Chapter 19
Ezra
“Absolutely the fuck not.”
The heat of the morning was oppressive, but not as much as my need to bend Rani over my knee and smack her ass cherry red for that suggestion.
My hand actually twitched. Damn, what would it take to make this bond calm the fuck down?
My skin vibrated with the memory of her touch, the slippery feel of her on my fingers, and it still wasn’t enough.
It was an effort to redirect the primal thoughts in my head that speared me with visions of fucking her all over this backyard.
Thankfully, or not, her newest plan to stall my heart and drop me dead was enough to distract from the very hard and very disappointed part of my body that I refused to acknowledge.
She wanted to take a trip past the wards!
Like our enemies weren’t camped outside them at all times just waiting to grab her impulsive ass.
“I wasn’t really asking,” she argued, swinging her fist at my head.
It was a terrible shot, ruined by her growing frustration, and yet another reason why it was a bad idea for her to go. She wasn’t ready. My entire hand covered hers as I caught and redirected the punch. Tingles ran down to my elbow from the contact, and I let go before the feeling spread south.
Her pinched expression told me all I needed to know about how pissed off my dismissal made her. But just in case I couldn’t already tell, her emotions were like a sledgehammer battering down my side of the bond.
My eyes narrowed. “Rein it in.”
Like pouring water on a grease fire, the command only made her double down. She attacked my mental guards with a well honed spear of agitation, while simultaneously aiming a low kick at my dick. I dodged both, then pounced, catching her wrists and tugging her to me.
Her palms met my chest, and I finally let a little of my barrier slip.
Frustration. Amusement. Fear for her. Attraction.
And a tiny bit of my deep-seated need to taste her.
I made sure all of it shone through. She squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught and dug her sharp nails into my shirt to keep from being swept away.
“You can demand all you want because I find it sexy as fuck,” I whispered, leaning in, then tightened my grip. “But we both know who’s really in charge, baby, and my answer is no.”
A solid wave slammed between us, breaking the flow of emotions until there was only one left, and I was far too used to feeling it from her.
I responded with a thread of pride. That was the first time she’d been able to block me out on her own.
Didn’t change my mind about her leaving the wards, though.
Her eyes flashed, their light gray darkening like the sky before a storm.
“I wish I had more than two middle fingers—”
“Kinky.”
“So I could shove them—”
“I like where this is going.”
“Into your eyeballs in a never-ending train of ‘fuck you.’”
Well, that was creative. Extra points for almost making it dirty.
Her knee struck… and missed. She still hadn’t landed that hit, but the poor girl wouldn’t stop trying.
I kept her hands rooted to my chest and backed away, forcing her to follow.
Every time she attempted to stomp on my foot or kick my shin, I jerked her forward.
If she couldn’t get out of this simple hold, how could I trust her to be safe on campus?
“Somebody’s a grumpy glowfish,” I chirped, taking us another three steps to the right.
“ Somebody needs to shut the hell up!”
It felt like a dance. Two steps forward and then one to the left. Three steps backward, now dip!
Rani’s growl of frustration only made it more fun.
Honestly, she should have known better. Leaving the safety of the wards to go on campus and talk to her advisor wasn’t on the high list of priorities.
Those spots were all reserved with ‘KEEP RANI ALIVE.’ I told her to send an email and be done with it.
She could withdraw from classes with written notice just as easily as verbally. More easily.
Tired of being tugged around, Rani jerked her hands from my grasp and slammed them into my chest. I stumbled back in shock, not expecting her to have enough strength to actually move me.
“This is my future I’m having to put on pause, Ezra! My advisor said I had to come in person if I wanted to withdraw this late in the semester without penalty.”
I sighed. She made a valid point, and I never had any intention of stunting her dreams, or her eligibility at the university. But gods, I couldn’t shake the voice in my head that warned she wouldn’t have a future if I let her take this risk.
“Despite what you may think, I’m completely capable of taking care of myself,” she continued, hands perched on her hips.
Taking her in, I tried to think impartially, as if it wasn’t half of my soul on the line.
Her stance was solid, feet perfectly spread for balance, and I knew if I pushed her right now, she’d rebound swiftly.
