41

Caramel health Clinic, M city.

Aanya was placed in the private recovery ward after the baby was successfully removed. Her husband and daughter, Cynthia, cried bitterly.

"Who could be so cruel to do this? What has my wife done to deserve this? She has no enemy! Why, why me?" her husband, Reyansh wailed.
"Pull yourself together and be strong. Aanya will be fine. Cynthia, come let me hug you, my dear." Grandma Binita offered.
Cynthia came over to grandma and sat beside her. Grandma then pulled her into a hug.
"Your mum will be fine, okay?" she consoled with soft voice.
Aarti who stood not far from them was getting bored to death. She made an excuse of going to the bathroom and left to the ladies restroom.
She took a phone call there. It was her boss!
"Hello, boss Nelson!" she said in a humble tone. Yeah, I hear you clearly sir. I'm in the hospital with my grandma. It's her friend who was almost murdered. I'll be coming over now, sir!" she said and the call ended.
Aarti sighed and shook her head.
She then called her grandma.
"Ma, I won't be returning early. My boss asked for me. Return home early and recall to take milk and your medicine, alright?" she said and ended the call.
She put the phone in her purse and left the bathroom.

******
10 minutes later, Aarti comes out of a shop wearing a black tight suit with silver waist chains that further accentuated her shape and long legs. She wore a black veil that covered one part of her face and 8-inch high heels.
She took a taxi and left for her destination.

Some hours later, she arrived at a place in a village with a sign 'Don't trespass. Danger ahead!'.
She scoffed and entered the place which was a cave, holding a big torchlight. She switched it on to see the environ in the cave and finally found a trap door. She then opened it and jumped down.
She landed in an underground basement filled with men and women who wore tight suits like her.
Aarti took off her veil and bowed to the others.
"Comrades, pardon my lateness. I'll punish myself with a glass of wine." she said and took a glass from the table close to her and poured wine in it
She raised it up to show them before drinking it.
This wine was very bitter, man!
She then took her spot amongst the standing fellows.
Soon, a figure came through another door wearing a green t-shirt, white trousers and white converse.
It was Nelson Woodley.
Alright, the mystery about our Aarti is solved. She is one of his elite bodyguards whom he personally trained. She first made an appearance in his office, helping to humiliate and cast out gold-digger Sonia.
What are they all gathered here for? Training of course! He trains them every 3 months.
He handed them papers for their training which starts immediately. He'd evaluate them in two days and kick out the one slacking. Everyone felt intense pressure and swore not to slack off.
Satisfied, he asked them to leave but asked Aarti to remain.
The others left the basement using different trap doors leaving only Aarti and Nelson.
"Boss, what mission do you have for me?" she asked humbly.
"Stay with me in my other form." he said.
"Sir, forgive me on being ignorant. What other form, sir?" she asked in puzzlement.
"You have seen me spit out blood many times and bend over in pain. I ask you to leave each time that it's an old illness. Actually this illness or rather this curse is something I never wished for but it simply can't be revealed to others."
He looked at the half moon outside and smiled bitterly.
"It's time!" he said with a sigh and left with super speed then returned in less than a minute now in a white bathrobe.
Aarti was confused and shocked. What did her boss mean by this? Why the bathrobe? Plus was he even human with that speed?
"Well, it's easier to shift if I wear a bathrobe. I can just take it off if I feel that he's ready to come out." Nelson said and went into a crawling position on the floor.

While Aarti was still trying to process his actions, she heard the cracking of bones.
She looked at her boss and saw his back was in a strange shape. The spinal cord was cracking. Nelson did not scream at all. Instead, he stared at her with red and blue eyes.
She was shocked but didn't move away. She watched him grit his teeth as his bones cracked. He suddenly brought his hands to his crotch. He couldn't bear it anymore and screamed. His hands and legs cracked and elongated.
"Sir..." Aarti covered her mouth.

