Page 190 of To Free a Soul
The lightness of it allowed her to see what he looked like when they both stood and faced each other.
Her eyes widened because it absolutely wasn’t what she’d been expecting.Oh god. He looks like a Demon.
His skin was... well... it was like a spectral void holding his insides in place, just like a Demon. It was glossy and inky, like the night sky reflecting off a pond.
Except it was transparent.
Most of his golden bones were visible. They were duller in places that were covered in thick skin and muscle, like his thighs, calves, biceps, and forearms. When he lowered his strange, ethereal face, that of a golden humanoid skull with large canine fangs, he wiggled his hands.
The skin and muscle of his palms was thicker than across the backs of his hands, making the bones harder to see.
Two brows of pitch-coloured hair came together before he lifted his head. He looked one way and then the next as two long and pointed ears, like those of an Elf, flicked rapidly.
“Is that what a heart sounds like? How noisy,” he stated, and somehow his voice was unfairly richer than before, with a huskiness to it that instantly had her nipples pearling in delight.
Lindiwe hesitantly came closer while keeping one arm on their babies. She reached out while he was distracted and went to touch his abdomen with her fingertips, heart swelling with tender warmth.
Her stomach dropped when she passed right through him.
Seeing she’d neared him, Weldir looked down at her, and panic suffused her as she looked up to his onyx eyes – exactly the same as they’d been before. There was no sclera, no irises, just that glossy darkness like before that always felt all-consuming.
Honestly, the weirdest thing was that he actuallyblinked. “I’m no longer intangible.”
Understanding instantly dawned, and she shifted to her physical form. She tried again, and her fingertips met solidness. And warmth. And a torso that expanded and contracted from breaths. She placed her whole palm against his void-like flesh, and muscles leapt to her touch, right before a clawed hand wrapped around the back of hers.
“I can feel that,” he said quietly, as a soft exhale came from him. “I can feel you.”
A quiet sigh left her, just as a small smile formed. Bringing her palm up, he placed it over his bare chest, and a real, beating heart resonated beneath. He lifted his own hand and cupped the side of her face, then brushed his thumb up and down her cheek before inching over to do it to her lips.
“Your skin is softer than I thought it was,” he murmured, then he drifted his hand back and brushed the backs of his claws through the underside of her curls. “Is this what silky feels like?”
She didn’t know what to say. Any words that tried to climb up her throat formed as a lump of emotion. She wanted to say he looked magnificent – in an otherworldly way. That shewas so happy this was happening, and that she could sense his heartbeat while he felt her.
All she could do was stare, and when he cupped the side of her face again, she leaned into it and gave his palm a nuzzle.
His black eyelashes were long and fluttery as he peered down at her, and his gaze held an edge to it that hadn’t existed before. Piercing, all-seeing, and intense. She felt herself being swallowed up by the pools of obsidian.
She thought his eyes might be moving across her features, but it was impossible to truly tell. His tongue darted out, dark grey and slightly pointed, and dabbed at the seam of his lips. Every time his lips parted ever so slightly, the gold of his teeth and fangs was bright.
When he didn’t do anything, just stared while caressing her cheek, she leaned up. “Well, are you going to kiss me or not?”
A deep, body-tingling chuckle vibrated from his lips. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Weldir met her halfway and slanted his mouth over hers. It was overly gentle, like he remembered their horrible first kiss and didn’t wish to repeat it. Not only did she instantly melt into it, she deepened it.
Lindiwe let go of their babies, knowing they’d be caught in the weightlessness he was providing, and both squealed as they spun. She leaned up further, wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, and kissed him harder. He was quick to grip her in return, his arms catching her around her middle and pulling her in tighter.
Warmth radiated everywhere as a completely solid form pushed back against her own body. Muscles pressed into her everywhere they touched, not a single part of him missing, while a strong heartbeat thumped against her chest. Breaths shoved his torso against hers, and she felt them all the way to her middle.
She tilted her head to intensify the brush of her lips over his soft ones, and he eagerly followed her increasing speed. For the first time, he had his own saliva to share with her, and it helped to make their kiss messy. He tasted like a diluted version of his scent. She’d always imagined he’d smell smoky and of fire due to his other form, but he actually had an amber-and-geranium aroma to him.
The taste of him, the warmth of his mouth, the textured firmness of his tongue when it greeted her, made her moan.
The squealing in the background quietened. Shadowy tendrils retreated to him, like he’d made the two floating baby Duskwalkers go to sleep, just as her eyelids drooped and then slid shut.
When Lindiwe slipped her tongue forward, he grunted in surprise but quickly met it. It was obvious he didn’t know how to move his own properly, as kissing like this in the past had been odd – it was only when she found out he couldn’t feel her tongue that she understood why his had always been so domineering.
Now, it felt compromising, giving pressure while also taking hers.
