“I do not desire to be your captor but your benefactor. What better option do you have?"

“You say that but I can't even leave this tree!"

At this she paused. "You can't?"

“No I can't! That drop is like fifty feet and there is no way for me to climb down! Not everyone can just jump down like you!"

"I see... yes I suppose that is why father had built those stairs for himself up to my mother's tree..." she remarked, apparently never having considered it before.

“I had thought it was another of his unnecessary conveniences. I suppose you would like your meat cooked as well?"

Carter could only stare, slack-jawed at her naivety. She truly had lived concerned only for her own survival.

"I will figure something out," she then stated, and again leaped out of the tree.

“Something” ended up being a series of ropes made from tying vines and roots together. Taki assured him she would help him build stairs, using her memory of her father's stairs as reference, but the ropes would have to do for now. They didn't exactly seem safe, and weren't easy to climb, but given Taki was usually around to simply carry him to and from the tree house, the ropes mainly served to give Carter a sense of freedom, the belief he could leave if he really wanted to.

All the same, he couldn't help but wonder if he had gone from one captive life to another. For now Taki kept her word, asking nothing of him and providing for him, but it was still not the life he had imagined having after escaping Jiro. Still, he found it hard to hate her. It wasn't as if she was obligated to house and protect him for free, and he had no way of paying her back conventionally, nor any hope of escaping the forest if he did try to leave her.

This assumed it was true though that there were many monster girls outside her territory seeking mates. Maybe she was making that up to keep him here? The thought had certainly crossed his mind more than once over the past few days. He had heard various growls and howls in the distance at night but he couldn't tell if they were monster girls or animals.

After all he'd been through, could he really be satisfied staying here for the rest of his life? Yes he found Taki attractive but to mate with her? She was so cold, so distant, she rarely spoke unless spoken to and even then was often brief. And when she did try halfheartedly to connect with him it inevitably was forced and awkward. Even after several days she was practically a stranger to him. He wasn't sure his repressed sexuality would even be up to the task when the time came.

All in all he couldn't imagine what being with the strange monster woman would be like. He wondered how all the men who were snatched up by mantises in heat managed it. Were the bodies of monster girls really so incredible that they could overcome the strangeness of the whole situation so easily?

He sighed for what seemed the hundredth time and glanced at the sun through the trees while he lay on the porch of the tree house. It was noon and Taki would likely be gone hunting and doing whatever else it was she did until evening. It couldn't hurt to at least scout out the edges of her territory could it? Maybe figure out a possible escape route?

With that in mind he packed up what supplies he might need and slid down the vines from the tree house to the ground.

Little did he know what a turning point that day would be.

Taki was stoic as ever as she stood in the doorway of her home, a pair of dead rabbits she had planned on sharing with Carter held in her hands.

"Gone," she stated, noting how many of the supplies he had gathered as well as his pack was missing. A stupid move really, but one she had expected him to make at some point.

The thought crossed her mind to just let him go without confronting him. He was a runaway slave, cowardly, illogical and overly emotional.

Indeed, what if his past had damaged him so badly that it would keep him from being even a passable mate? Was it truly in her own best interest to be with a man like that? Yet perhaps there was more to this man than she could see on the surface. A conversation she had had with her mother came to mind as she pondered what to do.