He looks ashamed, but there’s something else there, too—something lurking behind his stormy gaze. A dark tendril snakes along his wrist, pulsing once in inky comfort before sinking back into his skin.
“So, you currently only eat people who hurt other people? And they taste better?”
Did I somehow lose my ability to access the logical part of my brain? Because his diet of the wicked and cruel doesn’t bother me as much as it should. Even if it is self-serving.
“Yes, Aurora. I only feed about every three months. When the hunger hits, I find someone on the trail. Usually someone trying to outrun the shit they’ve done.”
Ezra obviously finds the hunt thrilling. And to my utter surprise, I wonder if he’d let me join him.
“Good. I hope you made him suffer, Ezra. I hope he screamed and cried and begged for his disgusting, insignificant life.”
But it isn’t just rage I feel. The way his blood slid over my face—the heat of it, the taste of it—should disgust me.
But it doesn’t.
Not even a little.
Ezra wraps me up in his arms again, his breath hot against my ear, as his shadows slither along the couch and pool behind me like something half-awake but listening.
“Oh, he begged and screamed for me, little lupine.”
Why does it feel like he could pin me to the floor with nothing but his voice and a blood-soaked hand grazing my cheek?
A teasing nip at my ear sends heat pooling between my thighs, and something—a shadow, maybe—brushes against my lower back, a fleeting, possessive touch before retreating.
“H-how did you know I was in trouble?”
I rest my head on his chest again as my eyes droop with exhaustion. His body is so deliciously warm, the heat seeps into every aching part of me.
“Ah, well, the book you were salivating over in my shop? The one that called to you? It was missing after a break-in tonight.”
A shadow slowly slides over the armrest of my couch, deliberate as a predator considering its next move. It coils, then flicks away, curling back around Ezra’s wrist.
“I don’t know if the intruders took it … or if it disappeared on its own.”
Ezra’s voice lowers, stripped of its usual armor.
“But the moment I realized it was gone, I knew something was wrong. That you were in trouble. I won’t let anything like this happen to you again, Aurora.”
Ezra nuzzles my neck, carefully avoiding the more tender spots.
He unwraps his arms and takes a few steps back, leaving me cold and anxious. The yawn I’ve been trying to stifle finally breaks free.
Shit, it’s almost one in the morning.
“You should get some rest, Aurora. Everything else can wait until tomorrow. Ezra knows where the front door is,” Louie growls.
I rest my hand on Louie’s back while Ezra nimbly moves around my kitchen, refilling the ice packs for my neck.
My body was just violated in an unimaginable way. But it could have been so much worse if it weren’t for the monster currently fighting with the childproof lid on my Advil bottle.
But I feel all kinds of fucked up and need to discuss this with someone I trust.
“Ezra,” I whisper as I enter the kitchen.
“Yes, Aurora?”
When he turns around, I notice the broken Advil bottle in his hands. Ezra gives me a shrug and a small smile.
