Chapter 5

Ezra sat me down at the dining table. I lifted my shirt up just enough so that he could see my wounds. He chuckled a little and shook his head.

"Alfie told me you did well today," Ezra told me as he opened the box of first aid. I nodded at him and yawned. I was exhausted and I needed food. The first day of training was hard, but I knew it was going to get harder. I had to toughen up.

"He made me spar with Kade. He was a good fighter. He bested me," I sighed as I felt a cotton pad touch my wounds. Ezra cleaned away the blood that was still sleeping from the gashes.

"Kade is the son of the Master of Arms. He has to be a good fighter," Ezra laughed at me. I smiled and rolled my eyes, sipping on my beer. Ezra continued to pat at the blood with the cotton pad, shifting around the first aid box.

"Don't worry about it, princess. Alfie told me that you had a lot of work to be done. These next four weeks are going to be absolute hell for you," Ezra laughed at me. I smiled but I nodded knowingly anyway. I knew that I had work to do.

If I wanted to return to Terialta stronger and more powerful, I had to work hard. I was sure that Alfie would be great help to me.

"This is going to sting," Ezra warned me as he dabbed antiseptic on a cotton bud. He began to dab it gently on my gashes. I winced but I held still and I let him help me.

Ezra worked quietly until he started to put on the bandages. I could tell he was curious. I could practically smell it on him.

"So, how come you came here?" Ezra asked me. I felt my entire body tense.

Shit.

I knew that this question would come. But I never thought about having to answer it. I hadn't even come up with a fake answer. Ezra had just put me on the spot. I didn't know how to respond.

I couldn't really tell him what happened. I could barely tell my father, I definitely struggled to tell my brothers.

"Wanted a change. I like exploring," I replied quickly. I hated lying to Ezra. I hated lying in general, but I couldn't be honest. Not yet.

"Fair enough... I think you're all done now," Ezra said quickly. He pulled away from me and I pulled down my shirt. I thanked Ezra for helping and watched him put the bloody bandages and cotton buds into the trash can.

"By the way, we're having guests for dinner tonight. There are some girls here who really wanted to meet you," Ezra explained to me as he walked over to the refrigerator. He began to pull out ingredients for what I assumed was dinner.

My beast yipped a little at the thought of having people around. She was excited that we being given such an easy opportunity to make friends whilst we were in Takiani.

"Okay. Sounds fun," I said in reply. Ezra smiled and nodded at me. I stood quickly and walked into the kitchen. "Let me help. I like to think I'm a great cook."

Ezra laughed at me. He held a hand to his chest as he heaved with laughter before suddenly stopping and going dead serious.

"I'm the best cook alive. You could never best me," Ezra told me a little darkly. I widened my eyes at him and then narrow my eyebrows at him.

"No way! I'm the best cook ever! Everyone loves my food," I retorted. Ezra showed me his fangs and I showed him mine. We stared at each other intensely for a few moments before we put our fangs away.

Then, we both burst out laughing. I laughed so hard that it made my stomach hurt and tears form in my eyes. Ezra's whole body shook with laughter.

It felt good to laugh. Terialta was a good pack but it was terribly boring. No one there liked to have fun and I always found myself getting up to things I wasn't allowed to do.

Let's just say that my brothers had always been a very bad influence on me.1

"Okay. You need to chop the onions," Ezra finally said. He slid a chopping board and a knife in my direction, along with the onions.

"What are we making?" I mused. Ezra happily grinned.

"Spaghetti and meatballs. Get chopping girl, or we'll have to deal with a bunch of hungry werewolves," Ezra playfully scolded me. I rolled my eyes at him.

Ezra and I worked together in the kitchen well. He told me stories about the time when he used to train and how he was terrible at fighting when he first started. I enjoyed listening to him speak.

Ezra was wonderful. His mind was so open and free. He looked and acted like he didn't have a care in the world, and it made me feel peaceful. Being around someone like that was good for myself and my beast.

When the doorbell rang, Ezra almost squealed. I rolled my eyes at him as he ran out the kitchen and towards the front door. I picked up a dry dish cloth and wiped my hands with it. I assumed I would be either hugging people are giving out handshakes.

"Ezra! You look so good! Have you been working out?" I heard a voice giggle from the front door. I then heard Ezra's scoff.

"Stop making fun of my apron. Alison likes it," Ezra retorted. I heard more giggles and then held my breath as I heard footsteps.

Ezra appeared in the kitchen followed moments later with two girls hot on his tail. They both looked right at me and grinned.

They came forwards at the same time. The blonde one hugged me first. She rubbed her cheek with mine and then pulled away. My beast purred. She liked this female already.

The other girl came forwards and did the same. My wolf continue to purr. She really liked these females.

"I'm Lila, and that's Brayleigh," the blonde girl told me. I smiled at them both, happy to have met them.

