Page 93 of A Soul to Embrace

He flinched in surprise at the sound she made and swiftly leaned back. With his sharp brows furrowed and his lips flattened, a mingle of confusion and surprise was evident in his narrowed features.

“Shit,” he grated out, his voice strained. “I don’t know what came over me.”

The vines loosened and began to recede, except for one. Zylah immediately turned her gaze down to what was resting against her stomach, and reddish pink instantly lifted into her orbs. She couldn’t completely tell if he was hard since his pants were baggy and loose, but if Fayren’s books were any indication, she had a feeling she was right.

Her pants quickened just in reaction to theidea.

“Sorry,” Jabez grumbled, as he lifted off her with his gaze averted. “I’ve just been without my magic for so long that I got excited. It’s a very cathartic feeling to have it back.”

Before he could fully get to his feet, Zylah tackled him and reversed their positions. She straddled his waist and pinned his forearms to the ground. She received a dark glare, but she was too giddy and shocked by the hardness pressed against her backside and tail to care.

“Zylah...” he warned, his eyes narrowing further.

Her sight flickered with purple, while her conflicted heart softened and raced for an entirely different reason. She licked across the top of her bony snout in interest as she peered down at him.

“You’re hard?” Although her question was meant to be a statement, she was too uncertain to truly make it a fact.

As if he hadn’t expected her to say that, his glare disappeared, and another emotion took its place. His eyes widened in whatcould only be horror or mortification, while the tips of his ears bowed backwards.

She squealed when he managed to kick his leg to the side, fold it over her thigh, and roll them over.

“No,” he bit out, as he rose up to get out from between her thighs.

Zylah hooked her legs around his waist to stop him from getting away. Purple permanently lifted into her sight when she ground against his erection.

“I think you are,” Zylah rasped around panted breaths.

Despite how much he’d freaked her out earlier, Zylah couldn’t help being overjoyed. In some way, even before she knew what she wanted, she’d been hoping for any indication that he wanted more from her. She wanted his desire, his arousal, and only knew what that meant after Fayren’s.

Her chest panged when his nose scrunched up and he let out the strangest deep noise from his lips at the motion of her hips. She did it again, and he shoved his right hand against her pubic bone and pushed down to prevent her from doing it a third time as a harsh exhale fell from him.

“Stop,” he grated out, unable to fight against her strong legs. “Release menow, Zylah.”

“Why?” she whined, gripping at his back so her claws could trap him.

“Because I’m not myself right now,” he stated in a quiet tone, his head tilting to look down at the way they were pressed. “Release me on your own, or I will simply teleport away.”

Yes. Now that she’d seen him do that multiple times, she knew he could easily leave her trappings. But the nagging that he hadn’t done it already made her braver than usual.

“But I want your arousal,” Zylah answered back in a small voice. In just a matter of seconds, she was thrumming withdesire. She felt it between her thighs, in her blood, in each of her shallow pants. “I want it.”

She wanted touch, and she didn’t care how. She wanted it from him. She’d been trying to get closer to him, just without knowing how until the previous night. The moment she knew what it was, what she needed, thoughts of exploring all the different ways to touch she’d been shown had run through her mind.

It’d made her ache in Fayren’s hut to an unfathomable degree.

But after what happened today, she’d thought it was entirely one-sided. She’d been trying to swallow that knowledge while wondering if it was possible to change it.

Yet, what she wanted was currently pressing against her, and she was overjoyed by the possibility that she may not be feeling this on her own. Because of that, she couldn’t...wouldn’tlet him go – not of her own volition.

Not if it meant she could possibly cling until that barrier was broken – one she had no idea how to combat.

“Zylah,” he stated around a sigh. She knew that pacifying tone. It meant she was failing.

It instantly made her chest heavier, and she clutched at him harder. She whimpered and tightened her legs even more so she could fight his pressing hand and grind against him once more.

Despite his sharpened, fierce gaze, she lifted her skull just enough so she could part her maw and...lickover his lips. She shuddered at how they parted under her tongue’s merest touch.They’re so soft.

A quiet, unnerving growl rumbled out of him, just as his head darted forward, and a sharp gasp rent out of her when fangs lanced the tough skin of her neck. Her back bowed at the sharpness of them, while she flinched away from the cutting pain. He bit harder with each passing second, and his snarl vibrated her flesh – almost like he was trying to punish her!

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