Arr’tow ducked against my furious words. “Sorry, Kur’tok. We hunted all night, but couldn’t find anything except these.”
“Unacceptable,” I snarled. “Me and Kookee are starving, andthisis what you deem appropriate food? I should tear you both apart!”
As my two underlings balked in fear, I heard a small yawn behind me.
“Hey, what’s all the fuss about?” Paz asked. The human padded up to my side, where it looked minuscule. The top of its furry head only reached my biceps.
Arr’tow and Haz’rull yelped, dropping their load of fruits. I didn’t want the stupid fruit, but I was annoyed that their flesh was now bruised from being bungled.
“W-what is that?” Haz’rull asked, staring at Paz.
My lip curled in irritation. We were no longer alone, and so my prey-pet was no longer hidden. I liked keeping Paz to myself, but now the secret was out.
“It is my pet,” I stated.
“Okay, first of all,” Paz interjected, “I’m not anit.I’m ahe.”
That word jogged my memory. I’d heard it before, a long time ago.
Before I could pry deeper into my memories, Paz sighed and launched into an explanation of something called ‘pronouns.’ Apparently, humans and some other sapient creatures had a range of them. I found that I liked the same ‘he’ pronoun that Paz used. It felt familiar on my tongue.
“Fine,” I muttered. “Heis my pet.”
My underlings exchanged a glance.
“Don’t you already have a pet?” Haz’rull asked, tilting their blue head.
“I can have as many pets as I want!” I roared.
“Whoa,” Paz said, surprised. “What’s with the yelling, Kur’tok? Aren’t these guys your friends?”
I barked a cold laugh. “These two? They’re no friends of mine. They are my underlings.”
Paz’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? I’m sorry, am I in an alternate dimension? A Maeleon with underlings? You’re not serious, are you?”
“Why would I not be serious?” I demanded.
Paz gestured frantically with his hands. “Because Maeleons are like—I dunno, nice to each other all the time? Sharing food and loving consent and stuff? I’ve never met a Maeleon that acted like you.”
“Well,Iact like this,” I snapped. “And you’re mine now, so you’d better get used to it.”
Paz slowly narrowed his eyes, then crossed his arms. “Nah. I don’t think so.”
The human’s words were as unexpected as a random torrential rainstorm. Nobody ever dared talk back to me—until now.
Shoving my snout into his blunt face, I roared, “What did you say?”
Paz didn’t move as his gaze held mine. “It’s not cute to be so rude. And c’mon, referring to those two as your underlings? That’s childish. You’re better than that, Kur’tok.”
“What do you know, human prey-pet?” I snarled.
He put up the flat palms of his hands. “Listen, I know we just met and we don’t know each other that well, but I can tell you’re a good guy. There’s no need to act so tough.”
I snarled louder, shooting out a hot puff of air through my fangs that brushed Paz’s head-fur aside. Still, he didn’t move. Why wasn’t he afraid? The fragile little human should’ve been cowering at my feet, not talking back.
I noticed the rope collar loosely hanging from his neck. I snatched the end of the leash, nearly crushing it to dust in my fist, but I didn’t yank Paz around. His human flesh was so delicate, I felt like he might disintegrate if I was too rough with him.
“Like I said, you are mine,” I growled. “Do not argue with me.”