Muscles toned, curves for days—the water therapy had done wonders to bring weight and health back to her body.
She had basic self-defense down and even some offensive maneuvers that I was proud to say would decimate someone who wasn’t me. But was it enough to trust her? To risk her safety?
“Make me tap out and I’ll let you go to the meeting.”
She cocked her head in disbelief. “I just have to knock you on your ass and you’ll change your mind?”
I shook my head and began circling to the right. Closer and closer, she tracked my movements but made no attempt to stop me.
“I said, make me tap out.” A sweep of my foot to the back of her leg and she fell forward.
I caught her just as her knee hit the grass and flipped her onto her back.
She landed with a soft oomph , but not hard enough to have the air knocked out of her.
It was hardly any work to climb up her body and straddle her hips.
My knees pinned her arms to her sides, just below her elbows, while my palms slammed into the earth on either side of her head.
She watched me lean in, her eyes going wide as I came to a stop mere inches from her face.
“That was easy,” I grinned.
She didn’t even try. Or maybe I was just that good. Either way, I proved my point. Her right arm wiggled but didn’t break free. Worried my hold was hurting her, I gave her another inch or so of space. There was a probing along the bond, an emotion from her side fighting to get through.
Glee. Followed in rapid succession by smug satisfaction.
The hell? It was almost like she wanted me to—
“Just a little too easy, don’t you think?”
The sharp kiss of steel against my balls made every muscle—every tendon—in my body lock up. That was a knife. She had a knife pressed against my balls! I didn’t remember seeing one on her. A bead of sweat dripped down my face, but I didn’t dare move to wipe it away.
Rani’s arrogant smile was all teeth. Gods, a tiny slip of her hand and I’d be a one-ball wonder.
“Do you tap out?” she crooned.
“You have a knife pressed against my balls,” I said, still in utter shock. “A knife. Like, an actual weapon. Touching. My. Balls.”
There was either a tumor in my brain crossing some wires, or she just unlocked a new kink, because fuck , I was so turned on right now. But also, double fuck, I was definitely going to tap out. Which meant we were taking a trip to campus.
“I’m not an idiot, cuz,” I hissed into the phone. “I’ve been fully prepared for an attack since we left the end of the driveway.”
I paced along the skinny hall of the administration building, never straying too far from the office Rani sat inside.
I’d be in there with her if she hadn’t put her foot down—literally, right on my toes—and demanded I stop hovering.
Barred from the room, I killed two birds with one stone; I called my cousin and kept watch for the enemy.
“Ez, you don’t understand. The tribunal is on the verge of war. You need to get Rani in the ocean for her magick to set and then haul ass back home.”
The genuine worry that laced Kai’s tone was the only reason I didn’t go off. He’d always been the serious one, but something told me this wasn’t him being overly cautious or pulling rank to be a dick. Shit was getting worse out here.
“Tell me, how easy was it for you to get your bond to obey?” I countered, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration.
I nearly lost my cousin last semester from how not easy his path to bonding was.
I’d be damned if I made the same mistakes he did.
“I have a plan to get her in the water, but it can’t be rushed. I won’t hurt her.”
“Do whatever you want,” Kai warned. “But do it within two weeks. Aim for less. Soloman is on the move, and he keeps pressuring the tribunal about the sirens. The vampire’s are still a mess, so only our faction outwardly opposes the new laws he’s trying to pass.”
Meaning he and Eryn were the only ones standing between the bastard head of the djinn and him taking it further than the decree that all sirens be branded with a tracking sigil.
Gods damn him. Soloman was an even bigger douche than his son; a fucking family trait it seemed.
Someone needed to take that fucker out once and for all.
Hearing how involved he was in this new siren agenda made me think it was about more than a bid for power.
It had the eerie ring of revenge, and I knew exactly who was meant to bear that burden.
I clutched the black tourmaline in my pocket. Already imbued with a need for protection, the crystal would heat in warning if there were any ill intentions nearby. I glanced at the office door again and made another pass down the hall.
“What’s the plan?” I asked my cousin. “There has to be one, right? We can’t keep living in defense, waiting for the djinn to strike. Tell me you have something in the works.”
“Nothing I can admit to over the phone,” he replied, and my shoulders relaxed.