[ CHAPTER 5.2: THE HUMAN AND THE LEOPARD ]
Outside at the palace entrance.
"Welcome back, Lord Gaharu!"
All the guards bowed their heads as Gaharu stepped down from his chariot. Without looking back at any of them, he strode past them and entered the palace.
"Where is Bella?"
"Lady Bella is in her bathroom, my lord." The female servant, Suria, replied with her head bowed down. 
"Ba... What?"
From the servants, Gaharu learned that Bella had made use of one of the useless chambers in the palace and even named it 'bathroom'. He also learned that she's been spending time in his favorite spot, the garden at the top of the palace.
"Shall I inform her that you have come back, my lord?" Suria asked again. Her head was still facing down, not looking back at Gaharu.
"It is fine. I would like to see this... 'bathroom' myself."
As Gaharu paced down to the lower part of the palace, he noticed Sora standing by the entrance of the so-called bathroom.
"Lord..."
Before Sora could call out, Gaharu raised a hand, gesturing him to remain silent. Then, Gaharu walked into the bathroom where Bella was pampering herself in the hot spring pool filled with fragrance flower petals. As he entered, Gaharu's nostrils caught a whiff of her body scent mixed with flower fragrance lingering in the air around him. The scent aroused him.
"I am amazed how you have managed to change such a useless chamber into something like this."
Bella almost drowned herself in the water when all of a sudden there was a husky deep voice echoed in the cave room. She turned around to find Gaharu pacing towards her, with lust gleaming in his golden orbs.
"How the fuck... I thought you're not supposed to come back until next month?!" Bella raised her voice. Every time Gaharu appears in front of her, she would feel intimidated by him. She couldn't explain why she would feel that way towards Gaharu when she felt comfortable being around Sora.
Bella immediately reached for the silk clothes that the servants had placed next to the pool earlier and covered her bare breasts.
"I could not stop thinking about you. So I hurried back." Although the fog and the heat from the hot spring was making him slightly uncomfortable, somehow it also increased the 'heat' within him. He started to feel the reaction from his lower abdomen. Gaharu crouched down by the pool side. 
"Get out, or turn around. I need to change." Bella grasped the thin fabric that was covering her body tighter when Gaharu came even closer. The corners of his lips curled up into a lecherous smile. 
"...I have never seen such a beautiful female body before, may I touch it?" Gaharu stretched out his hand towards her bulging breasts under the thin fabric she was using to cover her naked wet body, as though wanting to squeeze those plumpy soft lumps of hers. Lecherous gleamed in his lustful orbs as he licked the saliva from the corner of his curved lips.
"What... Get the fuck away from me! You're a pervert!!"
"What is a pervert? I am no pervert, I am a tiger. Besides, you are my female now, you should not cover your body like that. Bend over now, so we can start reproducing right away."
"What the fuck?! No!! Get the fuck away!!"
"Who is this fuck? Why do you keep calling his name? Is 'fuck' your lover? Alright then, I shall kill this fuck so that you belong only to me!"
"What... You're fuckin crazy!" Bella covered her rosy nipples that were visible under the wet thin fabric with her hand, turning her body away from Gaharu's sight. Water dripped down from her wet hair to the stone floor and caused her to trip over when she tried to run away from him.
"Ah!"
Gaharu stood up and caught her wrist just in time before she fell on the slippery rock and pulled her into his arms. Seeing herself embraced tightly by him, and feeling his other hand was gripping her bare butt, Bella shrieked. She raised her hand high and slammed her palm against Gaharu's handsome face. The slap was so hard that Gaharu's face was turned to the side.
"You..."
Gaharu let out his furious tiger growl. His face twitched in unspeakable anger. The excitement he felt a while ago immediately dissolved and his whole body exuded a dangerous murderous aura. When he turned to look at Bella, his pupils were already constricted into two tiny lines. His chest heaving and his jaw clenching.
Seeing that, Bella felt cold to her bones. She messed up again. She shouldn't have provoked him, she knew that he can't be provoked. This dangerous tiger can kill her anytime he wants. 
"I see you have a death wish, female." Gaharu said before he threw Bella into the hot spring and pushed her head in the water, drowning her.
Bella struggled in the water. Bubbles of air gushed out of her mouth as she tried to push herself up but to no avail.
Could this be the end of her...? No, no... She doesn't want to die here! Not in this stupid world of beastmen!
*****