If there had been any doubts before, there were none now.
The human definitely knew that Niv had been hanging around her territory.
Not only had the human noticed her, but she had responded in a way that made Niv’s head feel light and fuzzy in the most ridiculous way imaginable. The human had accepted Niv’s gift of meat, and then, most amazingly of all, had given Niv a gift in return.
Delicious, beautiful, incredible meat.
Even thinking about it made Niv’s ears twitch happily.
The strange thing about the meat was that it had clearly been changed somehow. Niv had watched the human earlier from her hiding place and seen how she had placed the meat over a hot metal frame that made the food sizzle and spit. Somehow the human had taken something cold and made it hot, and when that happened the smell of the meat had grown much stronger and richer, like the scent had been squeezed out of it.
The flavour had been amazing.
It had tasted a little bit like boar, which Niv already liked quite a lot, but there had been other strange tastes mixed in that she had never encountered before. Some of it had been smoky, some of it had been salty, and some of it had been something she didn’t have a word for at all.
It had all been very interesting.
Even now she sat curled up inside her little cave, her back resting against the cool stone wall while a dopey grin stretched across her face in a way that would probably look very silly to anyone watching her.
The human definitely liked her.
There was really no other explanation for what had happened. The human had accepted Niv’s gift earlier, and then had given gifts of her own in return. That was practically how mate-bonds started already! It was the first step of courting, and it had gone surprisingly well considering one of them was a forest creature and the other one was a human.
Which meant that the next step, according to Niv’s very confident but also somewhat questionable understanding of these things, was that she should probably talk to the human.
Unfortunately that part was extremely difficult.
Niv did actually know quite a few human words thanks to the Mother and her lessons. In addition, she had spent many years quietly listening from the forest whenever humans wandered through the area or talked loudly near the edges of their territories. Humans spoke a lot, and they rarely seemed to realise just how far their voices could carry through the trees.
The problem was that knowing words and actually speaking to a human face to face were two very different things.
Niv had grown up hearing warnings about humans.
The Mother had always told her to stay away from them because humans were dangerous and unpredictable creatures. They carried strange tools that could kill from very far away, and sometimes they destroyed entire patches of forest just because they felt like it.
Getting involved with one was supposed to be a very bad idea.
Which meant that Niv had somehow managed to fall for what was technically supposed to be a monster.
That thought should probably have scared her more than it did.
Instead, there was something strangely thrilling about it.
It felt wrong in a way that made her heart beat faster and made her tail wag behind her without permission. The idea that she was sneaking around and secretly courting a human should probably have filled her with dread, but instead it mostly filled her with excited energy.
And really, if something made her happy and made her tail wag, then it could not be all that bad.
Right?
Niv groaned softly and rubbed her face with both hands.
Stupid Niv being a stupid head again. She could not stop herself.
Still, she had to think about what to do next.
She had already done the gift giving part, and the human had responded with gifts of her own. That was definitely a good sign, and it meant the process had begun properly.
The problem was that Niv did not actually know what the next step in courting was supposed to be.
She had never been very interested in the males of her own people, so she had not paid much attention when they tried to court her in the past. A few of them had brought her gifts before, like shiny stones or freshly hunted animals, but she had always politely refused them and wandered away.
None of them had ever made her heart feel the way the human did.
The Mother had never taught her much about the rest of the process either. Whenever Niv had asked about it in the past, the Mother had simply said that she would understand when the time came.
Apparently that time had arrived, and Niv still had absolutely no idea what she was doing.
That thought made her pause suddenly.
Another question slowly crept into her mind.
Was the human male?
Or was it female?
Niv frowned slightly as she tried to remember the shape of the human’s body. Humans were a little confusing sometimes because they had those strange colourful skins on their bodies that hid everything.
After a moment she shrugged to herself.
She wasn’t entirely sure she cared.
As long as the pretty human stayed pretty, that was good enough for Niv.
With that extremely questionable conclusion reached, she decided that maybe it was time to take things a little further.
Niv turned toward the back of her cave and began digging through a patch of loose dirt with her hands. She had buried something there a while ago for safe keeping, and it took a few minutes of scratching and scooping before her fingers finally struck something hard.
She pulled it free and held it up proudly.
Her best rock.
It was a beautiful thing in Niv’s opinion, with a strange yellow colour that caught the light in interesting ways. The edges were sharp and square, which made it look strong and impressive. She had found it a long time ago and decided immediately that it was too special to throw away or use for anything ordinary.
Giving a rock like this to someone meant something very important.
If she gave it to the human, it would make her intentions very clear. Everybody liked shiny rocks.
Niv’s ears twitched as she considered how she should deliver it.
Maybe she could go directly to the human’s den and give it to her in person instead of leaving it somewhere nearby like she had done before.
The idea immediately made her stomach twist with nervousness.
Too scary.
No, no, no.
But then she thought about it a little more.
Maybe she could do it during the dark time, when it was safer and the world was quieter. Humans seemed less active then, and the shadows would make it easier for her to move around without feeling too exposed.
