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Nathair had stolen six humans before being noticed. He had not clawed or bitten them, instead using a human means of killing. He’d snapped their weak and feeble necks. No blood to instigate his hunger, and no scream loud enough to alert anyone. He dragged their corpses into the dark.

He’d been hoping he could pick them off one by one in order to protect his little nightingale from himself. Unfortunately, her pain-filled scream dug its nails into his heart. Her blood had already been in the air, and it intensified, causing him to lash out as fury swept through him.

If it wasn’t for the rain, I would have attacked her by now.

It did make her white dress nearly see-through. He was angered that anyone else was able to see the volume of her breasts and the cute nipples that dusted their peaks, the curve of her waist, and the vee of her pubic mound.

Not daring to breathe, his gaze slipped up to the male hiding behind her.

“Back up, Duskwalker, or I’ll slit her throat,” he demanded.

Go for it,Nathair thought darkly.I’ll just heal her wound and add it to the many of my own.

The human wouldn’t be able to kill Linh faster than the quick strike of his own hand touching her.

She gave him a wobbling smile. Her eyes saw into him, saw he was here, aware, and he adored her for seeing that despite his fleshless skull.

Nathair nodded his snout towards the male once, then twice. The movement was subtle, but Linh’s shoulders went back despite her arms locked above her head. She nodded.

When he turned his skull towards the male fully, he opened his mouth to let the full strength of his hiss echo.

“Hum,” Nathair signed at his own throat while he moved towards her attacker. The male of her tears, her nightmares, and pain. The one he’d been longing to slaughter from the very first moment he observed her parasite-infested soul.

“Stay back!” the male shouted.

What was his name again?Nathair was sure Linh had told him.Bragg.What a hideous name for a hideous male.

Linh hummed for him, and combined with the dullness from the voices of his rage, it gave him what he wanted. Or rather, hehopedit did.

Before Bragg could hurt her, he shoved the male to the left, away from her neck, and he stumbled to his arse from Nathair’s strength. His puffed scales vibrated as his hiss grew lower and began to morph into a growl.

Bragg glared up at him, but didn’t show an ounce of fear in his green eyes.

“I’m going to show you how it feels to be defiled,” Nathair snarled over him.

If this human thought he’d fight fair, then he was about to learn that Nathair liked to give in to all his darkest impulses.

With his hand flat, claws ready and poised to slice deep, Nathair shot forward. He shoved his hand into the male’s chest, and Bragg gasped in surprise. Nathair gave a grunt when the dagger’s blade was shoved upwards through his neck.

The strangest sensation overcame him.

His orbs felt as though they’d rotated back into his skull when the tip of the blade penetrated his brain. Nathair seized, and yet the euphoria of the voices shutting the fuck up overcame him at the same time. He’d never had anything slice into him like this before and had no ability to stop it as he locked up and quivered.

It was short-lived, as was the quiet, when the male stupidly removed the weapon. Nathair’s body compensated for his injury and gave him new ways to function, like what lay beneath his flesh wasn’t truly formed, and was a messy blob of needless organs.

A stomach that had nothing beyond it as he absorbed all his food into his very being. A pulse that kept beating even when his heart had gone quiet. Lungs that could go still, only to restart seconds later. He was made of nothing, and yet had everything he needed to be a devastating creature upon the world.

Bragg gave a yell when he stabbed his dagger into Nathair’s throat again, but the blade tip came out just below the bottom of his skull.

Pulling back, Nathair took the male’s soul as he gathered him up in his tail. Well, the part of his tail that wasn’t ruined from the many attempts to sever his lithe weapon of destruction.

He brought the male into the air and slipped around Linh’s feet until he circled the wooden pole she was tied to. He hung the male in front of her, and brought his arms forward from behind her to reveal Bragg’s soul.

He tucked his snout into her hair until his nose hole was buried in those silky strands. He let out the breath that had been stinging his lungs, and braved taking in a new, singular one. The rain and her pretty aroma were just enough to dampen down the smell of blood pervading the air. Her hum was soothing, and he briefly darkened his orbs to savour it.

“Don’t stop watching, no matter what happens,” Nathair told her softly, hoping her humming meant she could hear him.

He didn’t know what would happen, but he had a good guess from what Weldir had told him. It would be gruesome, but Nathair wanted her to remember this moment. To remember how this vile human died, so she could know he would never,ever, return to haunt her.