Chapter 24: The Last Straw

Aeris rolled over on the mattress. Immediately she was greeted by Windor’s smiling face. He licked her snout and grinned. “Hey, you.”

She smiled but only out of politeness. Waking up, she had hoped it was all just a bad dream, but then that didn’t explain how she got here or why. There was no choice but to accept reality.

Windor scooted closer and nuzzled her neck. “You moaned a lot in your sleep. Feeling any better?”

Her first thought was to lie, but she had enough of lying. She had done nothing but lie the last few months and look where it got her. “No. I can’t stop thinking about what happened and how I’m glad it wasn’t you.“

“That’s perfectly natural,” Windor said, continuing to nibble her neck and under her chin. “Listen, I have the day off today so we can stay here and talk about it if you want.”

“Thank you, but I really have to get back home before morning or else my master will notice I’m gone. After everything’s that happened, I don’t want to upset him.”