Page 83 of A Broody Mate for the Human

She looked so scared and desperate.

Next to me Dave shifts in his sleep. At least one of us can sleep well. Dave and I have basically dropped unconscious into the bed. When I wanted to take the floor last night, Dave intervened and told me to stop being dramatic and just sleep in the bed.

He has so much light in him, yet someone tried to break him.

Just like I broke the light in my sister… for a fucking marriage deal.

What did my alpha offer me? Money? A rank? And was this really all it took for me to sell out my sister?

“Raffy?” Dave whispers.

Shit, I woke him up. “Go back to sleep,” I grumble, not able to hide the edge in my voice.

Dave turns over to look at me. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

Part of me wants to snap at him and tell him to go the fuck back to sleep. I don’t want him to see this side of me, to know what I am… what I was capable of. Before I can lash out though, Nero comes forward, more persistent than he has been in a long while. The night in the club has made him stronger again, much to my surprise. Also my recurring memories might shock me… but they make him stronger again.Don’t,he hisses.…fuck…up!

His words are enough to make me shut up. He is right, I can’t fuck this up.

“Raffy?” Dave whispers.

“I had a dream,” I mutter.

I can see his silhouette sitting up. He reaches towards the night light to switch it on. “Don’t,” I tell him.

Dave stops his movement and nods. “Alright.”

“The girl in my dreams is my sister,” I mutter. “And I was awful. I negotiated that marriage deal for her with a creepy beta and his ruthless alpha. I didn’t give her a chance to refuse.” I rub over my face. “I was awful.”

“You don’t know the whole story yet,” Dave mutters.

“True, I don’t.” I feel my chest ache slightly. “But it’s a feeling, Dave. I was shit, and I was ready to sell her to this creepy ass beta.” I pause, silence engulfing us. “I’m scared what else I will find out when I close my eyes.”

Dave sighs, reaching out his hand to take mine into his. It’s a weirdly intimate gesture that sends tingles through my body and warms my frozen heart. “It’s like what Lady Portia said,” he finally says. “Even if the past you have to face is cruel, even if you made wrong decisions… it led you to the person you are now. You said one of your last memories is that you see your sister and Stella, and they wave at you. It looks like you did something right in the end.”

“One right doesn’t erase the wrongs I did,” I mutter.

“Maybe.” He squeezes my hand. “But you still have many chances to do right and to become a better person.”

Again it’s silent between us. “I don’t want you to hate me,” I finally admit.

“I won’t,” he states simply.

“How can you be so sure?”

My sharp wolf senses can make out his eyes in the darkness. He is looking at me now; his expression is gentle. “You can only trust me.”

Chapter twenty-eight

Mated

*JUN*

Wetaketheinformationwe got from Dave to Elif and Ozan but don’t stay long there. Ozan claims we’ll just stand in their way of focusing on finding Finn, especially since Elif was adamant on finding out all about Dave’s new boyfriend and kept asking questions.

I take Luca home with me to Red Claw, deciding to have a late lunch or rather early dinner there. Renata, the chief of the kitchen staff, greets us with a warm smile. “Gamma Jun,” she says, her eyes shining in joy when she notices Luca next to me. “And you must be Luca Sullivan, the gamma’s mate.”

I put an arm around Luca to pull him closer to me. “Yes, that’s him.”