Somehow I've Stolen the Heroine's Men in the Beast World??

A New Life?

Mei had often daydreamed about the idea of transmigration, experiencing it however, was something completely different. Everything she'd once theorized flew out the window as she stood in the middle of a dark forest. She remembered that she was reading one of the many books saved to her library, but now she's here?? She didn't recall falling asleep, but she tried pinching herself anyways. Ouch. Guess I'm not dreaming? But then where the hell am I??

Mei quickly notices that these trees were larger than any she had ever seen, and there were many sounds of bird calls and of rustling from other forest creatures.

...did I get kidnapped or something?? Maybe I bumped my head and died and this is the afterlife?

Her thoughts were put on a halt as she heard a rustling in the bushes a few feet behind her, instinctively she turned to look around, and was met face-to-face with the largest snake she had ever seen.

Honestly, the only reason she didn't scream or freak out was because it all felt so surreal. She stayed perfectly still and the snake tilted its head as it seemed to examine her.

In an instant, the air was filled with the sound of bones crunching and rearranging themselves as the snake morphed into a half snake man, more commonly known as a naga.

The naga had long tresses that went down his back, his hair looked glossy despite not having access to modern shampoo and conditioner. His face was handsome with sharp features and a fair complexion, however, what stood out most about him was his eyes. The pupils were narrow like a cat's eyes but seemed to dilate until his eyes became nearly black as he continued to look at her. There were 4 markings on his face which matched the color of his beautiful, lower serpent half.

"What's your name, female?" The voice had a husky quality to it and she suspected it could be from years of not using his voice.

"I'm um, I'm Mei," her answer came out smoothly despite the stutter at the beginning, the naga seemed to shiver hearing her voice.

"What a pretty name." the naga remarked, more to himself that to her. His voice surprisingly didn't drag out the s'es and she wondered if that was just a myth altogether.

She glanced down again at his tail, which looked like it could easily crush her, but for some reason she had no fear of the naga in front of her.  To be honest, she had been a big fan of paranormal romance novels in her "past" life and always had a feeling the creatures were real, this was just visual evidence.

"Sooo..what's your name?"

He paused for a second before answering, "..Curtis, my name is Curtis,"

"Your name is pretty too!" Mei said to him with a smile, he quickly turned his head away but she spotted the red tips of his ears.

"So uh, this might seem like a weird question, but where exactly are we?" She asked.

He paused, and a look of curiosity flashed through his eyes, "we're in the Black Forest."

"..why is it called the Black Forest?" Mei asked, she felt like she was being a bit annoying with these questions but so far Curtis didn't seem annoyed.

"The large trees create shade and shadow for predators to creep through, at night is when it's truly the Black Forest, the trees block out any light from the moon and the more dangerous creatures come out," he explained thoroughly.

Mei nodded, lost in her thoughts. She felt a hand touch hers and jolted a bit.

"So this is a female's hand...so soft," Curtis muttered.

Mei stood still, not quite sure what to do.

Curtis moved his hand up, touching and caressing her arm and then her face, when he reached out to touch her breasts she stopped him.

"I- um, I'd rather only have my future partner or partners touch those," she stammered, embarrassed by his brashness.

Curtis looked up, his gaze that was once locked onto her body locked onto her eyes.

"I plan to make you my mate, doesn't that give me permission?" He asked, tilting his head slightly, a lock of hair slipped in front of his face and she instinctively brushed it behind his ear.

She pulled her hand back after realizing what she had done, only to have Curtis grab her hand, and move it to his face again.

"Your touch, it's comfortable," he said to her.

Wwww is everyone so blunt here? How embarrassing...(＞人＜;)

"What exactly would happen if I agreed to becoming your 'mate'?" She asks, curious about the proposition and eager to find out more about this world.

"I'd provide for you, you would live in my home, gain the ability to harness some of my power, and you'd eventually have my children, if we wanted them," he stated matter of factly.

"O-oh, and you're sure that you want to have this kind of relationship with me?" Mei asked.

"Well, as you know, females make up a minuscule percentage of our population and they take many males as their mates, however, most are bad tempered and not good looking. You're both good looking and well tempered, you're one of a kind in this world. I don't doubt that many males will be interested in you, but they'll have to defeat me first," Curtis explained bluntly.

The multiple partners thing isn't that new to me, but a mostly male world? It seems as though he thinks I belong to this world. Also, they have to fight Curtis if they want to take me as a 'mate'? What an interesting world...

"Is there a power ranking system here then?" Mei asked. "To be honest, I don't remember anything besides my name and the fact that I don't have any males, so I'm sorry to ask all of these questions,"

"Mei," Curtis starts saying, looking solemn, "you don't need to apologize, your words are far more important than you think, and shouldn't be wasted on apologizing to me." He starts off, "To answer your question, you can tell a beast-man's power by the markings on them, everyone starts out with none but as they get stronger they acquire more, 4 markings is the strongest you can be, with only 15 or so individuals ranked at that strength," Curtis explained once again.

"Wow! You're really strong then. I'll try to remember that my words are important, but thank you for answering my questions!!" Mei says, with a bright smile to convey her gratefulness.

AN: this chapter was more like a prologue and just to get some basic info down, the fun stuff is coming next chapter :))