Page 40 of The Demon’s Due (Bedeviled #5)

“You have no idea how many times.” His voice was rough. “What you’d taste like when we bonded, how your magic would feel around mine. It’s a big decision, so ask me anything.”

“Would you feed off me again or…”

“No. We feed off each other. I love you as my equal, and that’s how I want to move forward.”

I gnawed on my bottom lip. “You once told me blood bonds are a ‘stronger together weaker apart’ deal for our magic. Even the thrall was…a lot. You felt my emotions, and we couldn’t be apart from each other. By the end it was like a noose. What if the blood bond is like that but worse?”

His eyes darted away and he rubbed a hand over his head. “I may not have explained blood bonds properly back then.”

“Excuse me?”

“In my defense, I was trying to get your consent to heal you after your car blew up. I didn’t want to waste time on an irrelevant option, so I gave you the broad strokes version.

There is zero chance we’ll have the same kind of side effects as with a thrall.

That was a power source, this is an emotional connection.

I can’t say whether our magic will be stronger because we aren’t both vampires.

” He motioned between us. “But we’re stronger together, because I’m yours and you’re mine. ”

“And the weaker part? Specifically?”

“When one dies, it’s curtains for both, my dear.” His British accent was deliberately woefully bad, but I didn’t smile.

I punched him. “I have an extended lifespan but nowhere as long as yours. I’m yours and you’re mine is one thing, a suicide pact is quite another.”

“Vampires have their own definition of romantic,” he said. “Though, I’m not into those pacts either. I hate to thank Delacroix for anything,” he grumbled, “but in this case, his genetics are a blessing. As far as I’ve been able to determine, that condition won’t apply to us.”

I leaned back against the headboard.

The weight of what he was offering settled over me. This wasn’t a one-way magical connection or a suffocating tether. It was a permanent bond between lovers.

A choice made with clear eyes and full hearts between equals in a moment of calm and quiet.

Ezra rested his shoulder against mine. “Like I said, it’s a big decision. Can we leave it as an option in the fut?—”

“Yes.”

“Yes, it’s an option?”

I shot him a “don’t be daft” look. “Ezra Cardoso, I would very much like to blood bond with you and have this expression of our love on my skin.”

“Way to make it awkward,” he teased. “But wait. All kidding aside, I didn’t ask properly.

That was too clinical.” He sat me on the bed then got down on one knee.

“Aviva Jacquline Fleischer, will you do me the incredible honor of blood bonding with me?” His eyes gleamed with a mix of vulnerability and reverence that made my breath catch, and his hand trembled slightly as he held it out to me.

This immortal vampire of unspeakable power was as nervous as any mortal man awaiting an answer that would change everything.

I squeezed his hand. “Yes, Ezra Aaron Cardoso, I will.”

The mattress shifted as he sat down next to me and gently helped me out of my shirt. “Ready?”

I nodded, my feelings of being laid bare having nothing to do with being topless.

His fangs pierced the skin above my heart, and starbursts of pleasure exploded against my closed lids. His magic unfurled inside me like a night-blooming flower opening to moonlight.

Each pull of his mouth made me feel like he was replacing my blood with cosmic fire. All previous bites had been candle flames; this was the sun itself, rewriting me from the inside out and branding me as something gloriously, permanently his.

“Your turn,” he said thickly around his fangs.

Resisting the urge to kiss my blood off his lips, I slashed my claws across his left biceps, under the tattoo in Spanish dedicated to me. The blood bond didn’t require that we mark Ezra on his heart—and honestly, neither of us wanted to ruin his gorgeous new tattoo.

“Drink,” Ezra said, his pupils blown wide.

For one endless moment, I couldn’t tell where my powers ended and his began. We were one circuit, one current, one heartbeat. Then our magic separated again, but changed, each carrying an echo of the other that felt like coming home.

Our blood bond crystallized, settling into place with a nearly audible click. It was as delicate as frost but as unbreakable as diamond.

I compared the small purple mark over my heart that resembled a starburst to the identical one on Ezra’s arm.

It was still tender to the touch, but he assured me that would be gone in a few minutes.

We curled up together under the covers.

“What are you thinking?” he said.

“Just marveling at how natural this feels. How right. You?”

“That you make me wish I could breathe so I could feel the air stolen from my lungs when I look at your beauty.”

“Oh, you’re good. For that I’d be willing to wear a gold bikini sometime.”

His eyes went wide. “Was that a Star Wars reference?”

“Yes, Ezra. I have seen a bunch of them.”

He did a silly little wiggle. “You’re the perfect girlfriend.”

“That’s right.” Yawning, I gingerly stroked the starburst under my T-shirt. “And it’s a good thing, given I’m also nonrefundable.”

“Honestly, I was making sure there were no takebacks on your part.”

My boyfriend promised that he’d wake me with enough time to swing by the hospital to see Olivier before Operation Shut That Fucking Healing Magic Down.

Sleep claimed me with a smile on my face. Whatever came next, this moment was ours. Perfect and infinite as the stars themselves.