:And me,:Sekh said.:Carry the taste of sphinx inside you for all time.:
I opened my eyes, blinking languidly. Surprisingly replete despite only feeding on Mehen. He licked my throat, cleaning up the mingled blood we’d spilled. Slowly making his way up to my chin. My mouth. His tongue dipped into my mouth and he shivered.
:I can still taste me on your tongue.:
I let out a soft, pleased hum against his lips.:Me too.:
Pulling back, I lifted his forearm up so I could take a look at the bite. With all the magic we’d raised together, the bite had already sealed over and stopped bleeding. A depressionremained in his arm, ringed by a glittering white scar of my toothmarks in his flesh.
His emerald eyes glittered with all the smug, arrogant power of the King of the Depths. “The other motherfuckers might want our queen to take bites of them, but I wasfirst.”
20
DAIRE
Until recently, I never knew how much Ezra cared for me.
For years, I’d been blissfully oblivious to his feelings. We were childhood friends. When I first arrived at Skye Tower, he was the first face I saw. Because of course he’d heard I was coming and made sure he was there to greet me. I had no idea Queen Christabel had sent him to foster in America because of his growing obsession for me.
In his own gruff way, he’d tried to ease my transition into another House, though he wasn’t the kind of sibling who won friends or influenced people with his good nature. That was my job. I’d done it well, too.
Too well.
For myself, of course.
I played the field until I fell head over heels for Rik, and then we left the tower in search of our queen. I never once thought about what that meant for Ezra.
Even now, shame burned like a fiery poker deep in my gut. He deserved so much better. When I was lonely, upset, or hungered, he was always there. He never demanded anythingfrom me. And I’d left him behind in an enemy House without once looking back.
When he first arrived outside this nest, I hadn’t wanted him to join us. He came to warn me about our former queen trying to strong-arm our home court, and my knee-jerk reaction had been to leave him locked outside the nest. I’d been fucking embarrassed at the reminder of where we’d come from.
Because I was a selfish, foolish asshole.
Ezra huffed out a sigh and rolled his eyes. “You’re adorable and you fucking know it. It’s not your fault everybody fucking loves you.”
“Not everybody,” I said automatically, though my warcat had settled down a little. I was still fucking terrified of Sekh, but he’d kept his distance. He wasn’t actively gunning for me. Just as Ezra had told me in New York City when I’d gone to him yet again for comfort.
I loved Rik, but he was our alpha. Everything he did and said now was colored by his immense responsibilities to our queen. As he should. Things were different now. We weren’t two young unBlooded Aima roaming the countryside in search of a lost queen who might claim us. Now, we were sworn to the strongest, youngest queen the Triune had ever seen. Of course he rarely had time to horse around like we used to. None of us did—and that wasn’t a complaint.
Our queen had shit to do, and it was my greatest honor to help her in any way I could. Even if that meant learning how to make her tea or simply purring when she needed comfort.
Which meant not being such a fucking brat when no one had time for my mouth.
Ezra gripped my nape in his big palm, squeezing his fingers with just enough pressure to make me melt. “I’ve always got time for a bratty mouth, fur ball. So does our queen. You had a little talk with her, right?”
I nodded. Before we left New York City for the Galvestonshow down, I’d gone to her. Just like Ezra told me to. “You were right.”
“I’m always fucking right. Haven’t you figured that out yet? The grizzly nose never lies.”
Unfortunately, that reminded both of us about the humans he’d smelled in the woods. Now it was his turn to feel a stab of guilt with a sheepish blush staining his cheeks above his beard. “Hope it’s nothing.”
“But the grizzly never lies.” I repeated, a chill of foreboding creeping down my spine. “Xin’s on the trail now.”
Ezra grunted. “Nothing’ll get past his wolf. Just wish I hadn’t fucked up.”
“You smelled them first. Even Itztli was out on patrol and hadn’t sensed them, and Xin says his nose is as good as his own.”
“They both have better noses than my bear. It’s more a sense of something being where it shouldn’t that gets me interested. Not the scent itself, if that makes sense. Plus Itztli doesn’t wander out as far as me.”
