Ben cut in before Holly could argue. “Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?”
Most people shook their heads wanting the meeting to be over.
Mark cleared his throat. At least two people groaned. “There is one thing I think we need to address.”
Ben gestured for Mark to go on, “What is it?”
Mark’s eyes flickered towards Ezra and Ezekiel so quickly he almost missed it. Ezra knew exactly what the bastard was going to bring up. He felt his brother stiffen beside him. “I figure most of you have noticed it but the town is starting to get a little anxious about Ivy.”
Ezra crossed his arms over his chest. He felt his brother growl. It was a warning sound. Ezra shot him a look. He needed to keep his shit together. He had no right to get fucking possessive about Ivy.
Ivy was a complicated topic for them. She was their mate. No one other than he and Ezekiel knew that. They had planned on telling Ivy but things had changed.
“What?” Jack Taylor butt in suddenly getting serious. “What’s going on?”
Mark sighed, “I think people thought that Ivy would have moved on by now. They were okay with having a witch here temporarily but now?” He let the implication hang.
“Why haven’t I heard anything?” Jack grumbled, clearly mad.
“She saved your mate. I think the town knows not to bad talk her around you.” Mark pointed out.
Jack settled back into his seat. “What’s going on?”
Mark grimaced. “Nothing so far. It’s just that I’ve noticed more angry glares than before. I just wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention.”
Derek Johnson, another lead Enforcer raised his hand. “People have been asking me questions about the witch.” A few more people around the table nodded too.
Ezra lifted his lip at the derogatory tone. He growled. Ezekiel shot him a look that told him to get his shit together too.
“Hey, their words not mine,” Derek said. “People are scared after what happened.”
Ben rubbed the back of his head. “I was worried about this. No one has come to me though.”
“And just because people aren’t talking to me directly about it doesn’t mean I’m not hearing it,” Paul said. “The staff at Daniel’s have been talking about her nonstop.”
Mark nodded, “We aren’t the most accepting people when it comes to magic users. We leave the Black Bird Coven alone but they stay out of town. Our people haven’t rubbed shoulders with a witch before. I’m not sure how they’ll react the more she is around.” He shrugged, “I just wanted everyone on the same page.”
Neither Ezra or Ezekiel were shocked by the news. They had heard the whispers. If the townsfolk were unsettled by the mere presence of a witch, they would be shitting themselves if they had seen what she had done in the woods.
Ben nodded. “Alright, I’ll assign someone to keep an eye on her.”
“We volunteer,” Ezekiel says quietly.
“Glad to see you’re making a move. Although I am going to miss seeing you two sitting on that bench on Main Street.” Paul joked.
Ezra’s lips curled. He was pissed. Burnt ozone scented air. It poured off of him in hot waves. Paul’s smile widened when he smelled it.
Paul was second in command for a reason. He was strong. He also loved joking around. Even when it was not the time or the topic for joking.
Ezra was strung so tight he was ready to snap. His chest inflated, ready to lay into Paul.
“Heard Betsy kicked you out of Daniel’s last night,” Ezekiel cut in before Ezra could.
Everyone was pretty sure that Betsy was Paul’s mate. No one knew indefinitely but Paul had all the symptoms of an unmated shifter. He followed Betsy around, gave her love sick looks when her back was turned, and had a hairpin trigger on his temper lately.
Ezra should recognize it; he and his brother were the same way about Ivy. Too bad Betsy was human. She didn’t know that Paul was her mate. She just knew that he never left her alone and bugged the hell out of her.
Paul was out of his chair so fast, it hit the ground. His muscles tensed ready to jump across the table.
“Enough,” Ben roared.
The entire diner froze under the heavy weight of wild magic. Ben’s eyes had turned. Paul was breathing heavily, growling under his breath. He looked like he wanted to kill Ezekiel. Ezekiel relaxed back into his chair. Everyone knew Ben wouldn’t let them come to blows.
Ben stared at Paul. “Do you really think this is the time to stir shit up? With a Pack of rogues and their witch breathing down our necks?”
