I felt shell shocked.

Everything had been turned on its head. Ezekiel had rejected Vera, severed their bond, and then, for some Mene forsaken reason, he had bonded to me. It seemed surreal, fantasy, not based in reality. Never, in a million fucking years, would I have ever thought Ezekiel could form a bond to me. It seemed so improbable, down right impossible. It was just a stupid crush, a stupid childhood crush.

And yet...

He stood there, his expression serious, his hand held out towards me as if he wanted me to come with him. I knew that he must have known about the new bond between us, there was no way he didn't. I didn't understand why though. I was no one to him, I really was. We had been stuck together for the past three days but that was it.

Yah he had been there when I had given birth but that was just circumstance, nothing more. I had needed someone and Luiz wasn't there, he was. I was grateful for that, really grateful, but he had a family to go home to. I had seen how the two males had embraced him. Those must have been the males he spoke of. They weren't at all what I had expected but it was clear they loved him. The one was slightly muscular but all together smaller and the other one was nearing Ezekiel's size, just not as big.

He had a choice to go home, to leave Provocatio in history. Except he was standing there, holding out his hand out towards me like he wanted me to come with him. I didn't know how to feel about that. I was done with males. I really, really was but I hadn't expected this. I had expected to come back to Provocatio, to lay low and hope no one would find out about me letting Altia take the baby. I hadn't even really thought that far to be honest. I just hadn't expected anything else.

I glanced back up at Luiz and then back to Ezekiel. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if leaving Provocatio would sever whatever relationship I had left with Luiz. Despite everything, he was still my brother and I still loved him. I didn't want to lose that, that last bit of my family I had left. We had lost our parents at such a young age and it had been us against the world. My banishment strained our relationship heavily. We tried, we did, but things were never the same after that.

If I left was that simply the end for us? I loved my brother but... I glanced back at Ezekiel. It could be a fresh start. Even without the mate nonsense it would be a new start for me. A new pack. A place where no one would know who I was before I stepped onto the territory. No one would know anything if I didn't want them to. And as I told Hilla, Provocatio was like a pair of shoes that no longer fit right. If I went back, what was realistically there for me?

A head full of trauma, the past hanging off of my throat, and the ever ready judgment if someone found out about the baby? But was it enough for me to just drop everything? Was losing Luiz, the last of my family, my big brother, worth leaving it all behind?

Hilla nudged me slightly. "You wanna go?" It was softly asked, low and quiet and I didn't know how to respond. I felt stuck.

I glanced between Ezekiel and Luiz and when I looked at my brother he was looking back at me. He didn't say it out loud but that look said it all. 'It's okay.' that was what it told me. 'It's okay.' As if he was giving me his approval to go, that it would be okay if I did. My eyes burned and I gave him a small nod before I took a step.

"Come on then." The larger of the two males gestured for me as well, as if he was putting his faith in Ezekiel over who I was. "We always have room for more." He gave a smile that had me taking another step. He didn't need to say it, he really didn't. He didn't know me but yet he did. Hilla grabbed my hand and she followed along behind me as I walked across the distance between Ezekile and I.

When I was close enough I held out my hand towards him. My heart was thundering in my chest and he didn't come to me but his eyes were on me all the same. I couldn't look at him, my cheeks flushed, and I grasped his hand tightly with my own. He closed his hand around mine but it wasn't a suffocating or tight grasp, just a soft hold. I appreciated it, I really did.

"Do you have any bags?" The smaller male asked it as his dominance rolled off of him in oppressive waves. I shied away from him and I could feel Hilla doing the same and the other male smacked his shoulder.

"Reign it in, Luka." It was a quickly said warning and the male looked startled at the hit or the warning I didn't know.

"Oh, shit! Sorry." The dominance receded and he looked a bit abashed at that as he gave Hilla and I a small smile. "I forget sometimes. I'm Luka, you guys know Kiel, and this is Micheal." He pointed to the larger male and Micheal smiled at us with a small wave.

I couldn't return it with one hand holding onto Ezekiel's and the other holding Hilla's but Hilla did. "Sup." She cleared her throat and I watched as Luka, the smaller male, glanced up at Ezekiel and I couldn't bring myself to do the same. My cheeks were bright red and I didn't know how to get them to stop doing that. It was just a stupid childhood crush.

One that had manifested into a fucking mate bond but still.

I still felt like reality was a little off, like I couldn't quite trust what I was seeing or feeling or hearing because what did you mean that Ezekiel had a bond with me? That he had rejected Vera and then held his hand out to me? It didn't make any conceivable sense. Yah there was all those years and we weren't the same people but the very idea of it was just insane.

"Got it, Keil." Luka nodded and I felt a little startled before realising that they must have been mindlinking. It had been so long so I had anyone else in my head that I tended to forget about it. "Do you guys wanna grab your bags from your car?" Luka gestured at us and I glanced at Hilla and she gave a small snort, smirking.

"I'll go get them." She let my hand go and Ezekiel gave my hand a small squeeze before he led me over to a different car. I stepped over the small fence, just as he did and he only let my hand go to open the door.

"In." He gestured and I nodded, aware of the blush moving from my cheeks down to my neck and up to my ears as I got in and slid to the middle. I didn't know what to do and I clasped my hands together, rubbing at the palm of the hand Ezekiel had been holding. My nerves tingled and fairly danced from him touching me and I was thrown by it. I had spent so long without bonding to anyone since Blake that the fact I had bonded to Ezekiel of all people was insane.

