Savage Kingdom

A surprise bonus third chapter tonight because this book has now finally been approved by FindNovel.net.

Kai walked away and left Kito to do this alone. He threw open the door and ran inside, quick to shut it so nobody could escape.

Inside was a wild scene. One where his items were thrown everywhere, each important ones, like his powders and fragile bowls that shattered on the wall beside the poor Caji’s head that tried to avoid it. The one throwing the items was the woman, who was standing up with one hand fisted in the blanket and holding it above her chest like she was naked and her other hand was used to throw. Kane was on the bed screaming for her to stop, and Kito had to figure out how to stop her before she ruins anymore of his stuff.

And hits Caji.

She did manage to throw yellow powder on his head, the color splatters everywhere on his clothes, hair, face, and skin. He ran behind Kito, unable to take anymore.

Kito had stepped on the table and leap off to get near her, but when she saw him she screams louder, this time grabbing a small wooden stick and swinging. “Get away, get away! This is a dream! I want you away!”

He grabs the stick quickly and catches sight of her eyes tightly shut, trying to jerk the object from his fist but it was stuck. Unmoving. She let go of the blanket to utilize both hands to pull it away from his clutch. It didn’t help much. “Give it back!”

Kito chuckles at her strongest attempt to pull it away from him. His arm wasn’t even moving, set like a stone, as she uses her body weight to jerk it away and failing. “Just so you can hit me with it?”

“You’re laughing at me!?” She opens her eyes this time and looked at the stranger.

He had expected her to look at him the same way he did when he first caught sight of her. Her deep hazel eyes made him feel like he was drowning and the first official view of her face that was now conscious was staring back almost made him unable to hold back the purr creeping up his throat that was hard to keep down. He had expected her to feel the world float.

It didn’t seem to go that way.

When she caught a look at him, seeing the bright illuminating blue eyes, her eyes moved to the ears on his head and suddenly snags the sight of the long golden tail behind him. And Jesus, there was even an intricate and well designed black tattoo of native symbols on his over his shoulder and spread to his arm, and in front of his chest above his left pectoral

A loud gasp and a holler escape her and she stumbles backward onto the tall table that held his herbs, uncaring for any she knocked over, and desperately moved away. Kane ran up by Kito’s side when he saw Clara afraid and hugs the Xutashi’s leg, “See, Clara! I said he was real! My hero is real, and my teacher was wrong. His name isn’t Neon. It’s Na’Kito!”

She stares at the drawing of a small boy come to life in front of her. Like he had jumped off his paper and formed into an actual being, with real feline ears on top of his head and a tail that sways behind him. His blue eyes that were on the paper was in the form of what a cat would look like except for the second eyelids they have. No, his were fit for him. He places his large hand on the little boy beside him and grinned, and when he grins he exposes his pearly white fangs. Fangs.

“K-Kane, what is going on?”

“I left you to find him to help us, he found you and brought you here,” he hugs his leg tighter. “He fixed you. He was nice enough to get a lady to put that little dress on you. I told you he was a hero.”

She frowns at Kito as the boy spoke like she was trying to picture him doing that in her head. The golden Xutashi holds a warm, calm smile to try to assure him that he was safe. The boy sure thought so, which gave him the advantage he needs. “Thank you,” he pats the young boy’s head. “What he says is true, he even told me your name. Clara. How about you come down off my table and we can speak?”

She didn’t move. She kept still on the table and blinked at him. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“He is fine, Sissy,” luckily he had the boy who went up to the table to reached and grab her hand. He was too small to reach it so she had to lean forward so he could grab it and lead her off. Kito could tell by observing that trusted the boy and his words deeply, even if it meant trying to lower her guard in the presence of someone strange. “You should meet the other one. He kept me warm while I was sleeping last night. He is a good blanket but you hit him with weird dust. He's yellow now.”

Caji was in the corner furthest from the Human staring with eyes of fear, his body covered in yellow. Kito found himself hiding another smile at the view. It sure was a lot of yellow.

Clara stood there while Kane spoke, her eyes scanned everything around her surroundings. The sight of the strange young cat man staring at her in the corner, and the even more intimidating one standing arm’s length to her side. His hut had things scattered from where she threw them, but she could see the small and very low table in the middle of the area and two beds in each corner. A small fireplace was even inside here for warmth but the flame was kept low. Covering the ground was blankets that were laid out to act as a carpet and to keep the feet warm. The whole inside of this place was designed for comfort.

