He supposed it was natural though, to keep mamono to his fantasies and in reality go for what most men went for. And yet here he was, going to meet a demihuman he had pledged to be with forever.

As he left the road behind and approached the forest edge all such pondering ceased. His full attention was needed to his surroundings now. Experienced with mamono or not he needed to trust he was doing the right thing here.

He didn't expect to be attacked immediately upon reaching the forest, after all people traveled near this belt of trees on a regular basis without incident. Entering the forest was another matter entirely. Once beyond the safety of the road you were in mamono territory and few risked going in alone, even with the pepper powder. Yet Serafina had said she was going to keep anyone from bothering them, though he didn't understand how she could keep the various lustful denizens of the wilderness at bay. Indeed as he continued on it was as if the forest was devoid of mamono. He remained wary however, as sometimes travelers could move for hours through places where mamono were common before being attacked, and sometimes attacks simply didn't happen. Things were clearly more complex than just a bunch of monster girls constantly waiting in ambush for the next man to show up.

The forest was beautiful though, and Van stopped for a moment to gaze up into the dappled Light of the canopy. He proceeded to gasp in shock upon spying a lithe figure hanging on the branch directly above him.

She was lying on her belly, her legs and tail dangling from the branch, her eyes shut but her ears perked and alert to signal she was fully aware of her environment. The black fur covering portions of her body along with her tanned skin made her rather hard to spot if you didn't already know she was there.

The werecat seemed to have been resting, but opened one eye lazily to glance down at him before giving him a coy smile. As for Van he couldn't help but be awestruck at the sight of her golden yellow eye, her pupil slit like a cat's.

He stepped back a bit. "Uh, hi there miss... um, are you perhaps

Serafina?" She had said she would meet him beyond the forest belt where the Great Labyrinths started but he wanted to be sure.

The cat woman propped herself up with one arm, giving him a view of her quite full breasts, which must have been quite firm for her to have been laying on them like that. "Afraid not cutie, my name's Takara, it means ‘treasure'" she replied, the hint of a purr in her sweet yet sexy voice.

Takara gave him a teasing wink and licked the thin fur of her hand.

“It's too bad too, you look like fun... I would have jumped you in a heartbeat if she hadn't spread the word this morning that bad things would happen to anyone who so much as touched you. Sera's been the strongest mamono in these woods ever since she moved in, and she knows magic to boot so she's taken pretty seriously. Although..." she gave him a rather predatory look and licked her lips, “looking at you now you might be worth the risk."

Van held up his hands, a nervous smile on his lips, "I'm flattered but no thank you, I'm taken so I'll just be continuing on to the labyrinth."

“Aww," the werecat drawled in disappointment.

“Seeing you really got me in the mood too, been ages since I caught a man... I'd best go searching while I'm motivated though, maybe today's the day I find somebody willing to take me in." She got up on four Legs and stretched like a cat before standing erect and again showing off her amazingly flexible spine with another erotic stretch, her long black hair flailing about.

Van tried to ignore how the sight of her stretching and licking herself all over, especially the way those actions made her breasts bounce about, were getting him quite hard in his pants. It didn't help that unlike the werecats he had seen in books or heard about Living in towns this one wore no clothing, only patches of soft black fur in certain places forming a semblance of a covering.

“Y-you want to be someone's pet?"

“Well, not just anyone," Takara replied, stopping in mid lick, her eyes brightening in enthusiasm as she recited the qualities of her ideal man, “he's gotta be cute, and nice, and fun, oh! and live somewhere safe away from nasty towns like the one you came from. It'd be great if he spoiled me with treats and lots of attention too. It's hard to find a man like that though... there are so many humans around here who seem to want nothing more than to try to skin my silky self on sight. I'UL tell you, a lot of us out here would give up their right arm to find a guy Like you, a man willing to let go of everything for her."

Van was a bit taken aback by the praise.

“T-thank you, but I'm really not that great a catch, just a poor shoemaker.”

“You think somebody who Lounges nude in the trees all day cares about money?" she laughed.