Page 45 of Collected By the Crow

“What?” he barked darkly, clearly on the lest vestiges of his control.

“Just the way things have changed.”

Without waiting for a response, she dipped her head again, swallowing him up as much as she could. The downright depraved groan that ripped from him resonated everywhere they touched, his cock jumping in the back of her throat. She moaned along with him and moved her saturated hand down to his sack.

“I’m—argh, woman, I’m going to spill down your throat if you don’t—”

That was all the warning she got. She didn’t spare a moment to consider the sheer amount of come that’d poured from him each time so far. A vein pulsed against her tongue. She steadied herself by fisting the feathers on his hips for dear life and swallowed for all she was worth.

By the time the stream slowed, she was seeing stars.

Qadaire flattened himself against the wall and panted like he’d lost a race with a jaguar. He opened his eyes to hers at the same moment she was wiping her mouth, and they both began to laugh.

“Come here, dewdrop.”

She took his hand and let him roll them under the running water. They washed each other in comfortable silence, but for the sound of his melodious warbles.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Cassandra

When she returned to the bedroom, Qadaire was replacing the sheets on the bed. She didn’t think twice about reaching for him, and all of his arms reached for her right back. They naturally maneuvered onto bed again, but this time, she snuggled onto his chest. Feathers engulfed her like a fancy coverlet, his wing draped behind her back and around her hip.

“Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” She petted the feathers on his neck for something to do with her nervous energy. Their intimacy gave her confidence, but the subject was still a hard one.

“Hmm?”

“There’ll be a conference where I address everyone about the cure. I know it would be traumatizing to thrust you on stage, but I had another idea.” His energy was quickly hardening. She rushed to get everything out before he panicked. “We could record a voice clip for my presentation. Just your voice.”

The tension in his muscles where they wrapped around her started to melt as he mulled it over.

“A fine idea, dewdrop.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it.”

With that settled, she kissed his cheek and rolled off the bed. She remembered her stuff was still on the front porch. “I need to grab my bag so I can read to Zero.”

“Allow me.”

Before she registered what was happening, a black blur zoomed out the door in her periphery. A few heartbeats later and he was back, bag in hand. She smiled gratefully and pulled out the book. With a flip through the pages, Zero trotted in from wherever he’d hidden.

“What’s that you’re reading?”

“It’s this series called Scales and Handcuffs. I read to him every night.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.” He grinned mischievously. “That book, though. It’s interesting how much the author got right about dragonic culture.”

Cass blanched. “Dragons are real?”

“Of course.” He nodded as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Have you not wondered what else was out there, if vampires?”

“Well, yeah, I have. But it can’t all be real, right? That’s improbable.”

“Most legends are wildly incorrect. That book, however, is spot-on.”

“Interesting.” She flipped the pages until she reached an author’s note in the back, after the acknowledgments. “This book started as a passion project and has turned into so much more, all because of readers who are part of a relationship with those labeled beastly. Let this be a reminder that if you love someone like this, there are surely others out there.”

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