76 His Friends (9)

The teacher did not heed her plea. The next moment, Iris found herself being carried to the bedroom, where Kyro had left his shopping bag. Without allowing her escape, he rummaging through the bag and took out a simple, dark-colored leash.

Iris' eyes went wide at the sight of it, and she started struggling like mad. A collar was bad enough, but now a leash, too? This was crazy! How could she ever live it down?

The grip on her tightened, preventing her from moving wildly. Then, with a snap, the leash locked onto the collar, and she was set free. Well, it was a controlled freedom of a set distance.

She instantly grabbed onto the leash, biting it with all her might. Her teeth clamped around the foreign object, but that didn't do any good! She could feel how useless her attempts there; the leash wasn't damaged in the least no matter how much she bit it.

"Hey, stop that," Kyro ordered, but she just glared at him and continued pulling and chewing.

Maybe if she tried a bit harder, it would snap in two. Or maybe not. She wasn't delusional enough to believe she could chew through it in twenty seconds. It didn't hurt to try, though.

Once she was sure that this wasn't going to work, she allowed Kyro to remove the leash from her teeth and instead fell down dead. If he wanted to use that thing on her, then he better be ready to drag her around. She wasn't going to take a step herself with a leash on.

It didn't sit well with Kyro, however. He crouched down and pulled her up to her feet. "You'll have to walk yourself, dear. Or I swear I'll drag you all around the room until your neck is sore and hurting."

'You wouldn't,' Iris told him in a matter of fact tone, not moving a muscle. He cared about his pets too much to actually hurt them himself. It was simply impossible for him to do what he threatened.

When she dropped to her side again and didn't get up when he pulled on the leash, Kyro pulled her up once more. "So you stuff yourself to bursting with my food and then refuse to exercise? That's not going to work."

'Words… You're just saying that.' Iris wasn't worried in the least. There was nothing he could do to make her move. His only choice was to give up and stop with this nonsense. 'And then I'll be free to return to laughing at the memory of your face when you noticed what you were eating.' Her lips curled up at the thought of it.

Kyro left for a moment, then returned with a blueberry. "Do you like them?" he asked, holding the tasty treat by her nose. It smelled heavenly—like everything that wasn't an insect—and she grabbed for it, but he was quick enough to pull it away.

"If you don't listen to me, you won't get anymore berries. Do you want that?"

While he said that, he brought the berry to her face again, but once more pulled it away when she tried to take it from him. Annoyed, Iris stood up and pounced on his hand. He clenched it into a fist instantly, hiding the berry, so her attack went amiss.

Not ready to give up, she clawed at him, but that won her only a poke on the nose. "What did we talk about biting and clawing?"

'Don't hide my berries from me then!' she shouted back at him, glaring. Her stomach might be full, but there was always place there for berries. Always.

"If you want it, come with me to the living room." As Kyro said that, he stood up with a leash in one hand and the berry in the other and started walking away. He was taking his time with it, so Iris had a moment to judge her options.

Was the berry worth it? Probably. It wasn't like anyone saw her now. As long as it was in the house, some concessions could be made. Thus, without further hesitation, she ran after the annoying human. Why did he always have to make things difficult for her?

However, she froze when she ran into the room. Kyro was standing by the door leading to the outside, outdoor wear already on his feet. 'That's not what we agreed upon!' she screamed at him, backing away as fast as she could.

The leash did not allow her to do that, though. It was growing smaller too, so she was dragged against her will closer to the outside. Her heart beat erratically as she tried desperately to catch hold of something to stay her continuous slide, but there was nothing around! Her claws bounced off the ground, getting no purchase, and she slowly, uncontrollably, drew closer to Kyro.

"Stand up," he told her, holding the berry in front of her face.

Reluctantly, she did as told, and to her surprise, she actually received the treat. It tasted as juicy as she'd expected, and for a moment she was happy. Then, reality reasserted itself.

Kyro had picked her up, and they were now walking through the door. He locked them up behind himself, then went down to the elevator.

Although Iris wasn't certain where he was going, it couldn't be good. No place where she had to traipse about on a leash could ever be good!