Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
A laric
Alaric was worried as he drove down the driveway to the house where Ezra had grown up. All his magical senses were on full alert, but he was more concerned about Ezra, who’d grown increasingly more silent with every mile. Alaric didn’t blame him. His family was messed up. And every protective instinct he had made him want to turn the vehicle back around rather than expose someone he’d come to care about to their obvious disdain.
The home came into view, and he raised a brow. Imposing gray brick surrounded a three-story mansion that even boasted turrets. Solid double doors were at the top of the longest set of front porch stairs he’d ever seen. Beautiful trees surrounded the eyesore, like nature was doing its best to cover up the ugly in its midst.
He glanced at Ezra to find him staring pensively at the house, sweat shining over his upper lip. If Alaric had a choice, Ezra would never step foot in this house again. But he had to agree with the man. His mother would probably know more, and they desperately needed answers.
Ezra let out a heavy sigh. “Just like with Ezekiel, be ready and guard yourself. My mother is not friendly unless your last name fits in with her idea of proper high society. She’s from the dark ages, just like this house she chose.”
“I’m more concerned with you. We don’t have to do this.”
Ezra gave him one of those rare, sweet smiles that made Alaric’s heart flutter. “Yeah, we do. I don’t want to spend my life running from the invisible man. We have important dating to do after all.”
Alaric couldn’t resist leaning over the console to give Ezra a kiss. “Just remember, I’m with you.”
They got out and walked up the ridiculous number of stairs, only to have the front door open as they reached it. A properly suited butler ushered them inside. He said nothing as he took Ezra’s coat.
“How are you, Edward?” Ezra asked as he blew on his cold hands and rubbed them together.
“I’m good, Mr. Forsberg. I’ve already told your mother of your arrival.” He led them into a formal living room.
Ezra nodded. “Thanks.”
The inside of the house was decorated in the most ostentatious color scheme Alaric had ever seen. Red and gold everywhere. Lots of gold. Even the curtains and most of the furniture. Red throw pillows with gold embroidery were strategically placed around the room—but not for comfort because the furniture was that modern type with all sharp edges and little stuffing.
A woman in a gray pantsuit, who had to be Ezra’s mother, strolled into the room, frowning. “Hello, Ezra. I’m surprised to see you since you didn’t call.”
“I thought the element of surprise would work in my favor. I need to talk to you, Mother.” He put his hand on Alaric’s arm. “This is my friend, Alaric.”
“Alaric what?”
“Denman,” Alaric said, knowing that would do nothing for her. His parents had once been a part of high society, but had quietly moved into the background to better be out of the spotlight since they didn’t age.
“I don’t know any Denmans,” she murmured as she took a seat on one of the uncomfortable-looking couches. She had iron gray hair in a stylish bob and wore heels despite being home alone. Her gray pantsuit was perfectly pressed, and she had a red scarf around her neck that matched her lipstick. Not one hair was out of place.
Ezra sat on the couch across from her and rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “I need to know about my father’s enemies. Someone is after me, Mother. Trying to kill me.”
“Kill you?”
Alaric watched her closely. Alarm had started spinning through his chest. She didn’t seem at all upset or worried and, in fact, didn’t seem surprised at all. He narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, kill me. There’ve been two attempts already and whoever is doing this is willing to pay a lot of money to see it happen. Everyone knew I wasn’t involved in Father’s business, and it turns out it wasn’t Brian.”
“How do you know it wasn’t Brian?”
“Because I confronted him, and he was never able to fake surprise. Surprise that you don’t seem to have, I might point out.” Ezra had gone white as a sheet. “Why aren’t you shocked?”
“I am surprised, but not shocked. But I don’t believe it wasn’t Brian. Who else stands to gain from your death? You’re still married.” Her eyes flicked to Alaric. “Did he tell you he was still married? Because I’m not buying this friend explanation. It’s obvious you two are more.”
“That’s right,” Alaric said. “We are more. In addition to being his bodyguard, I’ve come to care for Ezra.”
She smirked. “That’s surprising.”
Pure hatred burned a quick hole in his chest. To stand here, knowing the man he loved was hearing that from his own parent? He was braced, body taut, because her lack of surprise told him all he needed to know.
