I flinched at the words. My heart clenched.

"Thought so," he commented to himself.

Like me?

The words had taken a moment to process since I was stunned by the ones that followed.

Silence enveloped us for painfully long seconds. I looked anywhere but at him.

He sighed. "It gets easier with time."

I jumped a little. "What?"

"The panic."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. What was he talking about?

"The panic you felt when you recognized that Ezra was mad at you," he elaborated. "Feeling like he was done with you when he left."

How...

I tilted my head. It was intriguing how accurate his words were. How could he pin me so accurately?

I was like you once.

Something bloomed in my chest as I looked at Zev in a new light. Something only a kindred soul could understand. A warmth.

But it proved I was a bad person.

Only a bad person would feel comfort in others experiencing the same horrors they did.

He had leaned back against the sofa. His presence was frigid and demanded attention. The lavender of his eyes didn't follow the calming path that the beautiful flower with the same name walked. No. His eyes were cold and sharp- intimidating; calculating.

"Don't worry. It goes away once you start to realize they're not going to leave you- that there won't be consequences."

They?

I could see the woman from earlier approaching from the other side of the room. She was carrying a black tray with a few small boxes on top.

"Hey, Nea?"

I swallowed at the unexpected address. Looking away from the woman, I looked towards Zev. He wasn't looking at me. He was watching the woman approach through hooded eyes as his head rested on the back of the sofa.

"If Jaxon lays his hands on you again, tell one of us." He tilted his head and looked me in the eyes. "If anyone lays their hands on you."

I looked at him for a moment, taking in the sincerity before nodding my head.

His eyes looked over my face. He clenched his jaw. "Don't take this the wrong way. I just don't want you to think we allow that kind of behaviour in our home. This doesn't make us friends." He looked away dismissively and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as the woman reached us.

"I have the bracelets and the ring. You can look it over while I take your size and get the jeweller to adjust it just right so you can take it home with you today!" The woman- Cynthia according to her little gold name tag- said as she placed the tray on the table.

I looked away from Zev and towards Cynthia while trying to suppress a smile.

Didn't think we were.

I sat by quietly as Zev inspected the five silver bracelets in leather boxes. They were simple, straight, rectangular bands that curved to fit the wrist with a name- one for each of them- engraved on the inside.

After he was done looking over the bracelets, the woman opened and handed him a sixth box. In it was a ring. Delicate details in the same silver metal as the bracelets framed a beautiful blue jewel. It was a blue that reminded me of storm-

My eyes widened as the blue jewel transformed into a cool lavender one.

"There are five stones programmed into the dimensional pocket and it will rotate through them. If a corresponding bracelet is near, the stone will change to the one that matches it. It makes for a beautiful aesthetic appearance when the stone matches the eyes of the man you have on your arm," the woman excitedly informed me.

I smiled and nodded at her, feigning interest as she spoke to me and measured my ring finger.

I guessed some things didn't change regardless of realms. Or maybe someone from one introduced the idea to the other. It was clear what the ring would represent, but what wasn't clear was why my 'husbands' were getting bracelets instead of rings.

After everything was set, Ezra paid while the woman packed up the jewelry before we left. The sun was gone when we stepped out again. Floating orbs along the path lit the way with a soft warm glow.

I followed behind Zev as he walked back towards the car. I watched him as he walked confident and in control. I couldn't picture the man before me, with his large frame and scary aura that made everyone keep a wide berth, in the same helpless situations I had experienced.

Well. Some drugs would eliminate that problem. I had forgotten about those.

As we drew closer to our start point, the commotion around us drew my attention from Zev's muscled backside that flexed as he walked. There was a crowd forming around on a spot near the middle of the town square-like area we were crossing.

Zev paused for a moment and looked at the mass of people. He clicked his going with a sigh before walking towards the center of the crowd.

Not knowing what to do, I followed behind him.

He walked through the crowd without care. Some would get irritated that they had been bumped, but their attitude would change real quick once they recognized who Zev was. It was strange that so many people knew who he was. I hadn't thought of it much earlier, but maybe Zev, Ezra, and the others were a bigger deal than I realized.

I had to make sure to stick close to Zev, otherwise, I would be out of the buffer zone people formed around him.

When he broke through the most condensed part, the edge of the inner circle, he didn't stop. I peeked around him to catch a glimpse of what had a crowd forming and my blood ran cold.

Ezra had Jaxon by the collar of his shirt. Although Jaxon was larger, Ezra had him leaning back in an attempt to escape. He was bending backwards over the fountain Ezra had him pinned against as he got in his face.

As we got closer, I flinched as my ears suddenly popped and I could hear the angered words coming from Ezra's sweet lips.

"At least you put up a privacy bubble," Zev said to him as we neared the two. His words were ignored by the two men in front of us as they continued to face off.

