Page 34 of A Broody Mate for the Human

Jun stays quiet for a while before he looks at me seriously. “Dave, you deserve the best. And I’m more certain than ever before that the Moon Goddess has you as part of her plan too. But all that said, you don’t need to accept any shit from Matthew.”

“He is not that bad,” I mutter. I refuse to believe that the person destined for me would be awful. It can’t be… Why would their goddess do that to me?

“And if it were Ye-Joon?” he suddenly asks. “Or one of our other friends. Would you still think Matthew isn’t that bad?”

I rub my head between my hands. “Fuck,” I curse.

“Mates are sacred to us,” Jun explains. “If you don’t want me to say anything, tell me to shut the fuck up, and I will, but—”

“Be honest,” I hear myself say. “I just want to know the truth.”

“I don’t think Matthew treats you well,” Jun says bluntly. “Did he even accept you as his mate?”

“How would I know if he did?” I want to know.

“He needs to say it to you. He needs to officially accept you. Like… I, Matthew Whatever, accept you, Dave, as my mate,” Jun explains before he looks at me nervously. “Dave, can I ask something?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“If we exclude all the things that make him a werewolf… let’s say he is a normal guy, would you say he is your boyfriend? The person you are dating, the person you want to have as your partner, shouldn’t be someone you’re afraid of. He should be someone who protects you and cherishes you for the great person you are.”

I stay quiet for a long while. “He hates that I’m gay,” I finally hear myself say. I’m not able to hold it in anymore. I’ve tried making excuses, but I know this is Matthew’s biggest problem with me.

Jun stares at me. “Excuse me? What?”

I stuff the rest of my strawberry shortcake into my mouth just to be distracted from my thoughts. “The panic attacks I’m having… are they his fault?”

By the look on Jun’s face, I can see that they are. “I don’t have proof,” he mutters.

“What’s he doing?” I pause. “And does he know it hurts me?” I can see Jun feeling torn, deciding to push him further. “I want to know,” I tell him. “You asked me just a minute ago if you can be honest. I said yes, so fuck, Jun, be honest now. Even if it hurts, I want to know. I know you said you don’t have proof, but I know you wouldn’t ever talk bad about someone if you don’t have a bad feeling.”

“I think he is betraying your bond,” Jun says quietly.

I’m not exactly sure what it means. “Like sleeping with others? But we aren’t together yet…”

“It’s a pretty severe thing in our world,” Jun admits. “If he truly didn’t want you, he could have rejected you. Rejection is our way out. A clean cut, if you want to call it that way.”

“We only kissed once until now,” I explain. “And that was more in the heat of the moment. And technically, he hasn’t accepted me as his mate and…” I pause, realizing that I’m fucking defending him. Matthew hasn’t done anything for me. He wasn’t nice even once. He didn’t consider my feelings or try to get to know me. He just hates who I am and what I am. Jun says he wants to court Luca like he were a human, and it’s the sweetest thing ever but also the most normal thing. That’s what someone should do for the person they love and respect. Yet, I’ve been spending weeks trying to please Matthew. A guy who I would have never dated if we weren’t mates. I hate toxic guys normally.

I once saw him looking at my phone. He probably was snooping on it. Jesus help me because their freaking Moon Goddess set me up with a borderline abusive guy.

Jun sent me a message a while back, one I didn’t receive. I’m starting to wonder about it now…

He made me act like a victim.

I’m not a victim!

“Damn it,” I curse, making Jun jump slightly.

“I’m sorry,” Jun mutters. “I went too far. I didn’t want to be too overbearing, especially since I’m technically your ex. There are things you don’t want to hear from someone you dated once. I know you—”

“Shut up, and give me your cheesecake,” I huff. Jun blinks and pushes the plate towards me while I start shoveling the cake into my mouth. “I just thought a mate would be the person to unconditionally love me, like Liam and Annie love each other.”

“If it helps,” he mutters. “I think Alpha Liam and Luna Annalise are a fairytale couple. Even for mates, it normally doesn’t go that smoothly. You are often mated to someone who you don’t know at all, a literal stranger, and it takes a while to understand who they are and what they like. I know that for me it won’t be that easy… even mates need to build a solid relationship.” He pauses. “Luna Annalise told me she tried to call you a few times and wanted to meet you, but you always had an excuse…”

“Because Annie would look through me instantly,” I admit. “She would know that Matthew isn’t good to me, and then she would stomp off to his pack and kick his ass.”

Jun blinks at me. “My luna would kick his ass personally?”