Page 17 of A Soul to Embrace

And if his theory about her already increased humanity due to her parentage was correct, then he doubted she’d need to do something like this ever again. He’d like to witness the difference between her and Merikh’s development.

Jabez cocked his brow again when she pointed back the way she came and her orbs turned blue once more. Then she patted at herself, rubbing her muzzle and stomach, before pointing that way.

“Are you...upsetyou hurt those humans?” he wondered out loud.

“Hhhurt? Up-set?”she asked, her head tilting.“Hhhumans?”

He nodded. “Hurt,” he answered, gesturing to her wounds before showing the one he’d given himself on his palm. “Human.” He pointed towards the human village miles away.

“No hurt humans!”she shouted while wobbling forward on all fours with loud, agitated chitters.

A growl slipped from him at her sudden aggressive approach, and he backed up. He narrowed his eyes into a glare, and curled his lips back to flash his fangs in warning.

“There was no other way,” he told her sternly. “You needed to hurt humans to grow.”

“No hurt!”She reared back onto her hind legs like a rabbit, and Jabez stood as well, so he could quickly defend himself.“No hurt!”

Before he could put distance between them, her quick approach had him on the back foot – especially as he tripped backwards, refusing to take his eyes off her in case she darted for him. Then, for a single moment, life blacked out when she backhanded him hard across the face. Sent twirling through the air, he jolted back to reality when he crashed into a nearby tree trunk.

White dots and black lightning streaked across his swimming vision. “Fuck,” he spat.

He attempted to get to his hands and knees as dizziness threatened to overcome him, but his legs refused to move. With his jaw dislocated from the power of her smack, he tried to reset it as he struggled to rise.

Thecrackthat had sounded midway through his back when he’d slammed against the tree, coupled with the pain and immobility, meant she’d broken his fucking spine. He had the use of his arms, but his legs were unresponsive.

Wretched Mavka and their fucking strength.No creature should be this strong, and he’d always hated that they were more formidable than him.

A groan rolled out of him when she grabbed one of his horns, and as she lifted him off the ground by it, his body dragged across the rough dirt. She held him far enough away that he could do little more than hang there, his numb legs uselessly swaying.

She roared at him, and he answered her with his own enraged one, causing the veins and muscles in his neck to bulge.

Then she patted her chest while uselessly chittering at him like he had any idea about what she was saying! With his jaw still out of its socket, he could do little more than belt out his anger and clench his fists with quaking arms.

That was until glittering teal magic swirled around them and his wounds mended. She whimpered as she took on his injuries, as if she was trying to prove something to him.

She pointed back towards the human village, then him, then her wounds. Her knees shook, but her spine appeared to be mostly intact, unlike his had been.

“You want to be a healer of the world? Of humans?” A deadened laugh broke out of him. “You’re a fucking Mavka! You’re a monster, just like me!”

He kicked his now working legs to separate from her. His attempt only angered her, and she swung her arm to slam his body against the ground.

Some things snapped, perhaps a rib and his collar bone, but Jabez merely chuckled despite the pain. He twisted until his legs wound up her arm, and he turned her onto her back. She squealed when he bit into her forearm to make her release his horn.

The moment he freed himself, he lowered to a crouched stance, ready to sprint as he backed up from her. He wheezed against the agony in his torso, yet spat her blood to the side with a feral grin.

She slammed her clawed hands against the ground as she rose into a four-legged position and parted her maw menacingly. Jabez curled his lips back to reveal his fangs and gave her a monstrous, hissing roar. He bellowed it from deep in his chest, engaging his diaphragm and putting all his might into it until it sounded beastly and utterly inhuman.

Her head reared back in surprise, before she sunk lower with another growl coming from her. He stood with a stomp forward and roared again, and she backed up even more.

She was being surprisingly submissive.

“Not everyone is worth saving,” he snarled out. “Not humans, nor I. We arenotworth your fucking pity.” He bashed his arm against the trunk next to him before raking his claws over it to show her he had his own to defend himself with. “So fight me, or fuck off if you don’t want my damn help.”

If she wanted to be a benevolent spirit upon the world, then she wasn’t the companion for him. He’d long ago lost the innocence and ignorance to be kind. Nothing deserved saving. Everything and everyone could burn for all he cared! Not in retribution for the wrongdoings done against him, but as penance for their vileness, for the hate and malice in their hearts.

For their greed and selfishness.

When the Mavka did nothing but step to the side to circle him, forcing him to mirror her actions, he dared to step closer with a menacing growl bubbling up his throat. She might be bigger than him, stronger than him, faster than him, but he hadcenturiesof intelligence on her.

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