9
COOPER
The erection I chose to ignore in order to attempt to force Scotty to get over whatever shit’s going on in his head has been absolutely killing me with how badly it’s been aching.
I thought it would make him feel guilty enough that we’d both walk over to Ezla together and be able to finally fucking touch her again, but the asshole—yes, I’m mad at him even if this was a choice I made myself without anyone forcing me to—didn’t move one bit after he’d encouraged me to go to her and I told him I’d only do that if he did too.
But now that ache is crushed by an entirely new one, my hard-on long fucking gone as I absorb all that Ezla’s just told us:
The searing pain in the middle of the night that she kept from us.
Her father appearing in our Bonded chambers.
His admission to watching her over the weeks, confirming her suspicions about the cameras.
Joseph’s jealousy over us and what he’s done in the name of it.
The citizen tablets and his blackmail and conditions.
“I belong to him now,” Ezla finishes, back to being utterly emotionless. On the outside, at least, anyway.
But everyone in here is aware she feels now.
“No you fucking don’t, Havoc. Your mine,” Tate snarls, arms bulging as he struggles not to snatch her back up—it took some time and effort, and Scotty finally moving to help me drag the brute off her, but we managed to separate Tate and Ezla so she could speak without him constantly rutting inside her.
Though with how it seemed she kept debating how much effort to put into her own attempts to get out from under him, I’m not so sure she would’ve minded staying there a bit longer despite her own words.
Now, they’re both fully clothed, and Vengeance is sat beside him on the low table he’d been pounding into her on, one long leg crossed over the other. Tiger’s also there, sat on her right and crushing her hand between both of his.
The hand she’d held out to her side without looking at him as she’d spoken through the traumatising events, as if sensing a need in my brother to hold her.
She appeared uninterested, as if the offer meant nothing. As if she was unaffected when Tiger clutched onto it like a lifeline. And yet I’m not so sure I trust her reaction, that the action meant as little as she’d like us to think.
“I do if you want to live,” Ezla snaps, glaring daggers into Tate beside her before I can correct the larger man as I usually would when he forgets about the word ours.
He growls, and I can tell he’s about to jump on her.
I wouldn’t put it past him to finally attempt to actually chain her to him with his armoury sticks after all we’ve just heard.
Before he can, I, sat on the bench a few feet from the table they’re on, state lowly, “So we need to get the citizen tablets.”
“Obviously,” Vengeance drawls, and my eyes slit.
Does she have to be this condescending about everything?
“So let’s get them—”
“No, Puppy.”
Pouting, Tiger dumps his head on her arm, and she stiffens before she forces herself to relax. She’s kept the bond open, so I feel Tiger’s answering burst of happiness both at her allowing him to be all over her like this and at the pet name.
She hasn’t said it, and I know now’s not the time to demand she share her feelings, but I’m actually thinking the reason she’s kept it open like this is so she can feel us, as if she missed us as much as we missed her over the past few days.
So I’m encouraged to send something like a caress down the bond.
Jolting, her eyes laser in on me.
Her lips purse, but she doesn’t speak. That’s fine with me, and I simply keep my intense gaze on hers as Scotty says from where he sits beside me, “Let us help you with this, Love. You can’t do this all on your own.”
Ezla gives him a look, and I feel like snorting myself. That’s rich coming from him.
His lips tighten.
“Leave it to me. You cannot do anything in any case. All you would be most likely to accomplish is making things worse.”
My fists ball in my lap. “You think we’d be so careless—”
“Do not piss me off, Cooper,” Vengeance cuts me off harshly. “It is not about you being careful; it is about playing this right. And not a single one of you would be able to get into my home without Father knowing. Do not forget he has eyes on me at all times.”
It’s silent for a beat, the heavy weight surrounding us growing thicker as that fact and its consequences sink in harder than ever.
Then Tiger perks up. “Just you?”
Ezla’s brows twitch downwards.
He continues, “He’s only interested in you and your interactions with us, right? He wouldn’t think to watch us alone. It’s just that we’re usually always together that he’s discovered so much about us. But wouldn’t the cameras be following you specifically and simply catching us in the process?”
