The Beast Within Us

Chapter 27: ↭ Yara & ⑄ Chala

↭ Yara allowed Chala time to think before speaking. When her words came, they were more reluctant than Yara had hoped they would be. She kept her gaze steady as Chala questioned her affection and Yara did not hesitate to cringe at the well-known slur for Hewan. Chala was afraid. Yara allowed the fact to simmer within her core as she processed a response.

"All I know is I do not feel the same about Darryn anymore. We were together, yes, but Darryn is all I have ever known before you. He is comfortable and when I was a frightened girl that was all I needed. Truth is, I feel myself change, Chala. I am not the same person I was a month ago." Yara allowed the silence to settle and she leaned forward to take Chala's hand.

"I have always been a target. We can get through this together." ↭

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⑄Chala listened without comment, eyes downcast still as she fiddled with her fingers. Amusedly, she was taken back to the time she'd seen Yara do the same, pegging her for a nervous tick that they apparently shared. It frustrated her to be acting so timidly in front of her warden compared to how she usually was, but encounters like these had always been her weak point. Especially in this case. Yara was perhaps the first person to confess that she had ever actually entertained because of her responsibility as a leader and protector. Though her position was much the same here, there was a mutual attraction that caused her to stumble. Could she afford to stumble?

Still fidgeting with her hands, the warden's words just barely pierced the thick fog of worry encompassing her thoughts. But when Yara leaned forward and took her hand, not hesitating to lace their fingers together, the tigress inhaled sharply at the contact, faint among the hustle and bustle of the inn's patrons and workers. She didn't pull away, instead daring to raise her eyes and search those of her companion.

Chala sought a sign in those deep pools of brown and coal that she so often got lost in. She found only affection, concern, and determination in the dark gaze that met her own.

The tigress made a choice then, exhaling through her nose and standing up abruptly. It caused the chair to clatter loudly and had more than a few of the warden's soldiers eyeing her, hands nervously reaching towards sheathed steel. Chala paid them no mind aside from a passing glare, pulling the warden to her feet (at which the other woman emitted a rather cute noise of surprise) and leading her out of the inn. The approached the forest edge without speaking, hands still connected as neither of them had any intentions of letting go.

Only when they were deep enough, where it was quiet and the two were very much alone, did Chala finally turn to face Yara. And promptly kissed her.

It was hesitant at first, Chala pressing her lips to Yara's in the simplest, gentlest peck. The element of surprise kept the other woman unmoving for a moment, and the tigress' heart stuttered despite knowing exactly how the wardeness felt. But then she moved, and nothing could have prepared the tiger hewan for the intensity of the kisses that followed.

There was a spark, a perceived electric current that charged the air around them. It made her skin tingle and her heart race, and Chala's tail wrapped around the two of them as if to pull the other woman even closer. Her hand came to rest on the wardeness' cheek, the other caught between her neck and shoulder, thumb tracing Yara's jawline lightly. Their kisses were slow and deep and she didn't care at all that her warden still tasted like the slightly burnt eggs she had for breakfast, purring fiercely as she leaned in.

It was only a matter of time before they had to come up for air. Chala sighed contently when they did, resting her forehead against Yara's collar. She'd completely surrounded herself in the other woman. On her lips, under her fingers, every breath she took was filled with Yara, Yara, Yara.

The tigress smirked into pale skin. "Couldn't do that at the inn," she breathed. ⑄