Page 87 of Monster. Me.

That left Marlow alone with a secret way too big for a small child to carry. Over the years, it made him miserable and isolated, burdened by the belief that he would never meet anyone he could reveal his true nature to.

Then puberty hit, and he had a very hard time with it. He suffered breakdowns and depression when he presented as an alpha in his early teens. He told me it was around that time that he slowly began to realize it wasn’t just the fact that he was a cat shifter. Of course, part of his cat nature had seeped into his human personality, making him different from everyone else and leaving him feeling lost in the crowd. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

The following years only brought more confusion. In high school, he always got along best with omegas, with their more relaxed and flexible approach to reality, without the same pressure, aggression, and confrontation that alphas represent.

He didn’t feel like he belonged among his subgender, and yet… he developed a sexual attraction toward them, not toward omegas, and that only confused him further.

He also told me about his exes, something I didn’t really want to hear because it was hard for me to think about those people wrapped in his arms. An irrational jealousy rose inside me, even though Marlow spared me the intimate details. Still, the awareness that Marlow once belonged to them, that he had feelings for them, brought out a wave of possessiveness in me.

What pissed me off even more was that they all treated him like an omega substitute, that they used his body but didn’t give him love in return or the feeling that he was appreciated for who he was.

With every day we spend talking, I gain a deeper understanding of his introverted and depressive nature, of that feeling that I also somehow share: that a happy ending isn’t something simply given to him, and that he has to tear off only scraps and leftovers of happiness that come naturally to others.

The second weekend after that, during my time out, Marlow and I go on a short trip along a nearby scenic trail.

Here, with only the forest around us, I dare to take his hand like couples do. That’s a first for me. We walk together like that, exchanging small, gentle smiles.

This is something new, not only for me but for Marlow too. None of his boyfriends wanted to walk around holding hands, so we share all these experiences as something fresh and enjoy them twice as much.

When we climb the hill, Marlow turns out to be in pretty good shape.

At the rocky area at the top, there is a great vantage point overlooking the gentle, forested slopes surrounding the facility, and further away, the rolling land on the horizon where Rainbow Spring is located.

Marlow takes a deep breath.

"Wonderful air! And the forest… so peaceful here. I love to be far away from the noise of a big city."

He glances at me, as if he’s trying to convince me of this place.

"And the climate here is actually pretty mild. In winter there’s some snow on the peaks, but in the valleys it’s much rarer… the temperatures are quite stable throughout the year."

I look at him with a smirk. He notices my gaze and turns away, blushing.

"I see you’re already slowly putting down roots here. The climate is really pleasant, it lets the trees grow well. It’s a pretty good place for someone in the… carpentry trade." I deliberately emphasize the last part, and I can see it makes him happy.

Marlow smiles widely and moves closer to me with his usual soft, cat-like movement.

"So you’re also starting to seriously think about talking to Renato Santoro?"

I burst out laughing.

"Yes. I looked over his website in my free time," I say. "They have an active job listing. They’re looking for someone strong who can handle more difficult, steeper places. The job sounds ideal for me, away from people, and I have the strength that could be useful to them where not every machine can go… but… they’re also looking for skilled carpenters. They’re the biggest company in the area dealing with building wooden houses, and that’s my specialty."

Marlow looks at me for a moment. His fingers unconsciously slide from the sides of my face down to my glands, which immediately makes my pulse speed up.

Many times during sex over the last few days, I noticed Marlow’s interest in my glands, but I have the feeling that, just like me, he feels a certain shyness around this area. After all, he’s an alpha and so am I. Can a marking bite even make sense? Would it work the same way as between an alpha and an omega?

Would it create a Bond that would mate us tightly together?

I guess neither of us is brave enough yet to explore that option.

"How old are you?" Marlow blurts out.

I glance at his flushed face. He looks adorable, with the epic forest behind him and light clouds moving above it.

"I realize I never asked you that."

"To be honest, I don’t know. When they found us, they estimated we were eleven years old, but because we were all very tall for our age, we could have actually been nine. I don’t remember my eleventh birthday. I don’t remember my tenth either. A picture of a nine on a cake faintly appears in my memory, but I’m not sure because my memories are badly fragmented… if we assume I was eleven then, I’d be twenty-seven now, and if I was nine, I’d be twenty-five."