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Mateo rolled his eyes. “No. But maybe no killing streaks while she’s around.”

“She knows who and what we are.”

“Doesn’t mean she needs to see it.”

“Fucking princess.”

“You adore your little princess. It’s not her fault for being raised the way she was.”

“Fine,” Ezra groaned. “No killing in front of her.”

Mateo crooked his brow. “That was too easy.”

“Get out.”

“I don’t want to. Can’t sleep.”

“And why the fuck is that my problem?”

“Because I’m making it your problem. You’re the fucker whose mind is keeping me awake.”

“Like you don’t miss her.”

“I do, but your storm of hate and love is making my head hurt.”

“Then fuck off.”

“I’m not going to drive hours away just to sleep.”

“Then don’t. I really don’t care.” Ezra turned back to the map and fell into his cycle again.

“I’m still wondering what it’ll feel like to be fully bonded with her. To know what she’s thinking at any given time.”

Ezra shrugged but unlike Mateo, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted her to be in his head. Shit , there were days he didn’t want to be in his own head.

“You’re worried,” Mateo stated.

“Fuck off.”

“Why would you be worried? She’s your mate.”

“Yeah, with two others to choose from whenever she pleases. You really think she’ll want to hear my thoughts? You and Vince can barely stand it. What do you think it’ll be like for her?”

“It’s different with mate bonds. Their goddess created you for her.”

“You really believe a stupid goddess made a woman catered to me ? I thought I was the crazy one.”

“You are, but yes, I believe it.”

Ezra whirled around to stare at his friend. “Women don’t stay around because they like my personality. They want a good fuck and then piss off when they can’t handle what they see.”

“Because they weren’t the right one for you.”

“You said it yourself: she’s sheltered, a fucking clueless child.

She can barely look at me and even a blind idiot could see that she favours you two over me.

I scare the shit out of her. What makes you think she could love this?

” He gestured to himself, knowing far too well that women only came for him because they wanted to fuck a psycho for the thrill.

“She just needs to warm up to you.”

“Warm up to me?” he barked. “You and Vince had years to warm up to me and you still despise me.”

“I mean you are a lot to handle, but you have your sweet spots.”

“Piss off before I cut that pretty face of yours.”

Before either of them could make a move, Vince stepped in, his calm aura taking over the tension in the room. “She was pleased with your gift.”

“She only took that damn pendant because she had no other choice.”

“No, she took it because she liked it,” Vince argued. “And if you would look past your self-hatred, you’d see it too. She’s done something to you that no other woman has done before. You’re calmer and kinder to yourself when she is around.”

He stared at Vince, trying to decipher what he was trying to achieve with his words. Unlike Mateo, Ezra hadn’t had a close friendship with Vince. Some might even say that Mateo and Ezra didn’t have a close one either, but Mateo had been the closest to a friend Ezra had ever had.

“She will never love all three of us the same,” Vince continued. “She will love each of us differently. Some days she will prefer one over the other, but that doesn’t mean she will think any less of either of us.”

Though Vince’s words sounded plausible, Ezra knew deep down that Scarlett would always despise the part of him that enjoyed killing.

He loved inflicting pain as much as he did receiving it.

She would always flee into their arms for safety and not his.

She would seek out their security because he would be the one to cause her distress.

He turned away from them, unable and unwilling to speak about this further.

Of course, part of him wanted to fall for her—on some level, he already had—but another, much larger part knew she would only hurt him.

And the pain of her constant rejection was nothing he wanted to experience.

He welcomed physical pain, needed it, craved it, but the agony he’d felt when she’d walked away from him was the bane of his existence.

Because he spent all night awake Ezra slept through most of the next day.

He awoke with a start when Vince poked him and commanded that he help drop off one of his custom pieces in Brighton.

Mateo was out for his weekly grocery hunt, determined to keep both him and Vince healthy with all the shit he bought.

Ezra was a junk food lover, but Mateo had different ideas.

