Chapter 18 Aurora
Aurora
Hands haunt my dreams. They strangle. They grope. They fuck. I wake up drenched in sweat. An unbearable itch spreads through me, like thousands of tiny bugs beneath my skin.
Ezra is wrapped around me, heat and quiet force sinking into my skin, a haven wrapped in muscle and stillness, holding back everything that’s trying to break me.
My body still aches, and my neck pulses with my heartbeat, but when I turn my head, the pain is … manageable.
Strange. I was expecting worse.
I press closer to Ezra, but Jameson’s hands creep back into my mind.
The slimy, revolting sensation starts in my gut and spreads through my body like a plague. I feel absolutely fucking disgusting. I need it gone. The filth he smeared across me. The echo of his hands. The stain I can’t wash away.
I need something else. Something to drown it out.
Ezra’s arms tighten, but stillness isn’t an option. If someone handed me a butter knife, I’d peel my own skin off just to be clean again.
When my nails dig into my arms, Ezra’s shadows curl around my wrist with quiet care. A moment later, his hands cover mine, gently pulling them away before I draw blood.
“Aurora.” Ezra’s voice is soft, catching for just a second. “Are you well?”
“No.” My nails drag down my skin again. “He’s still here. He won’t leave. I can still feel him.”
I shake my head hard. It won’t stop. Won’t leave. He’s under my skin—inside me.
“I need something else. Fuck, I need you. Please.”
I wiggle between his arms until we’re nose to nose, my hand slipping under his sweater, pressing against his chest.
He’s solid … real.
The tension in his muscles shifts beneath my palm, a quiet reminder that he’s alive—that I’m alive.
“Can you help me, Ezra? Please?”
When my hand slides down his stomach toward the zipper on his jeans, he growls, then grabs my wrist.
“Aurora.” Ezra’s voice drops, heavy enough to still the air between us. “If we do this, there’s no going back. Not for me. I won’t know how to let you go.”
Good.
“Please, Ezra. Worship me.”
Ezra’s lips meet mine, and for a second, everything else falls away. But his eyes don’t close. He watches me, like he’s memorizing this … us. And then, just as I lean into him, he pulls away, amusement flickering in his gaze.
“Tell me what you want, Aurora. What you need. What makes you moan.”
He kisses my wrist, and my brain short-circuits.
This is how cults start, isn’t it?
The voice. The eyes. The promise of being his. It’s all too much—and somehow, still not enough.
“You hold the power now. I only want you to feel safe … with me. Like this.”
No one has ever allowed me to take the lead before. Ezra stretches out on his back, his head lolling to the side as he turns toward me, eyebrows raised in silent question.
“You’ll have to use your words, little lupine. I possess a great deal of power, but I do not read minds.”
The lopsided grin he blesses me with makes my stomach flip.
Once again, my body moves without the aid of my brain. My knees fall on either side of Ezra’s hips while I slide my hands beneath his sweater.
As I watch, something flickers at the edge of his shoulder. A sliver of shadow curls like a fiddlehead, then vanishes beneath Ezra’s ink.
Another tendril slinks toward me, but retreats just as fast, caught red-tentacled.
Are they … showing him off?
They totally are.
Like, look at our shadow dad! Aren’t you impressed?
A smile tugs at my lips. Okay, that’s … kind of adorable.
Ezra grumbles low in his throat. “They like you.”
“Really?” I murmur, still grinning.
“Unfortunately.”
Even his grumbling is endearing.
“C-can you take your sweater off?”
Ezra leans forward, reaches behind him, and then peels his sweater off with one hand.
Holy shit, he’s beautiful.
His upper body is lean, muscled, and covered in delicate tattoos of plants and animals—like the forest itself chose him and etched its secrets into his skin.
“Do the tattoos cover your entire body?”
“Yes. Except for my hands and feet, and from my collarbone up.”
“Beautiful,” I murmur as I lean forward and press my lips to his. Ezra deepens the kiss, his hands sliding around my hips, pulling me closer.
“Tell me what you like and what you don’t. If you say stop, I stop. No bullshit, no games. Just us.”
This should feel awkward. Instead, Ezra makes consent feel sexy as hell.
“I-I really like dirty talk. And when you pulled my hair at the shop? That felt incredible. You can touch me anywhere but … I don’t want to have sex just yet. I don’t know, Ezra. I don’t have a lot of experience.”
I look away, heat crawling up my face. But Ezra gently grabs my chin, turning me back to him.
“There’s nothing shameful about experience, or the lack of it. It’s you. And you, Aurora, are fucking exquisite.”
He cups my jaw, his thumb tracing my lower lip.
“We’ll move at your pace. I’ll guide you through it—ask you what you like, what you want to try. If you don’t know, we’ll explore it together. No pressure. No expectations. Only what you want.”
