CHAPTER 2. FEEDING MY MONSTERS.

EZRA'S POV

20 YEARS LATER

I hated Wednesdays.

I don't think I needed to say much. I simply hated the day. Not in the way everyone seemed to dread Mondays, I hated Wednesdays the way you hated something that had never once surprised you. Something that arrives on schedule, takes what it needs and leaves again.

Over and over.

I was already seated in the chair when the first brother walked in, dark hair swept back, framing his cold chiseled features.

His gaze was dark and intense as he watched me settle in the chair. No words were exchanged. Dorian didn't like talking during sessions. I had 20 years to learn about how every brother behaved around me.

This was all routine ㅡ I arrived first. I don't know when it started, this specific arrangement, but somewhere across the last twenty years, it has calcified into routine. My spine was straight and I rolled my sleeve. It didn't feel like defiance anymore. It was simply…Wednesday.

With a small nod that I gave him, Dorian stepped forward with a nod of his own before he was by my side. My eyes squeezed shut as I felt his breath brush against my skin for a second before sharp pinpricks that barely lasted a second shot across my nerve ends, morphing into a euphoric feeling as he took his fill.

After what seemed like a long minute, he pulled away and I let out a sharp breath, trying to calm my racing heart. My gaze traced his movements as he stepped away, swiping away at his blood stained teeth with his tongue.

He didn't thank me. He never did. And I had stopped waiting for that since I was fourteen.

He stayed in the corner, watching me with a precision that clearly unnerved me. Usually, he left. When he stayed, it meant Caelan was coming.

The door creaked open and Lucian stepped in, giving me a small smile as he walked forward. “Sorry, there was an issue withㅡ”

“Get on with it so Ezra can go back to whatever he was doing.” Dorian cut him off with a gruff tone.

Lucian looked at his older brother with a look that mirrored annoyance. “Of course.”

I flexed my arm slightly, giving him what I hoped was convincing enough. “Go on.”

Lucian and Dorian were stark opposites. Dorian was cold and calculating as the first of the quadruplets. Lucian? Well, he was more outgoing. Caius and Riven were almost always together. The third and last of the children. All of them had the same similar features ㅡ striking features that had you staring if you looked too hard.

While Lucian fed, my mind travelled.

The east gate ran on a seven minute patrol rotation. I'd counted it forty six times in the last three months to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It had only deviated once in February when it was raining heavily and a guard paused under the overhang near the south wall.

Ninety seconds.

My departure window was twelve minutes, which gives me a five minute buffer on a seven minute cycle. I do not intend to need the buffer. I plan to be over the wall in four minutes.

Yes ㅡ I wanted to leave. Run away.

They didn't treat me badly. But I also knew why they needed me. And somehow I wanted a life that was more… exciting. I could ask Caelan. Maybe he would let me. But asking felt like too much. I had been here all my life and I wanted out now.

Caius and Riven came last, each one giving me a warm greeting before feeding.

Now, I was left in the stale feeding room with the four brothers staring at me with different looks on their faces. Dorian with a blank expression, Lucian with a curious look as though he could feel I wasn't here mentally, Caius with a small smirk on his face and Riven with a dark look in his eyes.

Never unkind. Just there.

Maybe we would have been close friends but I always kept myself away from all of them. They tried years ago, tried to form a close bond but I knew the cold hard truth ㅡ I wasn't like them.

Far from it.

I was an Omega. And I didn't belong here.

The door pushed open and the hair on my skin stood on end. Caelan’s presence was announced before he even became visible. He simply had that air around him.

He strolled into the room, hands tucked into the pockets of his dark coat and looked around the small group. “Well…”

The brothers straightened, staring at their father.

His gaze finally met mine and a warm smile tugged at his lips. “Ezra, how are you doing today?”

I cleared my throat, rolling down my sleeve again as I stood up from the chair. “Good. Done for the week.”

He nodded. “Thank you, I really appreciate what you're doing for us. What could we do without you?”

My heart clenched.

What would they do without me? They had taken care of me my whole life and I had fed them in return. “Is there any problem though?” I asked, my voice a hoarse whisper.

He shook his head slowly. “Just wanted to check up on you. I've been so busy with work and everything, you know the drill. Do you want to come into the office on Monday?”

My brain short circuited for a second. Monday? A feeling of hope ignited in me. I wouldn't even be here by Monday.

My face was blank as I responded to him, “Yes, sure. That would be great.”

His lips curled into a smile. “Come down for dinner now. Riven, check the documents on the study table. Dorian, go with him and make sure he doesn't fuck it up.”

Dorian nodded, leading a not so pleased Riven out of the room.

Caelan turned back to me. “Shall we?”

I forced my smile to be steady. “Yeah sure.”

Keep it up, Ezra.

Because in three days… I would be gone.