Chapter Nine
Corvus
He was my mate. Having spent time with Joshua, even the little bit we had been together, I had no doubt. My crow knew. Hell, even my soul knew.
And, after the kiss, all my hunches were solidified.
Joshua, the human. The perfect human by my account, was my mate. My omega.
And now, I had no fucking clue what to do or how to proceed. Humans were different from crows. They had all kinds of emotions, as we did, but they let those emotions guide their lives instead of living through instinct and conviction.
Fickle beings if you asked me.
That night, I sat on the back porch, not tired at all despite the full day of working. The moon hung high in the sky, a full worm moon as the humans named it. We crows simply called it the moon. In the spring. No frills or fancy titles.
My cheek still burned where Joshua had placed his lips. I had fantasized about plans all day on how to make a move. To show him he was mine.
He did the heavy lifting for me and, in the process, changed my whole damned life.
“He kissed me,” I told the crows, the non-shifter crows, who gathered around their sovereign. We often communed under the full moon, but it had been ages since I’d gathered such a large audience. Maybe more was changing than this spoiled king finding his mate. “He kissed me on the cheek but now I have no idea what to do.”
One of the friends cawed at me. “Yes. Yes, I know I should be giving him all my shiny things, but he’s human and they respond differently to our gifts. He might think I’m overdoing it. Hemight think I’m showering him with gifts too soon, like I might be what they call a red flag.”
They understood the termred flagabout as much as I did. What I did know was that a male who was a red flag wasn’t a good mate.
I would be the best mate if he let me. He would be my king, my love. He would own my heart and every treasure I found for the rest of my life.
Every trinket would belong to him. I would be his trinket, and he would be mine.
“What do I do now? Take it slow, as they say? Or should I pack up all my shinies and bring them over and offer it as a dowry? Do they do that anymore? Offerings as gifts for courting? I should’ve paid more attention before. I was too busy hoarding things.”
That earned me a round of squawks and disapproving noises from my kin. “I know. But we’re not dragons, brothers and sisters. We are crows. We accept and deliver gifts. It’s an exchange. I gathered too much and didn’t give back enough. But I can change. I can change my ways for him. I can give him more than I get, though I don’t know how that’s possible. He’s given me a new life with one simple kiss.”
We sat together for a few more hours until my bones and muscles begged me to take them and my body to bed. I had a lot of work to do tomorrow and intended to go in earlier than usual.
More time with my mate, after all.
The night of sleep was restful and restorative, but when I woke, it felt like I’d only been in my bed a matter of minutes rather than hours. I was renewed, my energy back at full force.
It took nothing for me to conjure my glimmer and appear in the mirror as a man. Fully a man.
I threw a few ripe berries and some cashews in my mouth and intended to walk out the door, when my phone rang. Icringed at the sound of it. It thrashed and screeched through the quiet and peace of my abode.
Until I realized the only person who had my number was my mate.
“Hello?” I answered, trying like hell not to let the desperation to talk to him seep through my tone.
“Corvus, hi. This is Joshua.”
I chuckled. Silly mate. “Of course. Good morning.”
“Good morning. I wanted to call and tell you that something came up at work and I have to deal with it here. I won’t be able to come to the farm today.”
“Oh. That’s okay. I can work alone.”
He gasped. “What? No. No. Please take the day off. You’ve been working so hard. Rest today, and we’ll get back to it tomorrow. Thanks again for all you’ve done to help me.”
“It’s nothing. As I said before, I’m happy to help you.”
