Page 75 of Fated to the Hunters
“If you chose to come with us, we would keep you as close as we can, but there might be times where we’re gone for days at a time.”
“Possibly even a week or two,” Vince added. “We are not one hundred percent sure where the lycan hideout is, but it’s somewhere deep in the Black Ridge Mountains.”
“What happens when you find them?”
“We kill them.”
“What Ezra is trying to say is that wewillreturn to you.” Mateo reached for her hand, which she gratefully accepted. “As we said, this is nothing that needs to be decided now. No one else islooking for them. We’d still like to get a more precise location for them before we proceed, but we want you to be part of the process.”
“Thank you.” With that she let her fingers run over the map one last time before rising from the table.
Ezra watched as she walked up the stairs in her fluffy shoes, his stomach still swirling. True to his nature, he was up and running after her before she’d reached the last step. Mateo chuckled somewhere behind him, but the sound faded into nothing as Ezra wrapped his arms around Scarlett from behind.
“My room?” he whispered into her ear.
She tensed briefly, but then nodded and let him lead the way. He guided her to his bed, but could feel her hesitation in the way she stiffened in his arms.
“I want to hold you,” Ezra explained. “Vince held you last night, right?”
“Yes…”
“I would like to do that too.”
“Were you upset last night?”
Ezra reluctantly released her, falling onto the bed with his arms spread. “I was.”
Scarlett finally accepted his invitation, crawling onto the mattress and laying her head on his chest. Once her arm draped over his stomach and her leg twisted around his, Ezra settled. “Will you always be upset when I spend time with the others?”
“Probably.”
“Will you resent me for it?”
He had to think about it. Yes, he had been upset, but would he go so far as to hold it against her? “I didn’t resent you—I was jealous. Then this morning, it was all forgotten.”
“Will you ever become so jealous that you’ll hurt them?”
Ezra would never admit it out loud, but that question had fear spiking in his chest—because he couldn’t say no. He had donesome messed up shit already. He’d promised not to hurt her, and he’d almost broken that promise in mere minutes.
“I saw what you did to those hunters,” she whispered, a slight quiver to her voice. “I didn’t want to think about it because I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but itwasyou, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was.” Ezra combed through her hair. “I punished them because they hurt you. I would never do that to Vince and Mateo. We fight and sure, blood spills from time to time, but I’ve never once thought about hurting them on purpose.”
“I trust you.”
Those words sent a shiver down his spine. Mostly pride that she trusted him, laced with a hint of fear that he’d just screw it up. Her fingers feathered over his stomach, down to the hem of his t-shirt, pushing the cotton up to reveal the tattoos hiding underneath. Scarlett rose to her knees, lifting his shirt further up his torso. The pride he’d felt before grew with the need to give hereverything. He lifted up slightly, reaching behind himself and tugging the fabric over his head.
Scarlett traced over every line and ridge of the skull and roses on his stomach, leaving tiny fireworks in her wake. She moved over his ribs and up to his shoulders, feeling over the raven’s wings inked there. He desperately tried to keep still, barely managing to suppress a groan when she reached the raven’s body over his throat.
Without another word, she moved down his chest again, pausing over the scars he’d accumulated over the years. Some were runes, others from cuts—both accidental and self-inflicted. His gaze landed on her mouth. Scarlett worried her lip, her chest moving slightly faster than usual. Craving the feeling of her skin, he slipped his fingers under her shirt, flattening his palm against the small of her back. When she didn’t pull away, he let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she was truly enjoying it.
“Is carving the runes essential for your spells to work?”
“Yes.” He lifted his hand, turning it palm side up. Carved into the skin was the spell for her charm. “I need the blood to let the magic free. Offering it to the spell with the runes needed gives it more power. That one was for your charm.”
Scarlett brought that hand closer to her face, tracing over the rune with her thumb. The other delicately clasped his necklace. “Do you regret any of your spells?”
“No.”
