21. Ezra
TWENTY-ONE
ezra
Something had changed between us in the last twenty-four hours, and I didn’t know what to make of it. Rina had been acting differently since she learned the truth. I still felt guilty that she hadn’t found out the information from me. Archer had warned me, and I hadn’t listened.
The waning moon in the sky told me exactly how much time we had left.
I didn’t know how I knew that, but I felt it.
If we hadn’t broken this bond before the next full moon—a blood moon—there would be nothing stopping me from taking her.
Then the bond would be permanent, like it or not.
Bloodlust wasn’t something to joke about, especially for a mated vampire, let alone when it was caused by a blood moon.
Fuck. I could only hope everything would be resolved before that. While I’d never experienced it firsthand, I didn’t want her to have to see me like that. More monster than human, like the werewolf that had attacked us on our drive. Unable to control myself.
Except instead of attacking other creatures, I’d be letting myself loose on her.
“What are you thinking about?” Rina asked with a frown, looking up from the little velvet lounger she’d claimed as her own.
She’d had her nose buried deep in another history book for the last hour.
I’d read most of the books in this library since the manor had become mine—after all, the last few decades had been rather dull, but I was still attempting to find something useful.
I cleared my throat. “Nothing.”
She rolled her eyes. “What happened to telling me everything?”
“There are some things you don’t want to know, Sabrina.” Like the inside of my brain.
Rina glared at me. “I wish you had an annoyingly long name that I could call you when you annoy me.”
I chuckled. “Technically, I do.” Though no one had called me it since I was small, except my mother. Probably because I’d expressed how much I hated it.
“You what? Your name isn’t actually Ezra?”
Shaking my head, I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my thumb over my lower lip. “Would it help if I told you it?”
She barely thought about it for a moment. “Please. Lay it on me, vampire. Gods, I hope it’s awful.”
“Esdras.” I took a deep breath, knowing she was going to realize soon just how awful it was. “My full name is Esdras Clarence Algernon Henry Darkmire.” My jaw was tight.
She blinked. “And I thought Sabrina Margot Hallow was bad.” Rina scrunched up her nose. “Algernon, really?”
“Apparently, they were all family names,” I said dryly. “My mother hated when I insisted on going by Ezra as a child. But it stuck.”
“I think I’ll stick with Ezra,” she muttered. “Or vampire.”
“Mm. Thought so.” Though I still hated the disdain she had when she called me vampire, I supposed it was better than bloodsucker or leech. Both things that represented what she really saw me as: a monster.
Though I was both things, and it didn’t help that I felt stronger every time I fed from her. Our bond was making me more powerful. If we cemented it, no one would stand a chance of challenging me. Even if I didn’t want to break it anymore, I still didn’t want to force her to stay with me.
Rina had made it obvious that she hadn’t changed her mind. Neither of us chose this. Neither of us wanted this, she said. It was the reminder I needed to keep my distance.
She may have given me her body, but she hadn’t given me her heart.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. Turning, I found my second standing there, a worried expression on her face.
Victoria gave me a tight smile. “You’ve been summoned.”
Rina looked at me with a question in her eyes, and I sighed. Fuck.
The throne room was massive, exactly what you’d expect from the vampire council. I’d traced to the palace, directly to the seat of power, not wanting to waste a single second.
My attire was more casual than usual—a white button-up shirt and black vest complete with red details—but I hadn’t bothered to change. She could accept me as I was, or not at all.
She was currently sitting on the throne, draped in black velvet, her pale blonde hair framing that lethal face. Eyes of ruby red stared back at me, lips painted to look just like the color of blood.
“Hello, mother,” I said, addressing the woman who bore me: the queen of all vampires. I ascended the dais, coming to stand in front of her.
I never kneeled. Not to her—not to anyone. As her heir, that was my right.
My mother’s nose twitched. “You smell like a female.”
She wasn’t even going to shy away from it, was she? I schooled my expression into one of indifference. “You were always telling me I should drink from the vein, weren’t you, Mother?”
I didn’t need her finding out about Rina. Didn’t need any of these people to know about the mate who waited for me back at my manor. There, she was safe from harm.
Here?
