I Rejected My Obsessive Werebeast novel Chapter 56

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“Not much to say.

“You survived. That’s worth talking about.”

He looked at me. “Surviving itself requires a reason,” he said. “That’s all I learned.”

I wrote it down.

“Was there a moment,” I said, “when you decided to help other beastmen get out? Not just yourself. Others.”

His gaze dropped to the carpet. Traced a pattern in the weave with his eyes. Then he looked up.

“Third year after I left,” he said. “I saw a leopard beastman kid being dragged into the ring. About the same size I was when they first threw me in.”

He paused. “I went back to where I was staying. Sat there. Thought about it for a long time.”

“And then?”

“And then I started doing this.”

The interview ran almost two hours. He talked about the foundation’s structure, about the legal framework for beastman rehabilitation, about the gap between public sympathy and actual policy change. His voice stayed level the entire time. Only once did it shift – when he mentioned a kid who’d been placed with a family last year and had started school for the first time. His sentence broke in the middle. He restarted it. Finished it

quieter.

I didn’t look up from my notebook. Gave him the space.

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When I closed the cover, the recording pen’s light had just gone out Battery died.

I stretched. Rolled my shoulders.

“That’s enough for tonight,” I said. “I’ll clean it up and send it to you for review.”

Kane nodded. Stayed on the sofa. Didn’t move.

I got up. Walked to the kitchen area. Poured myself a glass of water from the carafe on the counter. Drank half of it standing up. Then came back and sat down again – not on the sofa. On the armchair across from him.

–

He hadn’t moved. Still leaned back. Eyes half–closed. One arm draped along the back of the sofa.

I set the glass down. “That thing you said this afternoon.”

His eyes opened. Tilted toward me. “Which one?”

“You were born to command beastmen.“”

“You mean the scent,” I said. “The one I can’t even smell myself. Or something else.

”

He thought about it.

“Both,” he said. “The scent is part of it. But it’s more the way you were with those kids today. That kind of thing doesn’t lie.”

“What kind of thing?”

–

“Some people are like that,” he said. “Cats, dogs – they go to certain people. Don’t ask why. It just happens. You’re like that with beastmen. They trust you. They get close to you. Naturally.”

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He looked at me. “That’s a good thing.”

Andy”

“And it’s a bad thing too.”

I didn’t move. “How.”

He shifted. Turned his body slightly toward me.

“Good thing first,” he said. “You connect with beastmen easily. This kind of work – it’ll go smooth for you. They’ll open up. They’ll follow.”

He stopped. “Bad thing is – this isn’t new. There have been people like you before. Humans with that same pull.”

–

“That kind of constitution – it makes the beastmen around you dependent. Possessive. If you don’t handle it right, it spirals.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I heard about a girl.” he said. “A long time ago. Same kind of pull as you. Had several beastmen around her. She didn’t turn any of them away. Let them fight over her. Compete. Tear each other down.”

His fingers tapped the sofa cushion. “One of them – the most possessive one – lost control during an argument.” He paused. “And killed her.”

–

I looked at my hands. The glass of water sat on the table in front of me. My reflection in it was distorted. Small. Wavering.

I thought about Connor, about the way he treated me.

I looked up. “I would never do that. I know what betrayal tastes like. I’m not going to do the same thing to anyone.”

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Kane watched me. His expression didn’t change

“But beastmen are lower than humans by nature.” he said. “Even if you actually wanted a few, most beastmen wouldn’t say a word ”

I felt my jaw tighten. “In my eyes.” I said, “beastmen and humans are equal. I already have Silas. I’m not going to involve anyone else.”

Kane moved closer, slowly leaning into the space between us. The distance narrowed from an arm’s length to almost nothing. His face came into focus, his eyes fixed on mine. Our lips were barely an inch apart. I could feel his warm, steady breath against my skin.

Then he spoke. “Really?” The edge of his voice curved up at the end.

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Chapter 56

Aurora’s POV

I leaned back, taking two steps until the coffee table was between us

His expression didn’t change. He was still leaning forward, still watching me, but the distance between us was back.

“You don’t need to test me,” I said. “I know what I want.”

Kane held my gaze for a second. Then the corner of his mouth lifted.

“Just kidding,” he said. “Don’t tense up.”

He leaned back into the sofa. Picked up his glass. Took a slow sip. Set it down on the coaster.

When he spoke again, the tone had shifted. Still casual, but something underneath it had gotten heavier.

“But I’m not entirely joking either.” His fingers traced the rim of the glass. “The more beastmen you work with, the more you’ll be around them. Even if you do nothing, some of them will gravitate toward you. That’s just how it works.”

He looked at me. “How you handle that part is on you.”

I didn’t answer. I set my glass down and stood.

“It’s late.” I said. “We have a flight tomorrow. Goodnight.”

The bedroom door clicked shut behind me.

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i leaned against it. Closed my eyes.

Farec seconds. That’s all I gave myself. Three seconds of standing there in the dark, listening to my own heartbeat, letting the adrenaline drain out.

Then I pushed off the door. Walked to the nightstand. Set down the recording pen and the notebook. Pieked up my phone.

Opened Silas’s chat.

You up?

Sent.

The screen showed the timestamp. 11:47 PM.

Before I could set the phone down, the screen lit up. Incoming video call.

I answered.

1

His face filled the screen.

He was propped up against the headboard. The warm lamp behind him cast everything in amber. His tiger ears stood straight up between his hair. His tail swayed slowly at the edge of the frame.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was low. Rough in the way it gets right before sleep

“Hey.”

“I checked your flight number.” He shifted against the pillows. “You land tomorrow at three–forty. I’ll pick you up.”

“Your training

“Not much on the schedule lately. I can skip it.”

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I didn’t push.

The was saying it casually. Like it was nothing. But I knew the answer. If Silas hadn’t broken the Beastman Management Bureau’s rules for me – if he hadn’t crossed Jessica – he wouldn’t be in this position now. Benched. Sidelines. Training schedule light enough that he could skip it without without consequence.

1

Because of me.

The guilt sat in my chest. Heavy. I pushed it down.

And then I heard Kane’s voice in my head – the story about the girl. The one who let beastmen fight over her. The one who didn’t choose.

Don’t, I told myself. Don’t let that get in your head.

I had Silas. That was enough.

“Tomorrow, then,” I said.

His ears twitched. The tail picked up speed.

“Tomorrow,” he said.

I hung up. Set the phone on the nightstand. Lay down. Closed my eyes.

Slept before my head hit the pillow properly.

The airport was loud.

The kind of loud that bounces off tile floors and glass walls and comes back at you from every direction. Announcements. Rolling suitcases. A baby crying somewhere to my left.

I pushed my cart through the arrivals exit. Scanned the crowd beyond the

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barrier

And

And saw him.

Silas was standing outside the fence, wearing a dark gray jacket and holding a bouquet of white and pale yellow flowers wrapped in kraft paper. His ears were upright and perfectly still, the way they were when he was focused.

Then he saw me. His left ear twitched. He took two steps toward the barrier.

I quickened my pace.

The cart handle slipped from my grip before I’d fully stopped. I came out of the gate and he was already there – the flowers crushed between us, his arm around my back, pulling me in.

The kiss landed before I could say anything. Deep. Warm. His mouth tasted like coffee and morning.

People were walking past. A woman with a stroller. A man on his phone. The world kept moving.

I pressed my palm against his chest. Pushed. Gently.

“People are watching.” I murmured against his mouth.

He loosened his arms. But didn’t let go. His hand stayed at my waist. Thumb traced a slow line against the fabric of my jacket.

Then he looked over my shoulder.