Page 9 of To Free a Soul
“There are more important things I can focus on.” Hands formed, and they brushed over the feathers of her cloak covering her biceps. “You’ve come over to me, which is very unlike you.”
The tips of her ears heated. He was right; she’d put herself almost against him. Her heart betrayed her and picked up its rhythm, stammering in her chest because sheknewwhat was coming next. It also fluttered shyly because Weldir, somehow, had learned to be rather sultry and teasing with his words.
It was surely a fabrication, all designed to entice her for sex, and Lindiwe was unashamedly drawn to it. She didn’t care if itwas fake and forced, not when she found it arousing all the same. His husky, rich, and sinful voice was perfect, and it added a layer to his words that could easily soften her into needy putty in his barely existent hands.
“First, though, you did bring me a meal.” He lifted his chalky left hand, and the eleven souls of deceased humans came from seemingly nowhere and twirled above it.
Then they shrank for ease of consumption.
Lindiwe once thought she’d be unnerved by watching him eat souls. Turned out she wasn’t.
He leaned back, so she wasn’t in his way, and placed one in his mouth. Weldir didn’t chew, his fangs likely capable of destroying them to pieces, but merely swallowed it whole. His face, neck, and chest seared with white light before it dissipated into darkness where his stomach was – Tenebris.
With each one he ate, he gained a meremillimetreof growth to his form, but it would still allow him to better touch her and vice versa. Her body thrummed in preparation, and with the anticipation she’d come to cherish in his presence.
It was the only reason she ever came here.
“NowI’m ready,” Weldir playfully rumbled, wrapping his arms around her waist.
He pulled her flush against him, but much of her sunk through where his body should be. What was solid allowed her to not fully meld into him.
A mischievous smile curled her lips as she pulled on the tie of her feathered cloak. It floated off her shoulders, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
I want to try something different.
Her body thrummed with excitement at her plan.
February 28th, 1831
Lindiwe no longer flinched whenever Weldir leaned in for a kiss. After the last few successful times, she’d garnered faith that he could be gentle... and it wouldn’t feel as though she’d been punched in the mouth with a brick.
She met him halfway, her heart leaping for the feel of his soft lips, and the way hers would eventually swell.
Her eyelids lowered, and she wrapped her arms further around his neck to deepen the kiss. The hardness under her forearms was a barrier over his shoulders to support her, as he still lacked enough of a physical body for her to rest upon.
She didn’t mind. He was trying, had proven that many times, and that’s what she appreciated.
In the past, the beginning of sex had been a little stilted. She’d held onto this awkwardness around him, and she’d been able to sense a small amount of nervousness from him. There had always been a pause where they assessed each other, both trying to get closer yet fumbling their way to the first touch.
She adored that this might be the start where none of that wasneeded. For once, it felt natural.
They knew why she was here, as she only ever came to his realm for this reason – to create children for him. Well, that’s whyhewanted her here, whereas Lindiwe had long ago begun to crave the creation.
The years in between allowed her mind and body to build up the anticipation. Now her nails dug into the barriers over his shoulders as she tilted her head for more and moaned when he deepened the kiss himself.
The press of his long canines occasionally nipping on her bottom lip by accident felt wrong – a reminder that he wasn’t human. That’s what made it feel naughtier. The wetness of her own saliva, as Weldir didn’t have any, mingled between them, and she braved sucking on his lower lip. She then bit down on it and tugged, catching him off-guard.
He broke the kiss. His mouth darted to the sensitive spot on her throat, and her pulse thumped against his lips when he bit down on it in retaliation.
She didn’t know whether to giggle or moan, but the latter won out when he sucked on it. His nose traced the side of her neck as if with purpose, and a cascade of goosebumps prickled down her body. He gripped her backside, and his big palms kneaded roughly, pushing her more against the parts of him that were tangible.
Her nipples hardened against the silky white Anzúli robes, and as the prickles descended further, they collected in a hot, needy coil low in her belly. Arousal pooled between her thighs, and she tilted her head back while biting her bottom lip.
Weldir’s hands – the palms of them tangible while the backs of them weren’t – caressed up her curves. His fingers dug into the seams of the material around her shoulders, and his claws lightly nicked her heating skin. He drew open the neckline of thegarment and pulled it down as he licked across her neck, another wonderful shiver cascading over her.
By the time she was unclothed, her body thrummed for the next step, when so long ago she’d been utterly terrified about it.
His soft lips, more malleable than usual, lowered to suck across her left collarbone.
