Ansel had an inkling the young doctor would not do as he had asked. A few decades ago, the older doctor supposedly had been very understanding when Ansel's father had asked him not to come near the forest at night.

This older doctor had never violated their boundaries again, but something told him this was going to be different. The way she had proposed to fix him with her medical kit perhaps?

Damned woman was out of her damned mind.

From the stories of the Fae that roamed both worlds, he knew enough about human women to know that he'd do well to expect the unexpected.

Why did that turn him on?

It did not, he decided. He was merely anxious to keep their realm safe. That was as far as this 'excitement' went. He'd better keep a good watch on the doctor's house for the next couple of days.

Like every other night, he posted his strongest and most disciplined stag sentinels around the borders of the forest. It was their job to keep nosy humans from wandering into the realm of the Fae, but this time, he stationed himself on the side of the forest bordering the meadow outside her house.

Sheltered by the dark shadows of the pines, he could see all movement going in and out. The first day, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He knew from his subordinates that she was an animal doctor and that humans with dogs on leashes and cats in baskets were part of the usual traffic. He saw a boy sniffing over a guinea pig that was already dead. His father didn't have the heart to tell him. Ansel supposed that was the doctor's job.

He wondered how she'd go about it. If her breathing would be erratic like when she had spoken to him. Would she say "I'm sorry" like she had to him? With that silky voice? That plump mouth with the color of strawberries? That mouth that, when her eyes had landed on his cock, had been utterly distracting.

Ansel shook his head. He'd better think about what the Fae Prince would do to him when he let her wander into their realm. And what the Prince would do to her. It wouldn't be pretty.

But the doctor didn't come out that day. Maybe she was more reliable than he had thought. Maybe he shouldn't be so fucking disappointed.

The next day there was still no sign of the plump-mouthed doctor. He wondered if she was okay. He remembered the glass shards cutting her hands and the memory of the blood in her palm made his skin crawl.

Those damn truck lights!

He should've run before she had a chance to drive into him, before she could see him shift into his Fae form, but those lights had made movement impossible.

Among the deer folk, the tales of the magical light beams of human vehicles were as old as the vehicles themselves, but this was the first time Ansel had experienced it for himself and it had made his blood run cold. He shivered at the memory, but he was fine now, and perhaps the beautiful doctor was not.

The only thing he could think of to ease the itching underneath his skin, was to make sure she was okay.

Ansel waited until sundown to wander through the meadow toward the house. He watched her through the kitchen window. As he had suspected, her hand was wrapped in a bandage, but she was up and about. His nerves settled a bit.

She was in the process of filling two cups with something hot. He could see the steam rise as she placed one cup on the kitchen table and walked into the next room with the other.

That cup was probably for the older doctor but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't see the other room.

In fact, he couldn't see her anymore and therefore his nerves started twitching again. Dammit.

With the resolve of a weed reaching for the sun, Ansel thrust all of his hope onto the cup she left behind. She had left it there with a purpose. She would return to it.

Why did it take this damned woman so long?

As he struggled to keep the calm composure and clear head that had made him the youngest head sentinel in the history of their realm, he asked himself why his mind repeatedly cursed this woman. He was not the cursing type, dammit.

To be fair, she had hit him with her truck.

He redirected his focus to the kitchen. Next to the cup was some sort of device. One part laid flat on the table and the other stood upright. It didn't look like something to eat. Too big, too sturdy.

Finally, she returned to the kitchen, her auburn hair up in a bun so he could see the fine contours of her face, the blush on her cheekbones and the upturned nose, her thick-rimmed glasses, the keenness in her brown eyes. She had the face of a smart-ass.

That made him smile.

She had changed into pajama shorts and a short robe. Before she sat down, she cinched the belt tight, so he got an idea of her narrow waist and round hips. Ansel tried not to dwell on further ideas concerning the doctor's body. They wouldn't serve him in keeping his realm safe.

The doctor had a sip of her drink and then directed all of her energy to the device on the table. Her fingers pattered over its horizontal part. Sometimes rushed. Sometimes they lay still for more than a minute. No matter whether her fingers were pattering or resting, her eyes were glued to the upright part. An unnatural light beamed from this panel and cast a cold, blue glow over her fine features. Was this glow for humans what vehicle beams were for deer?

Whatever it was, Ansel decided he liked her color better when she had been looking at his cock.

He watched her until she closed the device and dimmed the lights. He could not follow where she went and perhaps that was for the best.

A few days went by in the same manner. Ansel stood outside and studied her from sundown to bedtime. She spend an awful lot of time on that device, and it seemed to have the ability to evoke more than one emotion. Sometimes she would lean forward, focused, her eyes flashing left and right in a frantic rhythm. On other occasions she leaned back, bored. And more than once, she got up in some sort of anger or frustration, pushing her chair and kicking the cupboard. Then she made herself more of the steaming liquid. Sometimes her cheeks blossomed and her mouth pouted involuntarily. He liked it when she clutched her pencil between those lips and on one occasion he caught her inserting it into her mouth and slowly pulling it back out. It was the most sensuous thing he ever witnessed. When he realized his breath was fogging up the window, he quickly retreated to the shadows.

He'd come back tomorrow. Just to make sure she was respecting the boundary he had set.