“Dear Christ,” Louie mutters as she trots into the kitchen and throws herself to the floor.
Aurora licks her lips, her eyes never leaving my hand while I slowly stroke myself. She leans in, nipping along the side of my neck, along my jaw, and ends in a sharp bite on my earlobe.
“Fuck!” I sound like a deranged animal, but Aurora just smiles against my neck.
“Be good, Ezra, and maybe tonight … I’ll kneel for you,” she whispers as a violent growl rumbles deep in my chest.
Aurora stands up, sweetly smiles, taps her finger to my nose, then walks away.
She’s not terrified of me, even after I’ve given her every reason to be.
Why does that make me so happy?
Louie chuckles from the kitchen, which turns my overwhelming sexual frustration into something violent and irrational. I can’t hurt the mutt because I promised Aurora we were finally getting along, so I use my words instead.
“Fuck you, Lou,” I growl.
I readjust my trousers once more as the hellhound’s chuckle quickly turns into hysterical laughter.
Dogs go missing all the time, don’t they?
But somehow, I doubt Aurora would believe me if I told her Louie just … ran away.
Ezra
An hour later, the three of us climb into Aurora’s ancient SUV and head toward the wrakh’s home. My heart flutters with something that feels dangerously like contentment as Aurora sings along to a song softly playing on the radio.
It’s a warm October day, so we travel with the windows down, the smell of decaying leaves and crisp air swirling around us. Aurora wears a long, flowy skirt and a tight V-neck T-shirt that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The minute I get her alone, I’m going to tear that tight T-shirt in half and bunch that flowy skirt around her waist …
“Ezra!” Aurora yells, jolting me out of my sensuous reverie. “Are you okay? Is this the place?”
The familiar modern A-frame cabin sits on a hill at the edge of town. The wrakh doesn’t have a phone. “Off the grid” is the phrase they used when I saw them last. So, we couldn’t call ahead to make sure they’d be home.
“Yes, this is where the wrakh lives. Let’s see if anyone is here,” I say, stepping out of the car and strolling toward the front door.
Before I reach it, though, Aurora wraps a hand around my arm.
“Are you well, Aurora?”
I run my knuckles over her freckled cheek, then tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear.
As the bright October sun shines down, the dark bruises circling her neck look like black voids against her fair skin.
If I could do it all over again, I would have kept Jameson alive, pinned him down, and placed the blade in Aurora’s hand myself.
I would have whispered in her ear, told her where to cut first. How deep. How slow. Let her paint herself in his blood while my shadows curled around her, eagerly watching.
Aurora shivers when my fingers graze the bruises.
She looks up at me, her smile soft and small … and so fucking wrong it nearly splits me open.
“All is well, Ezra. I mean … kinda. I’m just overwhelmed. Finding out supernatural creatures exist and that I might be Lucifer and Lilith’s weird little queen-in-waiting—on top of the, ya know …
sexual assault and attempted murder is a lot to process. Plus, my neck hurts like a bitch.”
One stray tear rolls down her cheek, and I lean forward, pressing my lips to her jaw just before the teardrop curls under her chin.
I would drink down her poisonous pain if it meant she could find some peace.
