Page 125 of The Female

I hate her, and I hate even more how the words she speaks are true. It’s not a secret women fear what a bond with me would look like. They’re all curious about what Gray and I do behind closed doors. There are rumors I beat and starve him, and there are even some whispers among the nobility that I take pleasure in raping him.

Even so, women still try to catch our attention. They’re willing to settle for me if it means they have unlimited power and two good men to stand by them.

I wonder what they’d say if they knew how frequently Gray defies me and sneaks into my dreams. I’m sure they’d be surprised to learn when he was plagued with nightmares after we found him in the woods, it was I who sat with him every night until he fell back asleep. When he comes home crying because he’s been slighted, it is I who brings him food and wipes away his tears.

We were a unit before Charlie came along.

But that’s none of their fucking business.

Charlie lets out an annoyed shout just as Shay gulps and disappears. About damn time.

“I’ll handle it,” I huff as Charlie rips open her door and storms into Gray’s office.

Silas knocks twice on the wall, acknowledging my words, before heading back to whatever he was doing before Gray summoned him. Gray will chew him out later for entrusting her to me, but that’s not my problem.

I can hear Charlie sifting through Gray’s drawers as I approach his office and slip inside. Her head pops up from behind the wooden desk as I close the door and place my body in front of it.

Her eyes narrow as she stares at me, and as I breathe in, I note the slight tinge of fear she emits. Good. She should be scared.

“Need help finding something?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

She gulps and clenches her jaw, both physical signs of her fear. I’m sure she’s looking for the female report, and I mentally pat myself on the back for taking Gray’s copy. Charlie’s sneakier than she lets on, and I don’t trust her to have ownership of something that could easily wage war.

“What’re you doing in here?”

Charlie stands and tugs on her shirt, bringing to my attention the amount of stomach she’s showing. It’s not like I haven’t seen a woman’s bare body before, but hers is distracting.

She looks soft and warm, and I hate that I can’t touch her.

I refuse to step aside as she tentatively approaches. Her fear grows stronger the closer she gets, but she doesn’t back down.

“Excuse me,” she says, gesturing to the door I’m blocking.

“You’re being awfully mean to my incubus,” I mutter, stepping forward.

She backs up as I approach, but I continue forward until I’ve gotten her trapped. Her eyes fill with tears before one trails down her cheek. I don’t bother hiding my interest as I reach out and capture the tear just before it reaches her chin.

She freezes as my fingertip makes contact with her skin.

“You have salty tears,” I say.

Intrigued, I pop my finger into my mouth to taste the tear. It’s salty and gross, and I smack my tongue until the flavor’s gone.

“Let me go,” she croaks. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

Other than throw a paperweight at my head.

I hum. I should leave her alone. She will tell Gray and Silas I cornered her, only furthering our growing divide. They’re going to be disappointed in me.

My body doesn’t seem to get the memo and remains still. I saw how she so eagerly threw herself at Silas in the library. She was looking at him with the same expression she’s now looking at me, but her scent had less fear and more arousal.

I wonder if that scent would appear if I kissed her as he did.

Gray told me she dreams about us, and I want to know what she fantasizes about when she’s alone. She seemed to enjoy watching me in my dream, and her moans grew louder when I looked over.

I knew the entire time.

She’s not very quiet, and I could hear her loud breathing the moment Gray pulled her into my head. I could smell her arousal the second I touched the fake Charlie Gray had conjured for me, and I could hear him fucking his fingers into her as I found pleasure in the replica.

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