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He squeezed her once more, but in an entirely different way. In a protective, safe, and adoring cuddle, rather than a violent, aggressive crush.

He heard her wince as much as he felt it. She even whimpered.

She is hurt.His orbs morphed to orange as he bumped the side of his skull against the back of her head to nuzzle her.

Trade. I want to trade with her.He wanted to take her wounds and heal her.

Perhaps because of how deeply he desired this, the purple glittering glow of his magic was instant. It didn’t take long for the transfer to happen.

Immediately he felt tenderness around his ribs, like they had almost been snapped moments ago. There were also two massive palm-sized areas on his biceps and thigh that ached, with ten deeper presses to account for his own finger pads digging in.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, although he noted the sigh of relief that exhaled from her.

Her breathing returned to normal, no longer shuddering even though he hadn’t loosened his gentler hold. She also didn’t feel as weak.

For a long while, they just held each other in a comforting embrace. It carried no resentment from his side.

He was deciding to let what happened remain where it should have all along: in the past. He appreciated learning the truth of it, only because he hoped it helped to alleviate her own misgivings.

If it had been a barrier between them, then he wanted it gone.

He nuzzled the back of her hair again. “I am sorry for hurting you.”

Ingram then slipped his palm up from her biceps so he could place it against the side of her neck, wanting to feel her pulsing jugular. A place so vulnerable and soft, and proof of life.

“Thank you for forgiving me,” she said against his neck, her legs securing themselves around his waist even more. He smelt the tiniest speck of salt. “I was really scared that you would hate me once I told you. That you wouldn’t want to hold me anymore.”

He wished he could squeeze her even tighter to show her that he was content with where she currently rested against his chest. Her weight was light in his arms, and the silhouette of her petite body moulded perfectly against his own.

But, if he squeezed her much more than this, he would only hurt her as he’d been doing before.

Ingram wasn’t strong with words. He wasn’t good at articulating them into what he truly desired. How else could he convey to her that his feelings had not been diminished, but rather... strengthened?

If his words couldn’t be used, was touch his only option? He was beginning to worry that it wasn’t a good way to show his affection. Pleasure between them had started with a lack of emotional connection; its only meaning was to gain release for self-satisfaction.

He was unsure if this was how Emerie still saw his approach to it, when, somewhere along the way, his mind had begun to hunger for her pleasure rather than his own. The first time he’d released against her chest, something visceral had shifted within. It was when his mind, heart, and body started truly being... possessive of hers.

But it was before that when something had started to change. As she slowly opened up to him, and showed him more kindness and understanding than he’d ever received except from his kindred, he’d wanted to learn her. To discover Emerie and see if they could connect on a level that took them from being two beings, into one.

To fill those voids that had been left within him by Aleron’s disappearance.

He had not originally been seeking this from her, or anyone. It was only when she showed him herself that he’d begun experiencing these unfamiliar and unknown wants and cravings.

And he wanted more, simply because she had been so against it in the beginning. He’d started hoping that her acceptance of his touch meant she felt something for him. Trust, companionship, safety. If her feelings meant touch was an intimate and heart-connecting thing, if he continued to show his affection this way, and she welcomed it, would that bring them closer?

I wish I knew the answers.

His cock wasn’t even hard or stirring. His desire to feel her was stemming from somewhere else – like his heart.

Then Emerie did something that had his chest radiating with tenderness, and gave him the path he’d been seeking with his thoughts.

Even with his silence and lack of answer, she pressed her lips against the side of his neck. His scales lifted in a rippling wave out from that spot. It was subtle, but he experienced it all over.

Placing his hand firmly around the back of her neck with his fingers dipping into her hair, he gently pulled her back. The moment her pretty blue eyes were able to connect with his sight, he parted his beak slightly and licked across her lips.

She let out the tiniest gasp and Ingram retracted his tongue.

Did he do the wrong thing?