At some points I had wondered if I had been broken, that something inside me had me fucked right up after everything. Mate bonds forming was something easy to do, it just happened. But after Blake it had felt like that part of me just switched off. I had no clue why it switched back on for Ezekiel. It made little sense.

I rubbed my hands on my pants, trying to get rid of the feeling on my palm from Ezekiel. It was odd and it made me feel strange. Just because I went with him, it didn't mean I wanted to deal with a mate or anything regarding one. I was done with males for a bit, I meant that.

I glanced over as I spotted Hilla carrying over two suitcases and the larger male, Micheal, met her and took them, gesturing to the car. I couldn't hear anything as she nodded and headed straight for the car. I pulled on my seatbelt as she opened the door and got inside beside me.

"This is one helluva beater of a car." She sounded amused and I couldn't exactly disagree. It wasn't a new car by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly did have the beater look to it. Most people would have probably sent it to the scrapyard. "Also, slam dunk on that mate thing. Super weird but he's a decent fucking male at least." Hilla leaned over as she said it and I threw her a look.

I didn't want to get into it, I really didn't want to get into it. There was too much going on right now, the last week had been non-stop bullshit. I needed to sleep for a good few days and then maybe, maybe, reenter the world to try to work things out in my head. There was just... it was all too much at the moment.

I could hear the trunk slamming and the two front doors opened. Luka and Micheal both took the front seats and my eyes went wide when I realized that would mean- The door beside me opened and Ezekiel sat down beside me. I almost choked on my own breath at the realization that he would be sitting beside me. Hilla snorted in amusement, clearly taking some joy in rather not amusing situation. I thumped her leg with my fist and she yelped, rubbing at it.

"Bitch." She wrinkled her nose at me and I glowered at her, trying not to melt or overreact to the fact that Ezekiel's thigh was pressed against my own and I was in very close contact to him. It was honestly too close of contact. That bond was wiggling around inside of me to the point I wanted to puke. It was ridiculous. My head hurt, it ached like a bitch and I just wanted a breather, just a small one, so I could actually work through some shit.

"We all good to go?" Luka glanced back and I stared with wide eyes. He looked almost concerned for a moment, like he wanted to maybe get me out of the car and Hilla snorted.

"Ignore her, she's 'processing' or some shit. She's fine." Even as she said it, it didn't seem like he actually believed it but he still nodded. He gave me an appraising look, as if he were trying to gauge how truthful Hilla was being.

"Good to know. Just don't want to be kidnapping someone." He muttered the last part underneath his breath and my cheeks went bright red. This was a huge fucking mess. I didn't even know what to say. I couldn't tell him anything either because my head was a fucking mess.

"You aren't though, right? Kidnapping her?" The big one, Micheal, looked back at us, glancing between me and Ezekiel. Ezekiel gave a low rumble as he reached forward and smacked him on the head around the seat. The male laughed, loud and boisterous, smacking Ezekiel's hands away. "I have to ask!" Ezekiel huffed, sitting back in his seat. I could feel him glancing at me and then his hand ghosted over mine before he hooked my pinky with his.

I looked down at it, a flush rolling across my cheeks even more so than it had before. I felt that at this rate my cheeks might as well have been on fire. Hilla nudged my knee with her own and I glanced at her. She looked overly amused but her nod asked if I was okay. I gave a small nod in return. I was okay, embarrassed and unsure of everything but I was okay.

This was... it was a good step for me. I couldn't stay in Provocatio. I knew that, I think even Luiz knew that. Shit would be different, it always was, but I had a feeling it would be okay. I could maybe have a chance to start to make something of my life. Besides, I hadn't had a choice in any of this other shit. This was my choice and I was going to stand by it, come hell or high water.

There was a knock on the window and I glanced over to Ezekiel's side at the same time he did. Luiz was bending over, rapping his knuckles against the window. Ezekiel pressed the button and the window lowered. "Take care of her." Luiz's voice was low as he pointed at me. "I don't care how much dominance you get or what position you hold but you take care of my baby sister." The words were forceful, serious, and I watched as Ezekiel merely tilted his head as he looked at my brother.

"Call, okay? Don't be a stranger. You too, Julieta." He held out a piece of paper and before I could reach out and take it, Ezekiel already grabbed it. "I love you, Julieta. Keep in contact and if you need anything, we're here for you. I'll come get you, day or night." The spanish flowed from his mouth and I swallowed hard against the sudden lump that formed in my throat. We would be okay. A bit different, changed, but okay. Change was okay but he would always be my big brother and despite it all I still loved him.

"I will. I love you too." I gave him a smile, it was weak and I suddenly felt like crying but I swallowed it down. There was no time for tears right now.

"Good. Take good fucking care of her or I'll beat your ass." He pointed at Ezekiel again, all forceful and just like the big brother that he was before he stepped away from the car. That at least received a small nod from Ezekiel as he had the window going back up.

He squeezed my pinky with his own and Luka glanced back. "We good to go?" Ezekiel grunted and I nodded. I was as ready as I would ever be.

"I'm not waiting for anything, so sure." Hilla seemed to settle more in her spot and I let out a slow breath.

This was good. It was a fresh start.

I needed that.