A quiet rumble. “And for that, I will apologize.” I peered up at him, watching him as he watched me. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten that chance yet.”
I felt my face soften, my heart beating a little faster even as my muscles relaxed at his humble words, his honest apology that we hadn’t gotten our chance to make things right. “Thank you.” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, deciding to go for broke. “What you said at lunch before you left…I get it.” I picked at the blanket, staring at the fabric. “This is an…odd…situation we’re in, our predators feeling as they do, as we do, knowing what we were to each other in what feels like a previous life. And yet, it’s not a previous life since the person’s standing right in front of you, someone who might as well be a complete stranger.”
Ezra grunted softly, grinding out his cigarette, his eyes still steadfast on me. “That’s putting it mildly.” He moved fluidly, slowly, across the expanse of the room, his movements again reminding me of a cat. He sat next to me on the edge of the bed, eyes scanning my face and other, lower parts of me, watching as I tightened my grip on his blanket to keep it steady when his weight on the bed tugged it. “You really are shy, aren’t you?”
My lips pinched, but I eventually nodded once in affirmation.
His head cocked, and his own lips pinched. He started to say something. Stopped. His eyes ran over my face, and he chuckled quietly. “Do you really want the beginnings of trust?”
I felt my eyebrows furrow at his actions and words. “Yes.”
He leaned so that he was resting on his elbow, his feet still on the floor, but the action brought his face closer, down to my level. And his words held me frozen. “Then I’ll tell you the biggest weakness I know about you. You know perfectly well that letting the opposing force know what you know is unsafe, so this is me, opening up to you. Trusting you.” With green eyes so vivid he held me captive, he stated softly, “You’re a hybrid. Half Shifter, half Vampire.”
The world stopped. It did. I knew it must have. That, or I did a mini-faint as I stared, unable to breathe.
“Hush,” he whispered softly as he placed his warm palm on the side of face, again touching me carefully, as if I were made of glass. “I don’t care about it other than the fact it puts you more at risk, right along with how tiny your wolf is. I don’t want our daughter growing up without a mother any more than you do. She deserves to know you. She deserves your love.” He brushed his thumb back and forth over my temple, and I felt the cool surface of his wedding ring as it glided across my skin. “I won’t tell anyone. You have my word.”
Truth to all.
Sucking in a harsh breath as my mind swam, I sputtered, “How?”
His lips curled a bit. “When you told me about bleeding on my favorite t-shirt, I wondered because when I woke up after my mind rape I had blood on the pajama pants I was wearing that wasn’t mine and tasted of wild spice, not Shifter, not Vampire.” His half-smile lifted a bit more. “Then, when we were kissing, and you jumped away when Elder Farrar caught us…” He chuckled quietly, a cocky sound. “Well, before you pulled away from me I bit you and got a drop of your blood.”
I blinked, staring wide-eyed at him. “I didn’t feel it.”
One eyebrow rose, and he didn’t say anything, telling me wordlessly he was that good.
I licked my lips, asking, “You really aren’t…?”
He shook his head slowly. “Not a soul.” He brought his head forward, staring me in the eyes. “I am not a man to mess with, but where Isa’s happiness is concerned, I’m not a cold-blooded bastard.”
“I’ve had my tubes tied,” I stated instantly, feeling I needed to clarify this. “I had actually had them tied before I got pregnant so no one could ever use me to create a Beast, but I think somewhere in the voids of what I can’t remember something happened between us to alter that, and I got pregnant with Isa. But after I delivered her, Bindi tied my tubes.” I paused, brows furrowing. “And you know from the videos that I can do Awakenings, so you know the Elders are wrong about their reasons for killing hybrids.”
He hummed quietly, his head slanting as he watched me, his thumb still gliding over my temple. “You don’t need to prove to me you’re not like the hybrid who started this war. Every individual is not created alike. Anyone who simply knows your name,” both arched eyebrows quirked, “the badass wolf bitch, Queen Ruckler, would be a fool to think you a traitor.”
I ate up his gaze, my eyes flittering back and forth between his, hope dawning. “Trust.”
He nodded once. “Trust.” Gradually, he lowered his hand to the bed. “What’s next on your agenda tonight, since you have a free evening?”
My eyebrows lifted in thought. “I have no clue. I haven’t had an evening to myself for three months.”