Page 43 of A Soul to Embrace

A tremor raced down her spine at the warmth of his large hands on her skull, and the way his strong chest pressed against the tip of her snout. Her mouth instantly watered at his delectable scent as it slipped straight into her nose hole on each inhale. Her breaths deepened to take in larger draws, while her mind grew muddy and momentarily lost the ability to sense around her as joy flittered inside her entire being.

Once they were gone, he removed his hands with a sigh, bringing her back to reality.

Energy continued to buzz around her bloodstream, her lungs tight and her mind dozy as she peered up at his attractive face.Hehe!she giggled in her mind.He touched me!Okay, maybe only her face, but it was so utterly satisfying that she didn’t care it was so meagre.

“Look, we’ll speak of this after we leave.” He eyed her over before adding, “It’ll be best if we stay on the ground, rather than scale the buildings. You may be too heavy to be light-footed.”

With that, he waved his hand and directed for her to follow. Her giddiness died at his sternness.

They went back the way Zylah originally came, and she constantly bumped up against his back, trying to look over his shoulder whenever he paused at the end of a narrow pathway. He often looked over his shoulder at her with a disapproving frown when she did so, causing her to back up.

They didn’t spot a single soldier or human, and not once were they caught as they crept towards the protective wall. The moment they climbed outside of the village, they walked to where her original hiding spot had been, at the edge of the cornfield.

Before he could scold her, Zylah stated, “See? I knew I could do it.”

She put space between them and stood up straight, and only folded her arms because he did. She wouldn’t let him bully her into feeling bad when nothing had gone wrong.

He loosened his arms and gave a deep huff of vexation as he pushed back the hood of his cloak. He brushed his fingers through the strands of his hair to neaten it before merely shaking his head.

For some reason, she found the obvious disappointment more harrowing than a scolding.

“Where I first climbed into the village is a housing district. What if you had smelt blood or fear?” he asked with a hissy bite to his tone, waving his hands to the side, then lifting them with tensed fingers to show his ire. “Children, younglings... they often have nightmares, and so do human adults. At night, they fear Demons coming to eat them in their sleep.”

Refusing to unfold her arms in petty reluctance, her hands balled into fists when she couldn’t deny... that may have been bad.

If I had smelt blood or fear...It’s true, she may have succumbed to hunger,but it had to be strong and sudden to send her into a craze now.

“I would have just covered my nose hole like I usually do.”

His brows narrowed further, and his eyes took on a mean glint. She resisted the urge to chitter in reaction to his darkening gaze.

“You also have to take into consideration that humans are a clumsy species. They often hurt themselves.” His hands fell before he shook his head again. “Most women often bleed freely once a month as well. I know you’re able to handle small and fleeting whiffs of blood now, but if you were stuck down a tight path of houses with many human women going through such apart of their fertility cycle, you would’ve been trapped with that scent. What then, Zylah?”

Her arms finally fell, just as the reddish pink of shame lifted into her sight. She scratched at her arm when she realised what she’d done could have led to horrible consequences.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t...” she started, her voice small.

Jabez cut her off. “You’ve asked me to not let you attack humans again if I can help it. Yet you refuse to stay back at the cave where it is safest and demand that you accompany me, despite all these things being presentoutsidevillage walls. The wooden stakes aren’t just there for protection; they also form a barrier of scent and sound. But it’s not infallible, Zylah.”

Unable to respond, her sight fell upon the two bulky satchels strapped to his body. Not only had he managed to sneak inside the village effortlessly, it appeared he’d finished his tasks quickly before he found her.

She’d been hoping to catch up to him and help.

When he said nothing, her sight flicked up to his eyes to find his brows were narrowed at her beseechingly. The expression was strange upon his usually hardened features, as if he truly couldn’t understand why she’d allowed such a risk. He looked... deeplyconcerned, and that wasn’t something she was used to seeing from him.

“I didn’t think of all that,” she answered, turning her skull away as she subtly hugged her stomach. “What is a fertility cycle?” She’d never heard of such a thing.

“Don’t change the subject,” he growled out, his ears darting back in anger.

It made her want to shy away from him. He was rarely angry – only ever calm, collected, and almost... emotionless.

“I’m sorry!” she whined, throwing her hands forward. “I just wanted to see what it was like inside. You have spoken about the humans, their markets, their homes, but I didn’t know whatit all looked like.” She scratched at her arm self-consciously. “I couldn’t imagine it, not even when the stories in my books detailed them. I wanted to understand.”

“You Mavka and your curiosity,” he bit out, before turning. “Let’s head back to the cave.”

He was still furious, considering his ears refused to spring back to their normal height and were tight with strain. Even his steps were more like stomps as she followed him, a whimper threatening to crush her chest.

The forest was illuminated purely by her sight, and she longed for the reappearance of the moon to brighten it even further. Jabez stated it changed monthly, explaining this flow of time to her so she could count the year by its twelve full moons.

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