Page 188 of A Soul to Guide

He continued sewing the guard together, then sighed once it was done. He threw it over his back and worked on strapping it across his torso to check that it was suitable. Even though it was good enough for now, he sighed heavily.

He thought it would have brought the joy he’d been seeking.

Instead, all he could ask himself was,How am I meant to ask for her soul?

He wanted to come right out and ask so he could get it over with. It would be easier than living with the guilt that was already festering, and he didn’t understand why his tender feelings for her had to hurt so fucking much. It was like his heart had a barbed-wire ball inside it that kept stabbing the soft muscle on each pump.

Like anything that had to do with her, he found himself hesitant when he’d never really been that way before.

I don’t have time to hesitate.

Either her patience would wear out, or the clock for Jabez’s amnesty would – which would make things harder. He had a window of freedom for both of them.

She’s smart.Much smarter than him, that was obvious.How long do I have before she realises what I’m doing, that I plan to keep her here?

An hour? Another day? He could almosthearthe clock ticking.

For the first time in his life, he truly felt like a bad guy, a jerk, a... selfish monster.

He looked down to his claws.What will I do if she says no?Or even worse, a definitivenever.

Fuck, he finally found something that made him feel good, would make him happy, and it just so happened to be something as unpredictable as another person. He’d been striving this entire time to find it on his own.

His hands clenched into fists, realising it was doubtful he would have found it on his own. He was cursed to experience little else but anger.

I needed someone else to show me how to feel something other than hate.

“What are you thinking about?” Raewyn asked him in a singsong, yet nonchalant, voice.

She was swimming his way, and he tapped his tail so she knew exactly where he was.

“Nothing, just watching,” he lied before thinking better of it. “I finished making my back guard.”

Her lids lowered. “Then why have your orbs turned blue?”

He raised a hand to cover one eye socket, only registering now that his sight had turned a colour reflecting his melancholy thoughts. He wondered what she saw when his sight shifted.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something.”

She came directly between his folded knees and jumped up on straightened arms to hover outside of the water.

“Do you now?” she asked with a sly smirk, barely an inch from his snout. If he wanted to, he could have stolen a kiss from her sweet lips.

His sight darted down to look at how her wet red dress moulded perfectly to her body: the vee dip of her pubic mound, the arches of her hip bones, her navel and sides. Her cleavage was attempting to spill from the slit of the neckline. Her dress only hid her flesh. It did nothing to hide the undercurves of her breasts, or her hard nipples jutting from her mounds. He could even see the little bumps of her areolas.

His sight instantly turned purple, and his cock jerked from just staring at her tits – like he was some ill-minded human who couldn’t keep their thoughts straight. Then it dipped lower to look at her navel and the flat of her stomach.

Her scent tingled his nose, clean and fresh from her swim, but just as brain fogging. Already, he wanted to mess her up until she smelt utterly of him.

“I want to knot you so badly,” he absentmindedly said, subtly licking at his snout.

He’d been wanting that for a long while.

“Pardon?” Her arms buckled, and she slipped back into the water.

His sight instantly turned reddish pink.

“No. Wait.” Did he really just say that? That’s not what he meant to ask at all! “I mean...”