Page 13 of Elora and the Crow

His cock started to harden, reminding him it had been a very long time since he’d gotten laid. The pajama shorts he wore did nothing to disguise his growing erection, and he quickly grabbed a pillow from the sofa and pressed it against his lap. Jesus, he was like a horny teenager.

“You okay?” he asked.

She made a face. “I have no idea what I am at the moment. Confused, shocked, embarrassed.”

“Why are you embarrassed?” he asked.

“Why am I… you saw me naked! Numerous times,” she said. “We showered together, Lil - Jonah.”

“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t look?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

“Does it help if I say that your body is smoking hot, and you have nothing to be embarrassed about?”

She groaned and covered her face with both hands. “I am so tempted to cast an amnesia spell on you right now.”

He froze, his erection disappearing completely as he stared at Elora. She dropped her hands, saw the look on his face, and her eyes widened. “Jonah, no. I was kidding. I wouldneverdo that to you. I swear.”

He relaxed against the couch, his now sweaty hands still clutching the pillow to his lap. Elora approached him cautiously and perched on the other end of the sofa. “Sorry, that was a terrible thing to say.”

“It’s fine,” he said, but he could hear the tremor in his voice.

She took a deep breath. “Will you tell me what happened to you?”

“I’m a shapeshifter,” he said, “like your sister.”

She stared at him. “You’re like Sarina.”

“Yes.”

“Did you have the same… job as she does?”

“Do you mean was I a mercenary for hire?” he asked bluntly.

She nodded, and he relaxed his grip on the pillow. He could hear the defensiveness in his voice when he said, “Yes. Most of us shapeshifters are. It’s all we’re good for.”

“No, it isn’t,” she snapped. “You think that because you’re taken away from your families and brainwashed as children. Your own kind tries to turn you into mindless soldiers for their gain. Hiring you out to whoever pays the most money, putting you in all sorts of dangerous situations, and -”

She cut herself off and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I have intense feelings about this because of Sarina.”

“I know,” he said.

“Did you manage to get out like Sarina did?” she asked.

“Yes,” Jonah said.

“What did they make you do to earn your freedom?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he said. That was a giant fucking lie, but if Elora knew what he’d done for the chance at freedom, she’d never speak to him again.

“It was something terrible, I’m sure. It always is,” Elora said.

He hated that she knew so much about his kind and how horrific they could be, but what did he expect? Her half-sister was a shapeshifter. Of course she’d know.

“I’d been working jobs independently for a few years,” Jonah said. “I was finally free to live my life how I wanted. I was also a colossal whore.”

She blinked. “Oh, uh, okay.”

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