Ezra stands just behind me, his presence all-consuming, his tempest-dark gaze unwavering.
“Keep an eye on her, little blackbird,” Iain murmurs, eerily soft for such a big-ass man.
“She might be your protector, but she’s been under that spell a long time. Suddenly shiftin’ like that without meanin’ to could leave her confused. Maybe even violent.”
Ezra lifts Louie off the ground with unnerving ease and settles her into the back seat of my car.
While he fusses over her, Iain steps closer.
Too close.
I flinch when he drops to his knees before me.
“My fiery, violent queen,” the wrakh murmurs, the words landing with the weight of a hymn … or maybe a dirge. It’s hard to tell with him.
“I’m here to serve. You need something killed, burned, or cursed into the next fuckin’ life? You let me know.”
Every muscle in my body seizes when his lips brush the back of my hand, his breath warm as it ghosts across my skin.
And honestly? Out of everything that’s happened in the past eighteen hours …
This might be the least fucked-up.
Ezra moves in an instant, a breath of shadows and swirling darkness.
He yanks my hand away, his grip firm, his shadows curling tight around my wrist in silent warning.
The growl that rumbles from his chest isn’t even remotely human. It vibrates in my bones, rattling something deep.
Iain chuckles, rising to his feet with zero urgency.
“Ez, you better get used to this. I won’t be the last to kneel before her, beggin’ for the chance to kiss her hand.”
Ezra growls low in his throat. Iain smirks, completely unbothered.
The air crackles with tension, thick enough to choke on.
Then, with a lazy stretch, Iain saunters to the front door, tossing a glance over his shoulder.
“I expect payment by the end of the week. Now, respectfully, get the fuck off my property.”
The door slams shut, sending his rubber duck wreath tumbling to the ground.
Ezra keeps hold of my hand as we walk to the car in silence.
I’m overwhelmed. Period.
Strange, fucked-up shit is officially my new normal.
As I settle into the driver’s seat, I ask, “Where to?”
“My house. I have a secure room Louie can use until she wakes up. I also have books we can reference alongside the notebook Iain gave us. I want us to have an idea about what might happen when you gain your power.”
He scrubs a hand down his face.
“No offense, Aurora, but you attract shitty surprises like plague corpses attract flies.”
I feel attacked. But he’s not wrong.