Yes, that seemed like a good plan. She would wait until the dark time and then go to the human’s den and present her best rock properly. But first she needed to make sure the rock was perfect. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
Niv stood up and stretched before carefully carrying the stone out of her cave. She made her way down the familiar path toward the river, her tail swishing lightly behind her as she walked.
When she reached the water she knelt beside it and began rinsing the rock carefully, rubbing away the dirt so its yellow surface shone as nicely as possible.
After that she took a moment to wash herself as well, splashing cool water over her fur and flesh then shaking vigorously to get rid of most of it.
By the time she finished, both she and the precious rock were as clean as they were going to get.
Niv stared down at the stone in her hands and felt her grin slowly spread wider across her face.
She was really going to do this.
Maybe it was strange. Maybe it made her a deviant among her own kind.
But she didn’t care at all.
She was in love, and the thought of spending more time with the human filled her with a kind of excited happiness that she could not ignore.
Still smiling, she turned and began making her way toward the human’s territory, carrying both her newly cleaned body and her precious rock with great determination.
All in all, it had been a pretty good Sunday.
After the little midday cookout that Juno had sort of shared with the mysterious cryptid woman at the edge of her property, the rest of the afternoon had passed in a pleasantly lazy sort of way. She had intended to get a few chores done around the house, but the strange encounter kept replaying in her mind over and over again, and it made it hard to focus on anything particularly productive.
Instead she mostly milled about the house, drifting from room to room without really committing to doing anything serious. At one point she sat down at her desk with a sketchpad, mostly just to keep her hands busy, and before she really realised what she was doing she had started drawing.
A few hours later she was staring down at a stylised drawing of the wolf woman.
It was not a perfect likeness by any means, since she had only seen the cryptid properly for a short time in the daylight, but the general shape was there. The tall frame, the long legs, the heavy antlers rising above her head, and those strange dark eyes with the bright golden centres. Juno had exaggerated a few things here and there because that was just how she liked to draw, but overall she was pretty happy with how it had turned out.
She spent a few minutes shading in the fur along the arms and legs before finally putting the pencil down and leaning back in her chair with a quiet sigh.
After that she wandered into the kitchen and eventually made herself a simple dinner of roasted potatoes and bacon. It was not anything fancy, but it smelled amazing while it cooked and tasted even better when she finally sat down to eat it.
By the time she finished, the sun had already dipped below the trees and the outside world had settled into that quiet nighttime stillness that rural places often had. Juno carried her empty plate to the sink, washed it off, and then returned to the living room with a large bowl of popcorn before settling down on the couch.
She picked a random movie from her streaming list and let it play while she relaxed.
For a while she managed to focus on the film, but eventually her thoughts started drifting again, wandering back toward the events of earlier that day. Seeing the cryptid properly in the daylight had done some very questionable things to her brain, and there were now several rather persistent thoughts squirming around in the back of her mind that refused to go away.
By the time the movie had been going for over an hour, Juno was seriously considering just turning it off and heading to bed so she could deal with those persistent needs that had wormed their way into her thoughts since the afternoon.
Then she heard something.
A faint sound came from the direction of the front door.
Juno immediately paused the movie and sat very still on the couch, her hand hovering over the remote as she held her breath.
For a few seconds there was nothing.
Then the sound came again.
It was a scratching noise.
Her heart began racing almost instantly, thumping hard enough that it felt like it might actually try to escape from her chest.
Maybe it was just some animal, she told herself.
A cat maybe, or a wandering dog from one of the nearby farms. It probably was not a possum since those tended to stay up in the trees most of the time, but there were plenty of other little creatures that might end up poking around someone’s house at night.
Still.
If she was being completely honest with herself, she had a pretty strong suspicion about what it might actually be.
Juno slowly placed the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table and carefully stood up from the couch.
The scratching sound came again, a little louder this time.
Her survival instincts were screaming at her that opening the door in the middle of the night when something unknown was on the other side was probably a terrible idea. Nevertheless she walked quietly down the hallway toward the spare room and grabbed an old cricket bat that had been sitting in the corner gathering dust for years.
She had not played cricket since she was a teenager, but the bat still felt solid and reassuring in her hands.
Holding it tightly, she crept toward the front door.
Just as she reached it, the scratching sound came again and she nearly yelped in surprise.
Taking a slow breath to steady herself, Juno reached for the handle and carefully pulled the door open.
Then she immediately slammed it shut again.
That was definitely not an animal.
Holy shit that woman was terrifying.
For a moment Juno stood there staring at the closed door while her heart tried to beat its way out of her ribcage. After a few seconds she forced herself to take another deep breath and slowly opened the door again.
Standing on the porch was the cryptid woman.
Up close, and framed by the dim porch light, she looked even larger than Juno remembered. She practically loomed over the doorway, her antlers stretching upward into the darkness and her broad shoulders filling most of the space in front of the entrance.
“Uh… hello?” Juno squeaked, her voice coming out slightly higher than she had intended.
“Hhhhello,” the cryptid replied.
Her voice was low and rough, and hearing it rumble out of such a large chest sent a very noticeable shiver down Juno’s spine.
Juno swallowed nervously before continuing.
“So… did you like the meat I cooked you?”
