13. Memories of the familiar Beast

"Rhea" Mrs. Leoline's eyes widened in surprise "Rhea from Arthur's school?"

I nodded a bit taken aback by her instant recognition "The same one" I forced a smile at her direction. The woman is so happy all the time. If not for her large frame and sharp features, I would have confused her for a bunny.

I am at the Leoline headquarter again, this time to update the senior Leoline about their son's progress. I'm glad I have something solid to show the woman instead of the pathetic excuse of dates her son went to.

It took me over a month and few fights to reach here but I'm glad Arthur is finally on the same page as me. Sunday morning brought a sudden shift to his attitude. Apart from actually agreeing to break the bond, the behavioral changes in him are hard not to notice. Arthur has always disliked me but now I notice the proof of it every day. I see how he tries to avoid any confrontation with me. The only time we actually talk is when we talk about the future, his future with Rhea to be exact.

"And Arthur agreed?" Scarlett, much to my discomfort, took my hands in between hers again. She looked eagerly at me waiting for me to elaborate so she could take in the happy details.

I nodded "We saw the potential chemistry between the two of them and dug a little into their history. At cupid's match, we put a great emphasis on emotions. We think they both have enough love for each other, albeit platonic now, to give this a solid chance" I finished through my teeth.

She seemed pleased with the explanation "It was a bad phase for Arthur when her mate turned up. It took him years to come around"

"I know"

"Oh you do?" she smiled sadly "Did Arthur tell you?"

"Rhea did" I said "Mr. Leoline isn't easy to talk to"

"He had a tough life" she defended her son. I wanted to roll my eyes "But that doesn't excuse his behavior towards you. I did sit him down and have a good talk with him. He isn't bothering you, is he?"

"Of course not" I lied comfortably "He is cooperating with us just fine"

"I still can't believe Arthur's considering it" she exclaimed "Excuse me" she gave me a grin and pulled her phone out "I can't wait to hear it from him"

I sighed internally and waited patiently.

"Mom. I'm busy" Arthur's voice easily floated to me considering how uncomfortably close I'm sitting to his mother.

"Art did you have your breakfast?" she cooed at her thirty-year old son like he was three.

Yeah he did, woman, in my kitchen, this morning. You should have seen him chugging down my peanut butter like he bought that awesome sh*t. I should start charging him. That free lodger.

"Yeah" he said absentminded, probably working on something "Nathan brought it over"

"What?" I barked before I could stop myself.

F*ck! Someone kill me please.

Scarlett raised a brow at me.

I smiled sheepishly and quickly pointed at a little bronze statue behind her "I'm sorry" I muttered "I was just wondering what that is" she turned to look at the object "I have loud thoughts"

I heard Arthur sigh at the other end "Give me a few minutes" he told his mother "I'll be there"

Scarlett looked at her now silent phone and then at me "I thought he was busy"

I shrugged "What's that?"

Scarlett went on to explain how she had it made in memory of her sister who died early. I listened intently until Arthur barged in.

He looked like he ran all the way here. I guess he was scared of what I told his mother. He did tell me to not meet his family without him.

"What are you doing here Ms. Philips?" he narrowed his eyes at me.

"I called for her, Art" Scarlett chipped in "come take a seat" he patted the couch next to her.

"I told you I'm handling this, Mom" he said taking his seat nevertheless. He's such an obvious mama's boy.

"Yeah but Amelia tells me it's good news for you and you failed to inform your mother about it"

"I there is something called client confidentiality Ms. Philips" He continued to glare at me.

"Your parents are my client Mr. Leoline" I informed him with a tight smile.

"Oh enough of that you two" Scarlett said impatiently "Art, Amelia tells me that Rhea's back?"

Arthur reluctantly stopped his eye-murder and looked at his mother "Yeah. I haven't got the chance to have a proper conversation with her yet. I was holding on the information for a reason"

"Oh" Scarlett nodded "When do you plan on meeting her then?"

