Page 166 of A Broody Mate for the Human

I didn’t know it was possible to relax and tense up at the same time. I relax because I’m obviously not in trouble but tense up because hearing Troi’s name triggers the worst emotions in me.

“They are meeting?” Beta Dante asks.

“There is going to be a werewolf summit of the Union of Independent Men,” Liam tells us.

“You’re kidding me,” Dante asks, dumbfounded.

“I wish I were.” Liam frowns. “They are a bunch of very archaic alphas who deem she-wolves unworthy of having any rank, who suppress omegas and still keep slaves. One of the members of the so-called union challenged Celine recently and barely made it out of the challenge alive. He is particularly salty.”

“Rumor says they want to attack the pack that protects Raphael and his sister.” Aryanna grins. “They clearly don’t know our size and that our alpha is a lycan.”

“I’ve been in touch with the Council about them and decided it’s about time to take action. The Council will build a base here soon to be more in touch with this part of the world, but for now, they want me to tackle the problem,” Alpha Liam explains. “And I will deal with it for sure,” he adds grimly.

I can feel my body tensing again. It’s about time to protect my family and hopefully deal with the threat once and for all. I’m relieved the alpha kept his promise to involve me. Not that I really doubted him as a person, but my track record with alphas isn’t really good.

“What’s the plan?” Beta Dante asks before I can.

Alpha Liam leans back a bit, a smirk curling his lips. “We’ll crash it.”

“Crash what?” Beta Aryanna inquires.

The smirk on Alpha Liam’s face grows, and something flashes in his eyes. “The meeting.”

Chapter fifty-four

The Lone Wolf

*DAVE*

Inthemiddleofmy training, Raffy links me to tell me that he needs to prepare for taking down that shitface Alpha Troi and that Dante ordered him to a training session until lunch. He promises he will pick me up for lunch and then make sure to cuddle with me all afternoon long.

No one wants a clingy, whiny boyfriend or mate, so I decided to encourage him for his training and also really put effort into my own training with Ella. As promised, Ella goes for light exercises and shows me a whole new stretching routine and some basic defense moves. She even commends me for doing yoga.

“You don’t need to turn into a fighter, Dave,” she says while I show her what I usually do when I work out. “Yoga is fine. It’s good for your mental health. I did it when I started training my wolf more. The important thing is to polish and focus on your strengths while also training your weaknesses a bit.”

“What does that mean for me?” I ask, taking two bottles of water out of the fridge and handing one to Ella.

“It means we’ll work on your flexibility and your reflexes, which are already pretty good, but we’ll also teach you some self-defense moves and work on your stamina just in case,” she explains.

I nod, relieved she doesn’t want to turn me into a protein shake guy. I doubt I’d be able to do that… that’s rather Raffy’s forte. Something she said earlier piqued my interest, though. “You said you did yoga when you started to train your wolf more. What’s that about?”

“While I was a member of a different pack, they shunned me, remember?” When I nod, she continues. “I pretty much grew up as a lone wolf, and eventually my wolf got more and more silent until one day it got dormant.”

I eye her curiously. “Raffy said something similar. Nero… that’s his wolf… he was dormant for a while after he turned rogue.”

“It’s not the same,” Ella explains. “My wolf was truly dormant. Raffy’s wolf got reduced to his baser instincts. You could say Nero lost parts of his humanity. My wolf just went silent.”

“How come?”

“Because technically, I was still a pack member. I wasn’t a rogue.” She pauses. “My gift allows me to get through mental blockades and put them up, which is the reason, once Annie and Liam accepted me into their pack, I reconnected to my wolf fast.”

“Will Raffy be able to reconnect to Nero?” I ask quietly.

“He already does,” Ella says. “You told me yourself that Nero even said a few words to you. It means he is still there.”

“But will he return to his old strength?” I want to know.

Ella looks sad. “Rogues can recover their wolf spirits to a certain extent and have them get in touch with their more human side again. It’s just incredibly hard to go back to what they were once.”