30. Ezra
THIRTY
ezra
You can let go of me now,” Rina murmured as I continued to hold on to her, my head buried in her shoulder, just inhaling her scent.
“No,” I muttered. “I can’t.”
I’d thought I was going to leave this world without ever having told her how I felt today, and my emotions still felt too raw.
My body was healing, though slower than normal, thanks to the stakes they’d shoved into my body.
Each one had been excruciatingly painful, and I wasn’t looking forward to Rina seeing just how much pain they’d wracked on my body once I took my shirt off.
As much as I wanted to make love to her, I wasn’t in any state to do that right now.
She curled up her nose. “We should shower.”
I shook my head. “Bath. And only if you come in with me.”
Rina made a face. “We’re going to be sitting in dirty, bloody water in the bath.”
“Then we’ll fill it again with clean water after we wash.”
My mate let out a sigh. “You really are insufferable, aren’t you?”
“Did you think that was going to change after telling me you loved me?” I grinned, ignoring the pain. It would be better if I drank from her again, but I could tell she was exhausted. And after I’d watched her use her magic, I wanted her to rest first.
Ravenna might have been behind us, but we still had a lot to talk about.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her, not for the first time. “That I didn’t tell you about her when I told you about the coven. I should have.”
“You should,” she agreed. “But all we can do is better moving forward.” She pulled away to glare at me. “And if I ever find out you lied to me again, I will bury you alive.”
Standing up, I held out my hand for hers. “Come on, my mate. Come help your injured vampire get clean.” I let my fangs pop out over my bottom lip, and she let out a small laugh.
“Fine.” She placed her hand in mine, so much smaller. I threaded our fingers together, bringing them to my mouth so I could kiss the top of hers. “Only because I can’t say no to that face.”
I grinned. “I knew it.”
She poked my side, and I winced. Rina frowned at me. “You’re still hurt. Why didn’t you tell me you were still hurting?”
A shrug. “A little, maybe. But I’ll heal. We can sleep, and I’ll drink from you more in the morning.”
My mate looked shy and hesitant. “And then you’ll bite me for real?”
I blinked. “What?”
“The girls told me. I know why you haven’t bitten me on my neck. But I want you to, Ezra. I don’t want to risk losing you—losing this. So I want you to do it.”
I groaned. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’ve never been more sure.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist, bending down so I could kiss her softly. “I meant what I said. I don’t deserve you.”
Rina leaned her head against my chest, like she was listening to my heartbeat. “I think, after everything you’ve gone through in your life, you deserve someone exactly like me.”
I pinched her cheek. “A brat?”
She poked her tongue out of her mouth. “Maybe.”
In a flash, she was out of my arms, moving faster than I’d ever imagined to the bathroom. Luckily, I was just as fast as her and caught up to her, tossing her over my arm with a shriek.
“Put me down,” she laughed.
“Nope.” I filled the water, and then we were peeling each other’s clothes off. I stood in front of her, knowing the playful moment was growing somber before I could stop it. But it was okay.
I could be vulnerable—only for her.
“Gods. What did they do to you?”
“She wanted me to suffer for leaving her. For disrupting her plans years ago.” I shut my eyes.
“I didn’t know… If I’d ever imagined this was her plan, I would have done much more than end our relationship.
” I should have paid better attention, though.
It was my fault. Not to mention, I should never have allowed her to capture me.
“How could you have?” Rina murmured, her fingers tracing over the scars. “I should have made her suffer.”
“My bloodthirsty witch.” I nipped at her lips. “She got the end she deserved. Just like we’ll get ours.”
My mate sighed, slumping against me. “We will, right? I just have this feeling that everything’s not over.”
I brushed my fingers through her hair before scooping her up, settling both of us into the tub.
“We’ll deal with it, whatever happens,” I promised.
She slid her hands up my chest as we both sank into the warm water.
“We should probably go back to Pleasant Grove. I need to tell the coven what happened. Warn them, in case Ravenna and the rest somehow come back.” Rina shuddered.
“I have no idea what they really had planned, but exposing us to humans would be a catastrophically bad idea. The last time humans found out about witches, they burned so many of us on the pyre. Imagine now…”
I brushed a hair off her forehead, pressing my lips to her skin. “I agree.”
