A week had passed since that fiasco with the beast. Cassy was pretty sure now that it didn’t mean her any harm, so she was no longer afraid to venture out of the house, or even go around the field and maybe even go to the pond. The beast’s scrutiny of her had only gotten stronger since then. What changed though, was that it’d no longer hide or run away whenever their eyes met; now, it would just stare back at her, sometimes resulting in a staring contest on who would look away first, one she had yet to win. The beast would no longer hide in the woods far away to look at her either. Sometimes it’d just openly come out into the field to stare at her, but of course, even if the distance had closed in, it would still keep quite a distance from her.

She did try approaching the beast a few more times, or try calling it over, but the beast refused to come close like it did the first time.

Cassy looked out the window, the beast was standing out on the field, held in a staring contest with her again. She found it all quite amusing. Her days alone on the ranch were pretty lonely and boring, so having the beast around did bring some entertainment to her life. The beast reminded her of a stray kitty she once fed in her childhood. The cat would never come close, but it would always follow her, and would stare at her as well. It would only ever approach her if she had food on her hands.

Wait. That’s it! Food! Maybe it’ll come if I offer it food! With her mind set, she quickly headed for the kitchen. She rummaged through the fridge for anything that might stimulate the beast’s appetite, something big, ideally, since the beast was massive, until she found the perfect candidate. Voila, it was the turkey leg she bought yesterday at town.

Grabbing the turkey leg, she ventured to the porch. The beast had not moved an inch from its position earlier, it was still standing on the field staring intensely at her. She raised her hand to wave the leg around in the air, trying to catch its attention.

"Come here, uh, um, wolfie? I have some food for you!” She exclaimed, trying her best to convince the beast to come to her. The beast flicked its ear, but did not move.

“Don’t you want some turkey? It tastes real good!” Cassy waved the turkey leg around some more. The beast’s tail started wagging ever so slightly, but it still did not move. It was clear now that luring it over wasn’t going to be an easy task.

”I’m gonna eat it if you don’t come over!” She started pretending to eat the turkey leg. “Oh it’s so delicious! I’m gonna eat it all!”

Tasela watched in confused amusement. What was this woman doing? Of course he knew what turkey leg was, but why was she offering it to him? And what’s with all this tomfoolery she’s doing? 

He wanted to do as she said, just to see what she was up to, but what if it was a trap? What if she’d do something to him again and make him all weird? Already he was acting a bit weird these days, watching her all the time and constantly thinking about this strange human. He hesitated, his curiosity at war with his logic.

After a while of unsuccessful convincing, the woman’s arm drooped, and her posture slumped. It seemed like her arm had grown sore from all that turkey leg swinging. She looked defeated.

”You’re really not gonna come, huh?” She grumbled.

Something in Tasela stirred. He didn’t like seeing her like this. But why?

Before he could reason why, he started walking towards the woman. Maybe it was because his curiosity had won, or maybe because he pitied her, or maybe it was something else. He didn’t know, he just knew that going over to her would make her happy. 

With all the questions and worries in her mind, she used up her courage and stretched her hand holding the turkey leg towards the beast, signaling for it to come closer, until finally it stopped right in front of the porch stairs.

Cassy watched as the beast slowly walked towards her. It worked. This beast really was like that stray cat, how cute.

The closer it got, the more Cassy was in awe again at the size of this animal. The beast stopped in front of the porch stairs. It was absurd, even if Cassy was standing on the porch, which was half a meter above ground, the beast still towered over her. Her and the porch's height combined had only reached the height of its shoulder. 

The beast looked down at her, its ears were facing away, and its tail was lowered but slightly wagging. It oddly looked a little apologetic.

“Ah, here! Have some turkey leg!” Cassy raised her arm again. The beast looked at her for a second, then lowered its head to eat the turkey leg. Truthfully, she was scared that the beast would be a rough eater, and might hurt her by accident. Those giant fangs in its mouth were no joke. To her surprise, it was really gentle. With its fangs, it gently pinched the turkey leg from Cassy’s hand and dropped it to the ground, then bent down to eat it from the ground.

