My hands began to shake. What I was hearing was wilder than anything I could have possibly imagined. Ezah liked me. He was attracted to me. I understood his hesitation and his fear, but knowing he had an interest in me was enough to make me feel lighter than I ever had in my life. I couldn’t believe it.
“How do you cope?” I asked. “Without Kovu?”
“I keep Kovu in here”—he patted his chest, then he pointed at his head—“and I keep this clear. It is the only way I can continue living.”
Hearing him talk about a female in such a way should have made me jealous, but I felt none of that. I only hurt for him because I knew what it was like to have someone you loved taken away from you.
“Did you love her dearly?”
“More than my own life,” he said, looking up at the sky. “She was my intended. She was younger than me. I knew her from when she was an infant. I didn’t notice her as a male does a female until close to her thirty-fifth year. She had always let it be known that she wanted me for her mate. She struck me once when I teased her about taking another instead.” He chuckled at the memory. “She broke my nose and then continue to strike and kick me. I laughed the entire time, and that was when I asked her to be my intended. She was so happy that she cried.” He smiled. “I vowed not to mate her until she was of age, but we grew very close in a short amount of time. Our bond was so strong I was sure it would snap in place before our mating, but ... but she was killed by a borak beast before we could come together. She died in my arms in this very spot.”
The shock of his words almost knocked me off my feet. Kovu died in Ezah’s arms. He knew exactly how I felt because he had been in the same situation as me. He understood … He understood completely.
“Kovu died in your arms like my mama died in mine.”
“Yes, moonlight.” He stared at the marble stone. “We have both suffered a great hurt.”
I sniffled, and it drew Ezah’s full attention.
“Stardust.” He frowned. “Why do you weep?”
“I hurt for you,” I cried softly. “And I hurt for Kovu. I am so sorry that you lost her, I … I’m just so sorry.”
Ezah gathered me up in his arms before I finished speaking.
“Please,” he whispered. “No tears. It rips me apart inside when you cry.”
I bobbed my head and tried to stop.
“You’re special to me.” He tilted my head up. “Thanas, you’re a beauty too.”
I trembled. “Ezah.”
He growled, and I jumped.
“Why are you growling?”
“I like hearing my name roll off your tongue.” He rumbled. “No titles, no formalities … just my name.”
“Ezah.”
“Don’t run.” He growled again. “Just … just don’t run.”
Before I had a chance to ask what he was talking about, he leaned down, covered my mouth with his, and gifted me my first kiss. Instantly, I parted my lips and gasped with the shock of it. Ezah’s tongue dipped inside my mouth, and I gasped again. His growl made tingles run up and down my spine, and when his arms came around me, and he held me flush against his body, my knees went weak. I mimicked the movement of his mouth, his tongue, and his head. The pleasure I felt from his kiss was intoxicating.
An ache burned between my thighs, my body was flushed with heat, and my lungs burned for air. I broke the kiss to have a moment of respite, but a moment was all Ezah allowed me before his lips were back on mine. He deepened our kiss and dominated me completely. I did not fight him. I fell into him willingly, lost to his touch, to his passion. I never wanted it to end, but we were both breathing heavily and clinging to one another when it did.
“Ezah.”
My voice did not sound like my own. It was filled with want, need, desire.
“Levi.”
Ezah’s voice was a growl, but it did not scare me. Nothing about him scared me. The only thing that I feared was what was to come.
“I didn’t know a kiss could be like that.”
He nuzzled his nose against mine.
“That is how a kiss should always be.”
“Oh, Ezah. I like you so much. I want you so much. I’m so scared this will all go wrong.”
Everything had always gone wrong in my life. Being on Ealra with the Maji was the only right thing. I was terrified to dream for more … to dream of true happiness in the form of love with a male. With Ezah.
“We can take our time, Levi.” His magical eyes gazed into mine. “We do not need to rush. When it comes to us … we can do things the human way.”