Chapter 47

We all just stared at him. No one knew what to say. Finally, my aunt Violet piped up.

“OK, what can you tell us about her?”

My aunt’s trying to keep him calm, but I can see the wheels turning in all of our parents' eyes. There has to be a way to fix this.

Ezra swallowed hard, “it’s kind of a blur. I was coming out of the dining hall, and I picked up her scent as soon as I walked out of the door. She was headed into the library. She was beautiful.”

He took a minute and closed his eyes as he ran his hand through his hair. “I followed her into the library. She was curled up in one of the lounge chairs reading a book. She looked so peaceful.” Ezra shook his head to snap himself out of it.

“Anyway, she’s a wolf from the blood moon pack. Her name is Abby Jennings.”

My aunt Violet nodded and gave my uncle Gavin a look, pleading for him to fix this.

My uncle Gavin nodded and put his hand on Ezra’s shoulder, “take your time, but I need you to tell us everything, son. You won’t be in trouble, but we need to know everything so we can figure out how to fix this. What happened before you rejected her?”

Ezra nodded, “her scent surrounded me as soon as I walked into the library, but she never looked up from her book. Almost like she didn’t want to meet me. I knew she could feel me there, I was standing right across from her. As I walked closer to her, she finally picked her head up, but she just stared at me. Like she was in shock.”

“I can relate to that feeling,” I whispered.

Ezra smiled and nodded, “I introduced myself to her and stupidly started making jokes to get her to relax. She looked at me like I was stupid and had a third head, but eventually she smiled and started talking to me. I was supposed to meet up with Jacie at a party, but I was so into Abby that I couldn’t leave her. I ended up,”

He paused as he looked around at all of us, “I ended up staying in Abby’s room all night.”

Uncle Gavin nodded, “So why and when did you reject her, and did you mark her first?”

Ezra shook his head no, “I didn’t mark her, we really did just spend the night talking. She was nervous, and I wanted her to be comfortable with me. I really liked her. She’s smart, funny, and gorgeous.”

He cleared his throat, “anyway, the next morning I ran into Jacie when I was going back to my room. I lied and told her I was coming back from a run, but I don’t think she believed me. At the time, I didn’t care. All I could think about was Abby. I wanted to let Jacie down easily because she’s Bella’s roommate. I was worried that Jacie would take it out on Bella.”

“Ezra, you shouldn’t worry about me all the time. You need to do what’s best for you to.”

“I know, I was just trying to find a way to let her down easy. When I got home from my first class, Jacie showed up with a box of cookies. She said she missed me, and she could tell that I was stressed out when she saw me. I didn’t know how to tell her, so I just ate the damn cookies. Later that night, I went to see Abby. I don’t understand why. I was excited about seeing her. When she opened her door, she was smiling and looked happy to see me, and Jacie’s face popped in my head. The words just came out. I remember looking right at Abby and telling her that I only wanted Jacie. The next words out of my mouth were the rejection.”

I almost cried for Ezra. I can see the pain on his face.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, “I’ll never forget the hurt look on her face, and I just walked away. I left her standing there speechless. It’s all my fault. I’ll live with the guilt.”

“That dirty witch is going to pay for this. She knew exactly what she was doing,” Aunt Violet said as she started pacing by the table.

I noticed Ryker and Drake looking at each other, “why didn’t you tell us?” Ryker asked.

“I don’t know. I was confused. The longer Jacie was around the more I thought that I had done the right thing. I thought I loved her.”

“It was the spell,” Aunt Violet said as she glared at the backyard. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this angry.

Ryker nodded, “I think I know what night you’re talking about. Drake and I were at that party. You lied to us. I wish you would have told us what was going on. We would have covered for you. I asked you where you were, and you said you were at the library because you had a paper due.”

Ryker shook his head, “Jacie asked us where you were, so I told her. She said you were supposed to meet up with her, and we figured that’s where you were when you didn’t come home. I don’t remember seeing Jacie the rest of the night, but I wasn’t really paying attention either.”

“My guess is she went looking for you. She probably saw you with your mate.” Drake said as he ran his hand through his hair.

Ezra nodded, “I didn’t know what to do, and then I was even more confused after I rejected her. We all had enough going on with Bella’s mate situation, and then she went and picked the psycho one to top it off. I didn’t want to add any problems to any of our plates.”

“What do you mean psycho one,” my dad arched his eyebrows.

“Hey Creed’s not a psycho, he’s just protective.”

I shook my head, “Ryker’s right, I understand that you were confused, but we can’t keep secrets from each other. I know I made the same mistake at first, but I trust you guys fully now. If we knew what happened, we might have been able to recognize the spell sooner. We might have been able to stop Jacie, or at least realized what she was doing.”

My dad nodded, “all we can do now is figure out what Jacie’s motive is. We need to make sure all of you are safe. Then we can work on getting your girl back, Ezra. The right one.” My dad gave Ezra a look.

“This meeting Friday is with all the supernatural councils and kingdoms. Cyrus Attora called it.” Dad looked at me with a serious expression on his face.

“I’ll warn all of you, we only have these meetings when something big is happening that is threatening all of us. They usually turn into a huge pissing match that ends with the next war starting. They all hate each other. It gets worse every time, but it’s also important to go so we know what kind of threat we’re up against. With Bella’s situation, I think we got a heads-up on this one, but I want to know what Cyrus has to say. We will see if his and Creed’s stories match.”

“Anyway,” Dad looked at mom, and she looks irritated. “Your mom doesn’t want you to go Bella, but I think you should. You’ll be with us the whole time, and Creed has talked to you about everything. You’ll know if Cyrus is lying about anything. I’m leaving the choice up to you.”

My mom shook her head, “I’m just worried about all the supernatural council’s knowing about you and your magic.”

“I know mom, but it’s a little late to hide. I exposed myself when I had to fight off the vampires. Moonlight is full of their heirs. The fire coming out of my hands took them all by surprise. I’m sure they were all talking about it. I’m going to the meeting.”

My heart is racing just thinking about it. Cyrus has to know where Creed is. I need to know what happened to him. Now that I know what this meeting is about, nothing will keep me from going.