We both lost ourselves in the moment—washing each other tenderly until the water really was murky enough that I drained the tub and refilled it with more hot water.
“Better?”
She rolled her eyes at me, but couldn’t hide her happiness. “Yes.” She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me.
“What?” I swiped my hand over my face, wondering if I’d missed a spot of blood.
“Nothing, it’s just… your aura.”
“What about it?” I couldn’t see it, of course. I still found it incredible, the depth of her magical gift—and that she’d once written it off as useless.
Rina’s eyes filled with tears again. “No crying, belladonna,” I told her.
“It’s just so beautiful now. It’s this beautiful red color, ringed with gold, and I don’t know how to describe it, but it makes my heart feel so full it could burst.”
“I wish I could see yours,” I admitted. “I think it’s a beautiful shade of violet. One that matches my witch’s beauty. Her magical, charming, incredible self.” Rina blushed as I pressed a kiss to each of her cheeks, and then her lips. “So wise.” I kissed each of her eyelids. “So perfect.”
“I’m not perfect,” she argued.
I pulled her body against mine as I stretched out in the giant tub. “You are to me.”
She pushed on my chest. “Baby, you’re coming on a little too thick.”
My eyes shut, that word—again—doing something to me. Especially when every inch of her was pressed against every inch of me. “Say it again.”
“What?”
“Baby.” I smiled. “I fucking love when you call me that.”
“Okay, baby.” Rina laughed, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I know we need to go back to Pleasant Grove, but is it bad that I just want to have some time with you alone first?” Her fingers played with the back of my hair, and it felt so good to have her massaging that spot that I almost groaned.
I shook my head, burying it between her breasts, placing a kiss on her breastbone. “I know just what you mean.” I had no desire to share her yet—even though I knew I’d need to soon.
For now, I just wanted to hold my mate.
After drying off and collapsing into bed—not bothering with clothes—we both slept like the dead. I lost track of time; the heavy drapes blocked out any hint of daylight.
Rina’s naked body was draped over mine, and I couldn’t deny my need any longer.
“Wake up,” I murmured against her ear, nuzzling my face into her neck.
She hummed, and I pressed a kiss to her skin before trailing down her body. I kissed each of her nipples, pulling them into my mouth and swirling my tongue around her nipples, before going lower. When I reached her thighs, I could smell her arousal.
Even asleep, my mate desired me.
I pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, letting my teeth scrape over the sensitive skin.
My witch moaned, widening her legs for me, and I took that as all the permission I needed to let my tongue dip inside her cunt, lapping up her desire.
She whined, squirming underneath me as I continued to lavish her.
Every stroke made my arousal grow, until I was pressing my hips into the bed, pre-cum already spilling from my tip.
I sat back on my knees, looking over her—my mate, so beautiful, her brown hair spread out across my black silk sheets, her perfect body begging for my bite.
We might not have been bonded yet, but I could already feel how in tune I was with her emotions, her needs. And starting now, I was going to give her everything she needed—everything she wanted.
My witch would never want for anything.
Rubbing my tip across her entrance, I felt her waken underneath me, and I sank inside her, just an inch.
“Ezra,” she cried, eyes still shut. “Yes.”
She gasped as I slid inside, fully sheathing myself inside her perfect body. “Gods, you feel so good,” I murmured, arms bracing myself on either side of her.
Rina’s hazel eyes blinked back at me, still a little drowsy from sleep, and I dropped my lips to hers as I pumped my hips. Candles flickered to life around us, casting the room in a perfect, incandescent glow.
She kissed me back, moaning into my mouth with every thrust, and I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop kissing her, feeling her underneath me, knowing she was mine, and I was hers. It was everything.
“Bite me,” she begged. “Please.”
“Not now,” I told her. “You still need to rest.” I shouldn’t have even pounced on her like some sort of horny cat, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Please?” Rina pouted. Her eyes shone with emotion, and fuck, I couldn’t deny her anything. “I want you to mark me.”
“Fuck. I can’t say no to you.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Do it, vampire.”
I ran my nose down the line of her neck. “You’re mine,” I reminded her before plunging my fangs into her neck.
She moaned as the pleasure burst through both of us. “Yours.”
All of her feelings and emotions burst through me as I drank from her, every pull filling me with her magic. I’d never imagined it would feel like this, but gods, the world narrowed down till there was only her.