"What the fuck did you say?" Ezra shouted, spit flying from his lips. The angles of his face were accentuated in his anger.

Jaxon smiled sleazily. "I said yeah, I touched her," his words sounded a bit slurred. He moved his head forward, getting in Ezra's face and forcing him to retreat. "Then, I pushed her down on her knees and made her part those pretty little lips for my cock-"

Ezra's fist cut off Jaxon's words as it collided with his lips and nose. It must have been hard because it was enough to make him trip over the edge of the fountain and into the water.

Ezra stood in place, breathing heavily from the anger coursing through his shaking body. I swear I could see dark sparks flare for his fingertips occasionally, but I could never see it long enough to say it wasn't my mind playing tricks.

Jaxon sat on his ass, legs spread and knees bent as blood flowed from his nose and the cut on his lower lip while drenched. He wiped at the blood on his chin before grinning at Jaxon.

Suddenly, a burst of bright flames had engulfed where he sat and before I could process the change, there was a large golden dragon in Jaxon's place. The fountain was crushed and the water flooded the square as it rushed out of the broken stone pool.

Wind attacked me with sticks and rubble when the golden dragon spread its wide wings and flapped once. I shielded myself behind Zev as I watched the dragon dive-bombed towards Ezra from the short distance it gained up. When he neared, the dragon ducked his head and flipped forward. Bursting into flames, he was Jaxon again. Wisps of flames cling to his now dry clothes and slipped between his fingers and hair as he neared Ezra with a fist prepared to strike.

Ezra feigned to the left before leaning right to dodge him. Jaxon in his inebriated state stumbled when his hit didn't land on its mark. Taking the opportunity, Ezra grabbed Jaxon's outstretched arm and flipped him over his shoulder and onto the ground as his body spasmed.

Jaxon groaned in pain, not bothering to get back up as he lay on his back. He bent one leg and placed a hand on his abdomen as his eyes clenched in pain.

"Really, Ez? The electricity? If I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to kill me," he coughed out in pain.

"Well, as they say, you should never stop learning."

Ezra went to attack again but was halted when dead vines shot out between the cobblestones on the ground and wrapped around his limbs, mobilizing him.

"And they wonder why I dislike going out in public with them," Zev quietly sighed.

* * *

Zev was able to amicably get Ezra and Jaxon to back off. He had thrown Jaxon's drunk ass into the back seat while Ezra hopped into a cab and left.

When we reached the manor, there was no sign of Ezra having arrived.

"Do you need help?" I asked as Zev pulled open the back door. He had to move quick to keep Jaxon's sleeping body from falling out since he fell asleep leaning against the door.

I wanted to get out of the rain that poured steadily from the sky but I felt bad leaving him to deal with Jaxon alone. He looked heavy.

"I'm good, I-"

A crack of thunder and a flash of lighting had me jumping. Zev must have also been surprised too seeing as he almost dropped Jaxon. I quickly grabbed Jaxon from the other arm to steady him.

I began to let him go when I was sure Zev had him, but Jaxon's hand shot out and grabbed mine and pulled me back as he shifted his weight off of Zev and onto me. I almost buckled beneath him.

"No," his head buried into my neck. I could feel the sharp points of the stubble on his jaw as it scratched across my skin when he spoke low in his rough voice that was even rougher from drinking. "Don't leave me."

His arms wrapped around me tightly as he held me against him. I was frozen.

He nuzzled into my neck like a puppy before pulling back and looking at me through unfocused eyes still hazed with liquors spell. His lips held an innocent smile that contradicted everything about the man.

When Zev's hand landed on his shoulder, his eyes cleared slightly and the smile dropped. His face changed quickly. Gone was the innocent simile and in its place was a layer of anger.

His hand shot out faster than a cobra. It had my neck in its crushing hold in an instinct. He shoved me back against the side of the car as he towered over me.

"You," he growled lowly.

I clawed at his hand, the action all too familiar. He didn't let up. He kept his hold as steady and immovable as a statue.

Luckily, this time Zev actually was around to save me.

It wasn't good for my survival instincts, but I was glad regardless.

He grabbed Jaxon around the neck in a chock hold. At first, he didn't let go of my neck, but after Zev tightened his hold, Jaxon's focus shifted from me to the arm cutting off his oxygen.

Zev didn't release his hold until Jaxon was unconscious and laid out on the floor. I stood rooted in place against the car holding my neck the whole time.

Zev looked up at me, breathing slightly heavily from the strain it took to keep a hold on Jaxon.

"Get some rest," his eyes flashed down to where my hands clenched at my neck. "And go see Ezra in the morning. He won't barge into your room in the middle of the night because if your injuries were that serious, he wouldn't have left them untreated at Miss Antwuans, but it'll help get him over his anger faster."

Zev heaved Jaxon onto his shoulder and walked into the manor.