Page 81 of A Broody Mate for the Human

“I don’t hold it against you,” Luca says.

“Why not?”

“Why would I?” Luca says, surprised. “You never once gave me the feeling that I don’t matter to you. You instantly started to court me. As for Dave…” He pauses. “Maybe it was not the best decision to hook up with someone you considered a friend, but you grew up so restricted and suppressed. I think it was your way of coping with it.”

“I took advantage of him,” I mutter.

“You didn’t,” Luca emphasizes. “But if you truly think you did, you should talk to him about it.”

“He is right.” Ye-Joon appears from his kitchen. “I told you back then that it’s a bad idea because all of you would get hurt. And then it happened… and Dave found his mate first, and you were the one being shoved aside. Then his mate turned out batshit crazy, and you found Luca. The thing is…” Ye-Joon pauses. “At this point Dave had already moved on from you. The bond pulled him towards Matthew.” He stirs in the teapot before filling our cups again. “The fact that Matthew hurt him isn’t your fault. You did all you could to make sure he got away from him. As for Luca”—Ye-Joon shows my mate one of his rare smiles—“I believe we can take his word if he says he doesn’t feel hurt.”

“I agree.” Luca beams thankfully at Ye-Joon for the support and wraps his hands around my arm. “Why don’t you believe me?”

“I do.” I look into his warm blue eyes. “I do believe you.”

Luca grasps my face and pulls me into a soft kiss.

Ye-Joon clears his throat. “Just so you know, I’m not retreating to the kitchen again just so you can mate and mark each other!”

Luca seems to wake up from his daze and blushes furiously while I roll my eyes at Ye-Joon.

Right when we are about to dig into the sweets Ye-Joon prepared for us, my phone buzzes. “That’s Dave,” I say.

“He always had awesome timing,” Ye-Joon says, amused.

I open the message, sitting up straight immediately. “He got a way to track down Finn’s phone!”

“What?” Luca’s eyes widen.

Without thinking any further, I press the call button, waiting impatiently for Dave to answer.

“You got it?” Dave answers the phone without any greeting.

“You are brilliant,” I blurt out.

Dave laughs. He sounds so relaxed. “Tell me something new.”

“What am I supposed to do with the number?” I ask him.

“It’s a link for tracking spyware,” Dave tells me. “Take it to Elif and Ozan. They’ll know what to do.” He pauses. “Dalila, one of the hackers, said that Finn’s phone is still alive. They just aren’t having any steady reception. They seem to be moving though, just not on the path they originally chose.”

“I need to get this to Elif and Ozan fast and then contact my alpha,” I say breathlessly. “Dave, that was awesome!”

“Anything for my friends,” he says happily.

“Are you going to return now?”

“No,” Dave says promptly, “there is still something I have to do. Raffy and I want to find someone from his past.”

The way he says Raffy and how his voice sounds gentle all of a sudden doesn’t go unnoticed by me. He likes him… I just hope that Raffy is not like me: a wolf who is still waiting for his mate. Dave really deserves better.

“He is a good guy, isn’t he?” I ask carefully.

“He is,” Dave says with conviction.

I swallow down my words of warning, though. Ye-Joon is right; I need to stop patronizing him. “Be careful, the both of you,” I tell him. “If you need help, you can tell me.”

“Thank you, Jun.” Dave sounds surprised. He pauses. “And thanks for not saying what you wanted to say.”