Page 145 of Rescued By the Beast
Mark's eyes widen for a moment, hearing those words from me for the first time.
Then he smiles.
And it's the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.
"I love you, my Kitten." He caresses my lips with his thumb, then replaces the gentle gesture with a kiss, sealing his words on me. "I will love you until my last breath."
***
We are at my old flat. Ted is helping to carry the few boxes with my belongings into Mark's pick-up truck.
When we arrived, the landlord didn't seem to mind my disappearance so much, and willingly handed us the spare key when Mark offered him the rent I owed. The old man just muttered that it was good we arrived in time, because a few more days and everything I left there would have been thrown away.
When we opened the apartment door, the thick, putrid air hit me immediately. The smell of my vomit mixed with spoiled milk is still there, impregnated in the walls, a vivid and distressing reminder of the day of the curse. That moment when I was forced to transform and become trapped in a feline body still lingers in the air, like a horrifying echo.
But thankfully, I am now free.
The curse was broken even before Luther died. It took me a while to realise it, but when I stopped to think and analyse, after I already knew it was him, I finally understood: it was broken the moment I opened my heart to Mark, when I accepted being marked by him, when I accepted our partnership. That's when everything changed. When I allowed myself to love and be loved.
The key was always there: opening my heart.
Enigmatic words that Luther whispered when he cursed me, and which now make perfect sense. I began to be able to transform myself into a human when I opened up to Mark, to his care, to his love...
After I freed myself, I ended up transforming into a kitten of my own accord when I fell asleep. My body, so accustomed to seeking warmth and security in feline form, instinctively nestled against Mark's chest.
But this time, it wasn't the curse pulling me. My essence flows freely, without ties, without barriers. For the first time, I am truly myself.
And maybe that's why, when I enter the flat, the memory of that night when I was cursed no longer weighs so heavily on me.
It belongs to the past.
The place, however, is even worse than I remember. A messy cubicle, where dirt and chaos intertwine, with the still-strong smell of what happened there.
I take a step forward, leaving my shame behind as Mark and Ted enter right after me.
My life before was difficult, full of challenges, but I did everything I could to keep myself going. And I would do it all again to be with my grandmother until her last days.
I begin to gather everything into the cardboard boxes Ted brought.
In the end, material possessions don't matter.
I don't have much to take with me, just documents, my mobile phone and some clothes that I still like. Just the essentials.
Mark picks up the photograph of my grandmother and looks at it closely, the only thing I have left of her.
"She would have loved you," I say, with a gentle smile. "If she were alive today, she would be spoiling you with food, telling you that you need to eat well to maintain all those muscles."
"I'm sure I would love her too." He smiles back and puts the photo back in the box, which Ted then lifts up and carries out of the flat.
Mark frowns, muttering to his friend's back that he could carry that box with his good arm. Ted ignores him, by now accustomed to his frustration. Mark is upset that he is still injured, that it is taking so long to heal. But it has only been two days since the attack by Luther, and it will still take time to fully recover. Even more so because he refuses to take potion, afraid of becoming dependent on it.
I stand on tiptoe and kiss his cheek, trying to calm him down, a warm feeling washing over me as I pull away and see the details that make my heart beat faster.
I can't help but admire his face, and it seems like that's all I've been doing lately.
"What is it?" He frowns, but there is a small smile on his lips.
"You were already handsome, but now..." I bite the corner of my lip to stifle a little moan. "With that older look, you look like a hotdaddy."
