Page 74 of A Soul to Touch

It’d always been this way for her, which is why she generally tried to keep a good, steady, strong rein on them.

Faunus was suddenly in front of her, facing her on all fours and blocking her path.“Pardon?”

She saw a flicker of green in his orbs before they returned to their normal yellow. Mayumi ducked around him and the trees next to him while lifting her chin higher. At this point, her nose was almost pointing towards the sky like some snooty princess – she often made fun of women for doing this.

“I don’t wait for anyone,” she spouted, which was the absolute truth. “If you’re going to just come and go, then I’ll just go walk the few hours it takes me to get to town and find someone else to keep me company. There are plenty of people in Colt’s Outpost that would be honoured to have sex with me. Actually, I’m going there right now to do just that.”

Some of that was a lie. Men either found her forward attitude sexy in a ‘confidence’ kind of way or a deterrent in an ‘I’m a whore’ sort of way. Most considered it the latter, and her slender but muscular physique didn’t scream that she was sensual to play with.

Which was their loss because Mayumi was very sensual when she wanted to be. She could make men come so hard their eyes crossed, and their mouths rambled pathetically.

Women who liked women were a little harder to find, and many were like Mayumi: women who liked both genders. It was difficult to determine if she could steal the woman sitting on a man’s lap or not.

The other lie was that she was going to Colt’s Outpost for that reason. She wasn’t and never had intended to.

A small part of her had been hoping Faunus would return. So, she wasn’t quite sure why she was spouting bullshit that would be detrimental to her case of having him stick around.

Perhaps it was her need to punish people, so they didn’t make the same mistakes twice. Mistakes in the guild often caused people to lose their lives, and as a high ranking Demonslayer, it was often her job to give out those punishments.

Mayumi stopped walking the moment Faunus was in action.

He was in front of her again, blocking her path, but this time he stood. Although he was still in his more beastly state, which curled him forward slightly anyway, he leaned towards her to appear more menacing. Especially when he placed his handson the trees beside him and growled with his orbs a dangerous colour of bright green.

“No,”he snarled, the rumbling from his chest loud and booming.

She hated that her damn nipples tightened in reaction to it!

“No?” she laughed with her eyes bowing in humour. “Did you just tell me what to do?”

“You will not allow another male to touch you.”

Her eyebrows nearly shot up to her hairline. Mayumi stepped to the side to go around him, but he instantly followed her.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Faunus.” She just blatantly ducked underneath one of his arms since he was so freaking tall. It was easy since the gap between his body and the tree to his left was wide. “That’s not how this works. I will continue to do what I want, as I have all my life.”

Mayumi received no warning before she was face down in the snow, her bow lost in her surprise. He’d grabbed her ankle and tripped her! Then she was flipped before her entire forearm was grabbed this time. She squealed when she was tossed over his shoulder with flailing legs.

He started walking away from Colt’s Outpost in the direction of her house. She saw pants had formed on his lower body, meaning he’d reverted into his more humanoid shape to assist in carrying her.

“Put me down!” she demanded with a yell.

Her immediate response was to reach up for her dagger, but Faunus had wisely, whether by accident or not, covered her weapons belt with his arm.

Mayumi started beating on his back with the bottom of her fists while kicking her knees into his chest. Nothing stopped the big Duskwalker.

“If that is your intention today in that pathetic human town, then you will not be permitted to go toit,”he growled, his voice still beastly due to his rage despite his change in form.

The fact his voice was still a reverberating bass sent a shiver down her spine – one that had her insides clenching with warmth. She even felt it against her stomach pressed over his shoulder as it radiated through her.

Faunus wasmad. Big mad.

Mayumi continued to punch him in the backhardasshe was carted back to her home. It was like he didn’t feel the strength of her hits at all... like they were nothing to him.

She could feel his sharp claws digging into her side from where he held her around her hips, as well as the side of her thigh where he held her legs down. There was a constant growl emitting from him.

“I said put me down!” she screamed, thrashing against him.

Faunus’ heavy footsteps thudded up the stairs of her porch, and he jumped back a step when he must have hit the barrier of her charms. She thought that would stop him, but it didn’t.