Page 61 of A Soul to Embrace

And Jabez had truly lost the capability to love centuries ago. His planned future had always been a lonely one, but that had stopped bothering him when he’d just accepted it. He couldn’t even bear to love himself, so another being was completely out of the question.

He was a selfish person. A flaw he flaunted, so all knew to keep themselves protected from his eventual callousness. He cared for no one but himself, which, in turn, protected him from all others.

No one could hurt him if he didn’t care.

So why did I refrain from returning like she asked of me?He should have just used her request as an opportunity to get as far from her as possible until she lost the ability to track him.

Ah, yes... the books.He patted them as a reminder. That’s why he was returning instead of just leaving the previous day. There was no other reason. Merely a last duty to ensure he could walk away without a guilty conscience.

Then he’d be off, with the mask of his indifference firmly plastered upon his face.

He’d just pin the last two months to the back of his mind as a time he’d spent with another Mavka. He’d add it to the decades he’d spent with Merikh, which, too, had ended.

A growl escaped him at the pestering resentment that continued to linger, and had since Merikh left. The fact that he’d pushed his closest friend away was irrelevant. Merikh shouldhave seen it as a lapse in Jabez’s judgement, rather than taking it to heart.

He paused in his wandering to cover his face in annoyance.I still regret how I acted upon learning of his blood relation to Weldir.

He should have seen the signs earlier, considering Lindiwe had been so set on getting between them. But Merikh had hated her, ignored her requests, even laughed at her, and Jabez had been rather content with that – without knowing the truth as to why she was pestering them.

But I had Katerina in my damn ear.And she’d figured out exactly how to exploit what they’d learned to get her way, which was getting rid of Merikh, a Mavka. Her hatred of him had been so deep, and he’d been too blindsided by his own feelings of betrayal and anger to turn his ear away from her words.

By the time Jabez had realised what he’d done, it was already too late. And, like the arrogant bastard he was, he refused to apologise to a creature who wouldn’t have given a damn about what he said in defence. Once Merikh hated, Jabez knew that feeling wouldn’t easily subside.

Especially when the bull-headed jerk presented Jabez with an ultimatum – him or Katerina, which only infuriated Jabez further.

No matter that it’d been a long time ago, he despised admitting he still wasn’t over it.

And, in a corner of his fucked-up, absent heart, the idea of leaving Zylah reopened that wound. Or perhaps it was just a new wound. And he didn’t fucking understandwhyit would bother him.

Perhaps it was because he wasn’t good enough.

His nose wrinkled in anger.Good enough for what? What do I want from myself? A fucking pity party?He wouldn’t give himself that.

He’d just add it to the pile of shit he refused to acknowledge.

Resuming his trudge through the miserable rain, he headed for the entrance to their shared cave, which lay just down the hill. He’d refrained from returning, but his place of rest hadn’t been too far away.

A strong gust of wet wind swept across his body when he came upon the mouth of the cave. The chill of it crept up his spine and hastened his feet inside so he could escape it.

“Zylah, I’ve returned,” he stated, letting her know of his arrival.

He eyed the space within the darkness and found a noticeable lump covered in twisted blankets. Their bedding had been dragged closer until the rolls overlapped.

A small whine met his ears before she stuck her snout out of the blankets to reveal two white orbs. Not quite the welcome he’d been expecting, and he wiped his face of water and shook it from his hand as he stepped further in.

“I’ve brought you more...” His words cut off when he rent out a choked gasp at the suffocating aroma that slammed into him.

His throat tightened, his ears darted back, and he covered his mouth and nose just as his damn groin tingled.By the ever-night, what the fuck?!Heat immediately filled his cheeks and drooping ears at the thick layers ofarousalpervading the air.

Rain pattered onto his cloak hood when he stepped back while shaking his head. “What’s the meaning of this?”

She moved so fast he didn’t have time to register it at all, too distracted by the way his cock was lengthening within his pants. One minute he was standing in disbelief, and the next, she leapt forward and grabbed his ankle, tugged him to the ground, then flipped him to his front, dragging him further inside. A yell burst from him, his cloak folding over the top of him and covering his head as he was yanked across the stone floor.

Within seconds, she was above him. Straddling his back, she slammed her hands down next to the sides of his head from behind. Whines flooded his ears as she leaned down and shoved her snout into the crook of his neck underneath the material. Goosebumps rose across his skin at the hot breath that fanned over him from behind.

Fighting with his cloak, he managed to unclip it and shove it away from his head. He panted against the cave floor in surprise, then shegroundagainst his backside and fury shot through him. He couldn’t believe someone shoved their pelvis against his arse!

Absolutely fucking not!