If Raener would have rather died than be saved by a wolf girl, then soon got his wish. His recovery seemed to be swift and without issue, but just two days later, his condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. A hot fever suddenly shot to every end of his body and when Rosalie removed the old leaves to reapply the herbal paste, she found that there was pus leaking out of his wounds.

Without speaking, both knew what this meant; blood poisoning.

Rosalie wanted to tell the incubus that he got what he wished for—but she wasn’t cruel enough to say that. Instead she simply smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I know a plant that will be effective against this.” Her smile was strained and Raener could hear in her voice that she knew of no such plant. He averted his eyes and continued to breathe—for even breathing had become more difficult with every passing hour. His eyelids felt heavy and thinking became tiresome.

While the wolf girl—what was her name again?—went away to collect her herbs, he tried to focus all of his thoughts on his family. His little sister who always explored the forest together with him when they were little; his succubus mother who always made sure that he was properly dressed for his meetings with the Elders; and his father who spoke little, but always made sure that he studied diligently.

He thought of Whitney, Ella and Anyta; the succubus girls he would enjoy a regular tumble in bed with. He focused his strength on the happy memories—like the time when his sexual skills surpassed every other incubus in his village in the practical exam and many succubus girls—and even nymphs and elves—had wanted to have a taste of his skill — much to the chagrin of the other incubus boys.

And eventually, when he had gone through all the memories he could recall with his hazy mind, did he think of his last moment. The time when he took a walk in the forest, stepped past familiar territory and encountered a brown bear. He remembered staring down at his own intestines and the bear ready to eat him while he was still conscious—but then the bear turned away in a panicked jerk, and then he fell unconscious.

Why had the bear not eaten him? He began to suspect that it might be because of this wolf girl. Did she truly have so much strength in her slim frame that a bear would fear her? Come to think of it, Raener thought, she did say that she carried him to her cave...

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When Rosalie returned to the cave, she found Raener fast asleep. The expression on his face was so peaceful that she would have thought of him as dead if his chest didn’t rise and fall gently.

She sat down besides him and felt his fever; it was just as bad as it was before. She didn’t understand. Why had his condition suddenly taken a turn for the worse? Had she not cleaned the wounds properly? No–that couldn’t be right. There might a chance that the claws of the bear were infected with something and the poison was far too deep for her to clean out. It was possible that the magic in his blood had kept the poison at bay during the first few days, creating the appearance that he was getting better, but now it has lost its endurance.

She mashed up some of the herbs and then applied it to his wounds.

Then using the remaining herbs she collected, she boiled them and when Raener woke up, she forced him to drink the bitter liquid—he didn’t have the strength to resist her anyway.

For three days and three nights, Rosalie labored without sleep. She worked with a feverish urgency, as though her own life was at risk. She exhausted the herb reserves she knew around the forest and fought Raener’s fever with an unbending spirit. But above all, she admired his strength; his gaze was unfocused and he barely had the strength to speak, but he always had this stubborn frown on his brows. He refused to die.

And on the fourth day, did the fever finally break. Color returned to Raener’s ghastly white face and Rosalie breathed out; she had been victorious. She felt a deep sense of satisfaction; she had promised him that she would take care of him, and she had kept her word. Honor and pride wasn’t something wolf girls felt often—for they knew that they had no place where they belonged—but she felt that even if this incubus despised her, she had earned his grudging respect and gratitude.

Exhausted, Rosalie laid down in a different part of the cave and fell asleep.

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When she awoke, she discovered that she was a lone wolf girl again. The cot where Raener once lay was empty and judging by the displaced blanket and pebbles, he had gained the strength to walk out of the cave.

She glanced around and found that he hadn’t touched anything.

“Heh,” she smiled with downcast eyes and stood up. She didn’t expect for him to stay longer than he had to—but why did she feel a pang of disappointment? He hadn’t scratched a message of gratitude onto the wall or left any clue that he was thankful for her help.

Rosalie knew very well that incubuses and succubuses despised her kind. She knew that humans despised her kind. She knew that elves and even dwarves despised her kind.

She knew that she should not expect anything from these races—and yet—she felt a nagging exasperation in her gut.

She looked in the corner and saw that she had used up all the firewood over the past five days to keep Raener warm. Her stomach yawned. She had also forgotten to hunt. All her time was spent taking care of this ungrateful incubus.

She stepped out of her cave and when she was at the entrance, did she see a figure hobble out from between the trees. In his hands he carried a bundle of firewood and a rabbit.

“You were asleep when I awoke,” Raener said and handed her the rabbit. “I don’t know if you wolf girls eat rabbits raw or cooked.”

He walked past her and dumped the firewood in a corner of the cave.

“Heh,” Rosalie murmured under her breath and skipped into the cave. She felt an irrational jump in her heart.

For the first time she felt the delight of having a companion for dinner.

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Thank you so much for all the feedback! It really gave me the encouragement to take the story in the direction that I think suits it the best :) Part 4 will come soon.

I am so sorry that Part 3 took so long. I ran into some editing issues and my schedule was also filled to the brim at the same time — well you get the idea. I will aim to have part 4 and 5 done much faster.

If you want more stories from The Nymph’s Pleasure House universe, please check out Maura’s Pleasure House in the e-books section of my profile.