Page 25 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“It means Annie is a princess too,” I point out. “They will rule together.”

He just shrugs. Apparently, he doesn’t deem her position too important. Something inside me twists slightly. I’m ready to accept a lot, but no one is allowed to talk badly about Annie. She saved my life back in middle school. I’m sure if she weren’t around, I’d have done something stupid.

To make sure Matthew and I don’t end up in yet another fight, I decide to head to the toilet. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell him.

“Sure, is there anything else you want? I could get us something,” Matthew offers. “Maybe another slice of that apple pie?”

“Sure, that would be awesome!” I say, happy he thinks about getting me something.

It seems my strategy worked because he already forgot what he wanted to say about Annie and instead is busy ordering something for us. To cover my bases and not make him feel like I tricked him, I indeed go to the restrooms. When I leave again, I bump into a well-known figure.

“Ye-Joon!” I blurt out, beaming at him. “It’s awesome to see you.”

Ye-Joon chuckles. “Seems we have to run into each other at the toilet to meet.”

“I’m sorry I missed your last performance,” I point out. “I’ll make sure to come to the next.”

“Don’t worry.” Ye-Joon smiles. “There are plenty of opportunities to see me dance. I’m thankful you and Jun support me so much. I don’t expect you guys to come and see me every time.”

“But we enjoy doing that,” I point out.

He smiles genuinely. “Thank you, Dave.” The look in his eyes turns into amusement. “Though it was fun to see Jun’s superiors the last time,” he grins.

“You saw Liam?” I chuckle. “He is a sight to behold.”

“Yes, and his beta. It was good to see them though,” Ye-Joon says. “Jun doesn’t have any family left, and from what I know about packs, these guys are the closest to a family he can get. He seemed to be happy with them.”

I nod. “He really is. His main job is to protect the luna, and he really enjoys that.”

“I hope I can meet her one day,” Ye-Joon says. “She seems to be great. An alpha is nothing without his luna.”

I nod. Although we both don’t know much about packs, we got that much already. Ye-Joon is mostly human, and because of that we instantly bonded. It felt good to have another outsider in my group who knew about werewolves but wasn’t one and didn’t live in a pack.

I notice Ye-Joon rubbing his forehead a bit. “One of your headaches?” I ask him.

“Yeah, maybe I had one drink too many yesterday,” he mutters. “I wasn’t sleeping well, and in the bar someone threw a few rounds of drinks, and I had to be a good host and drink some with them.”

Ye-Joon wants to say something else when his gaze catches something. He tilts his head slightly, making me turn around curiously to see that Matthew is approaching us. I’m feeling panic spreading inside me instantly. Oh, please don’t let him think that Ye-Joon and I are a thing or something…

“Hello,” Ye-Joon greets politely.

Matthew just frowns at him. “And you are?”

“Dave’s friend,” Ye-Joon says. The gaze in his eyes turns cold, and there is an edge in his voice I can’t quite understand.

“That’s Ye-Joon,” I hurry to introduce him. “We have known each other since we started college.” I pause. “And that’s Matthew.”

“Your mate,” Ye-Joon concludes, much to my surprise and Matthew’s too. The quiet and composed yet gentle Ye-Joon is replaced by a colder version of him.

“You are a human.” Matthew furrows his brows. “How do you know a thing about mates?”

“Being a human doesn’t mean we are stupid,” Ye-Joon tells him in a matter-of-fact tone. “Dave knew about mates too, didn’t he?”

Matthew just frowns deeply.

Ye-Joon ignores him and turns to look at me. “It was nice running into you, Dave. Let’s catch up later.”

“Sure.” I smile, waving him goodbye.