Kane lets go of her hand and crouches down on the floor to pick up some of the things she threw and kindly puts them on the higher table he had watched the man put everything on before. Kito let him, his gaze on Clara most of the time, and remaining silent so she could get her full view of her surroundings. She would speak when she is ready.

Her eyes landed on Kito when her sightseeing ended, and he didn’t mind standing there as she took a second look at him. His tribal clothes and the... Tail.

He looks like the very image Kane drew on his paper. She looked at him the same with an unreadable expression. Shocked? Frightened? He was never good with facial expression when he was used to the signals his kind makes with their ears and tails.

“Is that-” she points to his tail, her voice soft and a little shaky. She was still unsure of the situation. “-Real?”

He looks at it and watched it curl again at the tip. “Of course.”

She captures another glimpse of his fangs with his humored smile. Like she said a small joke. He was just dazzled with the little human that was making it hard to keep a straight expression. What he had predicted before was coming true. He was becoming like Kai. Surely.

She notices his weird smile she moved her head back slightly, a black brow over her eye arched. “Um... I don’t quite get what is going on here. You, him,” she pointed to Caji trying to clean the powder off himself in the corner. She took a step back from Kito. “Are half cats. Half cats. You were just supposed to be a drawing,” her eyes went to Kane. “Where are we?”

Kane shrugs, “I dunno.”

“Syriya,” Kito could answer that question for her. He didn’t know what a cat was. Should he be worried that he looked like one to her? “My home. We are in my tribe, and this is my hut. Are you still sore anywhere?”

She didn’t know what he meant at first until the reminder of her pain came back to mind. Being stuck in the woods searching for Kane who left her, the sky was raining strange blue glowing water and the next she was in the Jungle. She continued to search for her brother afterward even if her leg, arm, and face were sore.

She started to check herself then. Her eyes went to the strange small tunic she wore, lifting the hem to check her leg to see it was bandaged. She touched her face where it had been sore before, nothing was aching. Her arm that had the large cut was bandaged as well, and she quickly unwrapped it to see it.

The deep slash was not deep anymore and she was surprised to see that it looked like it had been months since it was made, not last night. She gasped, “What the-!”

She went to untie the bandages on her leg.

“Don’t unwrap it,” he was quick to stop her before anything could be severely undone. “You shouldn’t have taken off the first one. There was medicine on it.” She saw how his ears moved. They lowered and showed the concern that he felt, he looked like a feline. A very expressive cat. Somehow the ears on his head matched perfectly into his golden hair. It was messy too. Now for the tail... How was that attached and moving? She was becoming curious now.

Lord knows she would never check for that answer.

He grabs the unwrapped bandage on her hand, she proceeds to stare at the movements of his ears like it was something she had to watch. He went to tie her arm without actually touching her skin. He knew that if he did he would be in big trouble with his urges. Touching her would begin a process she was nowhere near ready for.

He stops halfway when he catches a glimpse from the corner of his eye that she was staring at his ears. The side of his lip curved up, his head lifted. “Do you find them fascinating?”

She was thrown out of her little world when he spoke and realizing that she was caught made her blush and try to move her arm away. She just now noticed that he was covering the cut again. Where had she been? “Oh... I’m sorry. I... Just never seen... Nevermind.”

He tied it back easily and moved away, “Don’t unwrap it again, it will fully heal soon. Would you like to ask me any questions?” With the boy around she is more comfortable with calming down. He could still sense that she was very cautious, however, which was why he moved away as soon as he was done.

Caji inches closer when some of the powder was removed but it was still smeared on his face. He gave Clara wary regard of his own but also wanted to come closer to greet himself. It surprises Kito the kindness this Kikera had.

Clara gave the alien spotted man his strange look. Kane ran up to Caji and tugs the man’s dark brown furry vest. He likes the soft feeling of it. The Kikera lets him. “This one doesn’t talk but he is cool. He has spots too. I like him. He let me try on his shirt before it was yellow.”

She didn’t know what to make of this situation. So many thoughts moved around her head and little time to process it all. How could she? One minute she was on Earth and the next... Here. Now. Kane might be fine with it but she wasn’t.

