Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
“For a giant, that guy moves really fast,” I grumble to Adam as we make our way to the shiny new trailer Ezra is living in. “He should’ve played ball.”
“Look, let’s maybe not be too angry with the guy right away. We don’t know what’s going on.”
Voice of reason, this one.
I sigh when we reach the bottom of the steps and stop there. “Let’s Good Cop, Bad Cop his ass.”
Adam’s eyes roll. “Let me guess. You want to be ‘Bad Cop’.”
It’s not a question, which is why I hit him with the curveball. Not my game, but still. “I’ll be the nice guy. You channel your inner beast.”
After a look of shock washes over his face, he schools his expression and nods at me. I climb the few steps to the door and raise my fist to knock when it swings open, blinding light pouring into my face from within.
“Come on in, Good Cop and Bad Cop.”
Well, crap.
A hatless Ezra sighs and steps aside from the door. “You two are louder than a coyote’s howl.”
With a raised brow, I pass through the door and into the trailer, Adam behind me.
“Okay, then. No games. What’s going on with you?”
Ezra stays still for so long, I’m tempted to snap my fingers in front of his face, but before I get the chance, he gestures to the small, new couch in the living room area and leads the way there.
He sits, then I do, but Adam remains standing, arms crossed over his chest, expression stoic.
I wonder if he still thinks he needs to play Bad Cop?
“I have a past. One I don’t want to talk about, but it still affects my life today.”
I let out a long, calming breath. But it doesn’t calm me at all. “You have a past that’s making you act like an idiot in the present, but you don’t want to talk about it, even with your pack brothers?”
Ezra winces.
“Adam and I are the two people, aside from Adley, that you can trust more than anyone on this earth. I know you haven’t made the time to actually get to know any of us, and you haven’t opened up or shown us who you really are as a person, but we’re all supposed to be your safe space.”
“And you’re hurting our Omega.”
Ezra’s gaze whips up to Adam across the room, still standing, still crossing his arms.
“Adley needs us. All of us. And you haven’t exactly been available to her emotionally. You’ve barely even spoken to her outside of sanctuary business. That’s not being a very good romantic partner. And once we’re bonded and mated, the dynamic is a lot deeper than just being a romantic partner.”
Good job, man.
“You should listen to Adam,” I interject. “His brother has a beautiful pack with kids running around. They’re like, the ideal bondmates.”
“And ‘ideal’ is what we should all be.” Adam drops his arms, his gaze focused on Ezra alone. “So you will talk to us. It’s better you do it now.”
Ezra leans forward and drops his face into his hands, bits of his light blond hair swinging with the motion.
When he sits back up, he wipes his face with his palms and looks from me to Adam, and back again.
“I want the good pack. The loving pack. The forever pack.” His head shakes side to side.
“But I’m afraid that isn’t in my future. ”
“Why not?”
“I’m a felon.”
Well… that’s not the answer I was expecting.
“A felon? What did you do?”
Ezra looks up at Adam, but I can see his eyes are swimming with tearful remorse, I can hear his voice rough with emotion.
When he tells us his story, it’s like a dam has broken inside of him. I can feel everything he feels as he takes us step by step through his last six years.
The bond between us is forming, just like my bond with Adam. And the look on Adam’s face says he’s feeling Ezra’s emotions, too.
Ezra has started to let go.
When he finishes his story, I take a shuddering breath. That wasn’t too bad. I mean, it’s bad, but it definitely could be worse. The thing is…
“You can’t keep this from Adley.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Ezra’s voice breaks, and it’s like a shot to my chest.
“Everything is going to be okay. Adley will understand.”
“How can you say that? How would you know?” Ezra’s growing a little angry as he glowers at Adam. Not too mad, but it’s there on the edge, teetering.
“You just told us what happened. That’s how we know.” I reach a bit to grip his shoulder, feel him shaking a bit before it’s like his upper body collapses in on itself.
“There’s something else.” His voice is so small I almost miss it.
“You can tell us anything.”
Adam speaks for us both.
Ezra takes a deep breath and lets it out in a whoosh. “I’m a Cap.”
Well, I’ll be damned.
I didn’t expect this news either, but I guess I should have. He’s enormous, after all.
Capital Alphas, or “Caps” for short, are really rare in the modern day.
It’s a genetic trait that has no real rhyme or reason for activating anymore.
I remember being taught in school that a family could go generations without a Cap being born, but the gene is always present, looming and waiting to activate in an offspring.
Caps have a reputation for being aggressive, feral, and huge.
Ezra definitely has the “huge” part down, but for the others… well, not all the time, apparently.
“Are you on suppressants?”
Ezra nods affirmatively at Adam's question, and Adam looks thoughtful.
“Well, it goes without saying you need to tell Adley about that, too. It may be a good idea to tell her everything at once.”
“Don’t you think that will be a bit overwhelming?”
I scoff. “You just told us everything at once. And Ads isn’t exactly frail.”
But I think he’s actually looking for an excuse not to tell her.
“This has really been stressing you out, hasn’t it?”
He lets out a humorless laugh. “Every second of every day over the last month.”
“I swear that you’ll feel better once you tell Adley everything. Get it out. Move past all this baggage.”
Ezra looks doubtful, but I think Adam has the right idea. Rip off the bandaid and let the wound air out to heal.