Page 37 of Ashborne: Defiance

Everything in me went still at the sight.

I knew I should look away, shouldn’t violate his privacy in this way. But I couldn’t tear my gaze from that soft flesh.

I tried to tell myself I was an adult. Reminded myself that I’d seen the stallions, and the dogs my entire life. Even aided my father in the breeding on our estate as I’d grown older. There was no true mystery about this piece of male anatomy. And yet, the skin was much redder than his buttocks and thighs.

I couldn’t have said why that fascinated me, except that pink, soft flesh seemed so at odds with his cold, abrasive manner.

A vulnerability in truth.

Then he began splashing water over his arms and chest and scrubbing with hands—we didn’t have soap—to loosen the dirt and sweat. And his testicles swayed in little circles against the movement of his torso.

A few moments later he straightened and my view was blocked by his muscular thighs.

I was distracted by his surprising grace as he dove into the water, and came up hissing and cursing against the cold.

Inhaling deeply, he dropped under the surface, and it roiled as he scrubbed at his hair for a time, coming up to take new breaths, then sinking under again.

The sight of his arms bent up, his biceps thick and lined, his shoulders creased with muscle, dried my mouth.

I was so taken with the sight of him, that pulse began behind my navel again.

I swallowed to wet the roof of my mouth as he dropped under the water once more. But this time he didn’t come up quickly.

He didn’t come up at all.

I frowned.

The morning sun glinted on the water’s surface there so I couldn’t see under it. But those roils and ripples when he’d been scrubbing were gone.

I inched higher slowly, frowning harder. Was it possible he’d gotten a foot caught on the bottom of the pool? Or was he just playing one of those stupid games boys seemed to like, trying to suffocate himself until the last possible moment he needed to breathe?

But he’d had such a difficult few days. He might underestimate his capacity and—

He rose from the water in a rippling splash, gasping at the air. I swallowed a yelp and ducked back behind the bushes, praying his eyes had been too full of water to see my shape in the darkness under the trees.

Heart pounding, I scuttled out of there like an insect avoiding the eyes of a bird. But my cheeks warmed. And I couldn’t go too far away, because my chest began to pinch. So, I placed myself in the clearing, with my back to the trees, and waited for him to return.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about his body.

His vulnerable flesh.

And the voice in my head that wasn’t Koa, wouldn’t stop whispering… Mine.

~ VOSKI ~

I’d sensed her nearby. I couldn’t tell how far away, but I knew she was closer than she’d been when I left the clearing.

When I let myself sink to the bottom, I hoped she’d look for me if she was watching, and sure enough, as I broke the surface, gasping for air, I caught a flash of her wide eyes before she dropped behind the bushes again.

I chuckled quietly enough she wouldn’t hear it over my splashing as I pushed back up to the banks of the creek, but my amusement faded quickly.

Nothing was actually funny.

It was because Kham was amused by Koa, and his feelings bled into me.

‘Stay out of my head.’

‘If only the Creator were so merciful,’ he retorted dryly.