Page 130 of Fated to the Hunters
Ezra
With the map laid out on a flat surface, Ezra let his pendant find his sweet little princess. It pointed at the same trail they’d taken to the lake before. He’d seen her leave early, not long after their phone call.
“Are they still out on the trail?” Mateo asked, looking over his shoulder.
“It seems like they are heading back to the cabin now. They spent just as long at the lake as before.”
Mateo sat down on the moss and leaned against an old fallen tree, searching through his bag for something. “She’s becoming stronger.”
“And not just physically.”
Mateo held up a protein bar, tossing it Ezra’s way when he nodded. “Can I ask you something?”
Ezra gave him another curt nod and let the pendant seek her new position.
“It’s rather personal.”
“You mean being able to read my mind isn’t considered personal?” Ezra countered.
“Technicallyyourmind is always intruding onmine, but who cares about specifics.”
He cocked his head at his friend, daring him to ask whatever it was on his mind.
“What do you and Scarlett do when you’re alone?”
“Why would that be of importance to you?”
“Because before her there would be pain when you had sex with someone, now I don’t feel any of that.”
He returned to the map, avoiding Mateo’s gaze. “She has grown comfortable tying me up, but then loses herself in my tattoos and runes. It feels as if she spends hours tracing them, asking what each one means and mapping them out like she wants to commit them to memory.”
“She doesn’t cut you?”
“No. She often forgets about sex and it has nothing to do with the torture.”
“She enjoys your company. Do youwanther to cut you?”
“Desperately.”
“The urge for self-harm hasn’t changed?”
“Not one bit.”
“Why do you refrain from doing it?”
“I don’t want to disappoint her.”
“Have you two not talked about it? I thought she said she would accept you.”
“No. She said she wouldtryto accept it.”
“Are you willing to hear my thoughts on it?”
He looked up at his friend then, and was reminded by his kind eyes that Mateo had been the driving force in keeping the three of them together. Though he struggled daily with the blood vow and Ezra’s inability to restrain his emotions, Mateo was the one who insisted they lived and stayed together, instead of onlycoming together for hunts. Mateo was his closest friend. So, he nodded, trusting him to use his words kindly.
“We all know that she has grown up sheltered, kept from anything that may be too much for what they perceived to be a fragile mind. Maybe they wanted her to be as pure as possible, but she is much stronger than anyone ever thought, including herself. If you never expose her to all of you, she will have a much harder time adjusting and getting to know you. Not the person youwanther to see, but trulyyou.”
“What if she hates that person?Youhate me.”