As long as he didn’t have to cook, Ezra was happy to roll with the punches.

Mateo’s cooking wasn’t bad , it was actually pretty amazing, but sometimes Ezra craved the greasiest burger he could get his hands on.

After leaving the customer, Vince didn’t head home straight away. Instead, he stopped at an art supply shop and it took a moment for Ezra to realise why. “Ah, yes, the little princess is artistic,” he chuckled, following Vince inside.

As they browsed the aisles, Ezra figured out that Vince was clearly as clueless about all of this as he was. Did she paint on canvases? If she did what kind of paint? Fuck there were so many.

When Ezra turned into the next aisle he froze, and a grin curled his lips. The warrior who had been buying his princess ice-cream stood just a few feet away. All by his lonesome.

Or maybe not.

“They don’t have the one you wrote down.” He paused, crouching down to look at the lower shelves. “They do. Do you want all the other pencils from this brand too or just the one that is missing?”

Ah, was that their little princess on the other end of the phone? It seemed to be. Ezra leaned against the shelf at the other end of the aisle, putting his hands in his pockets and propping his foot against the lower shelves.

“Okay. Are you sure that’s all you need?”

Ezra felt sick when the man chuckled at her response.

That was his woman at the other end of the line.

He wanted to be the one talking to her and spoiling her with her supplies—not that fucking prick of a street dog.

Not only would Ezra spoil her rotten; he’d never leave the store without buying her whatever her little heart desired.

The dog rose to his full height and reached for something, sliding his phone into his pocket.

“I heard our little princess is artsy,” Ezra taunted, amused when the dog flinched and spun on his heel. “I wonder what she draws late at night when no one is looking.”

The dog’s jaw muscles twitched under his skin. He roughly stuffed the boxes he’d held back onto the shelf, marched towards Ezra, and wrapped a hand around his throat. Ezra chuckled, unfazed.

“Fucking, bastard. You took her, didn’t you?”

“Let’s make one thing very clear, pup. I was conceived in wedlock.”

“I will fucking kill you for touching her.”

“You’ll have to get in line, big boy. So many have wished death upon me.” He closed his fist around the silver dust in his pockets. “But who could say no to her? She’s such a perfect little princess.”

Intending to say more, he only gasped when the dog clenched his fist, obstructing Ezra’s airway.

Ezra pulled his hand free, releasing the silver.

The moment it touched the dog, the smell of burning flesh singed Ezra’s nostrils.

The warrior hissed like a baby, attempting to clear his face but only making it worse.

That was Vince’s cue. He wrapped his belt around the prick’s neck and pulled tight from behind. The dog tried to fight, but Ezra dusted more silver over him, like sprinkles on a donut. In seconds, the man fell unconscious and Vince and Ezra fled the shop.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Vince hissed, red in the face and angry to a point that Ezra had never seen.

“The store has no cameras.”

Vince slammed the door and let the tires squeal as he raced out of the parking lot. He didn’t say a word, only sped down the highway like someone with nothing to lose. Ezra, however, was quite happy with himself though. No one touched his woman without suffering the consequences.

Vince disappeared into his workshop the second they were home, while Mateo stopped Ezra in his tracks with a hand on his shoulder.

“What happened?”

“We had a little fun.”

“Ezra,” Mateo growled, his nails digging through the thin fabric of his shirt and into his flesh. “What happened?”

So, he told him.

The second Mateo knew, he slammed his fist into Ezra’s jaw. Ezra only grinned, blood filling his mouth. “If he buys her supplies, he is her friend.” Another fist hit him by his temple, sending a shock of pain through his head. “You heard what she said, she barely has any.”

Mateo landed blow after blow into Ezra’s body until he laid on the porch, blood streaming over his face.

Part of him knew he deserved it, because he remembered the pain in her voice when she’d confided in them about how lonely she was.

Then again, if that was true and that dog was her friend, he was spending time with his woman.

Scarlett was theirs.