How Did I Go To the Beast World in My Pajamas?

Chapter 24: A New Look

Author's Note: Thank you all so much for helping me reach 2k reads!! And 180 votes! I'm still hardly able to believe these numbers for my very first story. I promise I'll keep writing and do my best not to disappoint! In the meantime, please enjoy an extra-long chapter to celebrate!

It was difficult to tell the difference between the small amount of daylight pouring into the tunnel and the light from the luminous pearl, but the males could easily hear the noises of the morning coming from outside and they started waking up. Samantha had been victim of both the males' opposing pulls and her own tossing and turning, and the position she fell asleep in didn't even resemble the one she woke up in. Their attempts to hold more of the female's smaller body had brought Spencer and St. Benjamin physically closer than they were comfortable with, but Spencer was completely unwilling to relinquish his hold over Samantha's a*s and thighs and St. Benjamin had wrapped his arms around Samantha's upper torso, her head leaning against him and her breasts pushed into his own chest. She had drooled a little bit in her sleep, but she had also wrapped both of her arms around him in return and St. Benjamin was more than satisfied. Samantha's legs were wrapped around one of Spencer's hind legs, his other leg draped possessively over the cushion provided by her hips.

Although neither male wanted to move, both for the sake of holding Samantha's naked body as long as they could and also to hide the extent of the arousal they felt from doing so, she was beginning to stir as well and they had no choice but to release her. Their eyes met and they tacitly agreed to roll her onto her back, moving her limbs to their default positions. Neither of them said a word, hoping she would stay asleep until they were less easily incriminated by their desire to keep their sleeping partner close in every way. They watched breathlessly as the sudden cold hardened her nipples into pearls and tightened the large, rose-colored areolas that surrounded them. Her breasts had already jiggled enticingly as they moved Samantha into place, and this new phenomenon was just further proof that the mammary glands of females were examples of everyday magic.

Oblivious to the thoughts and actions of her male companions, Samantha stretched her arms outward as she woke, narrowly avoiding punching both of the males who had leaned in to observe her. She curved her back to each side to stretch that next, her elbows bending into acute angles to give her a more thorough stretch. Seeing a purple mark on her left wrist, St. Benjamin reached across her and grabbed it. "Where is your mate?" he asked her. Surprised at being stopped so suddenly, Samantha looked at St. Benjamin wordlessly. "Whose spousal mark is this?" he asked with increased intensity. Her sleepy brain finally worked out what he was looking at, and she replied, "This is a tattoo. I paid someone to inject ink into my skin in this shape with needles, and when it healed, it looked like this. It doesn't belong to anybody except me, but it reminds me of my pet cats, and I got it to remind myself that when I have nothing else to live for, I will live for them. It has nothing to do with a mate or a spouse," she said, irritated. "Have you ever seen a purple cat with a fox tail?" Spencer added, "We may not have 'tattoo', but we don't have creatures like this, either."

Ending her stretching early, she snatched her arm back from St. Benjamin and quickly left the cave. She had missed her cats so much since her previous life ended, and she had been quietly reminding herself that they were surely being taken care of by someone who loved them. Samantha wasn't ready to think about how much more she would have done for them, or how abandoned they must feel without her. She felt the sun shine on her face as she held back tears, feeling nauseous again for the first time since consuming the emerald spar. Feeling a headache coming on, Samantha made her way toward the stream to wash up and hopefully prevent dehydration from making her headache worse. Sticking her hands in the cold water to scoop up some fresh drinking water, Samantha was beginning to miss the comforts of home as well as her precious cats. A cup to drink from seemed worlds away from this forest, lovely though it was. Thankful that the water this morning was at least slightly warmer, she repeated last night's abbreviated bath, finishing by rinsing out her mouth as best she could.