"Today" he replied glancing at me. I nodded encouragingly "After work" he added.

"Oh Art!" Scarlett exclaimed "I'm so happy for you. Rhea's perfect"

"She is" I had to strain my ears to hear Arthur mutter under his breath.

He thinks she's perfect.

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"So you live together"

"Spirits Mia! You make it sound so weird" I hissed "He's like a tenant who's staying in one of my spare rooms for a couple of days. His animal needs it"

"His animal or him?" she looked at me doubtfully.

"Arthur's keeping his distance" I said leaning back into my chair.

She sighed in reply "I think I'll be at the edge of my seat until this is all over"

"What do you think they are talking about right now?"

"Should I call Alice?" Mia asked.

Arthur took Rhea out after work. Because it isn't an arranged date, we decided to take a step back and let them do their thing. They aren't strangers that we are putting together. I'm sure they wouldn't like a camera on their face for an emotional reunion. I still sent Alice to trail Arthur in case he decides to backstab me again.

"No" I shook my head "Let them take their time"

"Are you jealous?"

"Wha....what?" I frowned at her "Where did that come from?"

Mia shrugged "As far as I know, mates are extremely possessive of each other. I can see that with Arthur and the lack of boyfriends in your life but don't you feel anything for him?"

"I'm not a predator" I shrugged "He's not my mate"

"You are his mate and that makes him your mate too" she insisted.

"Maybe that's not how it works"

"I have been working on gathering some information about it" she said "Most of those related to human mates of predators"

"Humans don't have animals" I reminded her.

"I know" she nodded "that's why it's easy for the predators to take them in. They don't have to worry about distortion in their genes or the class clash that comes with us. But the similarity here is that humans don't have mates either"

"So what did you find out?" I leaned forward curiously.

"Give a little more time. You should have done your own research. What did you do all these years?" she accused.

"I trusted him" I sighed leaning back "I thought he knows more about it than me so he will take care of it. And then of course a decade went by and I realized he was fooling me"

"What changed now?" she asked "Why is he eager to get rid of the bond now"

I shrugged "Maybe she was always there in the back of his head. He probably thought 'Ah! Now this is a woman worth disappointing my animal for'" I said "He did always say that he was waiting for the perfect woman. May be he wasn't lying after all"

"You sound so jealous"

I shook my head "I'm not jealous. I'm too old, too far into this thing to be jealous. I'm just sad. It's not where I saw my life heading to. As a child, as a teen, I had so many dreams, so many milestones to look forward to. When I see you and Joseph, Sophie and Ricky and their kids, I wonder if I will have to die yearning for that day to come to me. It's like my life is on a standstill for over a decade. And then there's Arthur" I drawled.

"What about him?" she pressed.

"I don't know" I sighed "I hated him with passion for years and those were the longest and the most miserable years of my life. And then slowly I realized the hate wasn't there. I tried to ignite the hatred at every given opportunity but I only felt numb. I had hated him for so long that hating him had become a habit. But that's all it was, a habit, it was no longer a feeling I could nurture"

"What about now?"

"Now, I have a feeling that we can part ways on friendly terms" I smiled at the thought "Had Cathy been alive, I think I could have been friends with him. I think he's a good man"

Mia sighed. She worries too much. Just because I think Arthur is harmless doesn't mean I want to be close to him.

"What about his animal?" she asked "How come you don't fear his touch?"

"Oh that's a long story" I leaned into my chair "I kind of got used to him being constantly in my space"

"I have time" she was at her element. I was like a test subject to her now.

"Fine" I huffed "It was my first year at the university and my first year in this city as well. I hadn't seen Arthur in three years not since I rejected his apology. He never told me why he wanted me to forgive him. He didn't tell me what I was to him. So to me, until then, he was just that, the predator who killed Cathy.