These vampires wouldn’t waste a single opportunity to plunge a knife into my back. If I lost her, I’d go mad until I finally succumbed to hunger. Blood mates were revered as our biggest source of strength, yes—but also our biggest weakness. It was why I’d hoped never to find mine.
Why I’d never made it a habit to drink from other beings.
Why I needed to keep Rina safe.
“Esdras.” Her eyes narrowed, and I knew she was about to scold me like I was still a mere teenage vampire. I was grateful she couldn’t read my thoughts like she could with so many of the members of court.
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped. “Why have you summoned me?”
She rapped her claws against the seat of the throne, a chair made of silver.
A symbol of our strength—and our greatest enemies’ weakness.
“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time away from home lately, my son.
” Gods, I hated when she called me that.
Hated when she acted like there was any love for me in her heart whatsoever.
My mother might not have been evil, but there was no warmth in her veins.
Centuries of ruling, of ensuring she remained on top, had taken care of that.
“I have business to attend to elsewhere. You know that.”
She stuck her nose in the air. “Your silly monster hunting isn’t a job, Ezra. And it’s not where you belong. I want you to come home.”
I grit my teeth. “Have I neglected you, Mother? Is that why you’re calling me to court?”
“The vampires are restless. They do not enjoy seeing their future King consorting with lesser beings. The world is changing, you know. We must be strong. Put on a unified front for our people.”
“Future King.” I snorted. “I know for a fact that half of the council would rip my throat out tomorrow in order to take my place. You speak of our people, but what do you even know about the way they live?”
She was right about one thing—modern day had changed our lives.
Technology and social media made it harder for vampires to blend in.
All it took was one recording, one viral video that couldn’t be explained away, and we’d be exposed to the world.
We were lucky enough that most vampire attacks on humans had been explained as Halloween pranks—at least when they didn’t end in death.
I didn’t enjoy hunting my kind, but some didn’t deserve the privilege of walking this earth. Those I sent to the underworld like the rest of the beasts I hunted.
“I did not bear you for you to disrespect me like this,” she hissed. “You are the son of the strongest vampire warrior who ever lived, and the queen who has sat on the throne the longest. Everything I had, I gave to you. Power. Strength. The crown.”
“I never asked for any of it,” I reminded her. All I’d asked for as a child was attention. Love. Two things I’d never gotten from her.
“You will thank me one day. It is time to stop these useless fantasies and take your rightful place at my side. Your place is at court now. I expect you to reside here by the next blood moon.”
I’d rather die before I sat next to her, and she knew it. I grit my teeth. I couldn’t tell her no. She’d look into my why, and the only thing I had going for me now was that she didn’t have any leverage against me.
That would change if she found out about Rina.
“Why now?”
Her answering grin made a slimy feeling creep down my back.
“You’ll see, Ezra.” She rose from the throne, gathering her velvet dress so she could step in front of me.
At six-foot-three, I stood a full head above her, but she was still an intimidating woman.
“I have plans for you yet, my darling son.” Her hand reached out, cupping my cheek, a pointed fingernail dragging down my skin.
I ripped her hand away. “Don’t touch me.” I bared my fangs at her. “I will return when I am needed—but I will not stay.”
Not until the crown was on my head, and I had no other choice in the matter.
Not when dragging my mate into this place was like bringing her into a nest of vipers.
I transformed, a dust of smoke surrounding me, letting my bat form carry me far, far away from that place.
“You’re back.” Rina stood at the top of the grand staircase, her raccoon cradled in her arms, as I traced back into the manor hours later—exhausted after spending the rest of the day tracking a nasty harpy determined to serve justice against humans.
Ending her life was just what I’d needed to distract myself from the frustration of my mother’s demands.
How long could I keep Rina from the court? How long could I keep her hidden from my world? I hated that the answer wasn’t forever.
“Yes,” I responded simply. “I’m sorry I had to leave.”
She shrugged. “It’s not like I expected you to sit around and babysit me all day.”
“Good.” I unbuttoned my shirt, rolling up the cuffs. “Because you don’t need a babysitter.”
“Then why do I have shadows anytime I go anywhere in your manor? I like Victoria, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little much.”