“O-okay.”
Once he has my consent, Ezra sits up, fists a hand in my hair, then wraps his other arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him. His mouth rests by my ear, his ragged breath tickling my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Let’s start slow, darling. Do you like feeling my breath on your skin? Do you like it when I bite?”
When I nod, Ezra nips at my earlobe, making me moan. It’s been so long since someone touched me like this. It wouldn’t surprise me if I burst into flames.
“Good girl.” Ezra’s lips graze my throat, whispering against my pulse. “Do you like your tits worshipped? My mouth? My hands? My tongue?”
“Yes, Ezra.”
My voice is barely a whisper. The arm around my waist disappears just before Ezra cups my breast and rubs his thumb over my aching nipple.
“Pinch me. Please.”
His shadows pulse in the dark, a second heartbeat shifting through the room, responding to my pleasure. His fingers find me again, thumb and forefinger closing around the sensitive peak as the tendrils quiver like echoes of flesh, desperate to feel for themselves.
A throaty growl rumbles from Ezra’s chest as he rolls my nipple between two long fingers, coaxing a raw, helpless moan from me.
“Do you like a bit of pain with your pleasure, Aurora?”
“I-I don’t know. I never thought about it before.”
“Good girl. We can come back to that,” he whispers against my ear, pinching again just to hear me gasp. My back arches and my hips buck forward. His cock rubs against me, sending bolts of electricity through my overstimulated body.
“Tell me, Aurora. When you’re alone and aching, how do you get yourself off?
“My fingers,” I whisper. “Or … a vibrator?”
Ezra hums darkly, clearly pleased. “Do you imagine it’s me? My hands pinning you down? My teeth at your throat?”
Fuck. The only sound I can muster is a whimper before he chuckles and moves on.
“How about a tongue, darling?”
“No one’s ever done that for me before.”
Ezra pauses, then exhales like the entire male population just personally insulted him.
With a sharp nip to my ear, he drags his mouth down my neck, muttering, “Blasphemy. I’ll make up for their failures, little goddess. Would you like me to use my tongue on you?”
“Christ, yes.” Right now, one swipe of his tongue would throw me over the edge.
“Excellent. Now, Aurora, do you like to suck cock?”
Jameson violating my throat should make the act with anyone else sickening.
But I took that motherfucker’s dick.
If Ezra is brave enough to put his cock in my mouth, then I’ll give him the best blowjob he’s ever had.
“Are you sure you want me to suck your cock after what I did to Jameson’s?”
Ezra grabs my ass, yanking me down hard against him, his cock thick and heavy beneath me. When he speaks, his voice is pure gravel.
“Oh, I want it even more, little lupine.”
His grip tightens, dragging me against him, making sure I feel every inch of just how much he wants it.
“I want to feel your teeth scrape along my cock. I want you to make me bleed for it.”
He nips at my throat. “My ravenous, brutal little lupine.”
“Then yes, Ezra. I love it. I wanna gag on you. Want you to fuck my throat raw … until spit and tears are dripping off my chin.”
I smile slowly, watching his eyes darken.
“And when you come? I’ll swallow every goddamn drop.”
Okay, maybe I’m laying it on a little thick. But judging by the way he growls, mission accomplished.
“In nomine tenebris, Aurora,” Ezra groans, his fingers tangling in my hair as his other hand roughly kneads my ass. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re trying to push me over the edge.”
His voice turns rough, dark with need, hunger curling through every syllable. “What about your sweet cunt, little lupine? Shit,
wait …”
His grip stays firm, but his tone softens. “Are you sore?”
“N-no. And I should be because he … well, he made me bleed. But when I checked during my shower, it felt … fine.”
Rage darkens Ezra’s face as he listens to me, but it quickly passes.
“I’m so sorry, Aurora. How do you feel about me fingering you? Or fucking you with my tongue?”
“Can we … try now? Just one finger?”
“Yes, Aurora. As I said, you’re in charge. I will only do what you tell me to do.”
Ezra runs a finger along my panty line, moaning when he skims the wet fabric.
“Are you soaked for me, Aurora?”
“Yes. Please, Ezra.”
The moment his fingers slip under the lace, a shadow slowly winds around my ankle, like it’s afraid I’ll vanish if it moves too fast.
Ezra’s shadows don’t just watch. They want.
Gently, he pushes his finger inside of me, then curls it, hitting a spot I didn’t know existed, making me moan and flex my hips.
“Are you okay, Aurora?”
“Yes. Another finger, please.”
With a dark chuckle, Ezra works two fingers inside of me and slowly pumps in and out, curling his fingers now and then to hit that delightful spot.
“Cho teann, mo rún,” Ezra mutters against my neck while he pumps and flexes his fingers.
“More.” My voice is raw, breathless. “Ezra, please.”