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He’d seen some animals’ claws could go back and forth. Not humans, but feline creatures. He wanted to do the same.Go inside!

Ingram yelped sharply when slamming agony shot up every single one of his fingers. Wincing, he brought them to his chest to shield them while curling his body around them protectively. His sight shifted to white.

Yet, the pain dulled before disappearing completely.

He brought his hands forward, only to tilt his head at them. His claws were gone. Well, not truly, but they had retracted.

Inspecting the change, he noted that the curled tips of his claws were not only sitting flush to the flesh of his fingertips, but were snug against them. He couldn’t even separate them.

I did not know I could do this.His tail curled in joy.I can touch her now.

Ingram leapt to his feet to show her, but paused after a single step, knowing she’d be upset if he disturbed her. He didn’t want her to be mad, not when he’d found a solution.

Can I make them extend?Like changing back into his monstrous form, was it possible to have both?

Rather than go to her, he experimented with them. Willing his claws to extend, they slowly slipped forward and, this time, he experienced no pain. It was just as effortless to retract them, and he thought maybe them slamming back was what hurt him before.

He wondered how much longer it would be before Emerie was finished. She was taking a while, and she hadn’t called him over even though he could no longer hear splashing. Her whimpers were still present, but quieter.

I want to go to her,he thought with his sight shifting to blue.

He wanted to comfort her and be the reason she stopped crying. Would showing her he could do this ease her tears? He wanted her to smile at him for it.

“Ingram!” she screamed.

The suddenness of the panicked shriek caused his scales and spikes to lift in dread.

Ingram bolted past the trees to the small clearing where the stream was. Orbs white, he skidded to a halt when he saw her, then froze.

With the sun present, he hadn’t thought he needed to worry. He also couldn’t scent anything dangerous. No humans, no Demons... at least, he hadn’t before he entered the clearing. He’d been distracted while she was alone, unprotected.

And now...

Ingram knew if he charged the strange and unknown Mavka holding the tiny female in their arms, they’d quickly slice her.

They appeared startled, like a deer unsure of what to do now that it’d been caught in its predator’s sight. They’d been moments from sprinting off with a struggling Emerie clawing at the ground. Her hands had just broken off a tree root she’d clung to on the other side of the stream when he broke into their line of sight.

The Mavka stood and stepped back at his presence.

With their long, thin, and sharp claws wrapped around Emerie’s shoulder and side, his heart nearly stopped beating.

Is... was this how the world saw him? Something to be worried and terrified of when near those who the humans cared about? That seeing their companion in a Duskwalker’s long, angular arms – their death likely – struck like a serrated blade of panicked dread in their chest?

He saw amonsterholding his colourful butterfly.

Her wide, panicked eyes screamed for help. She’d stopped moving, all except her chest expanding and compressing. Did she remember him telling her squirming only excited him?

There was the lightest tangle of fear in the air. It was too distant to make the invisible hands of bloodlust squeeze his mind into a frenzy, but it was there.

His sight darted away from her pale, freckled features, to the smear of mud in the Mavka’s nose hole. White orbs stared back at him, as small velvet antlers shadowed their rabbit skull.

The Mavka was so thin around the waist that even Emerie’s hips flared wider. It was young, even he knew this. Made even more evident by all the bones that covered its body, from the collar bones to the tops of its long, rabbit-like feet. It stood tall on its toes, and even with the distance between them, he knew it would tower over him.

Lowering himself to a crouch with his hand out, trying to show it he was submitting, all Ingram could do to save Emerie was demand, “Give.”

The Mavka clicked and clacked their jaws, chittering as though trying to communicate. He expected bass and depth, and instead a higher tone sparked from them.

“Please tell him to let me go,” Emerie softly pleaded.