Page 161 of A Soul to Steal

With his hair wet and darker than usual, it’d been swept back. It revealed his entire face, pinkened from the heat, and Aleron didn’t understand how viewing it in full could cause him to think his bride even more handsome. It radiated an ache behind his sternum, and that pain only deepened at the warmth, tenderness, and trust in his softened eyes.

Water clung to the dark hairs on his arms and chest, making them glitter, but it was the droplets falling that dried Aleron’s tongue. Suddenly he felt thirsty... when he’d never experienced that sensation before.

The sun shone down on half of Gideon’s face, highlighting the point of his nose, his sharp jawline, and the ball at his throat Aleron often found himself wanting to lick. It even made the dips between his pectoral muscles, his biceps, and his ridged stomach more prominent, shading the lines of his body in cool shadows and hot light.

His thick thighs beneath the water drew Aleron’s gaze. He knew them to be soft enough to mould between the gaps of his fingers, and he longed to touch them, knead them with appreciative squeezes, or have them cushioned around his waist.

Even when Gideon’s arm began to shake from exertion, his thick fingers open in Aleron’s direction, he didn’t lower it as he waited.

His bride was reaching out tohim. His little human wanted Aleron to join him, but his insides were so knotted and unsure that even a single step forward was too hard.

“You don’t have to come in all the way, if you don’t want to,” Gideon stated with a reassuring smile, his dimples just barely peeking through. “You can just put your feet in.”

Just my feet?One hesitantly stepped forward. He found the next one easier. His wings twitched nervously, and his pulse skipped a few beats when he put a foot into the water and then the other.

He wanted to take Gideon’s hand, but he was too far away. Aleron sat on the edge when he thought it would help to hide the bewitching human better from his sight. He also didn’t want to tower over him, in case it came across as menacing.

But the water did feel nice surrounding him all the way to his knees, and he looked down so he could put his hand into it. In his peripheral, Gideon walked along the shallow bottom of the pool with his hands, before diving under momentarily to wet his hair.

How can one’s back be so alluring?Aleron thought as he chanced a glance at his alluring form.

His shirt often hid the deep vee where muscles puffed around his spine. Aleron thought the dip that travelled from the top of Gideon’s back all the way to his rounded backside looked like the perfect place to nestle his tongue as he licked up. Or down, depending on where he wanted to go.

His undershorts are see-through.He cupped the end of his snout as his orbs deepened in their purple. He closed them, both to hide the colour from Gideon, and to block his bride from view.

For a few moments, everything was quiet, other than Gideon popping in and out of the water. Aleron followed the sound, and occasionally peeked at him – only to shut his sight once more.

Be calm.He could do this. Hopefully this would be over soon.

Humans like to bathe.If things ever became better between them, he would like to do this with Gideon properly. Aleron thought he may enjoy soaking in its warmth while his little human was upon his lap, naked and easy to touch, tease, and soothe. Perhaps its heat would make it easier for Aleron to steal deep little groans from his firm lips, and he would soak up each one.

Only the subtle rustling of leaves and pleasant sound of trickling played in his ears until it was interrupted by a violentshaaof cascading water... right between his legs. Weight settled on his knees, and he flinched and opened his sight to look down.

Gideon’s face was less than a foot from the end of his bony snout, his arms resting upon his thighs. Aleron took in a full view of the plane of his stomach, his chest lightly dusted in hair, his little pale nipples.

Fuck.His heart nearly exploded.

“How’s the spring?” One side of his lips lifted into a crooked smirk. “I told you it was nice.”

Too close. He is too close.Aleron froze, seconds from grabbing so he could do... he wasn’t sure. Shove his tongue past Gideon’s spread lips, dip it into the shell of his ear, grab his chest or round arse?

“Come deeper,” Gideon rasped, grabbing his ankle and pulling as if to drag him in.

Therehadto be a name for creatures that could lull unsuspecting Mavka to their watery demise. Suddenly his alluring bride had turned into one, and he was helpless to deny the call.

Aleron let his tail flip forward so he could slide into the water with it between his legs, and laid back against the rock with his wings resting upon the ground. Hopefully now that he’d gotten in, Gideon would leave him be. Hopefully he went to the other side of the pool – but not the deeper area, since there seemed to be a sudden drop into darker blue.

Since Aleron had never sat in warmth like this, he did find it remarkably soothing. Too bad his bride swimming around like a carnivorous fish kept him too tight with tension to truly enjoy it.

Aleron let out panted breaths and lifted his snout to the sky. The sun was bright, but the heat meek in comparison to the water. Somehow, they’d found a piece of summer in the middle of winter.

A bird flew over, snagging his attention.

It squawked, reminding him of all the times he and Ingram used to watch them fly overhead.If only I had learnt to fly before.Things would have been different for them.

He managed to snuff the desire in his sight, and it dulled back to its usual pale-pink colouring.

Yet every time he tried to look away to ease himself, that’s when Gideon attacked. A set of hands rested on Aleron’s knees and then crawled up his straightened legs. His entire body stiffened, and he looked down just as a light weight settled on his thighs.

---