Page 194 of A Soul to Embrace

She cut off whatever he was about to say by shoving her tongue into his mouth.

One of his hands shot up to grip the back of her neck, and his fingertips dug in like he was trying to pull her away without hurting her. She held the sides of his head so he couldn’t distance himself with force and brought her tongue back before thrusting it forward to lick across his.

She didn’t even care that his fangs were sharp, not when desperation bolstered her.

The longer she did it, the more his grip on her nape softened. His tongue greeted hers subtly, almost shyly, then he let out a small groan and palmed the back of her neck to bring her closer. Zylah lifted herself until she was able to slide her knees around his hips and sit on his lap, closing the distance between them and ensuring he couldn’t get away.

He made her squeak when he sucked on her tongue and his sharp fangs scraped against the underside and top of it. Sheground into him in reaction, causing him to jerk and let go, and she retracted her tongue with a pant.

Just as she went to go back in for more, he shifted his face to the side and buried it against her shoulder.

“More,” she demanded, shoving at his chest until he fell backwards against the bedding. She leaned down and licked across his lips, trying to get him to open up again so she could get another taste of him.

“You’re being awfully clingy right now,” he stated around warm pants. Just the sound of his breaths, the life in his tone, had her heart beating faster.

Because you’re scaring me,she thought, giving up on his mouth to lick at the side of his neck in hopes he’d shudder for her.Because I don’t know what else to do but this.To distract him from the thoughts he wouldn’t share, to try to make him think of something else for a little while.

So it didn’t feel like she was...losinghim.

His head turned to the side as if to give her more room, but his hips didn’t greet hers when she tried to grind on him and stir his body.

“I don’t think I’m going to get hard right now,” he admitted quietly with his brows furrowing.

Refusing to let that dishearten her, Zylah licked up his pointed ear and whispered, “Can’t I try?”

“The council could make their decision at any moment.”

“Then... we’d better be quick.”

Quick wasn’t really in her nature, if she were being honest. Having sex just once or twice didn’t seem to be enough for her body, but she wasn’t doing this for her own pleasure. Right now, she was solely focused on him, hoping touch would make him feel better like it had for her in the past.

She was thankful he didn’t try to stop her when she lowered her head to dab her tongue against his chest. He didn’t even halther hand when she slid her palm down his muscled torso while lifting her hips. His gaze was steady on her skull as he let her cup his cock with sheathed claws.

It’s soft.She didn’t know why she was surprised considering what he’d said, nor why she was a little hurt by it.I do not know how to be arousing.She’d never tried to be sensual and instigate sex before.Maybe I’m no good at this.

Zylah leaned back and straddled his waist so she could look down at him and figure out another way to be enticing. Not realising she was right at the edge of the bed, her knees slipped off. A loud, surprised squeak burst from her as she fell to the ground and landed on her backside.

Embarrassment clamoured around her chest as she moved to sit down properly between his spread ankles. Her orbs wavered with brimming tears because that was the opposite of the arousing she was going for.

A small, short laugh had her head lifting just as Jabez moved to sit up. He placed a hand on top of her head.

“That was cute,” he muttered, his eyes lightly crinkled with warmth as he looked down at her.

Okay, cute was good. She could handle that.

“Can I keep going?” she asked, shuffling closer as she placed her hands on his parted thighs.

His lips grimaced and pulled to the sides. “Are you sure this is whatyouwant right now?”

She reached for the ties of his pants. “Yes.”

Just as she managed to unknot his pants, he grabbed her hands to stop her. “If you’re going to do this, take your dress off. I can’t stand the sight of it anymore.”

Zylah tilted her head to look down at the skirt of it resting over her thighs. The red colour of her dress was stained in so many patches of her own dried blood that most of it had changed to purple.

He can be really odd.He didn’t seem to care for his own injuries or the fact that he’d had his own blood smeared all over his body earlier. Didn’t he also kill countless people in the past? The idea that he found blood uncomfortable was strange – especially since she’d seen him drink from a person’s jugular multiple times.

Is it because it reminds him of my injuries?But they were healed now, so what did it matter?

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