The wiggles blare through the CD player as soon as he starts it. Ezra quickly shuts it off, yet Mateo still hums the fruit salad song as he pulls out of the driveway.
Marge chuckles to herself while Ezra looks for a radio station to shut him up. Finding one he likes, Mateo pouts and mutters under his breath, earning a smack in the chest from Ezra.
“It is bad enough I have to watch the wiggles on repeat, I don’t need you humming it while they are asleep,” Ezra hisses at him.
“Driver controls the stereo,” Mateo growls back at Ezra.
“No way, I am pulling rank here. I am not listening to that crap,” he huffs.
Marge and I laugh at their bickering, but halfway there, both kids start screaming. Ezra looks on the verge of jumping from the moving car, while Marge and I try to settle them.
“Don’t you dare!” Ezra growls, and I glance over at them to see Mateo turn the CD on.
The wiggles start blasting from the stereo, and both kids slowly calm down as Mateo sings along and does the actions while driving. Ezra mumbles something I can’t quite hear and shakes his head. If I have to guess, I will say it has to be something about killing someone and pity that he can’t kill his own mate.
“Either you listen to the screaming or the wiggles,” Mateo taunts him, and Ezra gives up.
We have to drive into the city for the Alpha meeting, it is the only place with a big enough hall to fit all the Alphas from all over in it. The drive takes us two hours and then another thirty minutes, stuck in the horrendous bumper-to-bumper traffic before we pull up to a stadium, which I am not expecting.
Katya
“I thought it was that museum place,” I mutter to no one in particular as my eyes scan the monstrous thing before us.
“Dominic moved it,” Ezra supplies, a little too calmly for my liking.
I glance at Mateo. His eyes dart to mine and he quickly looks away, I can feel his nerves a mile away. It’s clear he is worried because we are here.
It takes all but a moment until the realization hits me, and my eyes widen in shock. “He is going to challenge me, isn’t he?” The question is instinct.
“Yes, that’s why it is here.” Ezra nods.
“You said he may. If he had every intention of challenging me all along, why didn’t you say something?” I try to keep my voice low and even in an attempt to not startle the kids. In reality, all I want is to fucking strangle Ezra for keeping this from me.
He led me to believe it was just a possibility, a maybe at best, but this is a certainty.
Ezra rolls his eyes as if he is talking to an annoying child. “Because we both knew you would panic, but you will be fine, Kat. We won’t put you in a situation we feel is unsafe.”
“Unsafe? What part of being challenged is safe?” I raise my voice just a little. It should be enough for both Ezra and Mateo to understand how far they have crossed the line by not telling me this information.
Ever since all this bullshit came crashing down in flames, these two are proving themselves to be unworthy of my trust. They are my mates, they are supposed to stay on my side and be honest with me. But no, they act like I am a nut case that will harm our kids and now they’re holding back vital information I am entitled to, especially considering it all revolves around me. I didn’t even get a chance to prepare for this shit.
“Calm down, this is why we didn’t tell you,” Ezra grumbles.
I shoot him a warning glare. “I wouldn’t need to calm down if you had told me. The pair of you hide shit from me day in and day out, and I’m sick and tired of it. I thought we are supposed to be equal in this shit, but you never tell me anything until the last minute.”
“We don’t want to worry you, that is why,” Mateo tries to appease me as he turns in his seat. Without waiting for an answer, he hops out of the car to help Marge get the kids out.
What part of this aren’t they understanding? They wouldn’t agree with me hiding crap from them. “IT WORRIES ME THAT YOU FEEL THE NEED TO KEEP THINGS FROM ME,” I scream at them as Ezra shoves his door open. He leans back in, shooting me a glare.
“Not here, Kat, we can argue about it when we get home,” Ezra lectures as he scans the other cars pulling up. Is he fucking for real now? “When we get home, not here,” Ezra snaps when I go to argue with him.
“I am not a child,” I snap right back at him.
“Then stop acting like one. You are about to take on the Alpha of Alphas, and you want to have a tantrum in the car over us not telling you something? We told you that the title might be challenged. We didn’t lie to you because the venue wasn’t changed until last night. That’s when we knew Dominic was planning on fighting to keep his title,” Ezra snarls at me.
Is it really that damn much to ask, to have your own mates be honest with you, instead of hiding every little detail from you? Besides, while I was freaking out in the bedroom, both of them had more than plenty of time to tell me what was going on. Hell, we had a whole car ride and an entire CD’s worth of Wiggle songs for them to have told me.
And yet, they remained silent. They kept this away from me, being well aware they were forcing me into danger. They were missing the entire point of my argument which is that they hid this from me.
“But you still didn’t say anything. You could have fucking told me,” I tell him.
“What difference would it have made, Kat? It wouldn’t change anything, it would have just caused you unnecessary stress, and you wouldn’t have slept,” Ezra snipes, shutting the door, and opening the back door. I look away from him, unable to face the man who calls himself my mate, yet disrespects me like I’m nothing but dirt under his feet.
“Now, Kat! Do not make a scene here,” Ezra growls when Marge leans in on her side to grab the blanket off the floor.
“He is right, love. Come on, you three need to look united. It doesn’t look good if you go in there arguing,” Marge gently fusses at me.
I sigh and get out of the car. I am furious at Ezra and Mateo, however, Marge is right.
I am never informed of anything until the last minute. Even when I was put on meds, I assumed the appointment was for the kids until I heard my name called instead of theirs. I thought it was weird, though, that Ezra insisted on me coming to that appointment and even canceled his meetings for it.