Ezra
SEVEN
Iwas supposed to be gone already—to have left this town of witches behind—and yet I couldn’t bring myself to walk out the door.
Even when Rina had all but said goodbye to me, I knew I couldn’t leave her. My body wouldn’t allow me to separate from the infuriating witch who seemed to know how to get on my last nerve. It was maddening.
And yet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, knowing what she was. I’d never expected to find my blood mate here.
What were the odds?
“The new wards will protect the town from humans, but the likelihood of other beings showing up—especially after what happened, and all of us being here—is high,” Damien said, face stern.
We were all settled around the kitchen table.
His older brother, Zain, had departed hours ago, needing to get back to his mate and their newborn twins, leaving the rest of us to discuss the town’s fate.
How to keep the town—and the witches—safe now that the barriers would no longer keep out other paranormal beings. The witches barely understood how we fit into their lives, let alone the rest of the world they’d just thrust themselves into.
“It might be for the best, though,” Barrett said, sneaking a glance at his mate. “What if we’re right, and there’s so many of us who never found their fated mates, simply because their town was closed off to the world? Maybe this is fate’s way of rewriting itself.”
“Everything worked out in the end,” I said, arms crossed over my chest as I leaned back in the wooden chair.
“I could have done without all the wraiths, if that was the case,” Damien muttered.
Cassius pursed his lips. “You’re just lucky I showed up when I did. Those nasty little things. They’re like parasites. Bottom feeders in the underworld.” He shook his head. “I never imagined finding a whole horde of them so close to a town.”
“If they hadn’t, I never would have come here,” Barrett said. “And I never would have found my mate.”
Damien gave a hum of agreement. “I believe the barriers being weak were what allowed me to come here as well—what led me right to Willow.”
Maybe Barrett was right. In all the world, it seemed so strange that we’d all been guided here, finding the person we were meant to spend eternity with.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Couldn’t wrap my head around her.
How could she be mine, this witch who could barely stand to look at me?
Cassius’s voice was low. “I never expected to find her here. We… This was all unexpected.” We all knew who he was talking about. I understood his sentiment, especially with the way he’d reacted to seeing Wendy.
There was something there—something unexplained, something unexplored.
“You two know each other.” It wasn’t a guess.
He nodded. “She… Ah… Wendy and my brother used to date. Years ago.” His eyes grew vacant, though the longing was clear.
“I see.”
All three of us couldn’t keep our eyes off the witches in the other room—let alone Damien, who had coddled his pregnant mate since the moment I’d met him. Willow had gone to bed an hour ago, too exhausted to stay awake any longer.
“There’s still a lot to be done,” Damien said to Barrett. “Think you’re up for the challenge?”
He nodded. “As long as my mate is here, so am I. This is my home now.”
Rina scratched at her forearm where my teeth had sunk into her, and her eyes met mine. She looked… terrified. I hated how I brought that reaction out in her. That when I’d been drinking from her, for a moment, I thought she was into it.
She’d let out a moan, and fuck, my cock had thickened in my trousers from the sound, desperate to be inside of her. From the first moment I’d tasted her, it had been all I’d been able to think about. Even now, it ached, but I pushed aside my desire.
When she’d looked at me, I knew the truth. She was horrified, sickened by me—by what her mate was. And wasn’t that just a cruel joke from the fates, to be given a mate you knew could never love you?
Well, she could get in line. I was used to it.
Whether or not she wanted it, she was stuck with me.
Two sets of eyes—amber and red—settled on me. Like they were waiting for an answer to question they hadn’t asked.
“I think I’ll stick around,” I told them, adjusting my sleeve and hoping I sounded nonchalant. Hoping they wouldn’t see through my facade and know just why I’d chosen to stay.
Cassius’s dark eyes seemed to wander over to the couch. “I will as well. There’s a chance that there are still more nearby. It would be… neglectful of me to ignore my duty again.”
Barrett frowned. “But didn’t you just say—”
The ghoul glared at my partner, who could only shrug.
Eryne yawned on the couch, her eyes fluttering shut, and Barrett stood from the table. “I should take her home,” he said. “It’s been a long day.”
“That’s an understatement,” Damien said, gripping the back of his neck. “But I agree. My mate’s exhausted, and I want to hold her as she sleeps.”
Barrett looked at all of us, his eyes swimming with emotion. “Thank you for helping me find my mate—for not hesitating to risk your own safety for hers. I’m forever in your debt.”
“Always, B.” I gave him a nod, watching as he went and scooped his sleepy witch up into his arms. She cuddled into him, resting her head on his shoulder as he carried her outside.
I felt a pang of jealousy at the easy intimacy they shared, knowing it would never be like that with my mate.
Looking up, I found Rina staring directly at me.
I’d expected to find her nodding off, but she was wide awake, back to rubbing her forearm under the long sleeve shirt she’d pulled on sometime between this morning and now.
Wendy stood, yawning and stretching her arms. “You’ll be okay?” the blonde asked, and Rina nodded her head.
I was aware I was staring, but then again, so was she.
The house was empty—everyone else gone but us.
