King Hall (Forever Evermore 1)

“Want to sleep in his bed with me tonight?” A finger flick at her mate. “It’s bound to be big enough for Gideon, too.”

She shrugged, even as Gideon choked. “Sure. Why not? It’ll be like the camping trip.” Her hand stalled, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing as she quickly jammed the brush back in the paint bottle. “Gideon will be there, at least.”

Ezra was, literally, vibrating under me.

I elbowed him covertly. Gideon didn’t know anything about that first morning. I felt compelled to say, “No freaky magical shit in the bed.”

Ezra laughed outright.

Pearl rolled her eyes, muttering, “As if I would let you see Gideon like that.”

As if I wanted to see Gideon like that.

Luckily, I didn’t voice that little thought. That would have been rude. But, Gideon, well, he was just too…proper, maybe? I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it didn’t make me all woohoo envisioning him naked. I more imagined him at a country club, sitting by a fire and sipping tea while Pearl snuck outside to steal a golf cart and raced it across the course, doing donuts and tearing up the green, as Ezra, Jack, and I cheered her on from the eighteenth hole. Not really erotic fantasy material for me.

Pearl waved a slightly glowing hand over my toenails, and I felt them go from damp-cool to dry-solid.

I thanked her and rolled over, staring Ezra right in his face. “Show us?”

Taking another drink, his nose crinkled. “King Venclaire will seriously be pissed. Only Vamps allowed.”

Shaking my head softly, I tried for innocence. “He said we were spending the night.” I smiled sweetly. “He didn’t specify where.”

Ezra’s eyes narrowed. “It’s definitely possible you were a swindler in another life.”

“Whoa,” Jack mumbled, staring at Ezra’s bedroom. “Just whoa.”

Ezra had taken us through a hidden door that, indeed, took us by another living room most definitely Vampire style, all in dark wine and black. The hallway we had walked down was painted a deep plum. Ezra’s room wasn’t any different. It reminded me of my old room at my uncle’s, where I’d lived before my Shifter power had been Awakened.

I asked, “Did you get to decorate it yourself? Or did King Venclaire do it?” I ran my hand against one of the walls, and realized they were papered in black velvet, not just painted.

“He let me do it,” Ezra replied, sitting on a massive, black leather chair that was circular with no armrests. “He gave me a pretty sizable amount to spend, so I went a little overboard.”

Nikki lifted a red bra by the strap with one finger, holding it out in front of her. “I didn’t know you did drag.”

We stopped and stared, until Jack murmured something against her ear, and she blushed prettily, dropping the bra and mumbling an apology to Ezra. God, she was so innocent. It was endearing but, really, could she honestly imagine Ezra in drag or, instead, imagine one of his girlies leaving that behind so she would have a valid reason to come back?

Yeah.

I stepped over a purse on the floor. “On the last day of school, you should set up a lost and found table so these women can get their crap back.”

Ezra’s expression turned thoughtful. “That’s not a bad idea, but I’ve been debating giving it all to charity. I think the disadvantaged could use it more than the women who left it.” He pointed to the black wooden door. His closet. “I’ve got three full boxes in there. It’s absurd.”

I snickered because he was serious, and wandered to his collection of photographs on his black and grey marble desk. Bending, I peered at them. It was obvious who they were of. His mom and dad. I could tell one was definitely of his late mate by the goofy way he was smiling at her. She was predictably gorgeous. “She was very beautiful.”

He nodded, draining the rest of his beer.

I cast my gaze away from him, seeing a familiar grief in his eyes I knew all too well, and went back to studying the pictures. There were photos of him that must have been taken during his travels. In most of them he looked drunk or stoned with other Vampires hanging on him in much the same state. My attention snagged on the framed photo at the end.

I picked it up slowly, and stared. It was of the four of us. Pearl, Jack, Ezra, and I at the New Year’s party we had attended. I remembered now that Ezra had found a disposable camera lying on the floor during one of our boogie sessions, and asked someone to take a picture with it for us. Pearl and I wore those stupid pointy hats, and when we had leaned in together, well, the picture captured Pearl and I with our cheeks smashed together with big, silly grins on our faces, Jack holding his eye after Pearl almost put it out with her hat, but he still had a huge grin on his face, and Ezra had his fangs out, standing behind me, dipped to my height, with his mouth spread wide against my throat — not actually biting, but still managing to smile, eyes up at the camera.

My voice was soft. “Can I get a copy of this?”

His eyes tracked over my face. “Sure. I’ll scan it and make a print for you.”

“Thanks.” I ran a finger over my captured smile, it caught forever in this picture. I had been really happy then. I was really happy now. Glancing at each of my friends, I was misty-eyed, and quickly sniffed any tears back, putting the picture down. Once upon a time, at the beginning of the year, I had lost my heart. With these completely different Mysticals, I had found it again in them.

“Come here,” Ezra said quietly, watching me.

I took one last glance at the photo, and made my way to him. He pulled me down onto his lap and I curled up there, watching Jack and Pearl go at it over music choice while Gideon and Nikki tried to referee. I asked loudly, “Where is everyone going after graduation?” This had been eating away at me for the past month. My friends leaving. Going home, or wherever they wanted to set up their home base. All of us had been avoiding this topic with one another. After seeing proof like that picture…well, I wanted to know where they would be.

Jack and Pearl shut up, turning their attention our way.

Ezra wove his arms around my hips, holding me.

I was trembling a little, and I knew my voice had shaken just the same.

Into the silence, Ezra kissed my forehead, resting his chin on top of my head. “I haven’t decided yet.” He paused. “Pearl? Jack?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Nikki, can you give us a minute?”

She nodded, and, as if by cue, Gideon kissed Pearl’s cheek, both mates leaving Ezra’s room and closing the door behind them. I could hear them walking down the hallway and back out the secret door to the “company”, formal living room.