A Soul to Touch (Duskwalker Brides, #3)

by Opal Reyne

However, when he lowered his head to strike, Mayumi threw her tiny, weak, little arms around his neck and hugged him. He was so shocked. He’d never been hugged by anyone before. Then she pleaded for him to never leave her again. She also said she missed him. Just those words were enough to stir his heart.

He considered stealing the sweet child for himself, this child that showed him more kindness in less than a minute than he’d received his entire life, but he knew very little about how to care for a human. Especially one that was young. So instead, he followed her light scent and tracks back to her home.

Although he remained out of sight, Kitty watched over the house until he saw that child emerge on her own two legs. He needed to know she had survived. That she was well. That she didn’t... perish. He could never remember how long he remained to watch the child with her family afterwards. Days? Weeks? It was only when her father returned from hunting with a bleeding deer carcass, almost causing Kitty to attack, that he left. As much as he’d longed to, he couldn’t remain.

“I know I would have died if it weren’t for you. Do you have a name? Mine’s Mayumi Tanaka, if that helps.” He almost chuckled. He’d known her name for years.

She’d also incidentally given him his name. He wore it with pride since it’d been this human that had given it to him. He knew it was a childish name that didn’t invoke fear or ruthlessness. It wasn’t compelling, but he didn’t care. Not when she had given him his first, and only, taste of affection.

stfu I'm going to cry

“That’s an odd name.” “Says the one who gave it to me,” he grumbled, his sight brightening with its reddish-pink colour.

“Wait... you named yourself Kitty because that’s what I said when I found you?”

Kitty thought his heart had ceased beating. She wants to better name me? Such an idea caused his orbs to turn a bright yellow, one that signalled his absolute and utter joy.

Then Mayumi gave him a large grin – one he didn’t particularly trust. “I’m going to make you regret coming here.” He was curious as to what she meant. Nothing could make him regret coming to be her protector... unless, of course, he failed her.

“Just cut off my fucking head if I ever try to harm you.” “Excuse me?”

“You can pretend you can control me, but that isn’t the case. I will happily be your ‘guard dog’ as you so crudely put it, but I am the one who is in control. If I tell you to sit, you are to sit. If I tell you stay, you are to stay. And if I tell you to come, you are to come like a good, obedient Demonslayer. Understood?”

“There was a reason I became a Silver-rank Demonslayer,” she said while glaring up at him bravely. “And it’s because I’m terrible at taking orders. I’m much better at giving them.” “That sounds like a flaw you should work on.” “I’ve heard that before.” She surprised him by smirking. “Now, are you going to help me or not?”

he didn’t want her to know the actual truth. He’d do whatever Mayumi wanted him to, even if it was to roll onto his back with his belly up.

Never, in all his imaginings, had he thought Mayumi would befriend him so easily. That she would be comfortable with him within the span of a day. That she would give him that wicked face that immediately had his body heating. And Faunus wanted to share that heat with her.

“Did you just sniff my thigh?” “No?” he lied. She huffed at him, so he huffed back to mimic her. She continued her task.

“Shove your fingers into my nose hole again, and I’ll return the favour by shoving my own into any holes you have,” he warned with a growl.

In her eyes, it was easier to constantly be in potential danger living here than to deal with the sad reality of life inside those walls. Her father had once told her he felt the same way.

Greed was the true monster in this world, and it was just as prevalent as it’d been before the world was overrun by Demons.

However - and this was where Mayumi really had to be careful - she desperately wanted to jump his bones.

I hope my big forest God has a cock. If not, she’d ride his face, fingers, and perhaps even that cute kitty tail he had.

Mayumi had some silly notion that they could be ‘changed’ – like she was a chosen human who was destined to fix the world. Now, as an adult, she knew that would never be possible. That didn’t stop her from thinking their claws made them look devilish, or their teeth sinfully dangerous.

She would have preferred them to pin her down, but her fantasies always ended with her being eaten, and that was a massive turn-off.

How about… Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. I’ve got a pussy that needs licking? She scrunched up her nose. No, that’s way too forward.

I have to be subtle but brash. She wasn’t the greatest at being subtle. Her friends, Henry, Yoshida, and a red-headed man named Klaus, always said she was as subtle as a thunderclap.

