Page 119 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“He’s right,” I say with insistence. “Your alpha’s and that Alpha Shitface with his Beta Uncle Creep.”

Esme blinks at me for a moment before exchanging a look with Stella, then both women burst into laughter. “Troi really is a shitface.” Esme giggles. “But where are my manners?” She reaches out her hand to shake mine. “I’m Esme, Raffy’s younger sister.”

“Dave,” I say, happy that she welcomes me so easily as her brother’s mate. “I’m happy to meet you… well…” I pause. “I’m just human, as you can tell.”

“And I’m just an omega,” her mate points out shyly. “My name is Hayden.”

I smile at him. He’s a bit smaller in height than Esme, his hair is short and curly, but he has a kind face with beautiful blue eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“How did you meet my brother?” Esme asks curiously while she snuggles into Hayden’s arms. Meanwhile, Portia gets up to fetch me some tea.

“We met coincidentally. He saved me, and then we kind of continued our trip together.” I pause. “Now that I think back to it, Lady Portia is right… it was obvious that there was a bond between us.”

“And Raffy accepted you, right?” Esme asks hopefully.

“He wanted me to wait with making everything official until I’d know his whole past,” I admit.

“That’s fair from his side,” Stella interrupts us. “I’m sure he wanted to claim and mark you for a while already, but he held back to give you the chance to leave.”

“I’m not going to leave,” I say bluntly.

“Of course not.” Stella smiles.

Esme takes my hand. “Raffy is a good guy,” she emphasizes. “Sure, at the end things got really rocky between us, but the alpha pressured him all the time. When we grew up, our dad was really cruel. He constantly beat him whenever he showed even the tiniest bit of kindness or befriended wolves of lower rank… so Raffy did it secretly. And when Dad died, he made sure to protect me. It’s true that he took part in the deal with Alpha—” she pauses. “Shitface, but I don’t think he saw a way out of it without getting us killed. I’m not saying what he did was right, but when things went down, he made sure to save me and Hayden first.”

Hayden brushes through his hair. “Not going to lie, he is strong as fuck, and I’m still a bit scared of him, but Esme is right. He saved us from the pack and from Alpha Troi’s attack and led us through the wild for weeks until he found Miss Stella.”

“Only when he knew we were safe did he leave himself to make sure our enemies would hunt him instead of us,” Esme mutters. “If only I were stronger, I could have supported him more, but Dad never allowed me to learn how to fight. I just have a basic school education. He thought girls were useless…so that’s what I’ve become.”

“You’re not useless,” Hayden says with emphasis. “You’re very brave, and you are ready to fight for what’s right. You can still learn how to fight now. Your life isn’t over. It just began.”

“He’s right.” Portia returns with a cup of tea for me and a few tramezzini and hamburgers for all of us. “Your brother is back to his senses, you have your mate now, and once the idiots stop hunting you, you can do whatever you want. We’ll make sure to find a pack for you.”

“Yes, it would be best to have you and Hayden in the safety of a pack.” Raffy’s tired voice comes from behind me. I turn to look at him. His face looks ashen, there are dark circles under his eyes, and he just looks fucking drained.

“Why are you up!?” I exclaim. “You should rest.”

Raffy shrugs. “You weren’t there,” he grumbles. “So, I thought I should check if you’re in trouble somewhere.”

“To check I’m in trouble,” I repeat. “What makes you think I’d be in trouble!?”

“The first time we met you were in trouble,” Raffy muses. “Then that guy in the alley who tried to rob you?”

“Us. He tried to rob us,” I correct him.

Next to me I can hear Esme giggle. She presses her hands against her mouth. “Sorry.”

Raffy looks at her like he only now just realizes we aren’t alone. “Esme,” he stutters.

“Raphael!” she exclaims, jumping forward to hug him. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble I gave you.”

“No, I’m sorry,” he retorts, hugging her tight. “It was all on me.”

“No, not all was on you. I should have fought much harder, but I left you alone dealing with our alpha and Troi.”

“That’s no excuse for me not stepping up to protect you,” Raffy says earnestly.

“You did step in to save me, though,” she points out.