Pacing around in the hotel room he had hastily gotten, Ezra was replaying that last conversation with Kayla in his mind. He wasn’t one to usually fidget or be restless, since years of being undead tended to make a person more still. When your muscles never got tired, stretching or moving around turned into useless gestures.

But Kayla had him acting in all sorts of unexpected ways, and he found himself unable to just sit down and think things through. More than ever he needed to do something, to keep his body in motion to distract from the barrage of thoughts going through his head.

Kayla had seemed sincere in her insistence that she had buried the article after things developed between them. How she felt about Seth, however, Ezra wasn’t so sure about. Maybe him pouncing on her so soon after her breakup hadn’t been such a good idea?

Then again, neither of them had been able to keep their hands off each other that night, and Ezra couldn’t bring himself to regret anything that happened.

Beyond their strong physical chemistry, however, there were feelings he was not used to feeling. Possessiveness, for one, and a desire to keep Kayla from any sort of harm. Then there was the way making her smile could make his entire day. That was new.

I am so in over my head with this woman, Ezra sighed to himself.

He wanted all of her, for forever, and he knew that was a tall order. She hadn’t even known vampires existed not that long ago, and now here they were, with him wanting to make her his bride for real.

How can I even ask that of her?

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t cherish every day, week, month or year of her time she chose to share with him, but he couldn’t imagine the heartbreak her humanity would end up bringing. What were mere years to him after living for so long? And what would he do for the centuries to come when she was no longer by his side?

Ezra was surprised by how far ahead he was thinking, and how absolutely serious he was about Kayla after such a brief time with her, but it didn’t change the fact that he genuinely did want to share his life, or well, his death, with her.

But he had promised Kayla time, so both of them could figure things out. He would keep that promise. It was important that when he spoke to Kayla next, she have a true understanding of her feelings for him.

His phone was charging on the bedside table, and when it buzzed, Ezra snatched it up, sure it was Stephen calling. To his surprise, an unfamiliar number flashed on the screen. He didn’t give his number out to just anyone, so his brow was furrowed when he picked up.

“Hello?” he said into the receiver, waiting for a response.

“Hello. I see you’ve been busy since I saw you last,” a somewhat familiar voice said, and Ezra struggled to place it.

“Robert?” Ezra asked, taken aback. “What do you want?”

“I want my wife back, but I guess that’s not going to happen,” Robert replied, and the bitterness in his voice was clear.

“I didn’t take your wife from you,” Ezra argued. “It was a fling, and one I thought you knew about,” he explained for what felt like the hundredth time, but Robert wasn’t having it.

“She left me!” he snarled, before a couple seconds of silence, where he gathered himself enough to sound almost calm. “You came between us, and now I’m going to make you pay.”

Ezra wasn’t one to back away from a challenge, and in his mind, Robert even deserved to have a face-to-face with him. Whether he had meant to or not, Ezra had wounded the man’s honor, and if a confrontation would make Robert feel better, who was he to deny him that.

But there were other things to consider, like the fact Ezra definitely didn’t want to pull Stephen’s line into a war with Robert’s line. It was exactly the sort of thing he’d agreed to leave New York to avoid. Two old and respected Makers like Stephen and Robert going up against each other could end up severely disrupting more than just the lives of those in their lines.

And Ezra was sure that even if Robert got his revenge on him, it wouldn’t stop there. Stephen would be duty-bound to avenge the death of a member of his line, and Robert would happily focus his anger on another target to distract from the embarrassment and pain he was feeling.

“I had nothing to do with Lilith leaving you,” Ezra replied. “I haven’t even talked to her after…”

“Shut your mouth,” Robert warned. “I should have known you would try to talk your way out of this, but that ship has sailed. I have something of yours, and if you want it back, you’re going to accept my challenge.”

Cold dread crept up Ezra’s spine as he tried to decipher what exactly Robert was saying. What could the man possibly hold over him to make Ezra disobey his Maker and settle this with violence?

Just as worst case scenarios were starting to run through his mind, there was rustling on the other side of the line, and when a female voice came on, Ezra recognized it immediately.

“Ezra?” Kayla asked, her voice sounding shaky.

“Kayla? Are you alright? Has he hurt you?” Ezra rattled off, stilling as he focused to catch her every word.

“I’m okay,” she replied, but she sounded afraid.

“Enough of that,” Robert’s voice said. “You know I have her, and you know what I want.”

“What are you doing, Robert?” Ezra asked, working hard to keep himself from crushing the phone he was holding to his ear. “I have claimed her. You have no right to lay a hand on her.”

“A desperate man uses desperate measures,” was all that Robert had to say in response to that. “Now, are you going to give me my chance at tearing your head off, or am I going to have to sink my teeth into this pretty little bride of yours?”

Ezra could already feel his fangs elongate. The thought of Kayla at Robert’s mercy, afraid and alone was almost too much to bear.

I never should have left her alone.

But Ezra couldn’t turn back time and change the past. All he could do now was get her back, safe and sound, and make Robert pay for even threatening to harm her.

“Just give me the time and place,” Ezra ground out, imagining his hands around Robert’s throat.

I’m coming for you, Kayla. Hang on.