Chapter 12

Never in a million years did I think I would ever see Xavier dance in my red bathroom robe.

I woke up to the sound of a feminine voice singing to the beat of an old song, mixing with the running water of the shower.

I sat up in my bed, grabbing my phone from the bedside table and seeing that it was only 7 am. I should have started to get ready for training, but my body acted on its own, lying back down on the bed.

I turned to the side where Xavier slept and hugged the brown pillow. My nose inhaled the bubblegum scent he always has on. It's sweet. A soft smile tugged at my lips.

That's when the door of my bathroom opened with the music booming in my bedroom.

My eyes widened, witnessing Xavier moonwalking himself out of my bathroom in my red robe, which brings us to the present. I hide my grin in the pillow as my eyes silently follow his every movement.

His head with his dreads pulled up in a man bun is bopping to the old beat of the song. "Put your head on my shoulder," he sings, and I'm surprised at how soothing his voice is.

The song dissolves to a new one as he walks up to my wooden drawer. The beat is modern with a male voice rapping this time. Xavier does some random dancing moves, twirling around toward the bed and gasping at my awakened state.

Even though he's mixed, I can still see the blush of embarrassment creeping up his cheeks. It's not much, but it's there. "How much did you see?" he asks, clearing his throat before crossing his arms over his chest.

I throw him an innocent smile. "Just you dancing randomly, and singing to Paul Anka. Everything, basically."

He turns back to the drawer, dropping my robe on the floor. My eyes instantly move to the ceiling. "Don't mind me," I dryly say.

Xavier chuckles. "Please, you've already seen everything about me."

"Well, it's not the same thing, idiot!"

"Oh, really?" he asks, his voice deeper than usual. My breath hitches when I feel the bed dip, soon followed by Xavier's face in front of me.

I know he's naked, I know, but regardless, my eyes drop down for a second before moving back up to a smirking lion. My body warms up, excitement rushing through my veins that makes me mentally curse for how quick it happened. Oh, great. Now, I'm horny.

I groan while Xavier laughs. "Want to do a quickie?" he suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

Goosebumps crawl all over me as my hand softly rubs his cheek, noticing the way his eyes soften. My heart speeds up for it. "Let's—"

"Not at 7 am, you idiot!" a familiar voice yells from outside.

Richard.

Xavier and I exchange a confused look before turning our heads toward the closed door. Heavy footsteps gradually get louder until a stressed-out Richard bursts inside the room without knocking.

Xavier gasps, rolling off of me and taking the sheets with him to cover his naked body. Thank the Gods I have my pajama dress on instead of the usual bra and panties combo.

"Good morning, Richard," Xavier says. His head is resting on my pillow with his golden eyes staring at the white ceiling.

I act nonchalant as my body turns to Richard's side, propping up my head on the palm of my hand. The other hand tucks a strand of red hair behind my ear. Richard's face is an open book. He saw everything. Blood rushes up to my face.

The tiger blinks a couple of times before clearing his throat, focusing on me. "So you two really—" he closes his eyes, exhaling loudly, "You know what? As long as you drag him outside, I'll keep my mouth shut," he ends up saying.

I give him an awkward thumbs up followed by him quickly closing the door. An uneasy silence fills the room and I don't know how to fix it. If the floor opened a hole at this exact moment, Xavier would jump in it without a second thought.

I think it's the first time in our life that we get caught in this type of situation from someone that's not us. I mean, I was under the covers and dressed, but I feel for Xavier's embarrassment anyway. He's a pretty open-minded person, but if there's one thing that he likes to keep behind closed doors are the intimate moments.

I try helping him out. "It's just Richard—"

"He saw my dick," he says, cutting me off.

I purse my lips, holding back a laugh. "I mean, aren't you the one who has some experiences with orgies?"

"It's not the same thing." He groans, covering his face with his hands.

My laugh rings in our ears as I straddle him,  uncovering his flushed face. "Has someone ever told you that your embarrassed face is cute? Because it is," I say, purposely changing the subject.

Xavier surprises me by giving me the weird look that makes me flustered for him. It reminds me of the look Dante would give me when I told him that I loved him.

But I don't think this is the same case.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

My tiny felines' paws walk aimlessly around the forest of the villa. My tail is upward in alert as my green eyes look at every corner, waiting for the predator to show up.

