Page 20 of A Soul to Embrace

He smelt and looked different from the humans.

His eyes were a deep red, similar to the bright red of the void-like creatures who were mean and violent to her. He’d shown he had fangs and claws like them, and horns on his head like a few of them. Yet his skin was a deep brown, and he appeared to be tall and fully formed. His ears were pointed, which was another difference to every humanoid creature she’d seen, but it did make her wonder if perhaps he was like the graceful creatures she’d seen in the forest, since they, too, had horns and pointy ears.

He did have fur on his body like an animal, although it was minimal. She often noted the oddly long amount of it on topof his head. It was short everywhere else, and mostly focused between his legs and under his arms.

Then again, the humans had these fur patterns as well.

These were confusing questions she didn’t know the answer to. Would he give them to her? She hoped he would. She would force him to.

NoName thought back to a week ago, although those memories were murky now.

She’d seen a bright, shiny light in the distance, and had instantly been drawn to it. The mean creatures in the misty forest of a canyon had seemingly run from the light, whereas NoName felt the desire to hunt it, keep it, and treasure it. She wanted to put that light in her home, hoping it would be soothing and warm.

Once she started her path, she kept running towards it, upset when it disappeared, but excited to find it. She never would have guessed she’d meet this male in her search for it.

When she scented the trickles of blood, she’d blocked her nose and tried to find the source. Her healing hands could aid the creature, and since it didn’t smell the same as the void-like ones, she wanted to show it kindness in a place it may not have experienced any.

When she saw the male’s condition, she knew she would be unable to save him within the centre of the misty forest. He’d been missing limbs, barely conscious, and had burns on him like she once had from humans shoving flames against her flesh. Her healing hands would render her incapable of protecting him while she aided him, so she brought him home, hoping he’d stay.

From the very beginning, she’d been able to see a strange coldness in his eyes. He had a stare that came across as unfeeling, uncaring, and nonchalant.

What mattered was that he hadn’t looked at her with fear or disdain, even when he’d been naughty.

She lifted her wrist to check on thebitewound he’d given her. Yes, naughty creature. She would make sure he didn’t do that again, otherwise she could incidentally bite back.

Her sight slipped back to him.

She never would’ve known he could be so vicious had he not hurt her. Nor would she have known he was a rather strong being. He was obviously very fast, as he’d evaded her many times thus far.

No hurt,she thought, with the very limited words she now knew.No hurt human. No hurt...she didn’t know what to call him.

She understood that their genders were different, as the scent and pheromones he gave off were somewhat similar to the humans with dangly things between their legs. She knew she was female, although she didn’t have the names or words for any of this.

She was also smart enough to understand they were different creatures. He didn’t smell like her kind, a void-like creature, a human, or an animal. He was a weird thing, who was rather large in height and mass – he constantly towered over her four-legged form.

Perhaps he was one of the few beings who could survive with her. Smart enough to remain indifferent to her moods and be obedient, fast enough to evade her, and strong enough to defend himself when she was angry or enraged.

NoName cupped her bony forehead as blue entered her sight.

She worried she would fail and hurt this male like everything she’d met in the past and accidentally killed.

She was selfish enough to not let him go.

Was that wrong? She didn’t want it to be, but trapping him didn’t feel good. The human female with bright-orange hair, who had longed to be with the other of NoName’s kind, had wanted freedom.

Why did everything want to leave her?

If he tried to escape, she already mourned the loss, knowing his disappearance would hurt her chest with a burning ache. Killing him would make her feel horrible inside. She didn’t want to be alone, and she wished she knew how to make the pangs of sadness evaporate.

Her blue sight transformed to its usual teal but darker – possessiveness and sadness all rolled into one. She wanted to keep him, but it felt wrong to do so. She was lonely and scared in a world she didn’t know how to navigate or even communicate with.

The male shifted, which made her lower her palm from her bony snout to watch him.

He raised the arm he wasn’t lying on, used two clawed fingers to lift the flap of his hood, and red eyes greeted her teal orbs. His gaze was lax and came across as unfeeling, like usual.

NoName shifted under the callous weight of it.

“Thought I might wake to you staring at me,” he grumbled, despite her not understanding a word of what he said.

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