Did it do that on purpose? Did it do it out of consideration for me? 

Cassy felt kind of moved. She tentatively reached out her hand again to try to pet it, hoping that this time it won’t react so strongly. The beast flinched when she placed her on its head, but quickly relaxed and continued eating. Cassy smiled. This meant that it was ok with her petting it, right?

She stroked the fur on its forehead. The fluffy fur swallowed her hand with how thick and long it was. It was unbelievably soft and warm, almost like petting cotton candy. It was hard to resist the temptation to rummage her hands all over its fur, but her conscience told her not to. She didn’t want to risk angering the beast; she had to take it slow. Cassy promised herself to give it lots of pets in the future once she got closer to it. She saw that the beast started wagging its fluffy tail as well; did it also like being pet by her? 

The two stayed that way until the beast had finished with the turkey leg. Cassy retracted her hand as the beast raised its head. It stared into her eyes, then took a step forward, which was onto the first stair of the porch. Another step, followed by another. The beast kept moving forward, until it was now up on the porch. With each step forward, Cassy took a step backward. She didn't know what was going on, but she felt a little uneasy. Although she had grown closer to the beast, they were not close enough for Cassy to be sure that she was completely safe around it. The beast’s tail had stopped wagging, and its face was expressionless, making it hard to tell what its intention was.

Cassy kept backing away as the beast approached, until her back hit the wall. Now she had nowhere to go, but the beast was still walking forward. Her heart started racing with fear. She looked up at the beast; its neck was now bent so that its head was at the same height as Cassy. The beast’s amber eyes were staring into hers, unwavering. It finally stopped when it had cornered her to the wall. The air fell silent for a moment, as the two stood still in their positions. Cassy looked away, but the beast was still staring at her.

Breaking the silence, the beast closed in on her, its muzzle reaching her neck. Cold sweat started dripping down Cassy’s neck. This was too close. Did the beast feel that the turkey leg was not enough, so it now decided to eat her as well? She was cornered, nowhere to escape, she was one bite away from losing her life. She shut her eyes tightly.

The beast took a few sniffs, then suddenly, taking Cassy by surprise, ran its tongue through her cheek.

“Wha—” Before she could react, the beast had already backed off. It stood before her, wagging its tail while looking down at her. It let out a huff. Suddenly, its ears pricked and eyes widened as if realizing something. The beast turned around and left, sprinting to the forest.

Cassy’s legs gave way, and she collapsed onto the floor. She placed a hand over her cheek, and sure enough, it was still moist from the beast’s tongue. Did it just….lick me?

She felt dumbfounded. She didn’t know what to make of this. So then, does that mean that it likes me? It at least means that it won’t hurt me…..right?

-

Another week passed. As always, nothing much changed.

On the day following the turkey leg incident, the beast had given her a gift. It was an ordinary morning that day. She’d gone out to the field for a walk, when she saw the beast sitting by the shore of the pond. It turned to look at her hearing her footsteps, and stood up.

It bent its neck down to pick up something from the ground, but Cassy couldn’t tell what it was due to the distance. The beast then started trotting forward; it halted at around 5 meters from her, dropped the thing in its mouth, and quickly sprinted back to the forest, where its eyes shone brightly as it stared at her from within the shadows of the trees.

It was a dead rabbit. Strangely, there were no signs of injury on it. Its body was still soft and warm, signifying that it was freshly killed. She understood that this was a gift from the beast, probably as a thank you gift for the turkey yesterday. 

She thought that this would be the start of interesting things to come, but after the rabbit gift, nothing happened in the next few days. At most, the only thing that changed was that the beast would start wagging its tail whenever it saw her. Nevertheless, it still always kept a distance from her. 

There was an interesting observation she made over the past few weeks, though. The beast seemed to really like going to the pond, particularly the shore of the pond that was encircled by the forest. It almost always watched her from the woods near the pond, or would stand at the field near the pond to watch her.

The beast must have a den somewhere within the woods, since it would sometimes leave for periods of time and then return to watch her again. Cassy wondered if someday she could surprise it by waiting for it at the pond.