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He turned his head to the side with his left hand clenching into a tight fist once more. “Why can other males see and touch you, but I cannot?” he growled so quietly that it was almost unnerving. His orbs brightened in their green hue. “You allow them to leave their scent on you, but you will not let me do so freely.”

Her lips parted in disbelief. He did not just say that to her. She doubted he meant it as though she easily spread her legs for anyone, but that was how she took it. Or rather, how she interpreted it... because she had started to feel that way about herself after Bryce.

Had she given in to sex too easily with him because she hadn’t wanted to be alone anymore? For a long time, she’d begun to wonder if Bryce liked her at all, or just that she had a warm hole she’d made available.

Even his parting words to her were ‘ugly bitch,’ which had been a fatal blow to her already small ego.

“That’s not fair,” Emerie whispered, feeling like a hypocrite.

“Your scent changes, Emerie. It grows warm and nice, different.” Her cheeks heated as a blush spread across them, embarrassed that he could smell when she grew aroused in his presence...byhis presence. “I don’t know why, but it tells me that you are aroused. I feel it in my body. It calls to me, and I want it.”

How am I supposed to tell him that I want him to touch me... but can’t let him?How was she to do that without hurting his feelings, while knowing her rejections were already doing that?

He’s probably terribly confused.Her body was giving him the go ahead, that she wanted him, while her mouth said otherwise. She couldn’t imagine how much that would be eating at him.

“I want to touch you, as you touch me. I want to pleasure you like other males have.” The green in his orbs flared even brighter. “Why am I not good enough for you?”

He’s jealous... that’s what that colour means.And she figured the brighter it was, the more it bit at him.Oh, Ingram.

If only she could tell him that a guy hadn’t made her orgasm in a long time – years, in fact. It was like her pussy had been telling her the truth about Bryce, even if her stupid head and desperate heart wouldn’t.

Ingram lifted his hand to wrap it over the side of his beak with his orbs shifting to blue. “Is it because I am Mavka?”

Tears instantly welled in her eyes, for him, for herself. She stepped towards him, reaching out with trembling hands.

“Ingram...” The rest of her response clogged in her throat.

How do I tell him yes and no at the same time?

The closer she got to him, the more she could see the big guy was trembling as well. Confused, upset, unsure. He even darted his arm away from her before she could grasp his hand and offer him comfort.

“I do not have a face like you humans. I have scales whereas you have skin, a tail whereas you have none. Do you hate these things about me?”

“I don’t hate them at all,” she reassured. “That’s not why, Ingram.”

“Your people called me a monster, Emerie,” he snapped at her, his orbs flashing bright red. “They called me ugly and horrible as they held my heart in their hands. Do you see me as a monster?”

“You’re not a monster, Ingram!”

He may be monstrous on the outside, but she’d met humans who were vile and despicable on theinside.He may be a monster, but she didn’t want him thinking that about himself. She didn’t want him to associate that word with himself negatively, when she’d been using it endearingly in her mind.

“Then why am I not good enough to be special to you?!” he roared. “I don’t know what I am doing wrong, and you will not tell me so I can fix it.”

Despite his sudden burst of aggression, she didn’t back away in fright. No, instead desperation and self-loathing set in.

Emerie couldn’t take it anymore.

Ingram was so damn sweet and kind that he didn’t deserve to feel this way, not when she knew he was more than good enough, and more than she thought she deserved. There were far prettier, smarter, and kinder people out in the world than her, so what right did she have to keep the truth from him?

She darted forward before he could even react and grabbed his wrist. She shoved his hand, palm facing him, upwards in the air between them.

“This is why, Ingram!” He flinched at her shouting, and that only made the fresh tears falling from her drip faster. “Because you have claws!”

He brought his hand closer to his skull, like he wanted to inspect his own claws, then his orbs morphed to a deeper blue. He pushed through her hands so he could cup the side of her face.

“But I have been gentle with you. I have been trying to show you I will not hurt you again.”

“How you touch me isinside, Ingram, and your fingers are tipped with blades. I am soft and delicate, and if you were to shove these inside me, you would hurt me, no matter how gentle you are.”