Page 19

Mateo

When Mateo finally returned home, the house was dark and quiet, but it wasn’t empty. He could feel the others there. He wasn’t looking forward to confronting them, but spending the last week in the truck hadn’t been great. Yes, it was close to her but so fucking uncomfortable.

He opened the fridge and let out a frustrated groan.

It was empty. Neither of the fuckers had even cared to buy food while he’d been gone.

At least they’d thrown out the spoiled vegetables.

Annoyed out of his mind, he moved on to the freezer and settled on a frozen pizza.

He topped it with whatever he could find, then turned his attention to the rest of the house once his dinner was in the oven.

The table was still littered with the vampire’s books, letters, and maps that had been marked at certain points.

He started filling a glass with soda when Vince entered the room, grabbing his own pizza from the freezer.

He stuck it in the oven without toppings like a neanderthal.

Mateo could feel that he had questions, but Vince didn’t say a word.

He was dying inside to know how his mate was.

He was most quiet when he truly wanted to ask a question.

It was what he’d learned, what he’d been conditioned to do.

And right now, Mateo was too bothered by him to answer unspoken questions.

Vince stayed silent through the meal, only speaking once the dishes were cleared and Mateo was starting the dishwasher. He leaned against the island and looked down at his feet. “Did you see her?”

“Yes.” Mateo didn’t care if his words came out snappy. He was still fuming with what they’d done.

He walked off but before he could climb the stairs, Vince asked another question. “How is she?”

“Upset.”

He took another step, but the quiver in Vince’s voice stopped him in his tracks. “What did she say?”

“What do you think she said? She’s angry and now the alpha’s heir wants the two of you dead.”

“They can fucking try,” Ezra dared from the top of the stairs.

Mateo had to restrain himself when he saw that stupid cocky grin on the psycho’s face. “You will not set foot near Brighton again.”

Ezra opened his mouth to protest but Vince silenced him. “You will stay far away from Brighton.”

“Suddenly best friends again, huh?” Ezra snarled. “Oh yeah, it’s always two against one.”

“Because we’re sick and tired of cleaning after your fuck ups.”

“Picture perfect you. Here come the heroes saving the day.” But without the fight Mateo expected, Ezra turned and disappeared into his cave.

Mateo finished climbing the stairs to his own room and fell on his bed, where he passed out with dreams of holding sweet, soft Scarlett in his arms.

They didn’t talk to each other for another week.

Not that they talked much on a daily basis anyway, but Mateo had kept his interactions with both Vince and Ezra to the bare minimum.

“Family meals” as they’d grown to call them ceased to exist, and the other two were left to fend for themselves.

Neither of them cared, but the childish act was Mateo’s way of protesting.

Scarlett didn’t call for them, nor did she text. It was hard to stay away from her, especially after having spent days at a time as close to her as he could get. Part of him knew it was for the best. Her pack was raging, and he’d been lucky not having been caught lingering in their proximity.

He sighed, thinking his presence had been just as stupid as Ezra’s attack.

He should’ve known that her family would lose it, but he hadn’t been thinking clearly at all.

Of course, no one ever thought the enemy was just around the corner.

They were probably trying to find them through hunters they actually knew—like the Magnolia family.

He knew they’d been behind the article about Scarlett, so naturally her father would assume they were behind the kidnapping and Ezra’s attack too.

Mateo’s thoughts were interrupted by the smell of garlic creeping through the cracks of his closed door.

Curious, he went downstairs and found Vince in the kitchen, stirring tomato sauce on the stove.

The smell must have been the garlic bread in the oven.

Ezra was setting the counter with bowls and glasses.

He stared at them for a moment, then turned to go back upstairs. If this was their version of an apology, they would have to do better.

“Stay,” Ezra barked.

Mateo looked at his friend and cocked his eyebrow, seeing Vince fill their bowls.

“I’m in the fucking kitchen what else do you want?” Ezra mumbled.

“You’re only doing that because you ran out of frozen foods and want me to cook again because you hate grocery shopping.”

“Sit. Down,” Ezra growled between his clenched teeth.

“Please,” Vince pleaded, setting three bowls on the counter.

Please? Guess he had to sit down and eat with them after all.

While Ezra broke the bread and shared out the pieces, Mateo dug in, twisting the spaghetti onto his fork. He was usually the one forcing them to sit down for a meal. They’d had their arguments before, but never this deep or severe.

