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She licked the first ridge, getting it shiny with spit. He still tasted faintly of her, and Briar heard herself groan.

Wick groaned with her. He was curling into himself, his wings pulled in tight to his back. The amulet glowed strongly between them, and Briar realized with some pride and some disappointment that he was going to come. She wanted to keep going, to taste him some more. Especially when he was being sopoliteabout it.

His claws trembled against her scalp.

“I am going to come,” he warned.

In response, she sucked his cock back into her mouth. It only took one more suck before he fulfilled his promise and came, hot ropes filling her mouth and spilling down her chin and chest.

She swallowed as best she could until his cock was spent and softening, Wick whimpering above her. Then she pulled off and wiped her chin, scooping more of it into her mouth. Mostly to watch the fire in his eyes flicker hotter, but partly to taste the evidence that she had done well.

Wick’s wings and tail sagged, his shoulders heaving. “I was not inside you.”

It took her a moment to understand what he meant. Briar laughed, stepping back into the river to clean her sticky chest.

“We’re done for the day,” she told him. “That was just a thank-you.”

She wiped her chest clean and then got back onto the riverbank, pulling her clothes back on. She was still damp, but she would dry.

“Sorry, I’m so small,” she said as she laced her shirt up. “I suppose your other lovers were bigger. They would have to be, to fit that inside of them.”

She motioned at his cock, which he was in the process of hiding behind his loincloth.

Wick finished tying his knot and paused. “I have never had a lover.”

Briar laughed.

Wick didn’t. He just stood there, watching her with the expression he’d been wearing for most of the blowjob: like he couldn’t quite believe she was real.

Briar’s laugh died. “Wait, are you serious? How oldareyou?”

“I have lost count,” Wick said honestly. “Everyone I have attempted to mate with, I have killed and eaten.”

Briar winced. She reached for her necklace, dragging it out to lie over her shirt laces.

“Right,” she said. “I am glad we have this.”

“As am I.” Wick bowed his head. “I… I could feel the blood frenzy trying to take over. Every time.”

He sounded so cautious. It annoyed Briar. Why couldn’t he just hide his emotions like every other man? If he kept being all vulnerable like this, it would only make her like him more. The bastard.

Briar thought of his claws digging into her hips so hard he almost drew blood. Of those claws dragging against her scalp, his hips jerking, his breath coming fast, and the fire in his eyes swelling until they took over the black pools surrounding them.

And then he pulled back. Always, he came back to himself. Just like he’d always wanted. Briar winced as she imagined him coming out of a haze to find his hands covered in blood and viscera when all he’d wanted was a nice roll in his nest.

She forced her sorrow down. She couldn’t afford to feel anything for Wick, no matter how sweet he was or how much his story affected her. They were two travelers stuck on a brief journey together, that was all.

“That must be why you’re so intense,” she said, trailing a hand down his arm. “Good thing I like it.”

Wick watched her hand. “You do?”

Briar nodded. It scared her, obviously. But there was no lie in her voice as she admitted, “It’s flattering. Knowing you want me so badly, you can’t hold yourself back.”

Wick frowned. “But I do hold back.”

“Of course,” she hurried to say. “Of course you do. The gentleman monster.”

Wick’s frown deepened. He cocked his head at her, like she was particularly puzzling, and he wanted to solve her.