Page 120 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“Last minute.”

Portia lets out a sigh. “Wow, can we please go back to the lover’s quarrel? That was more fun than the sibling drama.” Stella elbows her and glares. “What?” Portia shrugs. “I bet we’re all thinking the same.”

Her words did their magic because Esme and Raffy stop apologizing. “We can talk about this later,” Raffy tells her before he turns to Hayden. I can notice how Hayden grows nervous instantly. Well, Raffy’s first impression on him probably wasn’t the best. “Thank you for watching out for Esme,” Raffy tells him. He reaches out his hand, which Hayden takes in surprise. “And sorry, man, for being a shitty brother-in-law.”

“Don’t mention it,” Hayden stutters. “We can all start anew.”

“Right,” I exclaim. “I think someone definitely needs to go back to rest.” I glare at Raffy, who just looks at me, flabbergasted, before he gives in with a sigh.

“Alright, but before I lay down again… someone please tell me what’s going on with Sugar?” he asks.

“Sugar turned into a weird monster-like doggo with tentacles and killed our attackers,” I tell him bluntly. “Stella said he’s probably a rare demon who can shift to a dog. Seems he has adopted me as his master.”

“WHAT!?” Raffy exclaims. He narrows his eyes a bit. “You really attract the weirdos, Dave.”

“Yeah,” I deadpan. “I know.”

Again, Esme giggles silently, this time hiding her face behind her mate’s arm, while I use the moment of distraction to grab a plate with tramezzini and hamburgers and maneuver Raffy out of the room.

*RAFFY*

Dave’s right, my body is screaming for me to lie down again and get some rest, but before we can do so, he wants to check on Sugar, and I don’t want him to go on his own. He begrudgingly allows me to follow him, although he thinks I’m being too over-protective.

Sugar is fine, lying in the lobby of Stella’s house and snoring like he isn’t some sort of demon-monster. Dave puts the plate aside, about to bend down to pet Sugar, when his phone rings. “That’s Finn!” he exclaims. “Oh my god, it’s Finn!”

“That’s the friend who went missing, right?”

He beams at me, nods, and picks up. I don’t want to pry and listen to every word they say, so I allow my thoughts to wander off. I only remotely register Dave telling his friend that he was alright. They seem to talk about his first mate, too, which pisses me off instantly. The fucker who hurt him!

Dave shoots me a warning gaze when I growl before continuing his chat. Meanwhile, I decide to distract myself with Sugar when I see what that monster pup did. “Fuck!” I exclaim. “Really, drool-monster!?”

Dave turns to look at me, his eyes widening. “Sugar, did you really eat all the hamburgers!”

Dave gestures towards me to save the rest of our food, and I make sure to rip the plate up in the air so that the drool-monster won’t get the rest of our dinner.

“Thanks for calling, Finn,” Dave says. “Be careful. And don’t worry about me. I’m fine!” He hangs up, turning to me with a grin. “Thanks for saving our food.”

“I should have saved it before he ate half of it,” I mutter.

“Come on.” Dave giggles. “Let’s go back to our room.” He takes the plate from me and grabs my arm with his free hand. “You need to rest,” he says softly. “You can barely walk straight.”

I want to complain and argue, but he is right. I have no strength left. Back in our room, I barely manage to eat a few of these weird toasty-bread-slices with the fancy name before I drop down into the bed in exhaustion.

This time, Dave makes sure to change into his pajamas and snuggles up to me.

I can really get used to that. But first I need to tell him everything that happened between me, Esme, and Hayden. “Are you ready to hear it all?” I ask into the silence.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Dave says quietly.

I nod, taking a deep breath before telling him everything, about my parents, how my father raised me, how he looked down on Esme for being a girl, how he looked down on everyone he deemed beneath him: omegas, humans, women. I tell him how he beat me whenever I didn’t follow one of his sick credos and how one day I just gave in. I explain to him how I took over as Esme’s guardian after our parents passed away.

Then I proceed to tell him about the deal with Troi, and my own shortcomings during it, how I failed to prevent it from happening, how I shoved Esme’s feelings and worries aside, how I even attacked her mate and her after they marked each other… everything that led us to be on the run. I only stop when I reach the point where we met Stella, and she promised me to keep them safe and agreed with my wish to have my memory erased.

I thought it would be safer that way. If Troi or warriors from my pack would catch me, I wouldn’t be able to tell them anything even if they tortured me.

Once I’m finished, I stop my flow of words, feeling truly drained and exhausted. I look at Dave, expecting disdain and disappointment in his eyes after knowing the truth, but Dave just looks sad. “I can’t even imagine how you and Esme grew up. What a scary and horrible place your home had to be.”

“It’s true that my father was abusive,” I tell him. “But after he passed, a lot of stupid decisions were on me, and the marriage deal with Troi was really just the last straw.”