Gripping the chair’s arms kept Sebastian from jumping out of it to throttle Ezra. He wouldn’t think of touching a single hair on his mother’s head, but this man? He owed him nothing.
His incisors lengthened in agitation.
“I am also your advisor,” Ezra continued. “At your father’s people’s request. You would do well to consider what I’m saying.”
“Why not just tell me what I want to know?”
“Because I would be dead within days. There is a reason for ignorance. Trust this... You will know one day who you are.”
Ezra’s chin dipped ever so slightly. A blink on Sebastian’s part might have hidden it. Yet he somehow caught the motion, and something about it made him aware. Sebastian waited, studying Ezra’s face, trying to discern why the movement meant anything, if it did. But then Ezra’s eyebrow lifted a fraction, almost infinitesimally, and he swore the man’s dark eyes hid amusement.
Confused, Sebastian raised a hand in assent as the man, once a warrior, gave him a full nod before turning to depart.
His gaze slid to the gemstones and with a sigh, Sebastian began to gather them closer. They were only a small portion of their collection, but he wouldn’t leave them out for others to pocket. His father had at least seen to their comfort...
Sebastian sat up straight, the gems forgotten.
Dear God.
Ezra had said he would be dead within days. Within days. Did that mean...? The way Ezra had looked at him had to have been a hint. Something for Sebastian to grasp if he was clever enough to understand.
His hands began to shake as understanding continued to bloom.
His father. It had to mean... The man, or at the very least the people of his clan, were still alive.
Sebastian only had to find them.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alice opened her eyes, prepared to scream. Her last memory pinged around her mind, rising up and out in horrific vividness. But she was aware, so she couldn’t be dead, right? No. She knew who she was. Where she was started to come back to her, too. The most important thing right now was a new realization. She was alive, and God, she needed.
Needed.
She hurt and needed, and everything swelled large and uncontrolled beneath her skin. Something within demanded and craved, and she didn’t know how to handle it. What to do. She just knew this need, this rage inside her pushing to get out. To claim. To be claimed.
Alice twisted on the bed, moaning.
She almost melted into the mattress at the first touch of someone’s hand—a masculine hand—that had slipped between her legs. “I’ve got you, princess. I’ll take care of you always,” the male said.
Not just a male. Her male. Sebastian.
She moaned again, eyes rolling in the back of her head as he began to slowly rub her clit, his palm grinding against her with just the oh-so-right pressure. She allowed need to drift into something more pleasurable. The pain, the ache, soothed away with each circular motion.
“For the next three days, this will be my pleasure. My duty to you. To stop what’s hurting,” he said softly.
“Please...”
“You’re on your way to becoming one of us. This is the process. Let it happen.”
Even the soft sheets beneath her scratched at sensitive skin, as if made of sandpaper. She couldn’t get comfortable. Throat parched, gums hurting, the effort to talk or whimper a sound seemed too much of an effort. Yet she couldn’t stop the moaning each time Sebastian touched her there. In the place that sent ringlets of rapturous relief echoing through her every vein.
He continued to speak softly, his voice another source of comfort. “To become one of us, the heart has to stop. But so long as you’ve tasted our blood recently, it will grow in your system, growing and taking over. Part of the discomfort you’re feeling now is the body’s way of absorbing the changes. Endorphins help to ease some of the shock.”
“Three days?” God, she couldn’t stand it. She wouldn’t be able to live through it. Not like this. Not in this misery.
“It will ease over the three days, I promise you. Today will be the worst, and I’ll get you through it. Hold on to me, Alice, and I’ll be what you need.”