23. EZRA

Anger still coursed through my veins hours later. I couldn’t push what he had done from my mind.

A lot of the younger members had learned to live the human way, but some of the elder members were still cautious of doing things the way the humans did. We had animal instincts inside us despite being half human. Sometimes when we shift, those animal instincts take control.

A male would hunt and take whatever he had caught to the female, to show her that he would be able to provide for her. It was also a sign that he wanted to mate with her.

This was something Obsidian apparently wanted to do with Vanya, but he had forgotten the fact that she wasn’t like us. She didn’t know what it meant when he had offered the rabbit to her.

“You’re agitated. Why?”

My eyes shot over to Devrim. I hissed at him as I continued my pacing. How was he not affected by what Obsidian had done?

“Ezra.”

I spun around to face him. “He wants to mate with her!”

Devrim’s face darkened, and for a moment, I thought it was because of jealousy. He glanced over at the humans sitting at their desk that were scattered around the room. They were all watching us, even though they were pretending not to.

I tensed when he walked over to me.

Devrim gripped my arm and steered me in the direction of the door we had used to enter the building. Pushing it open, he dragged me behind him as he led the way to the alley next to the building. When we were clear of humans, he spun me around and slammed me up against the wall.

“What’s your problem?” he questioned with a frown.

“He wants to mate with her.”

“So?” Devrim threw his hands up in the air as he took a few steps away from me. “You want to mate with her too, and so do I. I don’t see the problem.”

“You can’t be serious!” I growled. “Look how he—”

“Ezra,” he interrupted with a low warning growl. “He didn’t force her, and it was made clear that Vanya liked it.”

“What if—” I fell silent when a group of humans stopped at the entrance of the alley.

Devrim ran a hand through his hair and turned his back on them. I studied him as we waited in silence for the humans to walk away.

Vanya was in the Chief’s office along with her father, discussing something that was apparently very important. We weren’t allowed inside the office with her.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned back against the wall and focused on Devrim again.

He was about to kiss her before Obsidian showed up. Would she have reacted to him the way she had reacted to Obsidian? Why had she reacted to Obsidian the way she had?

“Look,” Devrim said softly. “Let’s not do this now. I know that this is different, but what we want isn’t as important as what Vanya wants. It has to be her choice.”

“Not ours?”

He shook his head. “It has to be hers.”

I growled, but nodded. He was right. Vanya had to choose who she wanted to mate with. Things between us were the exact opposite of how things were within the pride.

Usually, the males had more than one female, but with Vanya, it was the opposite. She’d have more males—that was, if she decided to accept all three of us.

A part of me actually wished that she’d only choose me.

“We will talk about this back at home,” Devrim muttered. “I don’t want the humans to know our business.”

Without another word, we made our way back into the building.

I caught the eyes of one of the humans as we passed the group. His mouth dropped open, and the colour drained from his face as his eyes filled with fear. Just for added effect, I smiled with my sharp canines on full display.

“Stop.” Devrim pushed me ahead of him and into the building. “It’s because you do things like that  the humans fear us.”

“Not my fault if they’re such pussies.”

“Rich coming from a pussy himself,” he muttered, only for me to hear as he walked past me.

My smile widened, but quickly faded when we reached the Chief’s office. The door was wide open, but there was no sign of Vanya or the Mayor.

“Where is she?” Devrim questioned the moment he entered the office.

The Chief was sitting behind his desk, but he jumped up when Devrim spoke. Swallowing a few times, he finally looked up at us and answered.

“S-she went to the bathroom.”

I spun around and headed in the direction the Chief had pointed at. Devrim said something, but I ignored him. Something was wrong. I could feel it.

Pushing the door open, I entered and instantly started searching. “Vanya?”

I ignored the woman who stepped out of the bathroom stall and screamed when she spotted me. The others were empty, with still no sign of Vanya.

I spun around and bumped right into Devrim. Our eyes locked and the panic I felt matched the panic I saw in his eyes.

“I’ll call the brothers and let Obsidian know,” he said. “You—”

“Do you smell that?”

Tilting my head back, I sucked in a deep breath and sneezed. Humans and their excessive use of perfume. I hated the smell of it.

“Maybe she went to the library?”

“No,” I told him as I followed him out of the bathroom. “Something’s wrong.”

Devrim suddenly stopped and turned, making me bump into him again. He gripped my arms and frowned.

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t lie about it, Dev. Something’s wrong. I feel that Vanya’s in danger.”

“Fuck! If the killer gets hold of her, he will kill her.”

“We need to find her.” I glanced around. “I’ll try tracking her scent.”

Devrim nodded. “I’ll call for help.”

It was hard tracking her scent in a room full of humans who all wore perfume that made my nose burn.  

After what felt like forever, I finally locked onto Vanya’s scent. It led down a hall which I was told I wasn’t allowed to enter.

“Hey! I’m talking to you. You can’t go down there.”

I ignored the woman and pushed her aside. The hall ended at a staircase and the only option was to go up, but Vanya’s scent didn’t lead up the stairs.

Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath.

There!

With my eyes still closed, I spun on my heels and focused only on the scent until it suddenly disappeared again.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in front of a door with an exit sign. I pushed it open and stepped out into the back of the station, to the parking lot. My eyes locked on the big green garbage can and then darted over to the trees. However, movement from the corner of my eyes caught my attention. I turned and frowned at the car.

Although I knew almost nothing about human traffic rules, I was sure that the car was parked wrong.

My eyes narrowed as I studied it. There was movement from inside, but I couldn’t make out if it was male or female due to the glint of the sun shining on the windows. I turned, about to re-enter the building because the wind had already blown her scent away, but a sound had me spinning back around.

“Ezra!”

Vanya was running towards me from the other side of the car. She only made it a few feet from the vehicle when someone came up behind her and caught her.

I didn’t wait another second. I didn’t care that I was breaking the rules. Vanya was in trouble.

My bones snapped and clothes shredded as I shifted and took off after the car.