Page 37 of Rebirth

My gaze narrows as I watch her. “Are you not afraid?”

She swallows, throat moving as she pulls those plump rosy lips into her mouth, causing wetness to make them shine.

Her light beam’s been abandoned somewhere behind us, the illumination shining off to the side and I wonder if she can see me well.

Is that what’s causing her to act like this? Is the darkness giving her courage?

You can speak with a monster if you don’t have to lay eyes on him.

“Can’t you tell?”

For a moment, I wonder what she’s talking about and then it comes back to me. Around this female, my mind goes into a tangle.

I inhale, the sweet scent of her fear overpowering the even sweeter scent of her being. It is like a drug that I take in, filling my lungs, and a growl rumbles in my chest until I catch the scent of something else.

Pure sugar mixed in with spice.

Her throat moves again as I stiffen even further, not willing to believe what I scent. Her fingers curl around my jaw, tugging me closer even as my tentacle writhes along her digit, taking every inch of skin she’s willing to let me touch.

And then, her chin tilts up, those plump little lips closing over mine as her eyes flutter closed.

My world stops. Time ceases. Existence ends.

With Soh’fee’s lips against mine, the incessant chatter in my brain suddenly stops. For a moment in space and time, I am at peace. And I can only feel.

Emotions long ago lost come crashing through me all at once, and I am relieved her eyes are closed because she cannot see me. Cannot see how, for the first time in what feels like eons, my ba’clan…react.

They stand up against my back, facing the threat all around us, protecting the female at my front. To feel them alive again sends a new wave of emotion through me.

Soh’fee is touching a dark cold place within me that I thought died a long time ago.

Deep within me, a thrum develops as I press into her kiss. Into her. This fragile creature who dares defy death to embrace a monster. Her soft body yields to mine and I groan, shoulders hunching as her limbs come around me. Hold me to her even as I try to pull back in shock of what’s happening between us, caught in a war of wanting more and fearing that want.

In all the years I’ve lived, none have brought me this sudden peace and desire. None have stilled the screaming voices and calmed the raging beast. How can this be?

When I manage to lift my head, to stare down at her in wonder and dismay, she gazes up with half-lidded eyes. Dazed, yet aware.

Accepting.

It is inconceivable!

My body trembles against her smaller one and a growl rises in my throat. The urge to flee wars with the need to stay, to claim, to cherish.

Mine, my blood roars, ba’clan activating further at my back. Sharp spikes lengthening even as they move against my fingers, itching to go to her.

The ba’clan always know. The ba’clan are never wrong. Their whole existence relies on us finding suitable mates they can populate with. Our young carrying more potential for even greater survival of their species.

But Soh’fee can never be mine. I have damned myself, and will not do the same to her.

With a snarl I tear free of her embrace, scrambling upright on legs gone weak with hunger I dare not name. She props herself on her elbows, watching me step farther away with eyes too accepting for her own good.

“Get out.” The rasp leaves my throat before I think better of it. But it is already done. “Leave.”

Shock and pain cross her expression, followed swiftly by defiance. She pushes to her feet in a single graceful move, gaze locked with mine. I expect arguments, questions—for her to assault me for reasons I cannot give.

But she turns on her heel without a word and strides for the exit, snatching up her abandoned light source and gear on the way. Each determined step takes her farther from me, but I remain frozen in place, fighting for control as the veins pulse and churn around us. Their call beats at the walls of my mind, but for the first time since arriving, I ignore them.

When she squeezes through the chamber entrance and disappears, I stagger back against the nearest wall. The veins fall eerily silent without her presence to sustain their interest. For they do not want me. I am too much like them already.

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