Ezra tucks me into bed with the same careful patience, still afraid I’ll splinter beneath his hands.
“Do you need anything else, Aurora? More medicine? Or perhaps more water?”
“No, thank you, Ezra. I’m all set.”
Except those few seconds of protective warmth weren’t enough for me. And I’m terrified of going back to sleep.
Ezra settles into my reading chair again and picks up the book he must have been reading while I slept.
It’s time to stop being an absolute chickenshit and tell him what I want.
“E-Ezra?”
“Yes, Aurora? What do you need?” He lays the book on his lap and leans forward, waiting for me to speak.
“Will you sit next to me? On the bed, I mean. I’m afraid to go to sleep, and I thought maybe we could talk.”
“Are you sure, Aurora?”
I pat the empty side of the bed. “Yes, Ezra. I’m sure.”
He looks uncertain, but slowly moves toward the bed, then gently lays himself down, careful not to touch me. When I inch his way, Ezra’s entire body tenses.
Well, isn’t this adorable? He’s nervous.
“What would you like to talk about, Aurora?”
There are so many questions I could ask a billion-year-old shadow creature, but some feel more pressing than others.
“Does your shadow always take the form of animals? It did in the shop, and outside my house earlier tonight … and then in my living room.”
Ezra’s body vibrates with a humming sound, clearly mulling over how to respond. You’d think after a billion years with his shadows, he’d have a go-to answer.
But then again, maybe no one’s ever asked him something this personal before.
“I’ve always been able to shape my shadow. If I focus. It takes effort, and even then, the shapes are simple. A tendril, a hand, nothing more. They don’t move on their own.”
Ezra exhales slowly, shifting just enough for the mattress to dip beneath his weight.
“But that night? At the shop? That wasn’t me. I didn’t will them forward, Aurora. They reacted … to you. And it wasn’t just that night. Ever since we locked eyes on the sidewalk in front of Eve’s shop, they’ve been … restless. Moving without my command. Reaching for you.”
He leans back slightly, his fingers drumming once against his chest before going still.
“They’ve never done that before. Not for anyone. They knew something before I did, and I still don’t know what to make of it.”
His pinky lightly grazes mine while he speaks, causing a pleasant tingle to spread through my body. A wisp of darkness stirs at his wrist, mirroring the hesitant touch, coiling then vanishing, just barely keeping itself in check.
The playful woodland creatures on the shop wall were whimsical and fun, while the tendrils that caressed Ezra’s face were sexy and intriguing. But the massive Irish wolfhound with antlers was pure power and violence.
“There was one that kind of scared me,” I whisper.
Ezra’s body tenses even more when I wrap my pinky around his. The muscles in his jaw flex while he takes a steadying breath through his nose. I’ve never affected anyone like this before. It’s a heady fucking feeling.
“The Cù Fèidh? The canine with deer antlers?”
Ezra squeezes my pinky back, his body finally relaxing against me. He needs this small bit of contact just as much as I do.
“Coo Fee-ah?”