When the phone— Scarlett’s phone—started ringing they all jumped and stared at Vince who handed it over to Mateo.

“Scarlett,” he answered out of breath.

“Are you alone?”

“No.”

“Give the phone to him.”

He knew right away which one of them she meant and handed the phone to Ezra. To their surprise, he put it on speaker. “Princess.”

“You’re a jerk. You’re a fucking asshole. I have one friend in this world. One! And you went and burned his face.” Ezra smirked brighter with each word that came out of her mouth, loving her ferocity. “And now I never get to see him because he’s out there hunting for you! A fucking psycho.”

“He is? Does your pretty friend have any leads?”

Scarlett ignored the question and barked out her next command. “Put Vince on.”

Ezra chuckled to himself and handed the phone to Scarlett’s next victim. “Scarlett.”

“You could have killed him! Next time, bring a leash and make sure not to let Ezra off of it!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why would you follow Kurt anyway? Don’t you have better things to do?”

“We weren’t following him. We didn’t know he was there. We only went into that shop to grab supplies for you.”

Scarlett fell silent. “What?” she questioned, a little calmer.

“You said you liked drawing.”

“I do.”

“I thought you’d like some supplies for when you come home to us.”

There was a longer pause. Mateo would’ve given anything to see her visible reaction to Vince’s words. “I still hate you.”

“You’re allowed to.”

“I hate you,” she repeated, though a little softer this time. It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself of the words.

“Are you alone?” Mateo asked, not wanting the conversation to lull down.

“Dad is in the office, Mom is with her friends, and Maximilian is at the club.”

“Princess,” Ezra purred.

“ Don’t talk to me,” she snapped, and Ezra loved it—loved this side of her.

Ezra nodded and rested his elbows on the counter with his chin on his hands, dreamy, black eyes resting on the phone. That was the face of a man who’d just met the love of his life.

“Suddenly he’s tame as a puppy,” Mateo chuckled.

“So all I had to do was to tell him not to hurt my friends? Great,” she mumbled.

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Scarlett sighed, and it sounded so defeated that it cracked Mateo’s heart wide open. “What is on your mind, love?”

“A lot.”

“You can always talk to us.”

“I know.”

“But you don’t want to.” He could hear the silent war she was fighting. The one between her deeply-rooted loyalty to her pack, and the connection from the mate bond. She wasn’t just anyone, after all. She was an alpha’s daughter. “It’s okay.”

“Clearly not, because then my mates wouldn’t be wandering around town strangling my best friend out of jealousy.”

Mateo caught Ezra opening his mouth out of the corner of his eye. “I believe Ezra would like to say something.”

“Of course he does.”

“He’s waiting for permission.”

“What is it, Ezra?”

“Why him?”

“You want to know why Kurt is my friend?”

“Yes.”

“Will it help you be nicer?”

“Highly unlikely.”

“Shame.” Just like that, the harsh tone was back.

“Maybe one day you can tell us,” Mateo offered.

“Yes, maybe.”

“Scarlett,” Vince hummed, unable to stay silent any longer.

“Vince.” Though she clearly wanted to sound cold, she audibly enjoyed saying his name.

“We are sorry.”

“Try that again.”

“ I am sorry. I didn’t go there to hurt your friend, and I didn’t mean to make you worry about him either.”

“I’m not sure if I’m ready to forgive you.”

“You don’t have to.”

Then she dropped her voice, seemingly afraid to say her next words out loud. “You shouldn’t come back.”

Mateo sighed. He knew she was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. “We know.”

“But you’ll come anyway.”

“We will stay away as much as we can, but Vince still has customers in Brighton that he needs to deliver to. Ezra, however, won’t set foot within city limits.”

“Because I’m so terrified of the big bad wolves,” Ezra teased.

“Fine, do what you want, Ezra,” she snapped, instantly enraged once more. “You two won’t save his stupid behind this time.”

Then she was gone.

“His behind,” Ezra echoed in a high-pitched voice. “She has to fucking grow up.”

Mateo rolled his eyes while Vince helped himself to another portion of food.

But deep down, they could feel that Ezra was content.

Maybe she was a match for him after all.

He clearly enjoyed her growing dominant side.

It was probably her alpha genes that she’d suppressed and were now showing, and Mateo couldn’t wait to see more of that as their relationship grew.