Chapter 22

Chapter22

“Are you sure about this?” Ezra’s voice cut through the silence. He’d dimmed the lights, leaving the room shrouded in shadows and uneasy tension.

Cherry vibrated with anticipation, but I was suddenly very conscious of how alone we were. At my request, Sachie and Darsh had left the hotel, promising to return in half an hour.

I lay stiffly on my side. I’d peeked under the burn blanket while I was waiting for Ezra. If I was a canvas, I’d be lauded for the glory of dark purples, blues, and reds blooming over my skin like wildflowers in a night garden. But I was human, so I looked like a crash test dummy after a weekend of questionable decisions.

Ezra glanced down at my hands, which were so tightly clenched that they’d gone white, then back to my face. His eyes possessed more shades of silver and blue than the giant Crayola box I’d coveted as a child. They bore into my soul, revealing a mixture of concern and something more dangerous.

He guarded facts like a dragon with treasure. What was he withholding?

My heartbeat sped up. “Is there any way this might bond us or pose a risk you haven’t told me about yet?”

“A blood bond is only possible if we drink from each other in a specific ritual. It would allow our magic to strengthen each other’s when we’re in close proximity.”

That could be useful in certain situations.

“But we’d be weakened if we spent too much time apart,” he added.

Thank you, next.The vise around my chest eased somewhat that we wouldn’t end up bonded. I also wouldn’t be turned since he’d have to bite me and drain my blood before offering his own. “Good thing it’s a one-way street this time,” I said, “and we don’t have to worry about being weak since we’ll be off in different directions once this job is over. Any other possible unwanted side effects of drinking from you?”

“No? My blood should heal you. That’s it.”

I picked at nonexistent lint on the blanket. “The question in your voice is really reassuring.”

“I haven’t done this with anyone before. Shoot me for not knowing the fine print on the offer.” He made uncharacteristic, short jerky movements with his hands while he spoke.

Perversely, his annoyance eased my anxiety. On that point, at least. “Will your blood taste good? Some fine vintage like Golden Blood is for you?”

“Don’t believe the marketing. Most human blood tastes the same.” His eyes dipped to the pulse thudding in my throat. “There are exceptions, I expect.”

I licked my bottom lip, feeling dangerously drunk.

“Okay. Let’s heal you.” Ezra’s fingers shook as he lifted his wrist to his mouth.

I frowned. He was nervous?

He took a totally pointless deep breath, let his teeth elongate to sharp fangs, and bit down on the fragile skin at his wrist.

The swift brutality of the gesture reminded me of a cobra’s strike.

I flinched, yet I leaned toward his extended wrist and the nourishment on offer like a flower to the sun.

Our gazes locked.

Ezra’s lips curved into a knowing smile. “You always did have a taste for danger.”

I pressed my lips to his warm, inviting skin, tentatively tasting that first drop. There was no hint of hot copper. The complex flavor was peppermint candy and cool raindrops on a hot day with deeper earthy notes, but for a moment, I hovered between the fear of the unknown and the desperate need for healing.

The rush that kicked in a second later was insane, like mainlining an energy drink while riding a roller coaster during an earthquake.

More, Cherry demanded greedily.

In utter agreement, I gripped Ezra’s forearm and sucked on his wound.

Ezra let out a rough moan, and I couldn’t help the involuntary shiver that ran down my spine at that sound.

It was like a switch was flipped on my pain. A shock wave of relief rippled through my body, starting at the point of contact and spreading like wildfire to every injured part inside me. The elixir of life, that crimson nectar, worked its magic, weaving its way through my bloodstream like liquid lightning.

The world around us faded into insignificance, reality reduced to a mere backdrop. I was connected to something ancient and primal, as if tapping into a force that transcended time and space.

My wounds became distant memories, my body awake with a renewed and profound vitality.

Ezra fisted his hand in my hair, angling my head so I didn’t lose a drop, his breathing ragged. His fingers brushed against my horns and a jolt of pure desire shot through me.

Horns?!

Sitting up, I jerked away from his wrist, feeling the needle-sharp boney protrusions with one hand, and clutching the burn blanket to my chest with the other.

My hair and skin were normal, and I didn’t feel any prickling to indicate my eye color had changed. Great, just my cranial erogenous zones had made an appearance. I hadn’t realized that was possible—or how good it felt to have them stroked. Lucky, lucky me learning new facts about my body.

I flushed in humiliation. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “Thank you.”

Ezra notched my chin up with one finger. “You can have more. As much as you need.” There was no judgment in his eyes, only a hunger he didn’t bother to hide.

There it was. The unwanted side effect. Ezra wanting me right now was a hollow victory. His rush came from being fed off, not anything personal.

“I’m totally good now.” My voice was barely audible. “Thanks for saving me.”

Ezra traced his thumb over my lips, wiping off the last drop of blood. “You were always worth saving, Aviva.” His voice was dark with something that mirrored the tumultuous whirlpool of emotions churning within me.

I shivered again, already missing the intimacy and exhilaration.

Our faces were mere inches apart, and our eye contact had a gravitational pull, a magnetic force drawing me in. Uncertainty hung in the air like a heavy curtain while the atmosphere crackled with unspoken words and unsaid confessions.

Ezra brushed his knuckles along my jaw, barely a touch, and my breath caught in anticipation.

The boundaries of our past and present blurred, leaving us with a thirst that couldn’t be quenched by blood alone. Desire flowed between us like a live current, urging our surrender.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. I wanted him, but I also felt like a suspect desperately trying to look away from an interrogation light, while too blinded to see anything other than that one white-hot spot.

