Page 19 of Bound to the Marak

She traced the lines of his fingers, the slight webbing between them, the unusual texture of his skin—like velvet-wrapped stone.

Then he moved.

One of his tentacles lifted, slowly, gracefully—coiling in the air beside them. She watched it, wide-eyed, unsure whether to step back.

But he offered it to her, just like his hand.

A silent question.

Trembling, she reached out and touched it.

It was nothing like she expected.

Not slimy. Not rough. It wassoft. Warm. The surface had a strange, delicate give to it, and yet beneath that softness was the suggestion of immense strength.

She looked up at him—his mask still in place, unreadable—and he did something that startled her.

The tentacle wrapped gently around her forearm, curling once, twice, in a loose, possessive loop. It held her—not tight, not painful—but firmly. Securely.

She didn’t pull away.

Couldn’t.

He was holding her like something claimed.

The realization made her shiver. Not in fear. Not entirely.

She met the dark reflection of his mask, her breath shallow.

And though she couldn’t see his face, somehow she knew?—

Karian was no longer just studying her.

He hadchosenher.

Eleven

He had wanted a human for many cycles.

They were spoken of in hushed tones among certain corners of the outer markets—rare, fragile, soft-skinned creatures from a primitive planet on the edge of the mapped stars. Most of his kind dismissed them as curiosities, irrelevant. But not Karian.

Karian had studied them.

Watched black-market feeds when they surfaced. Read stolen biological reports. Catalogued linguistic patterns.Desired.

But not like this.

Not likeher.

She was more than he'd imagined. And now that she was here, in his chamber, her warm hand against his, her trembling fingers brushing one of his tentacles with innocent curiosity—he found himself… unbalanced.

She was sosmall.

So soft.

Her skin was smooth, her scent light and strange—sweet, like a blossom from the floating gardens of Virelle. Her breath came quick, but not in fear. Not real fear. She did notunderstandwhat he was. What he had done.

What hewas capableof.

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