment, seeming to be absorbing my apology and my surrendering in the argument.

"Do you hate me now?" he'd ask in that same, pitiful tone.

"No," I spoke quietly, "no, I love you. Thank you for dinner."