I hate this exercise the most. I prefer shooting from a distance, but Xavier insists on building some speed in case I get in trouble. He put in motion the game prey and predator, consisting of prey having to escape the predator in any way possible.

Richard is keeping the time, so the predators have ten minutes to catch us. If they can't do it on time, the prey wins, of course.

Xavier volunteered to be my predator.

I don't know how much time passed, but no signs of a lion are showing. I'm tiny, so it should be more difficult for him to find me, but then again my red fur is noticeable against all this green. Paranoia clouds my mind, scared of what he'll do when he'll find me.

I accidentally step on a twig that makes me freeze. The sound of my mistake echoes in the small forest. Someone is shuffling nearby. I take deep breaths, keeping my heartbeat under control. I can't lose.

That's when I hear it. A deep roar that echoes in the woods, instantly followed by fast— very fast footsteps. I let my feline take control and she sprints through the forest, hearing heavy footsteps catching up to us.

Dammit, lions are fast, hurry up Foxy!

She hisses in replies but speeds up, taking sharp turns, hoping to lose track of him. After a while, it looks like he has given up because the sound of his erratic breaths and fast pace are long gone. I can't even smell that bubblegum scent.

Did I just win?

A smile breaks into my face, which is weird in my feline form, but I don't care. I won! I happily skip, following a path that leads me back to the villa.

In a blink of an eye, something grabs me by the scruff of my neck, making Foxy cry out. No!
Xavier gently shakes me as if I were a dog toy before putting me down.

I sit down in front of him with my ears flattened behind, his golden eyes glaring disappointedly at me. I lost. How stupid of me.

Xavier decides to shift right then and there in his human form, and I lower my eyes to the ground.

"I can't believe you lowered your guard just because you thought I gave up on you. Don't ever do that. If I was a stray lion, I would have chased you down until you were in my mouth. On the other hand, if you can't hear the enemy following you after a while it doesn't mean that they gave up on you. Understood?"

I slowly nod my head.

"I hope so. Now, get on my mane that we have stretching to do before having lunch." And with that, he shifts back to his feline form, the sound of his bones cracking booming in the forest.

I watch him lie down in front of me, motioning me with his head to get on top. I quickly nod, climbing up on his soft dark colored mane, my claws gripping onto him for dear life. He gets back to his feet, sprinting back toward the villa.

He's right. That was dumb of me. I'm used to being chased down until the end, so him doing the opposite completely caught me off guard.

Ugh, how stupid of me!

When we're back in the front yard, I leap out of his name, gracefully landing on the grassy floor. I sprint inside the house heading straight to the living room where I left all of my training clothes.

I close my eyes, feeling my bones elongate back to my skeletal human form. A soft purr vibrates my chest at the slight pain coming from my tail retreating back to the tailbone. I quickly slip the clothes back on before going back outside, following Gabriella's stretching routine.

Nothing special happens afterward, lunch passes in a flash, and Xavier and I spend the day catching up on a Korean drama a teen werecat called Catherine advised us to watch.

It's a peaceful day until my phone buzzes in my pocket. I fish it out of my dark shorts, and my eyes widen at the notification.

"Xavier," I call as I tap inside the app.

He glances at me from the other side, his feet poking my back gently. "What is it?"

I turn my phone toward him. "Tomorrow there's the full moon."

He sits up in an instant, grabbing the phone from my hand. "It's been a month already?"

I nod. "Crazy, right?'

He nods, absentmindedly.

The full moon occurs every twenty-nine days, and when it happens, all werecats can sense if their mates are near. To activate the bond, the couple must touch, or else they'll have to wait for another month, temporarily losing the matebond.

I know for a fact that my mate isn't here because I've already experienced the full moon countless times here, but I can't say the same thing for Xavier.

The idiot always hides in his bedroom when it's full moon day, but tomorrow, I'll try luring him outside.

He can't avoid his mate forever after all. Although the thought of him finding his meant-to-be lioness makes a pang in my heart make it harder for me to breathe.
Foxy doesn't like the idea either since her sad meows echo in my mind.

This is not a good sign.

Damn, I'm writing chapter 24 and coming back here seeing how peaceful they are is  cute af
Anyway don't forget to vote, and hope you liked the chapter ❤️