Page 206 of A Soul to Embrace

Not really how he’d like to spend his time waiting.

“You’re a very different man than when you walked in here mere hours ago,” Laele commented. “I’m sure many of us didn’t expect such intellectual and well thought out plans from you.”

He quirked his lips in humour, knowing he had Zylah to thank for that.

“Last time I was fuelled by my anger, and my emotions were unsettled because I carried Zylah within the city to be healed. I was given little time to calm before I was brought before you.” His ears twitched, and he grinned towards the ground. “I’m actually a very cunning man, and I’m quite strategic when given time to assess. You should have already summarised that, considering I’ve lived so longdespiteeverything I have done. There was a reason I was called King Jabez on Earth and managed to retain that title the entire time without being killed or usurped.”

“Do you understand that we’ll never accept you as a councilmember, so if you seek such power again, you’ll never achieve it?”

A laugh burst from him. “I have absolutely no interest in governing the city. I never did. I’ve always wanted nothing more than to live in the home I’d been born into, without being looked at like I was a disgusting piece of vermin.”

A few members grunted or lowered their gazes at his brash words, but he refused to withhold how he felt.

“If you have nothing else to share, we’ll call the guards in to take you back to your room,” someone from the left stated.

Jabez nodded and stood, showing them he was done.

He was quickly removed from the conference chamber, and he was glad to hear that they told the guards to remove therestriction of his magic use. The walk back through the hallways was much easier due to the weight lifted off his shoulders, and his feet moved fast to return to his mate.

The moment he was brought inside his room, Jabez zeroed his eyes in on Zylah sitting on the bed, waiting for him. They removed the bindings from his arms, and he immediately cast a sun barrier to shield his body.

The door closed, and Jabez hastily crossed the spacious room when she went to stand. He tackled his female to the soft mattress before she could even get a step away from it, and she let out a surprised scream. She was still naked, warm from sitting in the sun, and smelt like hot jasmine and violets as he wrapped his strong arms around her narrow waist.

Nuzzling the fuck out of her, he squeezed her so tightly she gave a cute squeak.

“Did you fall back asleep?” he asked, burying his face against the crook of her neck when he turned them to their sides.

“No,” she answered, hugging him in return. She rubbed the side of her snout against his hair and horns as if she missed him in the short time he was away. “I couldn’t while you were gone.”

“Then rest with me now.” He dug his elbow into the bed and dragged them higher until they both had a pillow to lie on. “I think I’ll finally be able to sleep.”

“Is everything okay now?”

He shrugged. “No idea, but I’ve done all I can.”

Seeming to accept his answer, she went quiet as she deepened their embrace, and Jabez’s eyes closed. He soaked in the sound of her heartbeat, the feel of her soft body against his, and let her scent lull and soothe him like it always did.

Sleep swept him under in moments, and for once, it was tranquil.

He’s been asleep for a long time,Zylah thought, as she sat down on the edge of the bed and turned to the male laying on his side in the very middle.

She brushed the back of her knuckles up the side of his face before lifting them to the centre of his forehead to lightly caress his temple. Jabez’s ear twitched when she tucked loose strands of hair behind its pointed length so she could better see him. She also gingerly untangled the strands wrapped around his segmented, tapered horn.

With a flat pillow under his head, one of his arms was beneath the pillow she’d been lying on earlier. The other was curled up in front of his chest from where she’d gently placed it earlier. She’d gotten up to look out the window and distract herself from this long wait.

The wait wasn’t truly that long, but it’d been a few hours, and he usually didn’t sleep like this. The fact she was also able to touch him without waking him was also strange.

His eyelashes really are silvery.In the sunlight currently showering over him, they looked like sparkling moth wings.She lightly stroked her claw over their soft lengths and his eye twitched.

Such a pretty male.She gazed at his handsome brown face, admiring the graceful arcs of his brows, his smooth, nearly flawless cheek, the straight line of his nose, and even the ball at his throat. She brushed the pad of her thumb over his parted full lips and accidentally revealed the sharp points of his fangs.

Zylah was happy to see him finally resting like this. She wondered if her touch didn’t wake him because, somewhere deep within his sleeping conscience, he could sense it was her and trusted he was safe. She wanted to believe that was the reason as she trailed her knuckles down his pulsing, calm jugular.

Her hand didn’t go any lower, but she let her sight fall to his broad chest and how his bulging pectoral muscles squished together as he lay on his side. Then her focus drifted to the sets of chiselled muscles bulging against his abdomen before she followed the trail of silvery hair that started a path from his navel to his groin.

The circles, triangles, stars, and bands of runic symbols all over his body caught her focus, and she hoped one day he would explain what spell each of them represented.

My pretty bride,she thought with a silent giggle, squeezing her torso with her arms in joy. She’d learn in the future what he actually wanted her to call him, but for now, she was going with that.

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