So her boss wasn't really human? That explains his inhuman speed then. What was he turning into? A monster? Would he eat her up after he finished transforming? With these thoughts in mind, she wanted to leave.
"Don't leave, Aarti if you want to survive." Nelson managed to say before all his teeth fell out.
He quickly took off his bathrobe and she looked away.
In 20 minutes, his transformation was complete and a howl made her turn her head.
She saw a pink huge wolf. It looked very cute and harmless. It crouched down and whimpered. It looked like it wanted to be comforted.
Aarti carefully approached it and sat beside Nelson.
Then she touched his head.
"Sorry!" she said softly.
He had just gone through a very painful transformation after all.
Nelson rested his head on her laps to sleep.
Aarti sighed.
She secretly liked her boss for sometime now. Now she discovered he was a shape shifter, what should she do now? She decided to rest her back on the wall and sleep since he didn't permit her to leave yet. Somehow, she trusted that her boss in wolf form won't hurt her.
**********

An hour later, Aarti opened her eyes and saw that the wolf was gone. She got up and looked around.
Where was her boss? Where did he go? Oh right, he should be in wolf form now.

"Aarti!" she heard a hoarse voice call her and turned to face a very thick pillar in the basement, enough to hide a person.
"Boss, if that you?" she asked suspiciously while walking towards the pillar.
"Yeah!" Nelson revealed his head.
"Please don't come any closer..." he managed to say.
"Sir, are you injured?" she asked in distress.
"No, I'm having a wardrobe challenge here." he said.
"Eh? You're naked?" she asked loudly.
"You... do you have to be so straight forward? Forget it, just get me my bathrobe over there." he pointed at the extreme of the basement.
"I'm sorry for angering you, sir." she apologized and took out her phone.
"Hey! What are you trying to do?" he asked in alarm. Even though only his head was shown, he was in a vulnerable state here and couldn't use his super speed at the moment.
"I was texting my grandma goodnight. Sorry, sir!" she gave a lame excuse.
"Aarti, you are toast once I've recovered." he muttered.

She soon came with his bathrobe and threw it at him.
"Thanks!" he said unhappily.
******

5 minutes later, he had just finished eating some straw berries stored in the basement.
They both sat opposite each other on the floor.
Nelson looked at her like she was a lab rat, causing her to feel uncomfortable. Recalling that he wasn't human made her think that he wanted to eat her up.

"Tell me the truth, are you scared of me?" he asked.
"Boss, I... It's my first time seeing something like this. I'm a little scared but not much now. Were you born with this curse, sir?" she asked.
"Well, I can't talk about it. It's a secret. But do you know why I let you witness me change?" he asked.
"No, sir!" she shook her head.
"Well, the thing is... I just discovered that you are my 7th chance mate. Like you are my future wife and if you'll accept... It's optional you know. You can reject me. It won't hurt like they say in those novels. So what do you say?" he asked.

"Can you give me some time to process this, sir?"
"Sure! Give me an answer on the full moon before it turns dark. Don't feel pressured, alright?" he said tiredly and took out his phone from the bathrobe.
"So... You mean that I can leave now?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah! I'm good. I just need 10 more minutes to recover my full strength and I'll leave with my shadow bodyguard. You don't have to worry." he said with a smile.
"Alright then. I'll think about it boss. Have a good sleep when you get home later." she got up and waved before leaving through the trap door she came through earlier.
Seeing that she'd left, he coughed out blood.
"Tristan, you don't have to react like this. I know it hurts to be rejected 6 times. But those girls were unworthy of us in the first place. Come on, cheer up. She'll give her verdict on the full moon. Before then, you gotta be strong. Okay?" Nelson said. One of his eyes turned red and his voice deepened. Then he spoke.
"Fine. But if she rejects us like the others, I'll just wipe her memory and send her into exile."
The red eye returned to normal and Nelson spoke in his normal voice.
"You gotta calm down. I have this good feeling about Aarti."