There was no waver in his tone, no small note I could work with to change his mind; only pure determination. Arguing how stupid of an idea this was wouldn't work either, and we didn’thave the time. He was offering me my one chance to get out of here, but that burning in my chest hurt at the slightest thought of leaving him behind.
I felt him move away, felt the loss of his warmth against my back, and glanced behind me to say… something.Anything.My mouth opened, but it was silenced by a finger pressing against it.
“You can yell at me later,” he promised, then pulled his hand back until I saw the pinky finger he offered. “If we survive.”
Him and his damn pinky promises. With a huff, I hooked my little finger around his and squeezed it tight. I made the mistake of catching his gaze. The blue around his eyes deepened, like it had right before he kissed me, and it was barely enough warning before he pulled me in. His soft lips pressed hard against my own, cementing their demand.
It was over before it started, and I stumbled away at the abrupt loss of connection.
With a swat to my ass, Ezra pushed me to start moving. I wanted to scream, but the countdown had already begun when he opened this tunnel. I didn’t have time to yell at him or hit him, or even worry. The djinn would be on us soon enough. Still, right at the entrance, I turned and gave him my most lethal glare.
“If you die, I will never forgive you. Asshole.”
Warm, muggy air melted what ice remained on my skin the second I bolted from the tunnel. It was rather low, and I had to run bent in half, but the surrounding trees offered plenty of coverage and allowed me to stand to my full height once more.The path back to the neighborhood was easy to find—still well lit and obviously paved. My boots ate up the brick in time to the hammering of the djinn’s weapons.
If I could get back behind the barrier, I could safely call Kai. He’d know what to do. I dodged a crumbling part of the path and pushed harder. I worried making a call right now would alert the djinn, and they’d come running after me.
The sound of metal hitting Ezra’s ice was a shrill echo in the night. Until it abruptly stopped—and so did I. I listened for shouting or some sign as to what was happening, but only heard cicadas and crickets. The sane part of my brain must have short-circuited with that kiss because Ishouldbe nearly at the house by now. Fear slowly won the battle against my adrenaline, but I couldn't justleavehim. Not without knowing he’d be okay. I wouldn’t be much help to him if he wasn’t, but… my feet turned and followed that invisible tether attached to my chest. All the way back.
I dug in my boots and peered around the thick bark of a tree. Some of it scraped my cheek as I tried to stay as hidden as possible, but I ignored the sting. The two djinn held their weapons aloft, unable to swing them, despite their target being barely more than a foot away. The igloo was gone. In its place was one lone, very brave—or very stupid—witch.
Ezra faced away from me, but I felt his tension as if I stood right beside him. His back was rigid and straight, feet evenly spread as he slightly bounced on his toes. Something glimmered in his right hand, and it took a moment for me to recognize it as an icicle. He was going to fight? Why wasn’t he running after me? There was plenty of time for him to make it out of that tunnel and the djinn would have been none the wiser.
One of the djinn opened his mouth, spewing some hatred I couldn’t hear, while he shook and struggled to move his arm. His companion fared no better. Ezra froze them! That’s when Inoticed the smaller details my brain hadn’t picked up on at first glance: the ruby-red tip of Ezra’s icicle, the matching pools of the same color around his feet and dripping down the front of the djinn. Basically, all the fucking blood.
“Not the view you thought you’d find, is it?”
A rough hand covered my mouth before I could scream. The owner had a lean chest that crowded me, crushing me between it and the tree until I thought something would break. My breath caught in my throat, part fear and part suffocation.
Not again. This couldn’t be happening to me again.
I struggled and fought but, like before, it made no difference. The djinn was too strong. I didn’t need to see him to know what he was. His words were threaded with enough power that I knew the moment his question ended. In front of us, none the wiser to what was happening in the shadows, Ezra continued to torture the two djinn. Their screams were muffled by a new layer of ice over their mouths and, well, that answered why I hadn’t heard them before.
“Ezra Alantes is the best at what he does,” my captor whispered in my ear, and I cringed away as much as his hold would allow. It wasn’t enough. “Proficient. His expertise is freezing body parts and then promising not to shatter them for answers.” He gave a humorless laugh. “We can see how that goes for his victims.”
Part of me was appalled, because thatwasEzra using his heel to shatter the lower leg of the biggest djinn. The easy-going, unserious, flirt I’d come to know and trust had a dark side.Verydark. I couldn’t see his face to know for sure, but the faint threads of his voice that reached me over here hinted that he enjoyed this. At least a little.
Butvictims? That was a stretch. Ezra didn’t torture innocent people, I knew that deep in my heart. He was breaking downdjinn, the enemy, the fucking bastards who attacked us first andthreatened me. This guy’s friends. I silently cheered Ezra on in my mind. Knowing he was willing to go to such extremes to protect me went a long way in helping me control my fear. Near knocked it out actually.
Somehow, despite being disgustingly trapped in the arms of one of the creatures who terrified my mind each time I slept, or the sight of someone I just decided to trust covered in the blood of his enemies, I was in control enough to be pissed the fuck off. How dare this dickless bully think he had the right to grab me?
I threw my head back just enough to knock his hand loose and then bit it. He yanked it away, tearing his skin in the process and the coppery tang of blood coated my teeth. My grin was savage, not that he could see, and it only grew as I stomped on the top of his foot and nailed him with a fist to his balls in rapid succession. Those tipsy self-defense tricks Eryn taught me in our dorm last semester really paid off.
“You fucking… bitch,” he moaned, cupping himself rather pathetically on the ground.
“Better a bitch than whatever you are right now,” I taunted, and then darted off toward the only place I knew I’d truly be safe. Right next to Ezra.
Growing up outdoors on a farm meant it was zero work to vault over some prickly bushes, dodge a few fallen logs, and not twist an ankle on the mushy, soft underbelly of the forest. Even with only the brief light of the moon through the leaves, even in askirt, I ran fast and free. It was glorious.
Until the hiss and rattle that all country-bred babes knew to respect froze every muscle in my body.Rattlesnakes. I counted at least ten, in a half arc directly between me and my now-scowling, extremely pissed off babysitter. My first good look at Ezra revealed streaks of blood all over the front of his shirt, as well as a few spots on his face. Speckles tarnished the brightnessof his hair, and even his eyes were so dark one couldn’t call them blue.
Nostrils flaring, he crossed his arms as he took in my predicament. The snakes at my feet slithered while their rattles droned. I was convinced that any second I’d be screaming and writhing in pain from multiple venomous bites, well on my way to a horrible and unglamorous death.
“This is not how a fucking pinky promise works, Rani!” Ezra flexed his fingers repeatedly, as if he imagined them wrapped around my neck. “You link little fingers, make the promise, and thenfollow throughon the godsdammed promise. I just explained this.”
“Um, Ez—”
“And now here we are! Or rather, hereyouare; standing in front of me, in danger, instead of safe behind the barrier where. I. Sent. You.”
