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Is it disappearing? Or changing color? What will it mean for this curse to finally leave my bloodline?

After a few minutes of sitting, my thighs said no, my stomach said absolutely not, and my pussy said, girl, you better lie back down after what we just went through.

I fell back into the pillows. “This is insane.”

One of the pillows still smelled like him. Like a crazy person, I turned that way, pulled the pillow against my chest, and buried my face in it.

Ridiculously insane. Is this what being cock-whipped feels like?

Yoichi came out of the bathroom. His eyes glowed orange.

Finally. He’s back to me.

In his hand, he carried a wide ceramic bowl. Steam curled up from the surface.

A folded white cloth rested over one forearm.

I eyed him. “What’s that for?”

“To clean my mate.” When he got to the bed, he knelt beside it and set the bowl down on the floor.

“Always, I will take care of you in any way you need.” He dipped the cloth into the water, wrung it out, and then pressed the cloth against the inside of his own wrist, testing the heat. “Perfect temperature.”

A silly smile spread across my face.

He moved the pillow I was holding and I let him. Then, he set it aside and gently guided my knees apart.

Heat flooded my face. “I can do that myself.”

“This is your first heat. You won’t be able to do much for a few days and even if you could, I wouldn’t let you.”

The warm cloth touched my inner thigh.

This smooth relaxation spilled over me. “Mmmm.”

Instead of speaking out loud, he whispered in my head, “Yes, little witch. I like when you make that sound.”

“Can you hear my thoughts?”

“Not as much as I would like.”

“What have you heard?”

He slowly wiped my pussy, cleaning away the evidence of everything we’d done. “You’re worried that you will have to mourn all your family and friends one day.”

“Will I?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Sadness filled my chest.

He dipped the cloth back into the bowl. The water sloshed softly. He wrung it out and cleaned me some more. “But. . .I’ll be there and our pups too. . .and somehow. . .that will end up being enough.”

“Will our kids live for a long time?”

“Yes, my little witch. Longer than the both of us.” His touch was so gentle it barely felt real, like the brush of a warm breeze coming off the river on a spring night.

My shoulders sank into the pillows.