Page 16 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“Just as bad as I always felt when I couldn’t cover for you. At least my father wasn’t the alpha.” Dante chuckles.

“You were a great beta, even back then,” Liam says unusually gently. “The older brother I never had.”

“Wouldn’t want to trade you with any other alpha,” Dante agrees.

“With so much manly compassion, I might need to prepare some tissues,” Ye-Joon interrupts us while bringing us a new set of drinks.

I burst into laughter. Dante and Liam exchange a glance before chuckling.

“Man, Dad was really a great guy,” Dante muses after a while. “He was so proud when you chose me as a beta, although we were still so young. And he made sure to help me throughout it. Minus that one incident with you playing my wingman, he was always so understanding and kind.”

“He was a good guy,” Liam agrees. “I liked him too.”

I don’t know much about Dante’s past or his family. This is probably the first time I’ve heard about his father. “He isn’t with us anymore?” I ask quietly.

“He died during a rogue attack,” Dante explains. He hasn’t mentioned his mother at all, so I don’t inquire.

“Do you have any memory of your parents?” Liam asks me.

“I do have some,” I say. “But not many survived Marcus’ reign.”

The other two nod their understanding and don’t ask any more questions. I got over the death of my parents eventually, but never quite moved past the death of my sister. Even thinking of her still pains me.

It’s past midnight when we return home. It seems like Luna Annalise and Ella called it quits right before us.

“Thank you,” I tell Dante and Liam before they leave to join their mates. “I truly appreciate what you did today.”

“It was fun,” Liam says earnestly, his ice-blue eyes boring into mine. “Stop acting like it was just an act of mercy from us, Jun.”

I let his words settle in before nodding thoughtfully.

“See you guys tomorrow for training,” Dante tells us before taking his leave.

I nod politely towards Liam once more before walking to the gamma suite. It’s almost a bit too spacious and luxurious for what I was used to while growing up, but I’ve come to really appreciate it. After I went to the bathroom to take a shower, I sent the video of Ye-Joon’s performance to Dave, telling him it was a pity he couldn’t make it but that I hoped he had a nice evening. To my surprise, he calls me only minutes afterwards.

“Hey Dave, didn’t know you were still up. I—”

“There was a performance today,” he says without further ado, honest surprise in his voice.

I’m stunned for a moment. “Yes,” I say. “I wrote to you two days ago asking if you want to go together.”

“Oh shoot.” Dave sighs. “I swear I didn’t receive the message, Jun!”

“I wasn’t upset or anything,” I tell him. “I just thought you were busy and didn’t want to pester you with messages.”

“I would never not answer,” Dave urges. “Must be my potato phone. I can’t believe I missed it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not upset.” I chuckle, feeling lighter all of a sudden. Although I kept telling myself it’s only natural that friends were busy sometimes, it still fills me with relief that Dave didn’t just ignore my message.

“I’d never ignore a message from my friends,” Dave tells me seriously. “For real, Jun, if it happens again, give me a call or something. I’d hate for you to jump to the wrong conclusions.”

“It was probably just your phone,” I muse. “Or mine. But you got the vid?”

“I did.” I can almost hear him smile. “Ye-Joon looks awesome. I’ll write him tomorrow and apologize for missing it. Let’s catch up next week too,” he says.

“Oh, that would be nice.” I nod. “You need to tell me how things are going with Matthew.”

“I’m visiting the fair with him,” Dave explains. “Let’s see if I have something to tell you after that.”