Fire races up my spine. Ice floods my veins.
My body seizes under both. The woman I was is gone, burned away by the hellfire screaming through every synapse.
The only thing my body agrees on?
Ezra.
Power ignites beneath my skin, a wildfire tearing through every nerve. It’s too much, spreading everywhere, shifting and pressing outward, trying to escape.
Is it thrilling? Fuck, yes.
But it’s pandemonium. Unstable. Like I could explode if I breathe too hard.
How the hell am I supposed to wield this?
And what about the bitch screaming in my head?
“I am here to serve you, Aurora,” Ezra moans when I nip at his other earlobe.
I love the way he shakes when I touch him, and the way he asks for permission he doesn’t need.
I don’t know what I want more, his obedience … or the moment he stops pretending he can control himself.
“Ezra, I need you to place your hands on the headboard and keep them there.”
A shadow twitches behind him, responding to my voice, struggling to obey. Ezra hesitates, fingers still buried inside me, dragging out the moment.
He’s at war with himself. And fuck, it’s adorable.
“Yes, Aurora. I can do that. But …”
A shadow curls around his wrist, wanting to hold him down for me but not sure it has permission.
“But what, my handsome Grim?” I pout, trailing my fingers over the ink spread across his left collarbone—a monarch butterfly stretched in mid-flight, wings brushing against wild asters.
My touch stills over the ink, and then something clicks.
The realization hits like muscle memory.
Not a thought. Not even a feeling.
Just undiluted truth buried deep and dragging itself to the surface.
Ezra is mine. I don’t remember when I let him in.
But fuck—he’s in my blood now.
No wonder he growlsminein my ear like he’s staking a claim across nebulae and neurons.
Because I’d level entire fucking cities just to keep him breathing.
His quiet, hesitant voice cuts through the haze. “I’m worried about you …” Despite his hesitancy, Ezra shifts, lifting his hands to the headboard.
I lean in, my lips brushing his ear. “Good boy.”
Ezra’s breath snarls between his teeth, muscles twitching with the effort to stay in control.
A shadow coils around his wrist, waiting for my permission. Another slowly slinks across my thigh, knowing exactly what it’s asking for.
