Ezra’s P.O.V
Fuck.
I wanted her. God, I wanted her so badly.
But…
If I gave in to my urges now, I just might fuck up what we had going, and I don’t think I can handle that. I don’t think I can forgive myself if I ruined the paradise that we had built for ourselves, between just the two of us.
"I can’t!” I spoke through gritted teeth, moving further back until my back hit the opposite wall of the tiny bathroom. “I can’t do this! I can’t stay…”
“What’s wrong with me?”
This time, her voice was a scream of frustration. A cry for help and a plea, all mixed in one.
“Zoya…you need to stay calm or it’ll get wors-”
“Don’t you get it?” She screamed at me. “It is worse, Ezra! I feel like ripping my own heart out of my chest if that’s what it’ll take for me to feel some kind of peace! I want this to end!”
With every word she spoke, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of our connection, the magnetic pull that drew us towards one another getting stronger by the second.
“I don’t know what it is that you’re hiding from me, Ezra, but I need to know.” She pleaded. “Nothing can be worse that what I’m feeling right now, except for death.”
“God, no!” I told her immediately. “You’re not dying, Zoya, trust me. Even if it feels like that right now…things will get bett-”
But my words were cut off by a piercing scream as Zoya clutched her chest, water sloshing over the rim of the tub to splash all over the floor.
“Please, Ezra!” There it was, that desperate plea. My weakness. The kryptonite to my steely resolve.
Zoya's desperate made me rush towards her and she used the opportunity to clutch onto my arm, her grip like a steel band. The urgency in her voice pierced through my conflicted thoughts, bringing my attention back to her anguished face.
Her eyes welled with tears as she looked up at me with her chocolate brown eyes. “Please, do something,” she begged me. “Anything to make it stop. Please, help me…”
With a heavy sigh, I met her gaze, searching for the right words to convey the difficult truth.
"Zoya," I said softly, my voice filled with sympathy. "The only way to relieve the heat, the only way to make it stop, is for your mate to claim you, mark you as his own. Do you understand what I’m telling you?"
I squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her. “Otherwise, you would have to endure this every time Silas is sleeping with another person.”
The weight of my words hung heavily in the air, the realization of the predicament she faces settling upon us both.
Yeah. That bastard Silas was fucking someone else behind Zoya’s back. And here she was, suffering the consequences of his goddamn actions.
My hatred for Silas was growing larger by the minute, but it didn’t outweigh my concern for Zoya, because if I could, I would be out there right now, hunting down that fucker to the furthest corners of the world and making him pay for everything he did.
Zoya’s eyes widened with a mix of disbelief and despair. "But Silas... he's already gone," she murmured, her voice laced with resignation. "How can I endure this torment every time he's with someone else?"
A wave of helplessness washed over me as I struggled to find the words to say to her.
The depth of her suffering was a cruel twist of fate, a consequence of circumstances beyond our control.
I reached out, placing a gentle hand on her trembling shoulder, a gesture of support amidst the storm of emotions. Her tear-filled eyes met mine, and my mind raced as I gazed into Zoya's wide, startled eyes.
I had to tell her.
I’m not taking advantage of her state, I assured myself. I’m just trying to help. And no good will come out of keeping this from her, so I might as well just tell her, right?
The revelation hung heavy in the air, the weight of our intertwined destinies casting a palpable tension between us.
My voice faltered slightly as I gathered the courage to speak the truth, to offer her a choice that she might not have even thought of.
"There is another way," I finally admitted, my voice laden with reluctance. "If... if you allow me to claim you, I can help alleviate this… I can stop the pain.”
“But…how?” She asked desperately. “You just told me that only my mate can help me…and my mate…”
“Silas isn’t your only mate, Zoya.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat and finally revealed the whole truth. “You are my second chance mate.”
Her gasp of astonishment echoed through the room, her hand instinctively flying to cover her parted lips.
I could see the myriad of emotions flickering across her face - disbelief, confusion, and perhaps a glimmer of hope.
It was a delicate moment, teetering on the precipice of uncertainty.
"But... but how?" she stammered, her voice barely a whisper. "How can you be my mate too?"
A bittersweet smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I averted my gaze.
"It's rare,” I admitted, “but not unheard of. Sometimes, fate plays its own intricate game. The Moon Goddess, or any god for that matter, works in mysterious ways, ways that we, as her disciples, cannot even fathom."
And I was starting to believe that our lives was just a mere form of entertainment for the Goddess herself, a way to amuse her when she was bored of ruling the night sky and her lowly creatures.
Of course, it was thanks to her that Zoya’s path crossed mine, but still… did we really have to meet in such complicated circumstances?
Both she and I had been through so much already. Why test us further like this?
Zoya’s eyes searched mine, seeking reassurance, understanding, and perhaps a hint of longing… or maybe I was imagining that again, trying to justify the desire I had for her.
I knew that my presence here, my confession, only served to complicate matters further. The instinctive pull between us, fueled by her heightened scent, threatened to unravel my carefully maintained control.
"I... I should leave," I murmured, my voice strained with the struggle to contain my desires. "Your scent... it's intoxicating, and I can't risk losing control."
However, before I could get up from the floor, her hand reached out, seizing mine with strength I didn’t know she had, and pulled me toward her, crashing her lips into mine.