Because I had trust issues, and they were the best way to assure she was safe. “I told you, you need—”
“Ezra.” Her voice was stern. Commanding. Every bit the strong, powerful mate that the fates had picked for me. “You don’t have to treat me like I’m fragile.” A candelabra next to me floated into the air, wicks flickering to life.
Suddenly, I understood why the fates had paired us together. It wasn’t to torment me. It was because out of everyone in this world, she was the only one who would go toe to toe with me. The only one who could be my equal.
I started up the staircase towards her. “I don’t think you’re fragile.”
“You certainly don’t act like it.”
When my foot hit the last step, putting us on the same level, she took a step back as I towered over her. “No? So, what? What do you want from me, Sabrina?”
Ambrose let out a chirp, slipping out of her arms and darting off toward Rina’s room, like the furry creature knew not to get in the middle of us right now.
With every step I took towards her, she continued backwards until her back hit the wall. I propped myself up with one fist.
“I want you to stop holding back.”
The words let loose a floodgate of emotion inside me, all of my want and desires for this woman breaking free at once.
I bared my fangs, letting her see every piece of me that made me what I was.
Claws and all. “You want this? The monster with no restraints, hm?” I dragged my nose up her neck, dragging in her scent.
Her eyes were filled with lust, and I could smell her arousal dripping from her; how badly she wanted this. “Yes.”
I pushed my hand up her dress, bunching the fabric until my fingers swiped through her slit. “Fucking drenched. You wanted this, didn’t you? Couldn’t stop thinking about me fucking you?” I pressed a knuckle to her clit, and she cried out.
“Gods, I hate you.”
I chuckled. “No, you don’t. You can claim it all you want, but that doesn’t make it true, belladonna. We can pretend if you want, though. Fates know I am happy to fuck you like you hate me.”
Rina let out a moan, and I pressed my knee between her legs, allowing her to rub her cunt against my thigh.
“Tell me what you want,” I said, mouth against her neck.
She gasped. “What?”
“Tell me.”
“Your cock,” she said. Was this the same girl who had told me she’d never beg? Her eyes fluttered shut, like she couldn’t admit it while looking at me. “Inside me.”
“Out here?” I asked, pushing a finger inside her. “In the foyer, where anyone can see?”
“Yes,” she whined, rocking her hips as I gave her another finger.
I groaned, letting her scent fill my lungs, that perfect balance of wine and chocolate and something floral. “I want to bite you so fucking bad,” I muttered.
Her voice was breathy, like liquid sex. “Then why don’t you?”
“I can’t.” Not yet. Not until she realized I was never letting her go. Why I couldn’t.
Fuck breaking the bond—I needed to do everything I could to convince her to be mine.
Pulling the top of her dress down enough to free her breasts, I flicked the metal piercing with my tongue as my thumb brushed over her clit, fingers still buried inside her.
How was this only the second time, and I already felt like I’d die if I couldn’t have her again? And how was it I hadn’t tasted her sweet cunt yet?
Rina’s head hit the wall as my tongue stroked over her nipple in tandem with each pump into her core, wetness dripping down my hand. Switching breasts, I tugged at her piercing with my teeth, a low moan spilling from the woman I had pinned to the wall.
“Who. Am. I?” I asked her, each word punctuated by a thrust of my fingers as I rubbed against the spongy, sensitive spot inside of her that had her gasping.
She struggled to respond. “Ezra.”
I shook my head, biting her nipple softly. “No. Who am I to you?” I needed to hear it. Needed confirmation that the witch was mine.
“Mate,” she whimpered, eyes squeezed shut as her orgasm burst through her. Her pussy clenched around me, squeezing my fingers, and I resisted the urge to mark her flesh as I pulled my fingers out of her, licking her arousal from them with a hum of approval.
Without another word, I picked her up into my arms, feeling a burst of satisfaction running through me as she wrapped her legs around my back, trapping my hardened erection so it was pressed against her entrance. She rubbed against me as I carried her into her room, depositing her onto the bed.
“No holding back,” I promised.
She shook her head. “No. Don’t.”
“Good.” I ripped the dress off her body, needing more—
I always needed more with her.