The wolf woman’s mouth stretched into a grin that was wide enough to make Juno flinch slightly when she saw just how many sharp teeth were involved.
“Yes,” the cryptid said enthusiastically. “Very meat. More meat than meat. Liked it a lot.”
“Oh, cool. Yeah.”
“It was hot.”
“I meant—yeah, you’re right,” Juno said, letting out a slow breath as she tried to calm herself down. “So how can I help?”
The cryptid immediately shook her head.
“Not help me,” she said carefully, sounding like she was choosing each word with a lot of concentration. “Have… have gift for you.”
Juno leaned forward slightly and squinted at it.
“Oh, is that pyrite?”
The cryptid tilted her head in confusion.
“What is the pire-right?”
“Uh,” Juno said, trying to figure out how to explain it. “It’s sometimes called fool’s gold because it looks kind of like another metal people want a lot. It isn’t very rare or anything, but it’s really pretty and it sometimes grows in these neat square shapes. Other rocks and metals can do that too, but I always thought it looked cool.”
The cryptid listened carefully, nodding slightly even though she clearly only understood part of that explanation.
“Okay,” she said after a moment. “Is… is gift for you. Will accept?”
“Um, sure. Of course. Yeah.”
Juno reached out and took the rock from her.
The moment their hands touched she realised just how much larger the cryptid’s was compared to her own. The furred palm easily dwarfed Juno’s hand, and the curved claws made her suddenly very aware that the woman standing on her porch could probably tear through a tree trunk if she really wanted to.
Still, the rock felt pleasantly heavy as she held it.
“Thank you for this,” Juno said with a small smile. “I really like pyrite.”
The cryptid’s entire face lit up in response.
She beamed at Juno with such obvious happiness that it was almost blinding, if not for the fact that the grin also revealed a truly impressive collection of very, very sharp teeth.
“Then we are bond-mates! I have the happy!”
The cryptid woman announced this with such obvious delight that it almost felt like the temperature on the porch had gone up a few degrees. Her tail, which Juno had not even noticed properly before in the dim light, started swishing back and forth behind her with an enthusiasm that would have looked right at home on an extremely large dog.
Juno blinked. Her brain took a moment to catch up with the words that had just been said, and when it finally did, it felt like several mental gears immediately jammed together in a loud grinding noise.
“Um… what is a bond-mate?” she asked cautiously.
The woman tilted her head to the side in a confused sort of way, her large antlers shifting slightly with the movement. It looked like she had expected the meaning to be obvious.
“The joining?” the cryptid tried again, gesturing vaguely between the two of them with one clawed hand. “Togetherness. Hunt together. Share den. Be… together forever.”
She paused for a moment, clearly trying to think of the right words in the human language.
“You accepted the gifts,” she added, sounding very certain about that part. “So you wanted that, yes?”
Juno’s brain was now doing something that could best be described as a full electrical short circuit.
A faint mental replay of the past couple of days began marching across her thoughts like an extremely awkward slideshow.
The mysterious chunk of meat that had been left for her.
The plate of cooked food she had offered in return.
The shiny rock that had just been handed to her.
A slow, creeping realisation began spreading through her mind.
Were those…
Were those proposal gifts?
Juno stared at the towering cryptid woman standing on her porch and felt like her entire understanding of the situation had just been violently flipped upside down.
She opened her mouth, closed it again, and then opened it one more time as she struggled to find something coherent to say.
“I don’t even know your name,” she finally managed to eke out.
The cryptid’s ears perked up slightly, as if she had just remembered something important.
“Oh, yes,” she said quickly. “Very important.”
She straightened up a little and placed one hand on her chest with a proud sort of posture.
“The Mother names me Niv.”
Juno nodded slowly as she processed that.
“I’m Juno,” she said, gesturing lightly toward herself.
Then, acting mostly out of habit, she held out her right hand for a handshake.
Niv immediately looked down at the offered hand with intense curiosity, as though she had just been presented with a fascinating new puzzle. After a moment she reached out and grabbed it with her own left hand.
Her palm completely enveloped Juno’s hand.
The difference in size was honestly a little ridiculous. Niv’s hand was large, warm, and covered in soft fur along the back, while the claws curved slightly around the edges in a way that made the handshake feel less like a handshake and more like her hand had simply been captured.
Neither of them really moved for a few seconds.
It was a very awkward moment.
Eventually Juno gently pulled her hand back.
“Sooo…” she said, drawing the word out a little as her brain scrambled to decide what to do next. “Do you want to come in?”
Niv blinked at her.
“In your den?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Juno replied with a small shrug. “That.”
The cryptid’s ears lifted higher and her tail immediately started wagging again.
“Very happy to do that,” she said.
It was a little strange to watch the shift in her behaviour. When she had first arrived she had seemed like a bundle of shy and nervous energy, lingering near the doorway and speaking carefully as if she was worried about doing something wrong.
Now she looked almost like she was vibrating with excitement.
Her posture had straightened, her ears were perked forward, and her tail swished enthusiastically behind her as she stepped a little closer to the entrance.
Juno suddenly found herself wondering something very important.
What exactly had she just agreed to?