Her blood on my tongue was a pure aphrodisiac, the most incredible taste, and it was even richer and deeper now that she was truly mine. I pulled away, swiping the excess blood from my lips, and my eyes caught hers.
She kissed me, not caring that she could taste her own blood on my lips.
Fuck, if that wasn’t hot.
Gods, in all my years, I’d never imagined having a witch for a blood mate. Never imagined getting the spitfire of a woman underneath me. A woman who was so many things, all at once.
Never simple. Never just a witch.
But she was meant for me in every single way. My true equal. The perfect woman to be by my side. Not only to keep me company or be mine, but to challenge me. To go toe to toe with me and never back down.
I love you, I told her, mind to mind.
Her eyes widened, and if she hadn’t known before that it could be like this between mates, she did now.
“More,” she begged. “I need—”
I know what you need. My hips pushed forward as I shifted my cock, and she let out a little gasp as the heart-shape tip pressed against the deepest part of her.
Fuck, she cried into my mind. Ezra.
There was no holding back. I fucked her with everything I had, hips rolling until she was gasping, fingers gripping the sheets as she moaned my name, over and over. Her orgasm hit her like lightning, and I couldn’t stop mine from following, my knot popping inside of her.
It was pure ecstasy, being mated like this.
After I filled her, I didn’t pull out, instead kissing her deeply, making up for all the lost time where she hadn’t allowed me to kiss her.
Finally, when I raised myself off her just a little—not wanting to crush her—she smiled up at me, giving a contented yawn, that satisfied little smile crawling over her face. “What a way to wake up.”
“I can do that for you every morning, if you’d like.”
She hummed. “It’s a good thing I’m on birth control.”
My heart fluttered at the thought of her with child—but she was right. It was too soon for that. Besides, vampires weren’t exactly the most fertile race. Not like wolf shifters, who seemed like they could get pregnant if you looked at them wrong.
I ran my thumb over her bite marks. Ones that I would heal—but only after making sure they remained for everyone to know she was mine. Only ever mine.
“I feel…” Rina slid her hand over her heart. “Everything.”
I pressed my forehead against hers. “I know. The mate bond runs deeper than I’d ever imagined.” I felt it deep in my very soul. “I am yours.”
“And you are mine,” she answered, burying her face in my chest, pressing small kisses to my skin.
“Now you drink from me,” I murmured.
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“That’s the final part of the blood mate bond. I don’t know how it works—not exactly—but my blood in your system changes you. You won’t become a vampire, but…”
“I’ll be linked to you forever,” she concluded.
“Yes. You’ll live the same life-span as me, however long that is.”
I didn’t care if I only lived another one-hundred years as long as they were all with her.
Rina nodded. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
She bit her lip. “How?”
“Do you still have the dagger I gave you?”
I wasn’t sure if it had been lost in the struggle with Ravenna.
Still, she nodded, scrambling off the bed until she found her discarded bags. “Yes.” She held up the weapon, and I thanked whatever gods listened that it had protected her.
She carried it over to the bed, sliding it into my hands, and I took the blade—slicing a small patch on my neck, one where I knew there were no important arteries or blood vessels that would cause me to bleed out.
Rina’s eyes widened, and she leaned in, like she was in a trance. She crawled onto my lap, my cock sliding back into her warmth, and then her lips pressed against my neck.
And she drank, her hips rocking in tiny little motions that only seemed to work me deeper and deeper.
I moaned from the feeling as her little tongue darted out, tasting me, her face screwed up in distaste for only a moment before it turned to something else.
“Oh.” The gold in her eyes seemed to brighten, and I held her tighter, my hand sliding up her back, holding her neck as she took in mouthful after mouthful of my blood. “What the fuck.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “Why does it taste good?”
I chuckled. “You taste like the sweetest sin, my belladonna.”
She kept drinking until I pulled her off me, wiping my thumb across her lower lip. “That’s enough,” I told her, my cock so hard inside of her I was about to explode—again.
She whined. “But—”
I kissed her, my fangs scraping over her lower lip as she shuddered, sensations all catching up with her as I cupped her tits, thumbs brushing against her nipples. “That’s it. Come apart for me.” She came, and something clicked into place inside of me.
Like no matter what was happening out there, in here, we were perfect.