She stares at him.
Tiger brightens more as if the attention is paradise for him.
Enthusiasm radiating off of him, he brings his hands, hers still cocooned in his, under his chin, and bats his lashes at her, familiar stars in his bright blue eyes.
It’s amazing what being back in our Bonded’s company and being able to act ourselves again with her has done for him.
“I’m right, right?! So we can help you! Like undercover ninja dudes—”
“Absolutely not.” Her voice lashes through the air savagely.
“But, Ezzy—”
Her slim fingers are curled mercilessly around his neck in the next second, dragging him close so that their faces pause just inches apart. I tense along with Alby and Scotty either side of me. “I am trying to keep you safe. Why must you be so difficult?” she hisses furiously.
My shoulders loosen a fraction, warmth suffusing through me.
Mouth popping open, Tiger gapes at her. “Oh . . .” he breathes. Then beams, tossing his arms around her. “I love you, too, Deadly Nightshade!”
“That was not a declaration of love.”
He only hums in response to her stiff words, burying his face in her chest.
Lips thinning, Ezla sits there rigidly. It’s an effort to keep my amusement in, and, as if sensing it, a death glare slowly comes to rest on me.
I raise my palms up beside my head in mock defence.
“Watch it, Cooper.”
My mouth twitches up on one corner. “Or what, Vengeance?”
Excited for drama, Tiger pulls back, though he keeps his arms around HC. She doesn’t object, and she’d be a bloody liar to say a part of her isn’t enjoying his hug.
Staring me down, my blood heats in response, and I wait for her to come and deliver the punishment I know she’s been itching to since my vilest comment a few days ago.
Those particular words over all the others are the ones that have truly made me hate myself, and honestly, even though I might challenge Ezla, I’m ready for whatever she wants to give me.
Doesn’t matter that I had to be so cruel, I’m disgusted with myself that I could even think to suggest she’d ever want what her sperm donor does to her.
But she doesn’t even scold me, only says deliberately as if trying to ensure the words sink into our brains, “You will not be going into the Techtis Council building. You would not be able to without me by your side, and that certainly will not be happening. Even if there were not cameras, there is such tight security that you would never reach the penthouse I share with Father on the top floor.”
“Joseph,” I mutter, and she rolls her eyes.
“I understand your desire to help, but the best you can do for me here is act as you have been.”
“So you expect us to sit here and do nothing?”
Her response is dispassionate. “No. You will continue to train.”
I scowl. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Stop glaring at my Havoc,” Tate rumbles darkly at the same time Tiger evidently decides it’s his time as he attempts to pull Vengeance into his lap. Does he have a fucking death wish?
“Unhand me, Puppy.”
Pausing his movements, hands wrapped around her slim waist, Tiger’s voice is whiny as he pouts at her like a little kid. “Please, Ezzy.”
Her features remain unflinchingly blunt.
“Pretty please . . . I miss you. I just want you a little closer . . . You feel so far . . .” Some vulnerability seeps out of him, and everyone knows he doesn’t mean physical distance.
Our Bonded’s mask twitches. “I am right here.”
“But it doesn’t feel like it. It’s all wrong . . .” Alby whispers his first words in a while, nearly inaudible. His head hangs low as he nervously looks up at Ezla from beneath dark lashes.
Another moment passes by where she only sits there, back straight, hands clasped tidily on her thighs, always so flawlessly poised. Then, on Tiger’s next experimental gentle tug, she lets him pull her into his lap.
Lighting up like a supernova, his arms band around her middle, and he plasters her back against his front, resting his chin on her shoulder.
HC shifts to get comfortable, and in one of her rare moments, she’s a little tentative as she does, as if she doesn’t quite know what to do with herself, how to handle the embrace.
A bit of jealousy crawls through me, though it’s far more subdued than Tate’s petty grumbling.
To be fair, he does attempt to be inconspicuous about it, however, luckily reading the room.
I think we’re all aware this time is coming to an end, even before Ezla says, “I must go soon. Father will be expecting my return. I do not want to draw him over here if he becomes suspicious about what is taking so long.”
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, my mouth opens, but nothing comes out.