“His name is Caji,” Kito was aware of her silence. “I am Na’Kito.”

She places her hand on her face as her mind finally processes half of the information that was going through it. She peeks at Caji mostly, seeing him stare back and even smile although he didn’t know what he was smiling for. Another hand covers her face as she slumps to the floor, luckily some pillows that fell from Caji’s bed caught her. She wouldn’t have cared if they didn’t anyway. “You guys even have weird names. Jeez... If it’s not one problem it’s another. I have to be dreaming. Guys just don’t grow tails overnight.”

She was still having a hard time filtering this. Kito and Caji glance at each other as they were baffled by her shock. Sadly Kito only knew one way to get this human to believe that this wasn’t a dream.

He was going to get a long scolding lecture from his mother later.

“Would you like to go outside and take a look?”

She looked up from her hands and back at him, “A look at what?”

“It might help you understand the situation a little bit more,” he would offer a hand to help her up but he knew better. He resisted the urge to do it too as he saw her stand back up on the ground, his hand even itching at the thought of her small hand touching his.

He did go to the front door of the hut and opened it, the first crack of light entering and making the inside brighter. He opened it wide for her to step closer and take a look outside. She told Kane to stay behind as she stepped outside, which Kito followed behind her. Caji stayed.

When she set her sights outside she could feel her sanity explode in her mind. It was like she was staring at a movie, but there would be no bathroom breaks for this one.

The hut was high which led to a good view of the village. It wasn’t as good a view like it was when standing in front of Kai or Ruro’s, but it was enough to see all the other of his kind. Others were mixed in with the crowd today, the Chayenne and Rhuzeche. She stares at all of it with wide, amazed eyes while she held her breath.

Then she pinches herself and shouts when she was hurt.

Kito was baffled she would do that. He puffed out in annoyance at the act. “Why did you do that?”

“To make sure this isn’t some kind of dream. This...” She shakes her head. “Is too much information. This... this can’t possibly be another world! I-I don’t even remember how I could have come here. I - the weird blue rain... I went to try to find my brother then... Jungle.”

She sounded broken, words coming out strange as she looked at the village and then at him. Everything wasn’t what she was used to. She wasn’t even wearing her clothes from before. She didn’t even know what she was wearing... Strange silk and feathers. The outfit was a little too big for her as well. A little tight in the chest area and he could see how the woman had a smaller figure than Alira who had more muscle. He needed to get her new clothes. He wasn’t even sure Mia’s clothes would fit her.

He knew who could have some clothes in her size. His Maurea friend Dia. She and Pippie had been mated before. Since Maurea does not have lifemates like others they can be with whoever they please, and Kito had seen Pippie with many other females from their large village. Some thin, tall, different colors of hair and lengths. It was one of the few things that Kito truly disliked about his young friend who seemed to be fond of using his way with any woman to blow off steam from his travels. Yet Pippie will do whatever he wishes to do.

Dia was his favorite of the bunch and they broke up ages ago, or perhaps accompanying each other sometimes here and there. Luckily she was here.

Right now he was keeping himself silent so Clara could continue to soak in everything that was happening to her. It took her a while before she spoke again, her voice almost a tone away from a whisper. “What is this place?”

“This is the Xutashi village. It is in the middle of the Jungle where you were found. Don’t worry about any here harming you or the little boy,” he wanted to make that clear to her so she would not need to worry about that. Ever. Not in his presence. “It is not our way. We have other human females here too."

She found it strange how he called women females. It was very... Tribal. Old. “Other... Women? ”

He nodded, “Like you. They come here as well so don’t worry, you are not the only one.”

She looked at him up and down, seeing his tail and his clothes up to his ears again. “What are you?”

“Xutashi,” he put his fist over his chest. “I’m a Warrior.”

Silence again. She examined the village and blinked a couple of times at the large scale of it and the people. The... Otherworldly people.

“You should go back inside,” he suggested. “If you want to ask me more questions I will be more than willing to answer them. I don’t want you to think that we are out to harm you or your brother, not before you understand.”

He could still tell that she was skeptical. In truth she had every right to be after her fight with another male before, however that went down. He never got the details for sure. He was happy that she went inside without any argument, he was even hoping he was lucky enough that nobody caught sight of her. He wouldn’t know that until later.

He shut the hut door when he went inside. It was good to get the first encounter out of the way.