Paul didn’t move. His face twisted wanting to fight back. No one breathed, waiting for him to give up. He wouldn’t fight against Ben. Even if someone was needling him about his almost mate.
After a few deep breaths, Paul gave a small nod before storming out.
Ben straightened and the tension left the room. Someone in a booth behind their group sighed.
Ben jabbed a finger at Ezekiel. “You do that again and I will let him hand you your ass.” Ezekiel nodded once. Ben turned to Ezra. Ezra dipped his head. “Good. You’re on witch duty. I expect updates and names if things escalate beyond Pearl Pierce being a nuisance.” Both brothers nodded. “Dismissed.”
The Enforcers ran out of there before someone could ask any more questions. Ben stood in the same spot looking at his phone. Ezra braced his hands on the table ready to follow everyone else out.
“Hold up you two,” Ben murmured, not bothering to look up.
Ezekiel stood but didn’t move. He gestured to the clock on the wall. Ezra was well aware that the meeting had run late. So long as Ben didn’t lay into them for too long, they should be able to follow Ivy home.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed your extracurricular activities.” Ben snorted. “Hard to hide a big black wolf sitting outside an apartment building night after night.”
Neither brother said anything.
“I was planning on getting you two assigned to her as guards just so I can stop lying to people when they ask why two Enforcers keep sitting outside my girlfriend’s business for hours at a time.” He held his phone up and shook it. “Ivy left work early by the way so don’t bother heading that way.” Ben clicked a button and the screen lit up showing the time. “And I’ve bought Paul enough time to cool down so you guys won’t get jumped on Main Street. Don’t push him too much, he’s got a short fuse right now.”
Ezra glanced outside and saw Paul only just now walking away from the diner. That son of a bitch. Ezekiel moved to leave.
“Ivy is meeting with me tomorrow morning,” Ben called after them. “Eight a.m.”
Ezra followed Ezekiel down the street. Paul’s angry scent lingered in the air. Ezekiel didn’t bother stopping outside Chic Chick. He headed right to Ivy’s apartment. Ezra just followed behind.
“Are we going to catch shit from Paul?” Ezra wouldn’t normally ask but Paul was acting strange. He wasn’t the type to wait outside a diner to throw down. He wasn’t the type to throw down at all. He was an annoyingly happy guy.
Ezekiel shrugged. “This whole Betsy thing is making him crazy. He’s been a prick all week.” Ezekiel smirked. “That’s why Betsy finally banned him. He was being more annoying than usual.”
Ezra snorted. That was saying something. Paul annoyed Betsy at the best of times. He was madly in love with her but shit at interacting with her. His constant pranks and jokes drove the woman crazy. Eventually, she got fed up and went to culinary school out of state. Just to get away.
A few years ago, Betsy had moved back to take care of her step dad. Paul had been trying to win her over since. Too bad he hadn’t learned anything. He was still shit at trying to get Betsy to date him.
Ezekiel stopped outside the Winding Creek apartment complex. Ezra stood next to him. They both stared at apartment 201.
This late in November, the sun had already set. It was nearly dark and Ivy’s blinds were already drawn. That was normal, she always kept
them closed, but her lights were on. They watched her silhouette move around the kitchen. Neither of them said anything, they just watched.
“How did we not know how powerful she was?” Ezra sighed. He ran a hand over his tired eyes.
“She smelled like a null. We didn’t want to ask any questions and hear anything else.” Ezekiel didn’t take his eyes off of Ivy.
Ezra hated that he was right. They had known that Ivy was a witch that first day in the nursery. Away from Daniel’s, out in the open air, they had smelled the magic on her skin.
Witches who practiced magic smelled like an electrical storm. It was a strange scent that was more like a sensation. It buzzed along his senses.
With Ivy, it had been so faint that he had to lean in to get a better smell. She smelled like a storm that too far away to see. There was something there, he could feel it, but it was far off. There was no denying that she was a magic user, however little magic they could smell.
They both were idiots. They had talked about it and decided that she was a null. Born a witch yes, but unable to use magic. It happened frequently enough. Both of them had stopped asking questions after that.
“But she did smell like magic,” he wasn’t ready to cut them slack. They should have known better. They should have done some digging. They knew what was at stake.
