Page 64 of Claim the Twilight
He exhaled through his nose. “I will be. It’s an adjustment for me to share what I feel is mine.”
My heart sank. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not hurt, Little Silver. I’m jealous.” He offered me half a smile. “I’m unaccustomed to the feeling. Usually if someone covets what’s mine, I kill them.” He slow-blinked. “On this occasion, however, I must refrain. I must adjust.”
I opened my mouth to speak but then snapped it closed again because what could I say aside fromthank you? Thank you for allowing me to love freely and for being a part of that? Thank you for trying? And he already knew those things. Knew that there was no way I’d let Ordell or Lorenzo go. They were mine, just as he was mine, and I…I was theirs. Always.
He sighed and turned to me, cupping my face between his hands and tipping it up to his so he could look deep into my eyes. My stomach fluttered as it always did when he touched me.
“I know.” He kissed the tip of my nose, the corners of my mouth, then my lips, soft and filled with reverence. My eyes heated, and I clutched at his shirt to pull him close, to deepen this kiss. A connection hummed between us. A connection born of lifetimes. My soul had loved him for centuries, and now he was mine. I wouldn’t let him go.
I broke the kiss to stroke his cheek. “I love you. So very much. I hope you know that.”
He smiled, warm and beautiful. “I do, and I hope you know that I’d slaughter every single person in Dracul territory if it meant keeping you safe.”
“And I hope you know I’d wholly disapprove if you did that.”
“In that case, you should be aware that I’d fuck the disapproval out of you.”
“Damn it, Ezekiel. That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is that we don’t have any pepperoni pizza here.”
A surprised laugh burst from my lips.
He grinned down at me. “We could sneak into New Town tonight.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and the weight that I hadn’t even realized was sitting on my chest lifted a little.
“You’d risk a confrontation with Loviator for pizza?”
He lightly touched my bottom lip. “No, Orina, I’d risk it for a date with you. One normal evening. Just the two of us.”
My heart swelled in my chest, but a pit opened in my belly at the same time because what if we never had that chance? What if the end came and we never truly had a beginning?
“Yes.” I pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I’d love that very much.”
“Tonight, then.” He kissed me again, snaking an arm around my waist and bending me back as he devoured my mouth, sending me spiraling back into mundane dreams.
I woketo kisses and the caress of callused fingers trailing down my arm. “Midday,” Lorenzo whispered in my ear, warm breath teasing my skin. “I’m hungry.” He nipped my lobe, and my stomach flipped. But a part of me was still with Ezekiel, the impression of his lips lingering on mine. I needed a moment to wake fully and be wholly present with Lorenzo before we?—
Lorenzo gripped my arm tight, jolting me out of my thoughts. Pins and needles pricked my skin, and I yelped, trying to pull free. He released me abruptly and leapt from the bed.
“Something’s here.” He pulled on clothes. “Get dressed quickly!”
The air crackled with static, and my scalp tingled, hair standing on end. I scrambled up and yanked on my clothes. “I need my sword.”
I slammed out of the room and down the corridor, cursing myself for not keeping my sword on me. It didn’t take long to grab it, but the screams of terror drifting up the stairs told me that these precious moments would cost me.
We sprinted to the steps as a bloodcurdling shriek was eclipsed by a roar. I shot forward, world blurring for a moment before it slowed, allowing me to take in the scene in the foyer.
A group of supernaturals carrying bags and backpacks were penned in by two cold ones. Ordell ran into the foyer in slow motion and leapt onto the nearest cold one, grappling to engage it. The second cold one finished ripping the arm off one of the supes, its head whipping toward Ordell, who was too busy with his target to notice.
“NO!”
The cold one launched itself at Ordell, arching slowly through the air. I pushed forward to stand in its path, rocking on my feet as I dropped out of blur mode to sink my blade into its chest. Heat spattered my hand, the impact of the stab sending a tremor up my arm. I yanked my blade free to a spurt of cold one blood.
The acrid scent of magic singed my nose as a blast of blue power shot past and hit another cold one as it materialized through a fresh rip.
My head whipped up to Lorenzo on the stairs, his hair a halo around his head as he held the cold one in the grip of his power.
