“I know you’ve seen my shadow, little goddess. The way it dances along the wall … the way it reaches for you now, desperate to touch you. Allow me to worship you—with all of me. Please.”
He releases my hair like he’s offering me back to myself, and then he sinks to his knees.
He unzips my jeans with shaking hands, groaning as he pushes them down.
“Let me taste you, little lupine. I want to earn every breath, every sound, every piece of you as you fall apart for me.”
His eyes lock onto mine as he licks his lips and traces a single finger up the inside of my thigh. But just before he reaches my underwear—just before I thread my fingers into that ink-black hair and pull him to me—a strange chill cuts through the heat.
Not fear, but something sharper. Something he just said …
The haze fractures and it clicks.
I still. It’s barely a pause, a breath held too long, but Ezra notices.
His hands slowly fall away, like he felt the shift in me before I did.
But I’m not looking at him, I’m hearing him.
Little lupine.
My stomach flips. That name.
But that’s …
I push him away and quickly pull my pants up.
If I weren’t so angry, I’d probably die from embarrassment.
“Were you in my fucking house last night? You were, weren’t you? Are you stalking me? You think because you have a nice face and a little bit of money, you can do whatever the hell you want? Well, fuck you, Ezra. You touched me without my permission. Do you assault women in their sleep often? Or am I the exception?”
Ezra sits back with a sigh, drapes his arms over his knees, and hangs his head.
“Yes, Aurora. I was in your house last night. When you called my name in your sleep, I couldn’t help myself. I only wanted to be near you. I suppose, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have done it. But every fiber of your being was crying out to me.
“Darling, the cosmos brought us together. I don’t understand why I feel pulled toward you or why I care that I violated you in your own home. You’re right, Aurora. I bend the rules to getwhat I want. But with you, I want it to be given freely. You can fight this all you want, but I know you’re mine.
“I’ve been alive for billions of years, and I’ve never felt this way about anyone. There’s never been a point to my existence until I saw you. And I’m not about to let you go over one small trespass. One mistake—driven by a need I can’t control.
“If that makes me a monster, so be it. I’ll be your monster.”
A sarcastic laugh rips from my chest as a tear slowly trickles down my cheek.
“Need you can’t control? You violated me in my own bed, Ezra. You touched me while I was asleep. I dream about a lot of things and a lot of people. It doesn’t mean I want them touching me like that. Can’t you see that no matter how strong the pull is between us, what you did was wrong?”
“Do you dream about the male you’re going on a date with, Aurora?”
Ezra’s mouth tightens, jaw flexing, as the words seem to curdle on his tongue.
“Are you fucking kidding me? I just started talking to him like three hours ago. But now?” I tilt my head, my voice cutting and cold. “Maybe I’ll ask him for a photo. A nice one. Something to fuck myself to while I dream of him inside me—moaning his name the way you want me to moan yours. Will that do it for you, Ezra?”
The silence hits sharp. The words hang between us. Too loud. Too real.
My chest rises, and for just a second—just one—I wonder if I pushed too hard.
No. Fuck that. He deserved it. Every goddamn word of it.
Ezra suddenly rises with a dark growl and stalks toward me.
