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“Yes, exactly. We were one, and we shared everything.” Then he put his arm around her and curled his hand around her side, swallowing it up completely within his palm. “And when he is returned, you will then becomeourcompanion.”

His head jerked, sharply tilting, when her face paled and her eyes widened. Her mouth opened and closed as though she’d lost the ability to speak. She swallowed what sounded like a thick lump in her throat.

“I am only helping you on this journey, Ingram,” she answered, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap.

“I do not understand.”

He really didn’t. Emerie was now his companion. She was his friend, and he wanted to keep his new friend and show her to Aleron. His kindred was kind and warm, and he was sure to like her as much as he did.

“I don’t think I could handle two of you, to be honest.”

“Why not? We can protect you better together. Once we kill the Demon King and make the world safer, the Demons will no longer attack us like they have been. We can keep you safe in the Veil, and you can play with us.”

Her eyes opened even further, just as her cheeks darkened with a cute redness.

“Y-you said that you gained a lot of humanity when you came to the guild.” Her words came out with a squeak. “Aleron will not be as... smart as you. H-he may not understand that I am easily broken and hurt.”

Hmm,he thought, lifting his head and curling his hand around his beak in thought. She was right. Even Ingram had hurt her, and he had much more humanity than Aleron currently.

“Then... we will find him humans to eat, and I will let him grow until he matches me.”

Ingram’s tail tapped against the ground at his ingenious idea. He turned to her with his sight yellow in pride at himself, only for it to quickly snuff out to purple, then orange when she looked horrified at the idea of him feeding his kindred her kind.

He reached out and patted her head, and she was so frozen she barely reacted to it.

“But not you. I will make sure you are safe.”

Emerie reached up and grabbed his wrist to stop him. She pulled it down and looked like she was about to say something, only to cringe.

“Look, let’s get to that later. This... is a lot to unpack, and I really don’t know where to start. I cannot live in the Veil, Ingram, and I cannot be shared between you. I don’t see me living through that.” Then she placed his hand on her thigh to fiddle with his thick fingers. “If you had a fight with each other, and I was caught in the middle of it, one stray claw strike could see me dead.”

His immediate reaction was to deny her, to say he and Aleron did not fight, but that wasn’t true.

Although they shared everything, they also playfully fought over everything. Food, things that took their attention, an Elf they originally asked to name them until they almost tore her in half because they fought over who wanted to be named first.

The more he thought about it, the more he realised that if Emerie took both their attention at the same time, they could end up playing tug-of-war with her.

“But you can teach us things,” Ingram argued. “Show us how to be careful around you, as you have done with me. You are smart. You even stopped me from eating you – twice.”

Emerie slapped her face into her palm. She drew her hand down, and he noted her cheeks were red again as she stared up at his skull with nervous eyes.

“I guess I have to be more direct?” He nodded, hoping whatever explanation she gave would better help him figure out a way to convince her otherwise. “You liked it when I touched your, uh, dick, yeah?”

The thrill that tore through him was instant. It sent a shudder all the way down to his tail that smacked against the ground.

“Yes,”he grated.

“If you want me to do that, and Aleron sees, he may want it too.” Ingram’s sight turned a dark shade of purple at just the thought of her touch, and he absolutely knew his kindred would want to experience it once he learned of how... wonderful it felt. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

His first thought was joy in letting his kindred experience someone touching his cock. If Ingram now craved it, Aleron would be the same.

However, the longer he wished this for Aleron, the more he began to picture it. When that image turned into Emerie touching Aleron, something strange spiked in his chest; it was a nasty emotion he didn’t particularly like.

He wrapped his hand around his beak once more as he looked out at the horizon.Emerie touching Aleron...How did he feel about this? He wanted his kindred to know what he did, to experience pleasure, but with this little female he’d found?

His mind turned to the last time she’d stroked him.

There had been something deeply satisfying about having his own seed scent marking her skin. Even just the memory of it had his cock twitching behind his seam.