Well, I wasn’t going to surrender. Nothing so passive. When the time came, I’d set the rules.

I cleared my throat. “I should get dressed.”

Physically, I was better than ever, free of any aches or pains and ready to share my breakthrough with the team. The entire healing had taken less than ten minutes, and now we’d close in on our perp. We’d rescue Calista before she Hulked out on the world, I’d get Delacroix off my back, and Michael would be delighted that this case was put to bed.

But when Ezra left, telling me that Sachie had brought me clothes, and that I should come out when I was ready, the only taste left on my lips was regret.

I dressed in the soft, comfy purple sweats, blessing Sachie for bringing me new underwear and socks, and checked my reflection six times to make sure I appeared entirely human.

Ezra had invited Sachie and Darsh back to the suite, and I joined them at the expansive dark wood dining table, talking around mouthfuls of turkey subs that Sachie had ordered for both of us from Knuckle Sandwich.

Large picture windows wrapped around the hotel suite, showcasing a panoramic view of Vancouver that flowed across the open-concept living room/dining room/kitchen, to the spacious bedroom, and into the bathroom with its soaker tub and the sleek black control panel in the shower with more buttons than a cockpit.

I’d obviously taken a moment to suss the place out, same as I would any new environment. There was a single door exiting from the suite into the hotel corridor, the living room led out onto a narrow balcony, and none of the windows opened.

The best weapons in a pinch were the crystal wine decanter on the bar cart and the heavy white porcelain bedside lamps, while the biggest threat was the cardamom, cloves, and bergamot of Ezra’s cologne mingled with the fresh, cool scent of a windswept summer breeze that lingered on his designer clothing.

Darsh listened to my debrief on my visit with Dawn, sipping from a mug of blood, but Ezra had foregone sustenance for knitting, his fingers flying as he made a yellow jumper for his cousin Orly’s “ridiculous dachshund, Schnitzel.” He sounded cranky as fuck about having to do this, but the finger grooves he was carving into the needles didn’t come from him being upset about a dog’s sweater.

Having me feed from him had done a number on him as well. That wasn’t a shock, but it hit me that Ezra really hadn’t been given a choice. Okay, yes, he could have technically refused, but he wouldn’t have. Not for anyone on our team who required him to heal them. How much regret did he feel now, having experienced that intimacy with me? Was he angry at Darsh? At me?

I couldn’t tell by his manner, so I focused on what I could do, laying out everything Dawn had told me about working for Calista and the settings on the portal.

“I agree that our perp is taking control of the portal to go in glamored,” Darsh said. “That’s a good breakthrough, but it still doesn’t tell us who’s masterminding this or the timeline.”

I licked a drop of cranberry sauce off my thumb. “It doesn’t, but I saw the vamp who bombed my car.”

“What?” Ezra snarled. The knitting needles snapped into dust, loose yellow yarn pooling into his lap.

I wagged a finger at him. “Any payback will be mine. That said, chasing him down saved my life, because I was far enough away to survive the explosion. He works at the Copper Hell, but there’s more to why I recognized him.” I rubbed my head. “Sach, could you do a sketch based on my description? Ezra, Darsh, and I have all been in the Copper Hell now. Maybe you guys can put a name to the face?”

“Sure,” she said, “but before I get my notebook, I have something to add. I didn’t find any suspicious deposits in Quentin’s account, but I did find dozens of emails he’d sent to an address that kept bouncing back. I tracked the IP and it’s in Hong Kong.”

“That’s it!” I dropped the sandwich onto my plate. “The vamp. He’s a bouncer at the Hell and was in the memory of Maud’s that I won. They spoke after she flirted with a bartender about speaking with Calista. Maud’s from Hong Kong, right?”

“Yes.” Ezra threw the half-finished doggie sweater across the room with a curse. He immediately got up and retrieved it, carefully rolling up the loosened yarn, and placing it on the counter.

“Maud who?” Darsh demanded. He grabbed Calista’s notebook off the glass coffee table and flipped it open.

“Liu,” Ezra said.

Darsh nodded, his eyes rapidly scanning the entries.

Sachie swallowed her last bite of turkey sub. “If Maud’s a Yellow Flame, she assumed she erased your memories, same as the others, but when you showed up at the Copper Hell, she got suspicious.”

“She didn’t believe my story.” I toyed with my Maccabee ring. “I wonder if she thought I was using Ezra to gain entry to the Copper Hell?”

“We can hope,” Ezra said. “Then she won’t have reason to believe I’m part of the investigation.”

“She wouldn’t think that anyway,” I said. “Not of the Prime Playboy or the Crimson Prince.”

“She was suspicious enough to try and kill you,” Sachie said.

The timer went off on Darsh’s phone, and the disco classic “We Are Family” kicked in. Darsh paused the music with one hand, Calista’s notebook in the other. “We don’t have to dance if you’re not up to it,” he told me.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kind of look forward to it now,” I said.

“Yeah, you do!” Sach pulled me up and spun me around.

Today had been categorically awful so far, and it should have been nice to blow off steam in a silly group, but it felt awkward. Sachie and I twirled each other around, but we kept shooting glances at our teammates. Ezra did push-ups in the other room, while Darsh kept falling still and zoning out.

Sach and I finally gave up and sat back down before the timer went off. Darsh didn’t even protest. He turned the music off and called Ezra back.

I’d slipped up. It was always fun dancing with Sachie, but I’d danced with the person who needed me least right now. I sighed. It’s not like I could go back and fix it. The moment had passed, and now all we could do was press on.