Page 48 of The Blood Widow

“I mean it. They want you just as much as I do, Novem, and I know you enough to know you want them. You can run and fucking hide all you want, but you’re not the only one that likes the hunt. We spoke this morning and it’s official, we’re going to fight for you.”

Hearing his dark, deep tone that usually only came out during sex had me panting. I really did want them, and to know they were going to fight for me gave me tingles in all the right places. But it didn’t change the facts.

I pushed Cole away. His bare chest was hypnotic under my fingers. I had to take a deep breath before speaking. “They don’t know me, and no, Cole, you don’t know me either. You have no idea what horrors I’ve done. You may know the name I choose to hunt with, but you don’t?—”

Beaut's beautiful self interrupted us again. She was literally my lifeline at that moment. I almost fucked up and said too much again. Bell’s death sentence wasn’t the only reason to keep these men away. I had a brutal, blood-covered past, and bringing them into it wasn’t something you did to the person you loved.Beaut put her hands on her hips as she scowled at Cole. She could sense the tension in the air.

“You fart lickers need to stop your griping. You got a letter.”

Shit. It was time for the Blood Widow to come out and play. Perfect timing. I needed someone to kill.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

To my dismay, the note wasn’t an urgent one. I couldn’t do anything for at least a week. It fucking sucked. I wanted an excuse to run, but I had to pack and move. Cole made breakfast as I video-chatted with the people that needed to be informed. The apartment owner was told about the new residents and the person that took care of one of my houses was told she was no longer needed to watch that house.

Instead of me packing and hauling everything on my own like I wanted to, I opened the door to find Dominic and Ezra standing there. Without their shirts on.

“What the fuck!” I growled out. I could barely handle one shirtless man. These two were not coming in.

Dominic strolled in before I could even speak, kissing me on my cheek. I was too flabbergasted to even move out of the way. I didn’t even say anything as they closed the door practically pushing us inside. These fuckers were playing dirty.

“Don’t get all puffy with us, we’re here to help,” Dominic said. He nodded to Cole and went to help him lift the couch.

Beaut had her men helping too. As soon as they saw the new guys didn’t have their shirts on, all twelve brownies stripped.

I groaned. This was getting out of hand. When did my apartment become a male strip club?

Beaut appeared at my side with a flash of movement. “I’m not sure what you did, flabby tits, but I approve. Do you think they’d pose for a calendar? We could make a fortune.”

“No,” Ezra’s deep voice made me jump. “This is for Novem, no one else.”

Beaut fanned herself while giving him dreamy eyes. When one of her mates appeared at her side with a scowl on his face, she gave him a sheepish smile. “I was only kidding.”

He pointed at the group of men behind him with their arms crossed over their naked chest. As she defended herself with a verbal lashing, I ignored them and turned to Ezra.

“You know, I’m pretty sure I said no.” My voice was a whisper, so Cole and Dominic didn’t get involved. I didn’t want to get ganged up on like Beaut. Having multiple men sounded good at first, but it took a strong woman to handle that. I couldn’t handle twelve men, that was for sure. I probably couldn’t even handle the three pursuing me.

But they were good helpers. My place was spotless, and they’d only been cleaning for thirty minutes.

“You might have broken Cole’s heart, but now I know the reason, I’m not going to give up this connection. I don’t understand it, but I want to see what happens.” His words were said with so much honesty, I couldn’t reply with something snarky like I planned. These men were messing with my head. I felt like a broken robot, glitching. When the hell did Ezra stop being a grumpy bastard?

“You of all people should want to stay alive. A lot of people depend on you.” If they wanted to throw curve balls my way, I would do the same.

He stiffened. Instead of answering me, he changed the subject. “My witch hid Blood Widow’s scent, your scent. Did you know that?” he asked.

A wave of relief at what Rebekkah did for me had me practically floating. With all the sexual tension between us, I forgot he never mentioned my scent. As a shifter, he would have been able to sniff me out.

I shrugged. “Don’t blame her. Most women are loyal to the Blood Widow.” I paused for a second before continuing. “Would you have threatened me, or revealed my identity if she hadn’t? Answer honestly.”

“I wouldn’t have,” he said. “I would have stalked you, though. To make sure you’d kept quiet.” He lifted his hand and examined his heavily tattooed arms. “I’ve hidden in this disguise ever since my wife was murdered.”

There was another bomb he wanted to throw at me. He was opening up to me. I had no idea how to handle an alpha willingly making himself vulnerable for my benefit, so I stayed quiet.

“I’m sure you heard what happened. What you didn’t hear was it took her a week to die. I had to watch her body fight while whatever poison they gave her ate away the person that I loved. I’ll always have a piece of her in my heart.”

My chest heated. I didn’t know if it was jealousy or something else. I didn’t mind hearing about his love for the human woman. He had fought so hard to be with her, and it was a beautiful story. If I didn’t deep down want Ezra, I would wish he could have her back. He deserved happiness.

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