His heart broke for Ezra.
“Did you know that Brian was involved in human trafficking?” Ezra asked his mother. “Was my father also involved in that?”
She waved her hand. “I never paid attention to all your father’s business dealings.”
“That’s not a business, Mother, that’s people. Actual, living, breathing people, whose lives were completely taken away from them. It’s sickening. And if Father was a part of that business, I need to know. Brian is going to prison for a long, long time. I made sure of that. But if it wasn’t Brian after me, then it has to do with something involving my father. The price on my head is too high to be anything else.”
“And apparently, that price wasn’t high enough.”
Alaric inwardly cursed when Ezra’s brother stepped into the room. He had two shifters by his side, both massive werewolves, and a wicked long knife in his hand. Alaric began gathering magic in preparation to fight them all.
“You’re not killing him here, Ezekiel,” Ezra’s mother said, her bored expression hardly changing.
Ezra’s sheet-white face went impossibly paler. “Mom?” he whispered.
She gave Ezra one empty glance before she stood and smoothed her hands down her jacket. “I want nothing to do with this.” It was all she said before she left the room.
Alaric felt utterly shattered for Ezra, but he couldn’t afford to look at him again since both shifters were watching him closely, their bodies coiled tight—ready to attack. They knew what he was while Ezekiel still thought him a human bodyguard. He was surprised to see the shifters working for him—werewolves were generally very upstanding preternaturals with a strong sense of honor. Ezekiel must be paying these two a fortune. Alaric could smell no pack bond on them, so they must have had enough incentive to leave their pack.
“You’re the one,” Ezra said, his voice shaking, and Alaric knew it was from complete devastation that his own family had turned so far against him. “This was about money? But Ezekiel, you stand to inherit so much on your own. Why would you need mine?”
Ezekiel stepped in front of the shifters, gaze just briefly flicking to Alaric before he sneered at his brother. “Because you don’t deserve it. And now that you’ve taken out a good portion of my income, I’ll be needing more.”
“Your income?” Ezra shot to his feet. “You mean Brian’s business? You were working with him? How long, Ezekiel? Because if you worked with him, you worked with our father. How long were you a part of our father’s world?”
“The whole time, you ridiculous moron. We kept my involvement carefully hidden, but you lived here. Should have been aware.” Ezekiel shook his head. “So. Fucking. Blind. So Father didn’t think me weak, like you. He started teaching me the business when I turned twelve. I made my first kill at fourteen. By eighteen, I was his partner while you were off taking photos with your silly camera. You were, and always have been, a mistake.”
Alaric was going to enjoy killing this man.
Ezra was shaking with anger and grief, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “You didn’t expect me to be in the will at all, did you? You were just as surprised as I was when it was read to us.”
Ezekiel inclined his head. “True. It’s mine. It should all be mine. I’m the one who worked for it.”
“What could you possibly need with my share in addition to yours?”
“I plan to follow my father’s dream of expansion. Not just running a few territories.”
“What? You want to rule the entire country?” Ezra barked out a short laugh. “I think you’ve read one too many comic books if your dream is to be some kind of super villain.”
“You couldn’t possibly understand. My father always knew you didn’t have the right mind for what we do.”
“You keep saying that he was your father. He was mine, too, whether you like it or not.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I may not have his eyes, but I look just like him. A fact I always hated.”
“So did I. I. But I didn’t mean biologically. I mean, you, as a person, did not fit into our world. It was apparent when you were a child. Always asking for hugs. Seeking affection at all times. You drove our parents crazy. At least you finally stopped that at some point.”
“Happens when you realize your family doesn’t love you.”
“Love is a silly emotion that gets in the way of progress. I don’t expect you to understand that.”
Ezra didn’t say anything for a few moments before he let out a shaky breath. “Mother knew you were trying to kill me.” It wasn’t a question.
“She was even more surprised than I was at the reading of the will. She believed the will she’d seen was the final. We’ll never know just why Father changed it before he was killed. Like me, she doesn’t deem you worthy—and if you think she didn’t know exactly everything Elijah did, you’re very wrong. The business we shared with Kemper was, after all, her idea.”
Ezra put a hand on his stomach.