Witches and shifters did not mix. They both used magic. Witches harnessed magic. Shifters were creatures of magic. One was finesse, one was raw power.
It took a lot of natural magic to transform shape. Ezra never felt like a magical being but he knew the power of shifting. There were fractions of witches who saw shifters as energy sources, not people. They kidnapped shifters and drained them of their magic. It killed the shifter.
That’s how their parents had died.
“I want her back.” The words were soft. The longing in Ezekiel’s voice hit Ezra in the gut.
He shifted and looked at his brother. He worried about Ezekiel. There were dark bags under his eyes. He had started dropping weight.
His gut twisted. He and Ezekiel were closer than brothers. Sometimes, they felt like one person in two bodies. He knew that Zeke was going through hell because he was right there with him.
His wolf rode him constantly. He hadn’t slept well in weeks. It was harder to get out of bed every morning. He had lost his appetite and he felt half crazy.
Three days after that morning in the kitchen when they decided to stop seeing Ivy, Ezra broke. He couldn’t hold onto his human skin any longer. He shifted and ran to Ivy’s apartment only to find Ezekiel had been camping out there since day one.
Ezra felt relieved the instant he saw him. He was happy that someone was protecting Ivy. Then, he got pissed. They had broken things off with her and for good reasons. They shouldn’t be sitting outside her apartment every night. Not that they stopped.
“Zeke,” he already felt exhausted, “she’s still a powerful witch. We still have Cassidy to think about. We’re still us.” Two men who had never gotten over their parents’ deaths. “Nothing’s changed.”
“You’re right. Nothing’s changed.” Ezekiel turned to face his brother head on. Zeke’s eyes had shifted. The stark pain staring back at him made Ezra’s heart drop. “All of those things are true and you’re right, nothing’s changed.” He pointed to Ivy’s window. “She’s still our mate. She’s still kind and sweet natured. Ivy hasn’t changed. I’ve watched her for eight weeks and she’s still the same person we dated. We just know more about her now.”
He closed his eyes and inhaled. Ezekiel’s misery overwhelmed him. Guilt prickled his gut. Ezra was ashamed. He had been so eaten up by his own problems he had ignored his brother’s pain.
Ezra took a step forward and put an arm on Ezekiel’s shoulder. They both took comfort in the contact. They were upset, sure, but they were still family. “I’m sorry, Zeke. I’ll just listen this time.” They clasped each other tight before letting go.
Ezekiel took a breath. “We dated her for over a year,” he kept going. “We were with her for days on end. We’ve seen her get yelled at by customers. We’ve seen her scared. She never did anything.” Ezekiel shook his head. “She has more self-control than most wolves.”
He looked at her front door. His voice became distant. “She had all that power inside of her and she never used it. A mob broke into her apartment. She could have fried them all-”
“-instead, she used it to run,” Ezra muttered.
He nodded. “She could have hurt them and it would have been justified. She didn’t.”
They didn’t say anything. A car passed by slowly. Neither of them bothered to see who it was. They kept staring at Ivy’s apartment.
After a while Ezra cleared his throat. “Witches killed our parents. How do you think Cassidy would react to a witch in the family?”
During their senior year of high school their parents went missing. They had been gone for almost two days when their Alpha, Steven Koch, had knocked on their front door. His face said it all. Their parents were dead and their Alpha didn’t want to cause problems with a Coven of witches that outnumbered them.
They’d packed up the house that night. In the morning, Ezra and Ezekiel had driven their crying sister west to a town that hated witches as much as they did.
The last thing he wanted to do was put her through more pain.
Ezra shivered. The cold was starting to seep in through his coat but that wasn’t what made him shudder. He always hated remembering that night. It still made his hackles rise.
“I…,” Ezekiel exhaled. He ran a finger under the band of his watch. It was a nervous tick he had picked up recently. “I don’t think we’re giving Cassidy enough credit. Ivy’s not like those other witches. If they met, Cassidy would be able to see that.” Ezekiel promised.
