Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea

Caedes' gaze intensified as Mariah closed the distance between them, her words a melody in the tense atmosphere. She answered his challenge in an exhilarating manner, those eyes full of yearning cutting through him and prying out a possessive nature he hadn’t known about. His predatory grin widened, a flicker of amusement brightening up his features. It was difficult to have her come so close, so willingly, and still not be able to reach out and touch her. Every fiber of his being wanted to pull her close, this literal stranger, to press her slight frame against his own. What would it be like? To hold her? To risk breaking her? Oh but he didn’t want to break her. He just wanted her. To map and memorize her body, methodically so that he missed nothing. None of those exquisite flaws would escape him, they would all submit to his amorous examination… But… he was getting ahead of himself. He could very well scare the younger girl off at this rate. "What if I am no storyteller?" The brute responded, his voice a low, velvety rumble. Allowing a measured amount of anticipation to show, watching as she reached out, the dainty limb almost teasing him before finally coming to graze his chest. As her fingers traced his body, along the scarred and ragged imperfection there, he felt completely at the mercy of the delicate Mariah. He couldn’t move away even if he wished to, not that that was the case anyways. His body was wracked with an intense shudder, nails digging into the ground as he grit his teeth to maintain the all-consuming need barely held back within. It was his own fault she was provoking him so much. He had told her to touch him.

His emerald eyes bore into her silver ones as Mariah explored the rugged terrain of his scar, so invested in the girl’s reaction Caedes stood still, a statue carved from shadow and rigid musculature – allowing her to unravel him. Really – that’s exactly what she was doing, and Caedes was submitting to it. The world around them faded into insignificance, leaving only the two of them suspended in a volatile balance of perceived strength versus weakness. But the silence was too much for him, and he so badly wanted to hear her breathless tones again. He wondered what other madness would afflict him, in between the lapses in his fantasies pertaining to the slender girl. "I wear them proudly, but they are not trophies," he murmured, his voice a haunting echo that was meant to obscure his meaning. He wanted to keep her in this web of infatuation – keep her from rationality where she would recoil away from him. Surely, she would. There would come a moment of clarity, where her impulsive desire to explore his faults would give way and she would realize this was… unnatural. Though he silently hoped that would not happen. That her head would remain empty, other than thoughts of him. "They are proof of my endurance, my perseverance, and my survival," Caedes seemed momentarily exposed, his guard lowered in the face of this shared vulnerability – his gaze softened, eyes shifting to her willowy figure in relation. She too, must have had her struggles, and yet here she was resilient and daring to defy her physical restraints. “Is that a satisfactory answer, Mariah?” The beast’s tongue caressed her name, a sweet nothing as he claimed another chance to say it aloud. Again, he felt the bite of allure threaten to overtake him, compelling him to reach out… and before he could stop himself his paw had lurched forward to graze the side of her neck. He barely registered the soft flesh,  or that he might have felt her pulse there, or the way it would have been so easy to snuff her out… instead he quickly jerked his offending limb back once he realized what he had done. Caedes instantly felt regret that he had not lingered his touch there longer, if he couldn't take the action back anyways. Fuck. Impulse was such a disease.


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