I along with a couple of friends went to a club one night to celebrate the six months we spent in that hell hole. It was crazy. I was drunk for the first time ever. And the next morning, I woke up to find a lion sitting by my bed glaring at me.

I yelled and yelled and yelled for what felt like days but was only a few hours. He simply sat there waiting for me to shut up. I didn't of course. I was nineteen, I had more zeal and energy back then. I only stopped when my voice broke and all I could manage was croaks.

When I couldn't yell anymore, I realized he wasn't actually attacking me. I should have realized it sooner. To my defense, I never met him before that day, he could have been a feral predator"

"You didn't realize it was Arthur?" Mia looked disappointed at me.

"Arthur was nowhere in my head. And to my logic, Arthur had no reason to be anywhere near me" I defended myself "I was a free student who was going through the first hangover in her life. Cut me some slack"

"Fine what happened after?"

"And then upon further inspection I realized it wasn't even my bed. I was kidnapped" I continued "I couldn't move an inch from the bed of course because the damn lion was guarding the bed and I was too scared to run out of the room by jumping over him. So I sat there recalling every person I valued in life because I knew I was going to die waiting for the lion to move.

The headache and the empty stomach were attacking me at the same time. I couldn't think straight. There was a glass of water and some medicine at the counter next to the bed but I was too afraid to take it. What if they spiked it?

After a couple of more hours, realization finally hit me. The only other lion I had ever seen was the one at the forest with Arthur. But this one wasn't that lion that only meant that this could be Arthur.

The thought of it coupled with the hunger and fatigue was too much for me to bear. I fainted.

The next time when I woke up, a hyena was looming over me, in his human form of course. He was a doctor. I noticed syringes and tubes on the bin at the corner and realized he was done with his job.

'Did you kidnap me?' was the first thing I asked him. My voice held hope. I was hoping he was the one behind it and not the lion.

'You need food' was his reply as he busied himself with a tray of food he set down on the bed.

'Do you think I will eat the food you give me? You want me to trust you when you kidnapped me' I yelled angrily and stood up from the bed. But the dizziness forced me to sit back.

The beast took that moment to enter. His eyes were blazing fire. He let out a roar that had the other man move back to a corner. The lion then proceeded to take his seat back by the bed.

'You are him, aren't you?' I had asked him 'The one that killed my Cathy?'

The hyena-shifter replied in his stead 'He is too angry to shift back. You will have to wait for him to come around'

'Call the cops' I told the hyena.

'I can't' he shook his hear 'I'm sorry. But he's a good kid. His father is a friend of mine. I trust him not to hurt you'

I scoffed 'He killed my Cathy with his bare hands'

'I'm sorry about your Mare' the hyena said 'but don't try to escape. His men have this place surrounded. If he wanted to hurt you, he would have done so a while back. So relax and wait for him to come around. I have a feeling he wants to make up for his mistakes'

I scoffed and looked away from him once I realized he wasn't going to help. The hyena left a few moments later" I took a deep breath and looked at Mia "And that's how I ended up spending four days with Arthur Leoline's animal. He isn't much of a threat I realized after one wary day around him. The only bad thing about him is that he want to be constantly in contact with my skin. He's the touchy-feely kind, a trait that Arthur thankfully lacks"

"Wait" Mia gasped "he took four days to come around?"

I nodded.

"And you spent all of that time with his animal?"

I nodded again. It was scary back then, now its simply a memory I have of the golden eyed beast.

"What did you do to make his animal that impatient?" she asked.

I thought back to the days and realized we had so much bad blood between us that I never got around to ask him the simple questions. What happened that night? I am only recalling these incidents now that Mia mentioned it. It was all stored somewhere in the back of my mind.

"I don't know" I frowned "I guess I will have to ask him when he comes back tonight"

"Or tomorrow" Mia offered with a smirk.

Tomorrow? But I want to ask him today.

.

.

.

Mia was right.

Arthur didn't return home that night.

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