Why Am I In the Beast World?!

Chapter 7- Cringe

"I'm back little female!"

Audre frowned. The jaguar was back too soon.

'And right when we were getting to the good stuff! Couldn't the water be further away?'

"Vadon, you are too noisy." Juno scolded the jaguar. "And the female has already said that her name was Audre, not little female"  

The Jaguar had completely ignored Juno and was instead stared intently at Audre. Audre looked down at herself realizing very quickly that she was still shirtless. If her skin had been lighter, Audre was sure that her face would've been red with embarrassment.

'What was that perverted Jaguar looking at?!'

Before she could pull on her jacket, the jaguar rushed over and knelt beside her. "The female is injured!"

The jaguar yelled very close to her ear which made her head throb, causing her to wince and cover her ears.

"Quiet your voice." Juno's tone had grown impatient. "And once again, her name is not female, it is Audre."

Audre honestly didn't care if the Jaguar knew her name or not. She had no intentions of growing close to him.

"Audre." the Jaguar said her name as if he were simply testing it out to see how it felt on his tongue. His mouth quirked up in a faint smile. He stared dreamily at Audre, gazing at her with his yellow feline eyes.

"Audre." This time he said it as if she were the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

It made Audre cringe. She felt like she was the protagonist in a teen romance novel, and she absolutely hated teen romance novels. They were filled with sappy lines and cringy lovey-dovey stuff that made her want to puke.

The jaguar must have taken notice of her reaction because his smile quickly fell, and his tail drooped in disappointment.

Audre felt bad, after all, she was grateful to the Jaguar, but she didn't have any romantic feelings for him. Yes, Audre had to admit that the beast-man was incredibly handsome. He had broad shoulders, a firm chest, and his body was lean yet toned with muscle. His long curly hair fell a little over his yellow feline eyes which made him look like a wild man out of a romantic fantasy. 

Alas, Audre didn't fall in love easily. It's the very reason that she had never dated anyone, despite being twenty years old.

Not to mention that his look was such a cliche.

Juno paid no mind to the awkward situation that was happening between Audre and the Jaguar. Instead, she was mashing green leaves in a crude stone bowl. When the leaves were mashed into a paste, she had begun to apply it to Audre's bruises.

Audre winced when Juno applied the paste to the bruise on her shoulder.

'That bruise seems to be especially sensitive.'

When the Jaguar had seen that Audre was in pain, he snatched the bowl from Juno's hands. "You are hurting the female!"

"I am not." Juno tried to take the bowl back from the Jaguar, but he quickly his hand to evade her grasp. "Give me back the bowl Vadon."

Audre sighed.

'This Jaguar is really too much.'

"I'm fine. It barely even hurts." Audre told the Jaguar. "You can give Mrs. Juno back her bowl."

The Jaguar frowned in confusion. "Her name isn't Miss Juno. Just Juno."

Audre was confused for a moment. Then it dawned on her.

'They don't use prefixes like Mr. and Mrs. Here.'

"Sorry," Audre said a little flustered. "You can give the bowl back to Juno."

Prefixes were so common back in Audre's world. It felt disrespectful not to use them. Audre couldn't help but feel like her mom and dad were frowning at her in the other world for not using the prefixes.

'This world is going to take some getting used to.'

Juno frowned and held out her hand to the Jaguar. "You heard her, now give me back my bowl."

The Jaguar reluctantly handed Juno back the bowl. "Just be careful." 

Audre could swear that she heard a low growl in his voice.

Juno resumed her work and Audre resisted wincing whenever she felt discomfort so as to not set off the Jaguar. 

'This is getting old.'

When she was done, Juno gathered a few of the leaves that she had mashed up before and handed them to the Jaguar. "Tomorrow, mash the leaves with a smooth stone just as you've seen me do and apply it to Audre's bruises. It can also be applied to the forehead for headaches. Make sure she gets plenty of rest when she gets home."

The Jaguar nodded and took the leaves.

"I don't have a home." Audre piped in. "Where do I go?"

A big toothy smile spread across the Jaguar's face. "You'll be staying with me, little female!"

"Huh?"

Juno smiled patiently, assuming Audre's confusion was due to memory loss. "Because Vadon brought you to the village, it is his duty to care for you, therefore you will be staying with him."