Page 27 of A Soul to Embrace

Now that it was around midafternoon, he found the travel easier. He also basked in the heat, letting it soothe him – only because his cloak protected him.

They followed the top of the hill until a village within the distance became visible. Jabez pointed to it with his cloak covering his hand and explained what he could about everything. He wasn’t familiar with the farming lands beside it, but he thought by the long stalks that a great deal of it was corn.

Zylah listened, taking in the new information readily, as shealways did.

His eyes flicked to her walking on two legs beside him, before quickly averting his gaze when it landed on her naked breasts. His cheeks warmed – not that he truly understood why. She was covered in fur, although it did little to hide her dark-grey nipples since the fur between her hips and breasts was sparse.

Perhaps we should find a place to reside somewhere close by.

Having access to human materials, all of which he’d steal within the cover of darkness, would greatly improve their lessons. She still needed to learn how to read, although hehadtaught her the alphabet by scribbling it in the dirt. Her burrow had been too small and inadequate for him to instruct her comfortably.

It would also be good for Jabez to have a food source that didn’t upset the soft-hearted Mavka. She didn’t like it when he hunted for meat, nor that she kept being the one who would finish his meal. It disturbed her for some reason, which he thought was ridiculous. She was one hundred percent a carnivore – a predator.

Denying this part of herself would be denying a large part of who she was.If I hadn’t come along, I don’t know how fast she would have evolved.He’d forced her hand and made her gain humanity.

His gaze came to her once more and lifted to her rabbit skull. He noted the black flesh that had formed between her upper and lower jaws, her more feminine antler structure, then he observed the grace of her stride.

Without him, he pondered if Zylah ever would have reached full maturity as a Mavka.

And speaking of maturity... Jabez flicked his eyes away once more when they’d absentmindedly fallen upon her breasts again. This time, his ears heated.

I need to clothe her, he thought, which was a strange notion to a creature such as him.

Not only did most Demons not wear clothing unless they were in the final stages of their evolution, but the Elvish people weren’t prudes. They didn’t frolic around half naked, but they also didn’t deny their true naked form. Even Jabez, for most of his life, had worn very little – although he’d had a multitude of reasons for this.

However, ever since he’d taught her how to transform into her humanoid form, her nudity had been making him... uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because most developed Demons and Elves didn’t flash their naked breasts or pubic mound confidently.

Zylah had no idea about the concept of nudity or modesty.She is covered in fur.That seemed to make little difference to Jabez.

She was naked, everything somewhat exposed, and her feminine humanoid body was a little too sensual for his liking.

Although her breasts were small, they were perky and jiggled with each of her footfalls. He hadn’t realised her rib bones had sunken so much with each new creature he fed her that they were now mostly hidden behind the mounds.

He attempted to stay in her shadow, but her transformation offered him less than he’d anticipated.When she first stood in her monstrous form before I took her to feed, she’d been over eight feet tall.Now, she was barely seven feet, and only a mere three inches taller than him – which was nothing.

He cast his gaze to her feet, noticing how human they appeared.When she’s in her monstrous form, she walks on her toes like a bunny.Now, her feet were short and flat, and almost... dainty like a woman’s. The only thing keeping them from being truly humanoid was her puffy rabbit toes.

The difference between her two forms was rather vast. Her black fur grew shorter except for the collar around her throatand chest, which almost hid her sternum and attempted to make the top of her breasts look fuller. He wished that fur would cover her dark-grey nipples, breasts, and abdomen.

Her legs stopped bowing, and had thinned into two feminine, muscular limbs. Her thighs were dense, which accentuated her wide hips and, annoyingly, supported a rather large and round rump. Her rabbit tail sat above it and somehow made her arse look... cute?

Which, of course, alarmed Jabez.

He chalked it up to the fact that rabbits were cute creatures, and his... appreciation was due to that.

It didn’t help that her waist was narrow, giving her an hourglass figure. Except he disliked this feature, as it showed she required more food to stabilise her body – more meat, which she cried about consuming.

He was also dreading forcing the issue if it made her curves more pronounced. Even now, her thighs and backside were thick and plump, making them womanly and strong.

Once more, she proves me wrong.He’d been thinking that she would lack overly feminine features, especially breasts, considering what she was. Their smallness reflected this, as if they’d never function how a human woman’s would, but the fact that she had themat allwas what puzzled him.

Then again, her antlers became smaller.And he’d never seen nor heard of a Mavka’s skull and horns changing... ever. I’m guessing each gender goes through a different pathway of evolution.

Musing about it wouldn’t answer his questions, but he did like pondering it.

He looked at the village one last time before making his decision.I’ll figure out how to come back here and find suitable clothing for her.

Not just because his gaze had more of an appreciative leer to it than evenhewas comfortable with, but also because it just felt... right to do so. He couldn’t have her walking around like a naked animal when he was treating her like an adult woman. That’s what his lessons were about; he was making her understand the world and language so they could finally converse.

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