Page 14 of The Umbra King

“Mom?” Cora asked, giving her a weary look.

“What’s happening?” Dume whispered to Rory.

“I don’t know.”

Her mother turned, and the sound of crunching glass beneath her feet made Rory flinch. “She’s not supposed to be there. He’s bright because his darkness hides.” Her eyes locked on Cora. “You shouldn’t be there!”

Her words were gibberish, and Cora shrank into herself.

“Mom?” Rory asked. “You’re scaring me.”

“You two take Dume to play in your room,” her father said softly.

Rory knew something was wrong. “What’s wrong with Mom?” she demanded. She was almost an adult now, and she deserved to know.

Cora placed her hands on Rory’s shoulders, urging her to leave. “Herabilities are starting,” she murmured. Cora had always been the smart one, despite what she’d said earlier.

Rory sucked in a sharp breath and shook her head. She knew what that meant. Her parents started preparing her and Cora for this moment as soon as they were old enough to understand. They didn’t want them to be scared when they first witnessed it.

Theywere scared anyway.

Rory shookher head to pull herself from the hellish nightmare. “I miss you,” she whispered to her mother. “More than anything.”

Rory calledin to work again. She didn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with customers tonight, and when the night nurse showed up, she left to look for a release.

Sex was her way of decompressing, and tonight, she needed it more than ever. She headed downtown to Wonder and started her perusal.

After grabbing a beer, she turned and leaned her elbows on the bar. It wasn’t long before a man approached her. He was a little taller than her with perfect teeth, shaggy hair, and a sharp jawline.

“Can I buy your next drink?” he asked when he was close enough for her to hear.

She eyed him up and down and decided he would do. “Sure.”

“What is a woman like you doing out by yourself?”

She took a swig of beer and shrugged. “Just looking for a little fun.”

Her insinuation was clear, and the man’s face lit up like a teenager seeing a girl’s tits for the first time. “I’m Wyll.”

“Rory,” she said, wrapping her hand around his. His soul was a light shade of green. When he turned his head slightly, her eyes flitted to the mark behind his ear. ASylph.Sylphsmanipulated air,and she wondered if he was skilled enough to use it in bed. Some were.

“Would you like to take this conversation to your place?” she asked as she set her beer on the bar. “It’s hard to hear with all the loud music.”

He chuckled and motioned for her to follow him. “I would love that.”

By the time they stumbled into his apartment, they were ripping at each other’s clothes as their mouths moved in a sloppy dance. She was desperate as she shimmied out of her jeans, and his eyes were hungry as they raked down her body.

When they were both naked, he pounced. Her hands went to his already hard cock and stroked him a few times, making him moan into her mouth as he reached for her pussy.

His fingers rubbed circles over her labia, and she tried not to huff out a frustrated breath. Some men couldn’t find the clit if it slapped them in the face. She reached down and moved his fingers to the right spot, but he couldn’t keep them in one place.

“Grab a condom,” she told him, giving up on foreplay, and he reached down to his pants, pulling a packet out of his back pocket.Someone was confident tonight.

He quickly sheathed himself and guided Rory to the couch. It took him a few tries to push into her entrance, and when he did, he grunted. “This feels incredible.” He looked at their connected bodies. “I never expected it to feel this good.”

Oh, fuck.“Is this your first time?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes,” he admitted. “But I’ve studied what to do.”Not well enough if he couldn’t find the clit.

---