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“Abandoned?” His eyelids narrowed as if he was mulling over the meaning of the word. “Being deserted or cast off . . .” he said lower. “Yes.” He cocked his head, onyx gaze settling on myface. “You were ‘abandoned.’ I heard her pleas for help during a Blood Moon. I assisted for a price. Your pure soul was mine, she agreed.”

“Do you know where she is? Did you kill her?” My breath hiccupped on a gasp, and my nose burned with restrained tears. I wouldn’t be able to hold them back much longer. There was no love lost toward the woman who birthed me, but the discovery hurt. He strode toward the edge of the bathing area like he hadn’t rocked my world with his revelation.

“She is dead.”

“You killed her,” I choked out.

“No. She did it herself.” He dragged me forward.

“Wait, my stuff,” I gasped, trying to turn around to where I’d laid my clothes and shoes out under the sky. I’d been hoping it could help them dry faster, but honestly, it wasn’t going to make a difference; it wasn’t like there was a sun.

His arm curled under my knees, and he lifted me against his hard chest, the side of my soft body pressing into his cold surface. The shock of being lifted undid the barrier I’d erected around me.

Tears trickled down my face, and I sucked in a breath, trying to cut myself off from the emotions bubbling through the cracks. Aunt Vee had been all I needed, but the discovery that my birth mom killed herself still sucked.

“You are.” He paused. “Crying?” His tone tilted upward at the end, almost like he was confused. He seemed to know things, but in the most basic sense, there appeared to be a disconnect with understanding, as if from an observer who has never felt these emotions on a personal basis.

“Little Mortal.”

He leaned down, and his rough, long tongue glided up my cheek. It stunned me so much that it dried my eyes. He continued to stride down the long hallway, but I wasn’t payingattention to my surroundings. All I could focus on was the sway of his wide gait and his side profile.

My stomach continued to flip and roil, the same way it did when I was excited. I couldn’t stop the bubbling emotion expanding in my chest. I already knew I was attracted to this odd beast, but I shouldn’t befeelinganything for him.

With a suddenness that took my breath away, he plopped me down on a bed of accumulated shadows. My body hovered feet off the ground, and I gasped, reaching out for him, but he was already sprawling on his throne. I wobbled unsteadily, sure I would fall, but the inky tendril wrapped around my waist, keeping me upright.

They slowly floated me over to him, and I couldn’t focus because all I could see was the long, tapered torso leading to his stiff, unusual cock. As soon as I was within his arm's distance, he plucked me to him, gripping onto my hips. His shadows wound around my knees and spread me in the same motion that he impaled me on his cock. A breath stalled in my throat. My channel fluttered around his shaft as if trying to pull him deeper.Ohhhh, that felt so good.

His claws dug into my hips, and he seated me all the way to the base of his cock, wrenching free my gasp.

“Yes,” he hissed. “No crying.” He thrust with a grunt, my channel clamping down on him as my knees widened, bracing against the divot near his hips. The simmering heat blossomed into full-on lust, and I writhed, moving my hips in a circular motion. My head fell back, making my hair tickle my lower spine.

Sensation rasped across my nipple, and I tucked my chin to my chest to study the soft graze of his claw against the tip of my breast. The dark, onyx claw rubbed the sensitive brown point, and all I could do was pant and wiggle atop him. The careful touches seemed exploratory.

“I have observed humanity for ages and have never witnessed beauty close to yours.” The purred words made my sex clamp around him, and he made a sound that had no human equivalent. It was something between a purr and a groan.

I placed my hands against the tuft of feathers above his cock and below the spot where there should have been a belly button. The plane of his strong torso dipped with hints of muscle. I glided my hands upward until I reached the small feathers along his neck.

There was something so viscerally appealing to his face when he came—a viciousness that rocked through me. I bunched the feathers along his shoulders and leaned forward, pressing my knees into the dip against his throne, and lifted until I rose over him.

With me propped like this, we were at eye level. Although he didn’t have pupils, I could tell he was staring at my face. Maybe it was the sense I’d developed with the years upon years that he’d watched me with his shadows.

I kept my gaze glued on his features and slammed down.

“Corvus,” I moaned, the name escaping with pants.

He snarled, head falling against the back of the throne, and the bridge of his nose scrunched. His hips lifted, driving his cock into my sex. I gasped again, and his cold hands slid down my bare sides, following the curve of my body until his claws dug into my lower back.

I fell over the edge and into an orgasm that rocked my entire frame, but I didn’t stop moving. My thighs trembled from pleasure and exertion, but I refused to stop, it felt too good.

Within the whirl of need, the glaring truth sank into my reality. I felt comforted . . . by him.

I squeezed my eyes shut, losing myself in the pleasure of riding his cock.

She slumbered on my nest,curled against my side for a rotation.

I shook off the encroaching drag into unconsciousness, struggling to remain aware and awake. I would not be able to fight it much longer.

Soon, unconsciousness would suck me into a fathomless void where lashes licked across my flesh.