Page 44 of A Broody Mate for the Human

My beta is fast, grabbing Matthew’s fists and stopping him from hurting himself.

Deacon and I exchange a gaze. His outburst has caught us completely by surprise.

I feel something in me churn, a foreboding feeling. I exchange a glance with my Janice. She is a regal woman, but she has a certain kindness to her that only a luna has. “Who told you that?” she asks softly. She approaches Matthew now, sitting down next to him and taking his hand into hers. He doesn’t pull it away. He looks defeated all of a sudden.

“I’m sick,” he whispers. “I should just die.”

“Matthew, who said it’s sick to be fated to a man?”

There is a silence that lasts for minutes. None of us says anything, allowing Janice to handle the questioning now. I try to keep my impatience in check and distract my lycan beast by chanting every song I know backwards.

“Dad.”

I blink when I hear Matthew again. It was almost too quiet, but I’m sure I heard it right. Letting my arms drop down, I take a step closer. “Franc said that?”

Matthew’s body trembles, and his head twitches. He clasps his arms, starting to scratch them until thin red lines appear on his skin. “Don’t tell him,” he begs. “He can’t know.” He turns to look at Janice, his eyes big in fear. “Please, he would kill me.”

Deacon’s mouth drops open. He and Franc work together a lot, and just like me, he is probably shocked by what Franc’s son is saying.

Janice takes his hand again to stop him from hurting himself. “Tell me about your dad.”

“He broke my jaw when I kissed a boy when I was fifteen,” he mutters. A pause. “And then, when I told him I might not like girls, he beat me up. Worse than ever before. I was in the infirmary for two weeks…”

I frown deeply. I remember that incident, but I thought… “Didn’t that happen during an attack?”

“No,” he whispers. “It was him. And then he sent me to that camp…”

“What kind of camp?” Deacon wants to know.

“For kids like me,” he mutters. “To get our sick ideas out of our heads.”

I feel my stomach churn. And just like when Annalise called me, I know he isn’t lying to me.Deacon,I link my beta.Gather all the intel you can get. Every piece. I’m sure Franc sent him to the infirmary more than once. I want to know what he told the nurses there. Check his bank accounts. Where did he send money? What camp did he send his son to? Dig for all the dirty laundry. I want everything you can find. And make sure you keep this confidential. If Franc finds out, he will either run, destroy something, or try to come at his son. If you know enough, capture him and throw him in a cell.

You believe Mattie, don’t you?he mutters.

You don’t?

Deacon looks defeated.That fucker,he mutters.What if he asks about his son?

Tell him he met a fellow gamma who brought him home. And that he is currently doing a job for me. That should shut him up.

Deacon nods and shuffles out of the room.

I sigh deeply before grabbing a chair and sitting down too. “You will never have to return to him,” I say. “To your father. I will make sure of it.”

Matthew looks at me in surprise. “Is that true…” he mutters.

“Do you think your alpha would lie to you?”

He shakes his head before his eyes fill with tears. He rubs over his forehead. “Dave…” he mutters. “I’ve ruined us.”

I nod sadly.

“I tried to tell myself I didn’t want him, but I did. And I was awful to him. I don’t even know what I was thinking…”

“Matthew, we’ll deal with everything concerning your father,” I tell him. “He won’t hurt you again.”

“What about me?” he asks worriedly.