Ezra's Second Chance

A Visit

Ezra drove the 20 miles to the little town of Bolivina. He had her address in his GPS. His stomach flipped every time he thought about seeing Bridgit. She was a beautiful woman, her smile lit up the room and her quick whit was something he liked from the beginning.

During the last weeks of the war her crimes had been found out, but she was working to help their side so she was placed under Ezra's guard with limited freedom. Even without the mate bond he would've enjoyed her company... if he could forget what she'd done.

All too soon, the drive was over and Ezra pulled over across from her house. He parked with a few other cars and got out. He wasted no time knocking on her door and waiting. When she didn't answer, he assumed she was at work. He picked the lock and walked in. The entrance was a little hallway with a mirror and table. This opened up into a kitchen with a small breakfast nook off to the side. Through the kitchen was the living room and a couple of doors, one was likely the bedroom and one would be the bathroom. Ezra sat on the couch to wait. It probably wasn't the most moral decision ever to break into her house, but he wasn't going to give her a chance to turn him away.

The shadows began to elongate before and night fell before Bridgit returned. Ezra half expected to feel the pain in his chest while he waited, thankfully that didn't happen. Finally, a key turned in the lock and the door opened. Bridgit entered and put her keys down on the table near the door. She was halfway through the kitchen when Ezra cleared his throat to make his presence known. Bridgit dropped her purse and started to shift. "Stop, it's me!" Ezra shouted as he moved toward her.

She instantly calmed down. "How did you get in here?" she asked.

"Picked the lock. We need to talk about a couple of things," he said gesturing toward the couch.

She sat down and crossed her arms. "Go on."

Ezra sat down and sighed heavily. "First, you need to accept my rejection. I can feel... I can feel when you're... when you're with someone, I can feel it tearing at the bond."

"What?" she said, turning to look at him. "I can't feel you!"

"Because I haven't had so much as a date. I'm not even around women that often," Ezra explained.

"Oh... that's sad. I guess rejecting me shot your chances of finding love," she said coldly. "I'm not sorry though, it got your attention. All I've wanted was to know how you're doing. You never visited me in prison. Not even once," her voice had grown softer.

"When you displayed absolutely no remorse for your actions, I couldn't stay with you. Your efforts directly resulted in the deaths of people I loved. Men I'd grown to consider my brothers. I can't move passed that."

Bridgit looked down at her hands. "I know, and I can't expect you to," she said, surprising him. "I've had a long time to think about it all and honestly? I know now that I was wrong. I was just so blinded by my rage, the injustice of what happened to my home town. So many good people lost everything. But the war was an unnecessary move. It cost too many lives. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Ezra was shocked to hear this. Had she really changed that much? "Bridgit, did you know that your hometown was a smuggling port for human trafficking?" he tried to keep his voice gentle.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "That was just a rumor! You know how people love to talk. There wasn't any truth to it... was there?"

Her eyes looked so innocent, so trusting. It pulled at Ezra's heart. "It wasn't just a rumor. It is all true. The King gave those in charge of it a chance to stop and go straight. They refused, so he stopped trade knowing that it would completely disband everything. The main players were arrested quietly."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "why quietly? Why not flaunt them as an example and take the heat off of himself?"

"Doing that would destroy the chances of the good people moving on with an untarnished reputation. He didn't want that."

"And you believe him?"

"I've worked closely with the King for years now. If I didn't trust him before, I certainly do now. He's a man of honesty to a fault."

Bridgit nodded her head. They sat in silence for a bit.

"Is that all you came here for?" Bridgit asked quietly.

"No... I wanted to ask if we could remain in contact. I don't want to completely lose you." He hated being dishonest with her. With anyone for that matter, but his mission always came first.

"Why would you want to be in contact now, but not at all while I was locked up?" she asked.

Her voice quivered a little and Ezra wondered if she was going to cry. Ezra had to think quickly, he hadn't wanted anything to do with her when she was in prison. He wouldn't want to be here now if it wasn't for the bond and his mission. "I needed time to get over everything. I'm not moved on, but I've processed and made peace with much that happened during the war." He wasn't entirely lying, he had needed time to process, grieve and find peace.

"Alright, we can stay in contact to some extent," she smiled at him. "I would like that. I have no one."

"It's getting late... I need to get going," he said. "I have a hotel in town. I'll be around for a few days." She didn't seem to know what to say, so Ezra took his leave. It wasn't until he was pulling into his hotel parking spot that he remembered she hadn't accepted his rejection. He was kicking himself mentally, but there was nothing to be done. He'd pull it out of her another day.