My eyes shot open, a feral blue shining like a blaze of warning in the darkness.
Instantly, I lowered my eyes at the sight of my husband. I didn’t want to frighten him.
Ezra’s nostrils were flared, inhaling and exhaling deeply, scenting everything I was feeling. His own green gaze was just barely shining in a frigid wariness. Every muscle on his body was poised to flee from what he sensed from me, his body even slightly turned…but his feet were firmly planted on the moonlit grass. He was just watching me.
My wolf howled deep inside my mind…but I pulled back with steel mental gloves all of my desires to tackle him to the ground and shove a vial’s liquid down his throat. I had become the ice queen bitch this last year. I knew how to shut off my emotions now.
And he needed to see that it could be done.
My jaw set, and I felt the cool rush of ice seep back into my bones. Into my soul. All I had to do was think of…killing Elder Harcourt. He had taken my husband away from me, torn away my two other best friends, and he had played with us, and all I wanted was to crush his heart inside my hand. My eyes now glowed with the frost of a killer as I peered up to spring green eyes. I wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand, never glancing away from him. “Drink it.”
Ezra inhaled deeply again. “No.”
I lifted one red brow. “Are you a King? Or a coward with a pretty crown?”
He stiffened. “What?”
“Antonio was right. This isn’t a decision. You just do it. It was, no, itisyour life.” I stared just as coldly as he was. “You. Just. Drink. It.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. He cracked his neck and stepped forward with a casual stride, then he began circling me, blatantly sniffing me at every angle. “You called me a coward. No one does that and lives.”
I snorted…even while I remembered he didn’t love me. “Iaskedif you were a coward.”
His Vampire growled quietly, then his tone turned intimate. Quiet. “You care for me.”
“I do.” Easy. I wouldn’t lie to him.
He hummed softly. “You love me.”
I nodded. “I do.”
He inhaled deeply. “You don’t smell like it anymore.”
My lips curved as he stopped directly in front of me, his gaze roaming my frame for any crack, any weakness, he could find. “I did learn a few things over the past year.”
“Hmm.” Once more, he leaned in, inhaling. “If you could do anything right now, what would it be?”
A soft chuckle escaped my lips. “Your dad and mine are here. I won’t answer that.”
His arched black brows rose, then he lifted a finger and poked my shoulder. “Did you feel that?”
“Yes.”
He shoved my shoulders, knocking me back a step. Instantly, he breathed deeply again.
I crossed my arms. “You can’t distract me. I’m better than that.”
Spring green eyes roamed my body…his gaze landing on my hand where I fisted the vials.
My words were steady. “Drink it.”
His lips pursed, but he didn’t say no this time.
I uncrossed my arms and held out a single vial. I didn’t say anything else.
A full minute passed before a Vampire’s hiss sounded. Cahal was apparently running out of patience. He griped harshly, “Son, are you really going to be a goddamn pussy about this?”
Antonio whispered, “Tick-tock.”