I looked at the door. “After you?”
She frowned. “I thought you were leaving. Like, for good.”
Is that what you want, witch? Pulling it open, I leaned on the frame, giving a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders. “Found a reason to stay.”
“No one asked you to do that.” She narrowed her eyes, itching the spot on her arm again. “Gah. Why does it burn?”
My body moved before my mind even processed what was happening, grabbing her arm and pushing her sleeve up.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
The mark stared back at me, a red raised circle where my fangs had been. I knew what it was without a shadow of a doubt. It had been years—maybe even decades—since I’d seen one, but it was unmistakable.
“What is it?”
Shaking my head, I looked around, pulling her outside. “Not here.”
Even if Willow and Damien weren’t listening in, I didn’t think this was a conversation she’d want to have in front of them.
Rina’s eyebrows drew together, and then she finally nodded. “My house?”
“Okay.” I walked beside her on the sidewalk, letting the light of the moon draw into my body. This wasn’t a blood moon, so it didn’t boost my powers, but it rejuvenated me. Though her blood had done much more for me earlier.
The quiet spread over us like a bandaid, holding everything at bay.
When we got to her house, I expected her to invite me in, but she just climbed the first two steps of the porch before turning back to look at me—putting us on equal footing.
She pushed her sleeve back up, thrusting the mark in my face.
“What is this, Ezra?” The third time she’d said my name, only this time was nothing like the others. Those had been soft, sensual and unbidden. This was full of hate. “What did you do to me?”
I cleared my throat. “When I drank from you, I marked you.”
“Marked me?” She repeated the words. “What in all the hells does that mean?”
“It means—” I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Godsdamn. Vampires don’t mate like many other species do.
I mean, we do, but it’s different.” Thousands of years ago, the first vampire had been created by a demon, so we shared similarities, but even though they had mating bites, they didn’t drink blood.
“Get to the point, vampire.”
I growled. “I’m trying, witch.”
Rina rolled her eyes.
“You’re infuriating, you know that?” I barked out.
“I do, thanks.”
Shaking my head, I gripped her wrist, pulling it closer to mine. “Vampires believe there is one being uniquely suited to them. Someone whose blood calls to them, tasting better than any other. We call them our blood mates.” I brushed my thumb over the raised red mark.
“And you’re telling me this because…”
“Because when I tasted your blood and drank from you, I recognized you as mine.”
“No.” Her eyes grew wide, stepping back onto the porch to pull further away from me.
“I can’t be yours.” It was obvious from her expression that she couldn’t stand who I was.
What I was. “I’m mine. No one else’s. And definitely not…
” she cursed under her breath. The loathing and detest she felt was obvious.
She hated me. My mate hated me.
Her voice was low when she asked, “For how long?”
“Eternity.” Assuming someone didn’t kill me, I was immortal.
“Eternity? You can’t seriously be saying I’m eternally yours?”
I nodded in confirmation.
“How does this even work? I’m not like you. I’m mortal.”
“Not anymore. That mark ties you to me. Makes you something… other.” I wasn’t even going to tell her the finer intricacies of being blood mates. There was no doubt in my mind that if she knew the extent to which our bond ran, she’d be even angrier.
Her face was red. “How could you do this to me?”
“You think I chose this? You think I chose you?” Rina recoiled, and I instantly knew I’d said the wrong thing. “I would never force you into something against your will, Sabrina. I didn’t choose to put this mark on your skin, any more than you chose to have it.”
“Rina,” she corrected, her face flushed with anger. “There has to be some way to get rid of it. To not be…”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Mine? I don’t think fate will be too happy if we turn our noses up at their gift.”
“I thought mates were supposed to, you know… love each other.”
“Love?” I laughed, but the sound was hollow. Turning away, I looked up at the moon. “I wasn’t made to be loved. There’s no being in the entire universe that can love me.”
When I turned back, she was frowning. “So that’s it? We’re just… stuck together?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
She groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Eryne gets a mate who literally worships the ground she walks on, and I get to be a blood bag for some leech who doesn’t even like me.”
I gripped her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Hear me when I say this: I will never drink from you without permission. Never, Sabrina. No matter what you say or do.”
She let out a breath, her hazel eyes connecting with mine. I didn’t have a tight grip on her face, but we were close enough to see the heat there. My eyes darted down to her lips, and she ran her tongue over them.
Rina pushed me away. “Ugh! Stop doing that.” She stepped backward toward her door.
“What?” I let a fang pop out from my lips. For every step she took back, I took one towards her, until I’d propped myself up against the front door with my arm, towering over her.
She waved a hand over my face. “That.” Rina’s brows furrowed in a way that I almost found endearing. Which was not a good thing, considering she didn’t even want to be around me.
“If you truly detest me so much…” I started, curling a brown strand of hair around my finger.
“I do.” She didn’t even take a moment to think about it.
Leaning in, I dropped my lips to her ear, feeling her shudder beneath me from my touch. She might not have liked me, but she couldn’t deny her body’s reactions. I’d smelled her arousal this morning.
“There may be a way to break the bond between us, my sweet belladonna.”