“I’d prefer you didn’t kill my kind, to be quite honest.” “And I’d prefer you didn’t come to harm whatsoever, no matter who or what has provoked me.” The threat was made even darker by the unnatural grit he had in his voice.

“No creature is safe from me if it wishes to harm you, Mayumi, and I will make sure it suffers for ever touching you.”

“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.

She didn’t know why, but she’d always found strong, veined hands attractive. The fact he had a large pair with those features was even hotter, and they were so big that she knew two of her own could easily be held within one of his.

“Bring it on, bone man.” She wiggled her arse against the ground, knowing she may be sitting here for the long haul. “I’m pretty competitive, so I’ll make you eat those words with those sharp fangs of yours.”

I never expected Mayumi to be this odd.

“One way is that our stomachs are never filled, and we absorb our food no matter how large it is as soon as we eat it.”

“We may bleed, but if you are to puncture any organ within our body, we will reform around the wound or weapon so we can continue normal functionality. Our insides are soft, mouldable, which makes it near impossible to stop us. Whereas our outsides are much firmer and harder to pierce. An attack that would cause a deep cut on a Demon would only hit the surface of our bodies. We can still come to harm in that we are slowed, and blood loss will make us dizzy, but we will never cease moving.”

“Why are the Demons growing human skin? Those who do are able to speak intelligently, although they refuse to tell us anything no matter what we do to them.” “They are becoming human. I am unsure of how deep the transformation will go for them, but they gain humanity with each human they eat. They grow skin and mimic your kind’s way of life.” He tilted his head down to look at his claws. “Although Duskwalkers gain humanity in the same way, it has already been shown that we will never become human, nor begin taking on your characteristics no matter how much we try. Our forms are mostly permanent.”

If I tell her the truth, she will understand what the crack in my skull means. He was sure she wouldn’t truly care if he were to perish, but he didn’t want to give her the knowledge of how to kill him. His wish was to protect her, and he couldn’t do so if he were dead.

I would allow her to stab me in the heart as much as she contents. He’d known for a long time it already belonged to her. She could do what she wanted with it; he’d just rather not have it come to that.

How did I win? He’d tried to lose!

I want to taste her, fuck her, put my fingers in her, my cock, my tongue. What would she feel like?

Take her. His heart quickened in its pace until it was a deadly drum. Fuck her until she screams the very name she gave you.

She’d been hoping since he picked up backgammon so easily that she could teach him chess. It was a popular strategy game often played back at Hawthorne Keep, since no one knew what shogi was. Uncultured swine.

She also very much wanted to snuggle with him. She wanted to be showered in his heat, covered in his soft-looking fur in the form he was in, holding him while taking in his yummy lemongrass and lime scent. It sounded like heaven. What better way to stay warm?

He could tell her a bedtime story, and she thought she’d be sopping wet by the end.

Why do I have to like everything about him? His unholy face that was like a deity of death. His glowing orbs that were swirling and prettier in the night. His daunting height that made her truly feel small and feminine when usually she felt like a stomping ogre. His bulky, muscular body that she could feel now like a big pillow. His scent. His rich voice. Even the sound of his huffing breath had her ears tingling. He was too beautiful to be kept hidden in the dark.

Smells so good. Why does he have to smell like lemongrass? Why does he have to smell like my favourite herb? She’d been caught eating it from the garden when she was younger. She’d been caught sleeping in it. She was like a damn cat meowing at catnip.

She was down to get a little clawed and bitten, and she wasn’t shy about returning the favour. Would he like it if I bit him?

His mouth rarely ever parted since he didn’t use it to speak, but she watched his bottom jaw drop like it was threatening to fall off.

She was tired of playing cat and mouse – with her being the chasing predator. She’d always been impatient, and even just these few days of waiting had been... tiresome.

“Yes, you’ll be my first.” And my last, he thought.

Because Faunus knew there would be no other female for him beyond Mayumi. Even if she convinced him to leave, to stop his self-proclaimed duty of protecting her, he had chosen her. She was the bride he wanted – although utterly unattainable.

His thumb brushed over her cheek before he caressed down to rub her shoulder, her arm, even her sexy, pointed elbow.

lololol @ an elbow being sexy

He wanted to watch her come while she was staring at him. I have never been the object of a human’s desire. She’d been the centre point of many of his own self-touches, and he, for once, wanted to be just not any human’s, but hers.