Page 8 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“He wanted to go through the schedules for the patrols first,” Ella explains. “But he’ll be here in a minute.”

“So, what’s new?” Annie asks when she and Liam settled down with the babies on their laps. One of them tugs at Liam’s hair playfully, but my powerful, stern alpha just smiles brightly. It’s really cute to watch.

“Not much.” Ella sighs. “Dante and I are renovating the guest room.”

“Not much from me either,” Aryanna comments, brushing through her hair that’s colored neon green at the moment. “But Jazz and I will go and visit her brother today. He is going to leave soon for his mission, so Jazz wants to spend some time with him, and I’m being a supportive mate.” She grins brightly.

“And you, Jun?” Annie asks me warmly.

“Oh, I guess I will check on Dave and see if he resolved the issue.”

My luna is on alert instantly, her attention fully on me. “The issue?”

Oh fuck you, Jun! She didn’t know. “It’s nothing,” I mutter, cursing myself for being the worst liar in the universe. I was sure Dave would have written to her and Ella already. They are his best friends. But then, he probably was too busy with being gaslit by Matthew yesterday.

“What don’t we know?” Annie asks worriedly.

I feel instantly bad for spilling his secret, but this is my luna, and it’s impossible for me to keep secrets from her. I will have to tell Dave about it later and apologize.

“Dave found his mate,” I say.

Ella spits out her coffee again through her nose, coughing violently, while next to her, Aryanna can’t help but burst into laughter at her demise.

Annie’s mouth drops open. “What?” she exclaims. “WHAT!?”

Even Liam eyes me in surprise though. “Are you serious?”

“I would never joke about something like that,” I say calmly. “I met him yesterday in a pub when his mate suddenly appeared.”

“And who is it?” Ella asks curiously.

“I, I don’t want to—” I pause, not sure how to tell the others that I don’t want to tell any more of Dave’s private affairs. Everyone on this table is of higher rank than I am.

But Annie understands and smiles at me. “I understand. Dave can tell us everything himself,” she reassures me. She tilts her head slightly after a moment of silence. “Dave hasn’t said anything. Normally, when something exciting happens, he shares it immediately.” She looks guarded all of a sudden. “Jun, do we need to be worried?”

I’m not sure what to answer. I just know that I’m worried… but maybe I’m biased because I know Dave, and he is not just my past affair but also my best friend. Probably my only real friend. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly, remembering the way Matthew looked at Dave. There was a certain darkness in the depth of his eyes, something I didn’t quite like to see. “I don’t know.”

Chapter four

Denial

*MATTHEW*

ThisisallDash’sfault. My stupid wolf went MIA on me after we fucked Clara. It wasn’t even that great. She is like all the other girls… nothing special. None of them seems to be able to please me or interest me in any way. It’s just not enough. I probably haven’t met the right girl yet. Once I do, it will all be so much easier. I just want to have a nice girl at my side, preferably fun and easy to talk to. Maybe smart too, like Henry, one of my future twin alphas.

Dash was completely on board with getting it on with Clara, so I don’t know what he is upset about. It’s not like I’m going to mark her. Clara is not good enough to be my mate. She isn’t the one. And Dash and I both agreed that mating and marking a man is completely out of the question!

However, Dash was still sulking the whole day, the hypocrite.

Only when Dave sent us a message in the morning, inviting us for coffee, did Dash pop up again and was suddenly all into meeting him. It’s the only reason I agreed to this date with Dave. It’s not even a real date. We are just going for coffee, nothing more.

I can’t believe I agreed to meet him,I grumble while parking the car close to the coffee shop.That’s your fault.

Dash lets his head hang down.He smells so nice,he mutters.

His scent alone won’t be able to give us pups though,I huff.And think of Dad. Remember what happened back then at the spring party?

That was two years ago. Maybe he changed his stance?