"Everyone calls me Bray. It's easier," Brayleigh added right after. I nodded at her.

"Well, I'm Alison. But a lot of people just call me Ali." Lila and Brayleigh both looked like they were about to burst with excitement and it made me happy. I was glad to finally meet some new people.

Lila was stunning. She had dark blonde hair, which was long and stopped in the middle of her back. She wasn't tall, but she was slim. She has curvy hips and masculine arms and legs. She had bright blue eyes and wonderful skin. She was truly gorgeous.

Brayleigh was equally as stunning. She had short black hair which ran to her shoulder blades. She had caramel brown eyes, which seemed to swirl in the lighting. She was tall, taller than both Lila and I. But not taller than Ezra. Brayleigh wasn't as masculine as Lila was, but she still had muscle.

"Dinner is ready, my loves. Sit down at the table," Ezra called to us. I felt my belly grumble hungrily and I quickly rushed to the table. Lila and Brayleigh sat down also.

"So, I heard that you sparred with Kade today," Brayleigh excitedly said. I nodded at her, thinking about the gashes on my back and belly. I would have to get him back for that eventually.

"Yeah. He won, but I got a few good scratches in," I told her with a nod. Brayleigh laughed and pulled her hand through her hair as Ezra placed a plate in front of her.

"Kade is my mate. Met him six months ago on a hunt," Brayleigh explained, pulling down her hoodie. She showed me the mark on her neck, the shape of a crescent moon. It was pretty.

I longed for one on my neck. My wolf and I dreamed about it often. We dreamed that our mate would be strong, incredibly strong and loving. We knew that he was out there somewhere, but it sucked waiting so many years and showing up with nothing.

"That's awesome," I said honestly. Brayleigh nodded at me and Ezra sat down after placing bowls in front of Lila and I.

"One of my brothers has a mate. She's wonderful," Lila piped up as she picked up her fork.

"How many you got?" I questioned Lila. I had four brothers back home. All of them were older than me and they all were such strong Alpha wolves. I missed them dearly.

"Three. Eldest is twenty-five and the other two are twins, but they're only twenty-three," Lila replied before chewing on a meatball. I sighed for her.

Having one brother was work. But three or four was rough.

"I have four. They're all pains in my damn ass," I groaned at the girls. Everyone at the table laughed and Ezra chuckled some more once we stopped.

"My mate has four sisters. Their house at Christmas time is crazy," Ezra mused to us. Us three girls hooted in laughter. I laughed until my stomach hurt.

Then, my wolf huffed at me. She was hungry and we'd barely touched our food. I rolled my eyes at her and picked up my fork and started to eat.

"It's paradise right now, right? You're away from your brothers, and mine are away on business for a few more weeks. Mhm... pure bliss," Lila hummed delightfully.

I giggled and nodded at her as I took notice of her blood. Her blood was strong, humming and buzzing inside her veins. She was an Alpha female. I just knew it.

"I'm an only child. My mother, Cameron, the pack doctor, didn't want a lot of children and neither did my father. They thought one child was plenty," Brayleigh explained to us.

"Must be fun, not being tortured by any siblings every day," Ezra said darkly, but then chuckled a little. I assumed that he had siblings of his own.

"It's boring, actually. Who the hell am I supposed to bully us I don't have any brothers or sisters?" Brayleigh questioned with loud giggles. Lila and I laughed too.

I've always known that there would be a day where I would laugh until I cry. Id finally come across that day, and it was wonderful.

Lila and I laughed so hard that she began to cry and I laughed until I was holding my pained stomach. Ezra laughed too, his eyes twinkling with joy. Brayleigh looked bitter as we laughed at her words.

Once the laughter stopped, Brayleigh sighed and shrugs at us. "Kade has siblings. That's my only option here."

We all choked back our laughter and continued eating to try and stop ourselves from getting out of control.

Lila and Brayleigh drank a whole bottle of wine and Ezra and I had at least three beers each. The whole night, none of us could stop laughing.

Singlehandedly, it was the best day of my entire life.

It felt good to laugh after all the pain and suffering that I had been through in the past few months.

But later that night, in my sleep, the nightmares came.

Ezra woke me with worried eyes. He leant over me with glazed eyes, hushing me gently as he rubbed my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me.

He helped me to sit up and I cried into his chest. My body rocked violently in his arms, but Ezra didn't seem to care. He held me close tightly wrapped in his arms. He let me cry, and he stroked my hair gently until I stopped sobbing.

Those damn nightmares.

I hated them. They were cruel. I saw terrible things each time I had them. My mind was cruel to me. It hurt me and it scared me.

"Come on, Ali girl. You have to go back to sleep now," Ezra whispered to me softly. I nodded and sniffled. He laid me down again and he sat with me, stroking my hair until I drifted off back to sleep.