Page 118 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“Shut up,” I hiss. “They are coming.”

Tears fill her eyes again. “I can’t—”

“I know you can’t,” I huff, grabbing a bag and throwing a few things into it, including a picture of our parents, some valuables, and all the money I have. “We have no time. They are going to be here any minute.”

I can already hear the noises outside. There are screams and yells reaching us. Esme’s eyes widen in horror. “It’s… my fault.”

“No,” I say grimly while I tug her and her mate along. “It’s mine. My fault.”

My knowledge of the pack comes in handy this time. As the future beta, my father drilled and beat me senselessly, but I was also groomed by the higher ranks into filling the beta position once the alpha found a mate for his daughter, his only child, and he would take over.

Esme, her mate, and I make it out of the backdoor and through a hidden path towards the pack’s border.

Esme stares at me. “Raphael,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” I say grimly. “If it weren’t for me, you would be so much happier.”

She shakes her head. “If it weren’t for you, I would already be dead,” she mutters.

I don’t say anything. I should have protected her. I should have made sure that she gets out of this pack the moment our parents passed away. I knew it was wrong to negotiate that deal. I knew my alpha just wanted her to be a bargaining chip, nothing more. I knew something felt off about Alpha Troi and his beta.

I knew it all, yet I couldn’t prevent it from happening.

I shake it all off for now. “I know someone who can help us,” I say. “Mom’s friend.”

Chapter thirty-eight

Mates!

*DAVE*

OnlywhenRaffy’sbreathinggets more even, indicating he is drifting off into a real sleep, do I allow myself to leave our room for a moment. When he broke down in front of Stella’s house, Portia, the young man who I suppose is Esme’s mate, and I managed to half drag half carry him to Stella’s guest room.

My werewolf is quite big, not an easy cargo.

“There you are,” Stella comments in relief when I step into the living room. The others have been sitting there, waiting for me to tell them the moment Raffy feels better. Stella is sitting next to Lady Portia, who has an arm around her. She isn’t dressed in her black sexy-witch attire, though, and instead wears jeans and a simple button shirt.

“You look surprised.” Lady Portia smirks.

“I am surprised,” I emphasize. “You could have told us.”

She shrugs. “I wanted you to go on that road trip. I figured you both needed it.” She snickers. “It looks like my plan was successful, and you found out you’re mates, as Stella told me.”

Esme gasps. “Mates?” she blurts out. She jumps up to hurry towards me, her eyes wide with curiosity. She is an elegant-looking woman, tall, with dark hair and eyes, similar to Raffy’s. In her unique way, she’s beautiful. I’m not surprised that shit-face beta wanted to have a woman like her as his mate.

“Well, yes,” I mutter, realizing there is no hiding it anymore when Portia already blurted it out. “We’re mates. But due to Raffy’s wolf being dormant, we only noticed recently.”

“Bullshit.” Portia laughs. “You should have seen them in my club, Stella. They were smitten with each other.”

“Well,” I say, trying to save my dignity. “We didn’t feel the sparks and all.”

“A technicality in your case, as I figured from the first moment on,” she says.

I take a deep breath, deciding to ignore her for now, and shift my attention to Raffy’s sister. “You must be Esme, right? Raffy has been talking about you nonstop.”

“Is that true?” She looks happy before casting her eyes downwards. “But I ruined his life. He turned rogue because of me, and we’re on the run because of me…”

“That’s not true,” her mate argues. “It’s our former alpha’s fault!”