Page 53 of Rescued By the Beast

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"Yes, I talk to her every day."

"Talk? Then you must be boring the poor thing," he jokes, and I growl.

Kitten's ears move and I see her body tense up. I scared her, and yet she barely moved, just cowered in the same spot.

"It's not funny," I mutter.

"Maybe she just needs a little encouragement."

I frown.

"What kind of encouragement?"

"Have you tried playing with her?"

My jaw tenses up.

Play?

"I never..." I swallow hard.

The words die before they take shape.

I don't know how to do that, the only times I ever really played were when I was...

I look at the cat again, feeling the weight of the decision settle in my chest.

For her, I can try. I can be who she needs me to be.

Chapter 18

Sandra

It's better this way.

I don't have a home to go back to.

At this point, I no longer have a job...

But I have Lucy. Or I had. My best friend must be worried sick.

If only I could send her a message...

If I had told her the truth all this time...

My only regret now is not trusting my sister, for fear that she would be scared or abandon me if she knew the truth.

Now I've really lost her by not telling her. If Lucy had known, that night when I was cursed, I would have accepted her video call, and she would have known something was wrong. I'm sure she would have come to help me.

But now it's too late.

Other than that, I don't need to worry about anything else.

I'm just a cat. I only need to worry about eating and sleeping...

Maybe Mark will let me go out for a walk around the neighbourhood when he realises I won't try to run away again. He's not all bad. In fact, he's very different from what I imagined and...

Suddenly, an animal appears in my peripheral vision, coming towards me.

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