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He hadn’t answered. He didn’t want to tell her the truth: he very rarely touched himself.

His desires had sloughed away with age. His lust had gone the same way as his appetite. He had assumed they were gone for good. But with this little human cautiously stroking his belly, it was all slamming back into him faster than he could resist.

“Why should I?” he asked. “I have you.”

With that, he surged forward and twisted her around until she was pressed chest-first into the nest.

Ruby moaned. She sounded shocked and, if he was reading her tone correctly, slightly appalled. Then he ground his hardening cock against her dress-clad ass, and everything melted out of the moan except for desperate hunger.

“I meant before…” she trailed off, gasping as he ran a hand down her back and made the dress vanish. He watched the shadows roll away from her skin hungrily until she was completely naked in his nest.

He kept the dagger in its holster band around her thigh. They would not be attacked in his nest, but he liked how it looked against her skin.

“Before I got here,” Ruby continued breathlessly as he pressed her naked breasts into the fur. “Did you go somewhere, find someone when you needed— ohhhh .”

He felt her groan as he ran his tongue over her naked back. He reached around her torso, rolling her small breasts in his hands. He made sure to retract his claws this time, but only after pressing them into her skin and feeling the soft give.

“As I said,” he rumbled in her ear. “I enjoy my solitude.”

Ruby twisted her head, her dark eyes far too coherent for his liking. “But before, when you—when you needed release?—”

Slate did not want to explain his previous lack of hunger when he was suddenly starving. He slid his tongue over her shoulder, fitting it into the grooves of her collarbone before wrapping it around her neck.

Moan , he thought desperately.

Ruby did. Slate felt it deliciously, her delicate neck vibrating against his tongue. He gave her a thankful squeeze, getting another moan in return, and slid his tongue down her spine, counting the notches.

“Spread your legs,” he said.

Ruby did. Wetness gleamed on her thighs, and he couldn’t help himself from sliding his fingers over them and rubbing the slick into the fur underneath her.

Ruby’s breath hitched. Did she recognize what he was doing? The idea made him feel strangely exposed. He wanted things so rarely. He didn’t want her to see how badly he wanted her scent in his nest, surrounding him as he slept.

He withdrew his fingers from the wet fur of his nest and palmed her tight ass, ignoring how badly he wanted to sink his teeth into the flesh. Then he slid his tongue up her dagger-less thigh and into her wet, waiting hole.

Ruby jerked against his nest. A branch snapped underneath her, and Slate pictured fucking her until the woods were full of branches snapping, hips slapping, and Ruby’s overwhelmed cries.

Not yet, he told herself. She still couldn’t take his cockhead. They had a lot of work ahead of them.

He loosened her with his tongue through two whimpering orgasms. He meant to stop at one, but she was writhing against him so sweetly he forgot about it.

After she came the second time, sweet fluid gushing around his tongue and wetting his uncovered chin, he decided it was time.

He pulled his tongue out.

“Wait,” she gasped. “I can—I can take it.”

“I know,” he soothed. “I’ll give it to you, little witch.”

With that, he slid two fingers into her and hooked them into her sweet spot.

She howled, her muscles straining around him.

It was a tight fit, but after several slick minutes of sliding in and out of her hole, he managed to fit a third finger inside her.

At first, only the tip. Then it slid deeper and deeper until he could fuck her with all three.

Ruby groaned against his nest. Her mouth was open, the fur underneath damp with spit.

He pressed her head into it, grinding the dampness deeper. She groaned louder; the noise tinged with confusion. Maybe she didn’t know he was scenting his nest, he thought, and felt a strange twist of relief and disappointment.

Slate didn’t know how he had ever not been hungry for this.

How he wasn’t starving for it every second.

Maybe he should have brought a mortal here whenever he needed it.

But that conjured an image of some faceless stranger, and that wasn’t right.

It wouldn’t be right unless it was Ruby, his strange little witch who bore down on his fingers even as she strained with effort.

“ Yes ,” she groaned, muffled against the nest he was rubbing her face into. “Stretch me… train me for your cock. Make me useful, make me good. Oh, gods .”

Slate spread his fingers. Ruby made a choked noise, hips working in a way that he now knew meant she was trying to get friction for her clit, which was pressed against the fur lining his nest.

Slate’s cock throbbed painfully under his loincloth. He had been trying to will it down, telling himself to be patient. But she was stretching so beautifully around his fingers, and he couldn’t resist.

He stood and flipped her over. Her chest heaved, breasts dripping with sweat from being trapped against the fur. There was a small pink mark on her leg where a feather had pressed into her.

I will have to layer the fur more deeply , Slate thought. For her flimsy human skin.

He knew he should be appalled at the idea of changing his nest for some mortal. But he only felt fiercely possessive as he bent down and licked the salt from her breasts. Then he swirled his tongue around her clit, listening to her sob with pleasure.

“I’m going to put my cock inside you now,” he told her.

Ruby’s eyes flew open. “But?—”

Slate nuzzled her cheek, rumbling comfortingly. “Only what you can handle.”

She still looked worried. He leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. When he pulled back, there was an imprint of his bone mask on her skin.

He flicked his hand. His loincloth vanished in a cloud of shadows, and Ruby’s mouth fell open as she watched his cock slap against his stomach.

“Only what you can handle,” he repeated. “I promise.”

