Shaking my head at Angie’s strange behavior, I wander inside to find Mateo sitting on the couch. Maddox sits on the floor beside him, staring up at him while Mateo side-eyes him, they seem to be having some sort of stand-off. When I walk in, Maddox turns his head to look at me, and I raise an eyebrow at him. It is so unlike him to be so clingy, and I am not sure I like it, he doesn’t feel like our normal grouchy wolf.
I sit beside Mateo on the lounge, and Maddox lugs his huge body up and sprawls across our laps. “I swear, he thinks he is a lapdog,” Mateo complains, trying to get comfortable under his weight. Maddox growls at his words but flops down, his body running the entire length of the couch, his tail hanging off the end.
“You know you’re heavy, right?” I accuse him, but he just whines at me, licking my neck.
“What did Angie want?” Mateo asks, resting his neck onto the back of the couch.
“She wanted Ezra’s signature for the death certificate. I signed it for him, and she was dropping it back in for me.”
“Yeah, Ezra is going to take that pretty hard when he comes back, he has always tried to make sure he wasn’t like his father,” Mateo tells me, and I nod. Mateo stares up at the ceiling, a complicated expression on his face. I almost have the feeling he is upset that he can’t protect Ezra from this reality when it hits him.
Maddox hops off the couch and I watch as he slogs upstairs. “Think he is alright?” I ask Mateo.
“I think it’s because of the topic,” Mateo observes, watching Maddox’s furry body disappear up the stairs.
“He isn’t like his father, I have heard a bit about him, but Ezra doesn’t really like talking about him,” I object.
“Nobody does, he was a piece of shit. His wolf was just as bad, you think Maddox is bad sometimes? He’s got nothing on his father’s wolf. That bastard didn’t care if they were women or children, he would kill them when he got out. I swear his father let him out on purpose just to scare the pack. He used to use Ezra as a punching bag when he was a kid, and would make him train against his wolf before he even had one. My dad got ripped apart a few times trying to save him from his father’s insane beast. No child should be forced to train against a wolf, especially one that has no control,” Mateo snarls.
I nod in agreement, I hated training against my mother’s wolf when I was in Jackson’s pack, let alone thinking about being a child trying to fend one-off.
“When Ezra killed him, it was like everyone could finally breathe again. We were no longer walking on eggshells, the entire pack stepped up to help him run it until he could do it on his own,” Mateo explains. We sit in silence for a few moments, listening to Maddox pacing around upstairs.
“What did Andrei have to say before we woke up? You should have woken us when he got here, Kat, that was pretty reckless of you going to meet him on your own,” Mateo scolds, turning to face me.
I shrug. “Just that my dad abandoned him and his mom then left them as rogues for his mates, and that Anthony, who was my mother Katherine’s other mate, raised him,” I explain.
“Just when we think there are no more secrets your family has left to hide,” Mateo sighs.
I couldn’t agree more. As much as I still missed mom, it doesn’t take away that her and dad had an entire life before they had me and had screwed a lot of people over. “Yeah, it makes me wonder if everything was a lie, I just can’t believe he would abandon his kid. What a kick in the guts that would have been for Andrei, I am surprised he doesn’t hate me because dad left him and made a new family.”
Mateo nods. “He may have in the beginning. However, he seems genuine enough now. I looked over those scrolls, we will need to give them to Mathias. He speaks a few different languages. He should be able to interpret them for us.”
Up above us I noted the pounding of water running in the shower. I look to the ceiling. “Ezra must have control again,” I whisper to Mateo, who also looks up, hearing the old pipes rattle throughout the packhouse.
Mateo sighs heavily. “I will go get dinner, you should check on him,” Mateo suggests.
“Wait, you’re leaving?”
“Yes, now that I know Ezra is back, and Maddox won’t lose it. Besides, I need to go check patrols and drop these to Mathias, I doubt Ezra will feel up to it. I will bring dinner home, go check on our mate,” Mateo gently orders, getting up. He grabs the scrolls off the coffee table before bending down and brushing his lips against mine. “Make sure he is alright, I will be back soon,” Mateo grabs his keys from the hall stand and walks out the door.
I stare up at the ceiling, listening to the pounding water from the shower. I head upstairs and wait on the bed for him to come out. Through the bond his emotions are in total disarray and I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to help him. Ten minutes later the water shuts off and the door cracks open. A burst of steam flows out and Ezra steps out in just a towel.
“You’re back,” I greet him, and he nods, stalking off into the closet. I follow him, leaning on the door frame watching him. “Are you ok?”
“Drop it, we don’t need to talk about it,” Ezra insists, and I sigh.
“Mateo went to check patrols, he said he will grab us dinner on his way home.”
Ezra nods but doesn’t say anything else, he just gets dressed in shorts and a shirt and steps past me. I follow, only for him to walk into his office and shut the door in my face. I twist the handle but find it locked.
I press my lips in a line before walking to the kitchen. Clearly, he wants to be left alone. “He locked himself in his office,” I mindlink Mateo.
“Figured he would. Just leave him be, I will try to be quick,” Mateo mindlinks back.
“Ok, see you when you get home,” I sigh before cutting off the link. After speaking to Mateo, I pad to the kitchen to make coffee before mindlinking Ezra. “Coffee?” I ask him, but I get no reply, even though I can feel him listening before he closes the link. I refocus on making my own when my phone vibrates on the kitchen counter from where I left it last night. Picking it up, I see a text message from a number I don’t recognize before realizing it is Andrei.
Andrei: It will be lunchtime tomorrow. Had something come up with my mom
Me: Ok, how did you get my number?
Andrei: Am I not allowed my sister’s number? Asked Mateo for it. Now you have mine.
Me: No, of course, you can have it, I just didn’t recognize the number, I will see you tomorrow then, hope everything is ok?
Andrei: Yep, she is a tough old duck, see you at lunchtime.
I place the phone down before making my coffee.