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Ash rose from his seat. “Are you okay?”

No, I’m not okay. Why couldn’t I say the words out loud?

Cyn’s dark brows pulled together, black eyes narrowing. With his scowl deepening, and his eyes like abyssal depths, I couldn’t read him.

He doesn’t look like them.

Zeke’s voice came from my side as he crouched next to me. “Doesn’t look like who?”

“I… nothing. I didn’t mean to say that.”

I wasn’t about to tell these men—who might be figments of my imagination—what I’d seen the night my parents died and often since. The cops would lock me away so fast it’d make my head spin if I even tried to call them now.

I still couldn’t take my eyes off Cyn.

The truth? He didn’t look horrific. A little scary, sure. But if I overlooked his lack of humanity, I couldn’t deny the stirring attraction low in my belly. Something about him drew me in, and I didn’t understand it. The cedarwood, with a hint of jasmine growing stronger in the air, did nothing to help.

My chest burned hot beneath my pendant, confusing me more.

“Blackbird?”

“Enough of this,” Ezra said, voice cold, not giving Ash the chance to say more. His commanding voice drew my gaze from Cyn. “We don’t have time for the human to devolve into hysterics. We need to get home.”

His dismissive words—when he was the one who appeared in my home—gave me the strength I needed to push aside the unease Cyn stirred in me. Rising, I glared at him. “I’m not hysterical. I just needed a minute.”

The muscles of his square jaw tensed as if he were grinding his teeth. I braced myself for a rebuttal, but when I met his intense eyes, he only stared.

Breaking the tense connection, I looked at Cyn as Zeke rose from his crouch. “I can’t believe this is happening.” I searched the midnight depths of his eyes. “That this is real.”

“You touched him,” Zeke said, voice low and cautious. “You know he’s real.”

I needed to know for sure.

Curiosity won out over apprehension, and I stepped into Cyn’s personal space. He stiffened as I ran my fingertips over one horn. His eyes slid closed, head bowing with a stuttered breath, giving me better access.

When nothing bad happened, I wrapped my hand around the horn, marveling at the texture. He couldn’t fake the strange heat radiating from it, could he? I slid my other hand over the opposite horn.

Horned animals weren’t uncommon, but something seemed different and otherworldly about these. Something compelled me to touch beyond curiosity and a simple need to verify the truth.

Cyn groaned, and his clawed hands lifted to settle on my hips, surprising me.

“Careful, Little Blackbird, the horns are an erogenous zone.”

“What?” My eyes rounded in surprise at Ash’s low words. “Like it turns him on?” I released Cyn’s horns and tried to step away, but his hands slid up to my waist, slipping beneath my shirt. He tightened his hold, and his claws scraped my skin, drawing a soft whimper.

“Fuck. Take her,” he said, voice guttural, fangs flashing. He shoved me at Zeke.

Losing my footing, I crashed into Zeke’s arms, and he gave me a blinding smile. “Falling for me?”

“No! What is wrong with y’all?” I pushed out of his hold and lifted the side of my shirt to inspect my skin. Beads of blood dotted the surface.

Cyn licked his lips, and I edged back toward Zeke as if he might offer protection. Whatever spell I’d fallen under shattered with Cyn’s rough grip. “He won’t hurt me, will he?”

Zeke smirked. “Not unless you want him to, no.”

I whipped my head around to stare at him. “What? No!”

“Some people are into that,” he said, shrugging.