“Still vomit when you don’t like something?” Ezekiel’s lip curled. “You have never had the constitution to be a Forsberg. You’re useless.” He lifted his knife and touched one finger to the tip.
That bit of grandstanding was so damn silly, but Alaric had reached the end of his patience. “Enough.”
Ezekiel looked at him and blinked in surprise, like he’d forgotten Alaric was even there. “You would do best to leave. I guarantee you have no idea just how…talented my associates here are.”
“I know exactly what they are,” Alaric responded. “And they know exactly what I am. I can lay them flat before they could get any closer.”
“Really.” Ezekiel looked back at the shifters. “He’s one of you?”
“Elf,” one answered. “Powerful magic.”
“Is that so?” Ezekiel looked back at his brother. “No wonder you’ve survived this long and were able to take out Kemper. That’s actually smarter than I expected. So you know about the creatures in our midst?”
“They prefer the term preternaturals.” Ezra’s voice was no longer shaking. “Alaric can easily take on your furry help.”
True surprise widened Ezekiel’s eyes. “You can see what they are?”
“Guess that makes me a little more special than you, Ezekiel. This is ridiculous.” He kept his gaze on the others as he walked to stand beside Alaric. “You’re going to prison just like my ex, so you might as well stop monologuing. I know you have this super villain fetish thing going on, but I don’t need to hear any more. My family is and always has been shit.”
Without warning, the two shifters dropped to the floor, each crawling in a different direction, trying to circle Alaric. His magic built, surprisingly stronger than it had ever been, and he quickly shoved a tumor into one of their brains that would instantly make him blind. The preternatural howled and curled on his side, cradling his head. The other let out a roar and shifted entirely into his wolf form so he could leap through the air. Alaric ducked and spun on his heels, feeling the brush of fur as the shifter jumped past him.
He pulled harder on his magic and flung a spell that snapped the shifter’s spine. He crashed into the wall with a whimper before slamming to the floor and lying still.
“Impressive,” Ezekiel said, making Alaric spin back around to find Ezekiel holding his knife to Ezra’s neck.
“You move that knife, and your end will be the most painful one you could possibly imagine.”
A flicker of worry tightened Ezekiel’s features.
“That’s right,” Alaric said as he took a couple of steps closer. “You know you stand no chance here, but you might if you let him go.”
Ezekiel’s hand started to shake, and the blade cut into Ezra’s skin. One drop of blood, and Alaric growled and flung a spell so powerful that every bone in Ezekiel’s body broke. He shrieked as he collapsed to the floor, his limbs landing at odd angles.
Ezra’s mother ran into the room and dropped beside Ezekiel. Alaric lifted his hands to take her out as well, but Ezra stopped him with a hand on his arm. His other hand was over the thankfully shallow wound on his neck.
“Don’t hurt her. Please.”
“Ezra, she was in on this. Having you killed.”
“I know. She’ll pay for that, I promise. As it is, I don’t know how we’re going to explain all these injuries to the police.”
“Xavier will send someone here to clean this up. It’s handy having a sorcerer and wizards at your fingertips.”
Ezra’s mother gaped up at them, but she didn’t cry, not even for Ezekiel. The woman was clearly as big a piece of shit as Ezra’s ex-husband. As was his brother. This man he loved had been surrounded by the worst of humanity his whole life.
Alaric was going to change all that. He would take him to his family where Ezra would be loved, and he would spend his very long life showing Ezra every single day that good people existed. “Don’t move,” he told Ezra’s mother. “One move, and you’ll be in the same shape as your eldest son. Do you understand?”
She nodded, though she was obviously in shock and unable to make sense of what had happened. Her son might have known about magical beings, but she obviously did not.
He looked at Ezra. “It’s going to be okay. It’s over. I’m calling Xavier now.” It absolutely broke his heart to see the devastation that completely settled over Ezra’s face. The pain of knowing his own family had tried to kill him. Alaric framed that precious face in his hands. “You will move past this. I promise.”
“I just can’t believe it was them the whole time. I knew they didn’t love me, but—” His voice broke off and he did something that bound him to Alaric’s heart forever. He stepped forward into Alaric’s arms, seeking comfort.
It was all he could have hoped for.