“I’m so fucking happy you think that, but what will Cassidy think when we introduce her to her new family member, the witch who blew the hell out of a Pack of rogues?” He was positive it wouldn’t make her feel safe.
Ezekiel’s shoulders dropped. He turned and looked Ezra dead in the eyes. “I can’t keep this up, Ra. I’m in limbo. My mate is right there and I might as well be on a different continent. It’s killing me.” The bleakness in Ezekiel's eyes tore into Ezra. He knew that feeling. He was experiencing that feeling. “Please. We’ve got to decide: is she ours or are we letting her go?”
He felt so fucking torn. Ivy was his mate. He could feel his wolf’s anxiety, being away from her. He wanted to be with her so badly, it hurt.
He was petrified. What if they were wrong? What if they hurt Cassidy and Ivy?
“I-I can’t let someone into our lives, our family’s life, if there’s a chance they could hurt us. I-” he took a shuttered breath, “I can’t go through it again. Even if it means losing our mate,” Ezra shifted uncomfortably. He could smell his own fear.
Ezekiel took Ezra in for a second before he nodded. “I would never ask you to do that. I don’t want anyone hurting our family either.” He gave Ezra a pleading look. “I just want to try again. Give this an honest chance. That’s what I’m asking.”
His heart clenched. Zeke was right. He wanted to start over more honestly. Starting with his brother. His heart pounded. “What if I can’t and you...” he trailed off. He couldn’t even say it.
He was scared that this would split them apart. He was scared that when the time came, Ezekiel would move forward with Ivy, without him. That they wouldn’t see eye to eye on this one thing and it would cost him everything.
Ezekiel set his hand on Ezra’s shoulder. He squeezed. “I love you. Whatever happens, that won’t change. We’re family.”
He heard the truth in his brother’s voice. Something inside of him relaxed. He felt settled for the first time in a long time.
He smiled and clapped Ezekiel on the shoulder. “I love you, too.” They stepped back and Ezra ran a hand across the back of his neck, glad to have that finished. He held up the keys. “Hey, could you cover with
Cass for me? I want to stick around a little longer.”
Ezekiel nodded. He took one last look at Ivy’s window before he stripped out of his clothes and shifted. His wolf chuffed once before heading towards home.
Ezra didn’t bat an eye at his brother getting naked in the middle of the street. Most of the people in town wouldn’t either. Hard to be shy about nudity when you lose your clothes every time you shift. He picked up Ezekiel’s clothes and settled in to watch Ivy’s apartment.
Chapter Three
Ivy stood in front of Ben’s desk in the Pack house ready to share what she’d learned about the spell Grace had found. She had been standing there for nearly two minutes and had yet to really start talking. She was too distracted.
“I, uh...I think I’ve found…” Ivy stopped again. “I’m sorry but what are they doing here?”
Ben’s black eyebrows furrowed, “Who?” He seemed genuinely confused by Ivy’s question.
Ben Thompson was young for an Alpha. He looked like he was in his thirties, but she could never tell with werewolves. He had a head of thick dark hair and a body that looked like it could do serious work. His mouth was lined from smiling. His roguish good looks paired with his positive nature put most people at ease.
It did not work on Ivy though. She’d met Ben while his Pack was under attack. She knew what he could do to a rogue wolf.
She turned to the side giving Ben a perfect view of the two fools standing in the back of the room.
“What are they doing here?” Ivy bit out again.
“Oh, them. I almost forgot you two were here.” Ben smiled at the Tate twins.
Ezra and Ezekiel Tate looked like they didn’t seem bothered by Ivy’s accusatory tone. She glared at them. It was bad enough that she had to see them at all. Having them invite themselves to her meeting with Ben was taking things too far.
To make things worse, she was the only one who appeared flustered by their presence.
Both brothers were leaning against the back wall like they didn’t have a care in the world. They were wearing worn dark wash jeans and thick soled boots. Ezra had a thick flannel shirt on, not bothering with a jacket despite the cold weather. Ezekiel had taken the opposite approach. He was wearing the thinnest white t-shirt Ivy had ever seen. Ivy squinted. She swore she could see chest hair. He had thrown a black leather jacket over it.
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