Ruby nodded. She was shaking. She had started shaking before he even had his tongue inside her.

My responsive little mortal, he thought fondly. It took so little to get her wet and trembling. He wanted to ruin her.

He wiped his chin and rubbed the combination of his drool and her wetness onto his cockhead. Then he pressed it against her folds, spreading the slick.

“Slate,” she begged.

He quite liked it when she said his name.

“Again,” he commanded.

“Slate. Come on.” She gave him a look that might have been frustrated if her eyes weren’t so tearful and desperate.

He held her steady. Then he eased his cockhead into her hole. Just the very tip, rocking back the moment he felt resistance. Then he pressed forward with more force.

Ruby dug her teeth into her lip.

He slowed, eyeing the white skin around her teeth. “Is it too much?”

She shook her head. “It’s just… a lot. Keep going.”

He pushed forward again. Gentle pressure, rocking back and forth until his cockhead slid further in.

Ruby moaned, her back arching. Her dark hair was splayed out over his nest, her dark eyes gazing up at him in disbelief. She looked like a creature of shadows, like his .

Slate didn’t realize he was close until he felt that telltale twitch in his knot.

“I’m going to,” he started.

But it was too late. He came, spilling over her thighs and onto the fur lying underneath her. He had barely fit half his cockhead inside.

Ruby let out a shocked cry. She bucked against him, and his cockhead slid in a little deeper. His cock gave one last valiant twitch, and his knot thickened at his base.

Ruby sat up, her arms shaking with effort as she stared at the come dripping down her thighs.

“You can’t get me pregnant, can you?”

“Skullstalkers cannot breed,” he assured her. “Not as mortals do.”

His cock softened inside her. He started to pull out, then paused.

“Ruby,” he said.

Ruby sprawled back against the table, dazed and panting. “Slate?”

He pushed his soft cock deeper. His cockhead slipped in, and suddenly the slide was easier.

Ruby’s legs spasmed. Her mouth opened with a silent yell, her back curving hard.

“Ruby,” Slate prompted.

“ Yes ,” she hissed.

Slate pushed in as far as he dared. There was still significant resistance, and he didn’t want to hurt her. Not to mention, it was more difficult when he was soft. But slowly, carefully, he managed to feed several inches of his soft cock inside her.

Ruby wrapped her leg around his waist. “How much more is there?”

Slate looked down. “Most of it.”

“Godsdamn Skullstalkers,” Ruby said. But she was smiling, her face shining with sweat and triumph.

She was so beautiful. Slate wanted to eat her up. He leaned down, unsure what he was going to do until his lips pressed into hers.

She made a startled noise into his mouth. She tasted like chocolate and warmth, and something he couldn’t identify that made him think of curling up somewhere safe and secluded.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had kissed someone. Long before he had last fucked someone, he was sure.

Her cheek pressed into the edges of his skull mask. Her tongue grazed his fangs. It made him want to press closer, shove his soft cock deeper. Then he remembered how fragile she was and pulled back to examine her.

There was no blood in the air. He checked her mouth anyway, thumbing her jaw open to check inside.

“Thank you,” Ruby panted.

He blinked. For checking he hadn’t cut her?

“For the kiss,” she said, surprisingly shy for someone he was still inside. “I didn’t know if you wanted to.”

“I shouldn’t have,” he tried. “My fangs?—”

“We’ll be careful,” she said.

He touched her cheek. “My strange little witch.”

“Strange?” she echoed. “For what? Wanting… this?”

She moved her hips. His soft cock would not fit any further, especially when it started to twitch and harden.

“I could eat you,” he reminded her with a rough groan. “I considered it. You were not a lost soul, so I would have done it.”

“I know.” She leaned up like she was going to kiss him again, then hesitated. “Is it strange for you? Wanting a human?”

She sounded so timid. Like she was afraid of his answer. Like she was afraid he would tell her he wouldn’t want her, which… yes, he was considering it. A lie would be easier than the truth. The truth was that he wanted her more than anything in millennia.

Not that he was going to admit that.

“It is strange wanting anything,” he admitted. “I usually want very little.”

Her shy expression dissolved into a relieved smile. “That’s going to make our deal difficult. I have to give you whatever you want from me.”

“Right,” he said distractedly. “Yes.”

He still hadn’t considered what that might be. He wasn’t about to start, with his cock hardening inside her.

Ruby’s smile faltered. “Ouch.”

Slate stilled. He had been rocking his hips and hadn’t noticed.

“Do you want me to pull out?”

“Yes,” she said hurriedly.

He reluctantly pulled out of her tight warmth. His half-hard cock bounced in the cool forest air, and he concentrated on willing it to go down. But Ruby was still naked and drenched in his nest, which proved to be antithetical to his objective.

He stood, turning away. “I trust you do not remember the way back to the castle. I will lead you.”

Ruby didn’t respond. He turned back to see Ruby pushing herself up on her knees, leaning out of the nest toward his naked groin.

Slate thought about refusing her. But her lips were red and puffy from kissing, and he found he couldn’t look away as she leaned in.

“This does not prepare you,” he reminded her as she wrapped her hands around his hardening cock. “It is useless.”

“It doesn’t feel useless.” She shot him a shy smile. “You made me come over and over. Let me return the favor.”

Then she pressed her lips to his cock, and all reason slid happily from Slate’s head.