Kelvin smiled through his beard. “Don’t fret, young lady. It isn’t the fastest process, but I’ll have a solution for Sin in time.”
I blinked up at him, then returned his smile. For all his bluster and ego, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.
I returned to the manor and hastened to the third floor to freshen up for dinner. Normally not something I worried about, but here? Dinners were multi-course affairs. Looking extra nice was a small price to pay for delicious food.
In my room, I twisted my hair into a loose bun and added a sweater over my long-sleeved shirt, then dug into my suitcase for my deodorant. Where was it? I was sure I’d tossed it on top.
I sank back on my heels and studied my luggage. Had I folded my jeans that neatly? I unzipped my toiletry bag. My deodorant sat on top of my three whole shades of lip gloss. Shaking my head, I applied it, tossed it back in the toiletry bag, and stood. The maids were lovely but I didn’t need them tidying my suitcase.
Stopping at Ezra’s door, I tapped on the wood. When no one answered, I silently turned the handle and peeked inside. Light slashed across the floor, illuminating the Ezra-shaped lump under the blankets. He was sleeping again. Maybe, just maybe, his insomnia had lifted.
I shut the door and headed down to dinner, feeling more hopeful than I had since the first shifter attack.
Chapter Fifteen
Snuggled deep in my bed, I drifted on the edge of sleep. At first, I’d thought this bed was way too squishy to sleep on, but now that I’d gotten used to it, the cloud-like softness was the best thing ever.
I rolled onto my side and buried my face in the lavender-scented pillowcase. After dinner, Aaron and Kai—his black eye repaired by a healer—had discussed their plans for hunting the alpha wolf. We were scheduled to head out bright and early the next morning. Ezra had slept right through dinner, but he’d be joining us for the hunt.
The clack of a door handle broke into my sleepy stupor. My eyebrows scrunched as my bedroom brightened, then the door clicked closed.
Grumbling, I flopped onto my back, legs tangled in the blankets, and squinted my eyes open. The room was dark, a soft glow leaking between the drapes from a lamp outside. My vision was blurred, my eyes tired and dry, but I couldn’t miss the man ghosting toward my bed.
My breath caught. A stranger in my room would’ve petrified me, but I knew his silhouette as well as I knew my own shadow.
“Ezra?” I mumbled sleepily. “What’s wrong?”
He crossed the plush carpet, then the mattress dipped as he put a knee on my bed. I blinked my drowsiness away, confusion and a dart of anticipation firing through me. The dim glow from the window caressed his bronze skin; he wore only a pair of thin cotton pants. His torso was all curving muscle and hard planes, his scars softened in the darkness. He leaned over me, light catching in his eyes.
Panic ripped through me.
His hand clamped over my mouth in an iron grip, stifling my petrified gasp. He lowered his head, our noses almost touching.
“Tori,” he hissed.
Instead of ice-white and chocolate-brown, two crimson eyes glowed in his face, the deep red burning black in the center. This was Ezra’s body, but it wasn’t him.
Ezra can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message with his demon.
“It is time we have a little talk,” he crooned, his words lilting with a guttural accent. “Shall we talk? You must promise not to scream.”
My harsh breaths whistled through my nose. Terror gripped me like icy claws, visceral memories hitting hard. The inhuman, primeval hatred in those glowing eyes was exactly the same as it’d been that night six weeks ago—but this time, I didn’t have my fall-spell in hand to save myself.
He leaned down, putting his lips to my ear.
“If you scream,” the demon whispered, warm breath tickling my skin, “Ezra will die.”
My racing heart stumbled. He smiled at my frightened expression, then pulled his hand away from my face. I inhaled deeply, trying to think. He hadn’t killed me yet, so I just had to hang on until Ezra regained control. Assuming he could.
“Eterran,” I whispered hoarsely. “How are you controlling Ezra?”
Eterran slid onto the bed, lying on his side, head propped on one hand. We faced each other, inches between our reclined bodies. From a distance, we may have looked casual, intimate even, but I’d never been more tense in my life. As panic threatened to overwhelm me, I summoned anger to my defense.
“Answer me,” I ordered, praying he wouldn’t call my bluff, “or I will definitely scream.”
Eterran, for obvious reasons, wasn’t concerned. “You do not want to scream, payilas talūk. You might wake Ezra.”
“Wake him?”
The words didn’t make sense. My brain buzzed uselessly.
“It has been very difficult,” the demon murmured, vicious delight marring Ezra’s face. “I spent years, many careful years, learning this.”
“Learning what?” I asked shrilly.
“Shh,” Eterran breathed. “Do not wake him.”
I stared, cold horror rising up in my chest as though my lungs were filling with ice water. The last time I’d seen the demon take control, Ezra had been unconscious. If the demon was back, did that mean …
My throat spasmed with terrified disbelief. “Is Ezra asleep right now?”
The demon smiled. No, that couldn’t be it. Eterran could force himself into the driver’s seat if Ezra lost emotional control or passed out—but only if Ezra was already tapping the demon’s power. Ezra didn’t wield demon magic in his sleep.
“I was very careful,” Eterran repeated silkily, “to make sure he did not notice my attempts. Only in these past weeks did I increase my efforts …”
He brushed his thumb against my chin, the touch almost affectionate. I shuddered away from his hand. I wanted to fling myself off the bed and bolt from the room, but I didn’t dare move.
“And only because of you.”
My fear-logged brain wasn’t piecing it together, the urgent need to escape consuming too much of my computing power. “What are you talking about?”
“Even now,” Eterran replied with a quiet, contemptuous laugh, “you do not suspect.”
A moment where that sick horror in my chest quadrupled—then an involuntary gasp scraped my throat as I finally figured it out.
“You’ve been causing Ezra’s insomnia?” My head spun nauseatingly. “You’re the reason Ezra hasn’t been able to sleep? You—”
He leaned close, a cruel smile on his lips. “Good girl. Now you understand.”
My teeth clenched so hard that pain flared through my jaw. This bastard demon had been trying to take control of Ezra while he slept, and each time, Ezra had woken in a panic, sensing the danger but not realizing its source.
But, judging by the demon reclined in front of me, Eterran had now figured out how to slip past Ezra’s defenses.
“You—” I began, rage joining my terror.
His eyes brightened eerily. “If Ezra discovers this, he will die. You don’t want him to die, do you, Tori?”
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. “Why would he die?”