A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Chapter 486 - Teasing Naeku [1/2]

A little startled, Erik opened his eyes again. Distracted as he'd been with his wives, the information Elora gave him, and the fact this room looked surprisingly similar, he'd almost forgotten he wasn't in his dimension.

He was in someone else's home.

Inwardly, he cursed himself for already becoming complacent again after just promising himself to get back his killer instinct.

His caution rose significantly while this unknown person entered. He even tensed his weak body, despite the pain shooting through his chest.

But he quickly relaxed when he recognized the person's smell.

"Hello, Naeku," he greeted her softly, with a smile, before she even fully entered the room. "Please be mindful, some of us are sleeping."

"Ah!" she exclaimed while setting her last step inside, completely disregarding his request due to her surprise. But she quickly realized her mistake, and shrunk a little. "Shit…" she whispered apologetically. "Sorry… I didn't expect you to be awake already.

The room was dark, but light shone in from the hallway because the door was still open, and it allowed Erik to get a good look at her.

'Now there's an Egyptian princess,' he couldn't help but think as he admired her.

She was still in her werepanther form, as Erik and the others clearly hadn't broken through that particular tradition just yet, but she wore clothes this time, and had likely transformed just before entering the room.

She wore a golden headpiece that had some reminiscence to an ancient Egyptian crown. It was adorned with jewels and gold, but consisted mostly of cloth that was draped over her head and fell down on the other side. It even had a pair of cat ears that likely acted as decoration in human form, but were filled by her own cat ears upon transformation.

Her chest was wrapped in a loose tunic that didn't cover her arms, and cut off in a V-shape below her chest, wrapping back towards her rear, and leaving her mid-riff exposed. Just like her headpiece, it had some drapery and jewels, but no more than absolutely necessary to give a regal feel.

The fabric from her crown that hung behind her back was connected to a longer robe, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian cloaks. It was light, and rested on her shoulders with removable clips, before flowing down to her waist, where it was attached to her belt and continued down to cover her legs elegant, thing, almost see-through linen.

Her feet were uncovered, but she did have golden ankle and wrist bracelets, also beset with jewels. Finally, a number of decoration featuring the Egyptian goddess of Bastet completed the ensemble.

The entire outfit exuded the feeling of a desert princess as it flowed around her lightly and tantalizingly. It didn't even need to stretch much despite her transformation, as a werepanther's form was sleek, and likely not much larger than her human form, despite the power hidden behind those muscles.

The look mesmerized Erik a little, and he really only had one complaint about it. 'I'm pretty sure I'd propose marriage right here and now if I could just see her human form in this outfit,' he chuckled with amusement in his thoughts. His eyes twinkled with expectation as he wondered what she looked like.

"I could tell you, you know?"

Elora's cheeky voice interrupted his thoughts.

"It's a nice tradition, but it doesn't work all that well when you have guests with omnisense,"

she continued with a chuckle.

Clearly, the barely asleep fairy had been woken up by Naeku's entrance, and had accurately guessed Erik's thoughts based on his vacant stare. Furthermore, her omnisense had allowed her to see Naeku's real appearance plenty of times before, because she wasn't actually walking around like a werepanther all the time.

It was likely Naeku's family had realized this problem, but decided to simply ignore it. In the end, there wasn't much they could realistically do.

Their honour and gratitude prevented them from kicking Elora out, they couldn't block her omnisense, and they didn't care enough about the tradition to start walking around transformed in their own home.

"No, that's alright,"

Erik answered in an intrigued tone.

"I'd prefer to discover for myself."

"As you wish,"

the fairy giggled mysteriously.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised…"

Meanwhile, Erik answered the surprised princess. "What do you mean awake already?" he asked with a weak chuckle. "Hasn't it been like ten days?"

"Well, yeah, but Elora predicted two weeks, so…" she muttered with a slight pout.

But then she shook her head and actually smiled a little, "Anyway, it's good to see you up… or awake at least. Do you mind if I turn on the lights?"

Next to him, Elora heard Astrid and Emily breathe annoyed sighs, proving they'd already been woken up. So, he smirked a little and nodded, "Sure, you've already woken up my poor wives anyway."

"S— Sorry," Naeku mumbled, showing a surprisingly meek and shy attitude. Even in the darkness, Erik could see her blushing slightly.

'I may not have known her long, but that still seems like a surprising attitude,' he pondered inwardly, before turning a questioning gaze towards his first wife.

Elora giggled when she noticed his look and explained a little,

"Over the past ten days, she's come here almost every day to check on you, and my dear sisters have regaled her with stories about their time with you… I think she's developed a small crush, after you already made a good impression when you first met her."

"Has she now…? Interesting…"

Erik mumbled with a small smile.

Unfortunately, Elora giggled and shook her head,

"Hold your horses their, big boy. She's still a headstrong girl who likely won't be putting you before her people anytime soon. A small crush gives you a foot in the door, nothing else."

Erik chuckled and couldn't deny she was right. Compared to Emma, Emily, and Astrid, who all had their own reasons to fall for him pretty quickly, he realized Naeku would likely be a challenge on par with Seraphina.

The council vampire, who was also Emily's friend, currently felt only desire for and dependence on him. While some might argue that brought her closer to having sex with him than Naeku, a crush was easier to develop into love… and Seraphina was still struggling with her feelings for him.

Of course, all of this was predicated on the fact Erik was even interested in either of them as wives. Although he had to admit Naeku was already closer than Seraphina, because with the latter he mostly felt like dominating her.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when a number of torches on the walls flickered to life. Over by the door, Naeku had touched a sigil in the walls. Apparently, it was like a light switch that came together with the city and buildings.

Yet, when she did, her blush deepened and she began to retreat a little as soon as she noticed the tangle of naked bodies. "W— Wha…"

Her eyes flickered between the securely restrained Emma and the leashed Emily. Both of them were ignoring her, and the latter was even suggestively licking Erik's chest while looking up at him playfully.

Clearly, she was still unsatisfied.