Page 36 of A Soul to Touch

She didn’t turn around, instead glaring at his impossibly large, dark-grey hand. Her glare deepened at the razor-sharp claws tipping his fingers.

“I became a Demonslayer to protect my fellow humankind. It goes against the oath that I took to hear something I’m supposed tokillthreatening that I would be the cause of human death when you wouldn’t give the same courtesy to your own kind if they were to try to harm me. It shows that your ‘promise’ is half empty.”

Warm breath enveloped the left side of her neck and face when he leaned over her shoulder, brushing over her exposed flesh. Shesworethat heat also wrapped around her from everywhere as he drew closer, even though he never touched her.

His lemongrass and lime aroma made it hard to remember why she was angry the moment it invaded her senses.

“I hadn’t considered this as it is highly unlikely we’d come into contact with another Duskwalker,” he said right next to her ear. “But I’d tear them apart as well if they were a danger to you.”

She had mistaken his original lack of answer when he’d only been thinking heavily on the subject.

Her lips fell open in a stupefied expression. She turned her head to him, putting her less than an inch from his short, feline snout.

“What, really?”

His orbs changed from what she now knew to be their usual yellow to a flaring red. It was anger, an obvious show of it.

He was so deliciously close that it made him appear even more menacing when he quietly uttered, “No creature is safe from me if it wishes to harm you, Mayumi, and I will make sure it suffers for ever touching you.”

Goosebumps rose on her flesh at his declaration, and she felt her nipples hardening. She probably shouldn’t have found his threat so titillating or the red colour of his orbs enticing, but they both had her gut clenching with want.

“Mayumi?” someone shouted, causing her to avert her gaze from him.

“I have to go,” she muttered, stepping back from him despite her desire to lean into him. “If I don’t, they could try to come inside.”

“Be smart,” he told her while lowering his hand so she could freely open the door. The way the points of his claws scraped against the hardness of the wooden door had her ears tingling. “Anything that comes into contact with you from now on has its life in your hands.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Mayumi, are you there?” She heard even closer than before.

Faunus backed up so she could open the door, and she went outside hastily.

Three men were in the middle of the clearing. They wore armour belonging to Colt’s Outpost soldiers with long swordsbelted to their hips. They each also had a satchel crossing their torsos.

“Mayumi!” Henry shouted, removing his helmet to reveal a large, thankful smile.

Yoshida and Klaus did the same, removing their helmets to reveal who they were, each of them wearing a similar expression.

Klaus was another boy she’d been friends with when she’d trained in Colt’s Outpost in preparation to become a Demonslayer.

He was a pale man with freckles that seemed more prominent the older he became. It might be because of his orange hair that showed he was more sensitive to the sun than others. His hazel eyes sat above a thin and crooked nose, which had been broken far too many times, and she always noticed his pale lips pulled to one side in a permanent scowl.

Yoshida unveiled his thick, but short, straight black hair when he removed his helmet last. His face was clean-shaven, which highlighted his high cheekbones and sharp jaw. His nose was a little wider than her own, and he had dark fawny skin. His black brows were furrowed deeply in concern, like they always were in her direction.

Henry’s dark brown hair was closely shaven on the sides but longer at the top of his head. It was cut similarly to Yoshida, but when they were younger, she’d known him to wear locs. He seemed to have changed styles after becoming a soldier, perhaps due to their tight-fitting helmets. However, his warm smile and inviting brown eyes hadn’t changed in all the years she’d known him.

Most soldiers kept their hair short, if they could, for comfort, or they had it long and never cut it so they could have a low ponytail at their nape and out of the way.

Klaus’ hair was long and tied back like this, sitting down the front of his chest when it was released.

“What are you guys doing here?” she answered from her porch, folding her arms across her chest. “You never come to my home.”

Braving the forest was unusual for them.

“We thought you were fucking dead,” Klaus shouted, pushing his empty satchel behind him.

Her brows drew together tightly. “Why would I be dead?”

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