Page 26 of Elora and the Crow

Why did you stay another night at Elora’s if you care so much for Caleb? Why did you watch three hours of a show you detest and sleep on that godawful, lumpy couch? Do you really think spending more time with her will change her feelings for you? Elora isn’t in love with you, Jonah, and it’s good that she isn’t. You’d be putting her in terrible danger if you tried to have a relationship with her, and she knows that as well as you do. Hell, she’ll probably ghost you now. You’re fooling yourself if you think she’ll still want anything to do with you now that she knows who you really are. She couldn’t wait to get you out of her apartment, couldn’t wait to drop you off here and never see you again. You mean nothing to her, Jonah.

He shoved the thoughts out of his head and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water beat down on the back of his neck. Fuck, he’d missed showering in his human form. He had a probably kind of weird thing about being clean, and before he’d been trapped as a crow, he’d usually shower in the morning and at night. The year he’d spent locked in the cage in that potion store had been torturous for many reasons, but a lack of bathing, even in his crow form, had been one of the biggest tortures.

Showering with Elora had been the bright spot of each day. Her empathetic nature meant she’d quickly realized how much he hated being dirty, and she hadn’t protested sharing the space with him. Of course, she had believed him to be a woman.

He scrubbed his hair with shampoo, a part of him ashamed at how he’d taken advantage of her just because of his mild OCD for showering, the other part trying hard to forget how she’d looked naked and wet but failing miserably.

His cock grew hard, and his balls ached with the need for release. He rinsed his hair and, hating himself just a little, gripped his cock and stroked himself roughly.

He hissed out a breath between his teeth, failing again at not picturing Elora’s sleek, smooth body as he rubbed harder and faster. It had been years since he’d had an orgasm, and he shouted his release, hot cum spurting from his cock in thick ropes in less than two minutes.

Shuddering, he leaned against the slick tile as he caught his breath. He scrubbed the rest of his body clean and shut off the water. He towelled dry, brushed his teeth, and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt before lifting down one of the generic paintings on his bedroom wall and staring at the safe behind it. He punched in the keycode, and the door swung open. Relief washed over him. Not that he thought anything would be gone, he was the only one who knew the combination, but seeing the numerous passports, driver's licenses, and the money stacked behind it was still a relief.

He grabbed the licenses and shuffled through them before choosing one. He grabbed a stack of bills and stuffed it in his pocket. He hesitated and glanced at the time before grabbing another stack of bills and a set of keys. He had no idea when Caleb would be home. He could go to the potions store and take Elora out for something to eat during her lunch break. He owed her a lot of money, and he needed to clear that debt.

Clear the debt? That’s why you’re going to see her? It has nothing to do with the fact that you can’t go more than a few hours without her now?

He ignored his inner voice, shutting the safe and rehanging the picture before he left his room and went downstairs. He was paying a debt, nothing more.

CHAPTER9

“Aguy. Lilianna is a guy.” Charissa stopped pouring the lime green powder into the crystal bowl and stared at Elora. It was only about the twenty-seventh time she had made the statement since Elora started work three hours ago.

“Yes,” Elora said.

“And he’s hot,” Charissa said.

“So freaking hot,” Elora sighed. “The hottest dude I’ve ever seen.”

Charissa flipped her curls out of her eyes and read the spell before adding a little more powder to the bowl. “Who you kissed.”

“Technically, he kissed me.” Elora leaned against the counter, staring out the big front window at the people walking past. They were bundled up against the cold, a swaying sea of brightly coloured knitted hats, scarves, and mittens.

“Lucky girl,” Charissa said.

“Are you forgetting the part where he made it clear it was a mistake and he should never have done it? Because I can’t forget it,” Elora said glumly.

“Is it all that surprising? Shapeshifters don’t do relationships,” Charissa said.

Elora straightened. “I never said he was a shapeshifter. Why would you think Jonah’s a shapeshifter? He’s not. He’s a… human.”

Charissa laughed. “Wow, you are so bad at lying.”

Elora slumped against the counter. “Ugh. I know. How did you know Jonah is a shapeshifter?”

Charissa just shrugged before adding some shrivelled frog legs to the potion. “Not many witches are powerful enough to turn a human into an animal, but trapping a shapeshifter in their animal form? There are witches here in the city powerful enough to do that.”

“I don’t understand how she’s gone undetected by the WWC. If she’s that powerful and practicing dark magic, they should have hauled her in by now.”

Charissa added a drop of dark liquid to the bowl, and Elora wrinkled her nose at the smell, waving her hand in front of her face. “What is that?”

“Beetle shell mixed with rat feces and compounded into a liquid,” Charissa said.

“Oh God,” Elora said. “Do I even want to know what this potion is for?”

“Nope,” Charissa said.

“Seriously, though, why hasn’t the WWC caught her? I doubt turning Jonah into a crow permanently is the first bit of dark magic she’s done. It’s addictive, and once you start, few witches can stop,” Elora said.

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