Noah’s boot collides with my side right before Ezra is on him, hauling him out of the room.
Shouting echoes down the hall, but I can’t make out much more thanfuck youa couple of times before the front door slams.
I spit out some of the blood in my mouth, grabbing the edge of the counter and hauling myself to my feet.
Ezra flies back into the bathroom, scooping me up and carrying me out. “Where are you hurt?”
“Where is he?” Tears burn in the corners of my eyes.
“He’s gone, and he’s not going to be able to hurt you again, but you need to tell me where he did hurt you.” Ezra lowers me to the couch, perching on the coffee table in front of me and gently taking my head in his hands. “You’re bleeding. And to be honest, I’d like to know why the door is singed.”
“Homemade flamethrower.”
He looks at me with pride in his eyes, gingerly turning my head this way and that, inspecting the damage. “I should’ve been here. If I had, he wouldn’t have gotten his hands on you.”
“Noah only got to me right before you came in.”
Ezra draws in a sharp breath, touching the spot where my head met the counter.
I hiss in pain, stomach turning as his fingers come away covered in blood.
“I’m going to kill him for putting his hands on you,” he growls through gritted teeth, getting up and going to get some towels. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, but it’s going to happen.”
“You’re probably going to have to fight off my entire family if you want to be the one to do it.” I grit my teeth against the pain as he holds the towel against my head.
Ezra has more pain than any person should ever have, all of it lurking in his eyes. “He had me kill my family a long time ago, and now he’s trying to take you from me. But I’m not going to let that happen. It’s going to take some time to get a plan together, but he can’t be allowed to live. Not when he tried to kill you.”
“He’s not going to let you get close to him after this, you know that, don’t you?” I wince and pull away from the towel, needing a moment to allow my head to throb without his touch right there.
“I know.” Ezra gives me a grim smile and gets up, leaving the room. He comes back with some pain medication and gets two pills, handing them to me. “I don’t want him to see me coming. He’s ruined too many lives.”
“He’s taken most of the people my family cares about.” My voice breaks as I lean back on the couch. “He kills and he takes and it’s all wasteful. Aiden kills, but it’s not without purpose. He makes sure that the murders he plans are never without cause.”
“Noah won’t get near your family again. I promise.” Ezra glances at the time on the stove. “I’m going to go after him tonight. He won’t expect it. He’s going to think that I’m sitting and taking time to plan.”
The first few tears slip out. “Not tonight. Don’t focus on that tonight. Focus on me instead. I don’t think I can be alone after that. Not yet.”
Ezra shifts to sit on the couch beside me, his arm slinging over my shoulders. He pulls me into his side. “Okay. I’m not going anywhere tonight. We can take time and plan this together.”
I nod, biting my bottom lip only to find that it’s swollen. When I shift, there’s a pain in my ribs from the kick, but it doesn’t feellike anything is broken. “I want you to spar with me. I want to be a better fighter.”
“We’ll start in a few days when you’re better.”
It’s as good of an answer as I’m going to get for now. And it’s fine.
I just don’t want to be weak ever again.
With this war, there’s going to be a time when Ezra can’t get to me, and I shouldn’t rely on him to save me either.
I can fight, just not well enough. Not to fend off Noah, and certainly not enough to fend off him if he ever gets tired of me.
That’s going to change, though.
I’m going to fight, and at the end of the day, I’m going to be the last one standing. If that’s what it comes to.
But there’s a part of me that really hopes Ezra isn’t going to disappoint me.
Chapter Twenty-One
