Page 77 of His True Mate

“Come on. I think you’re going to find you fit in perfectly here too.”

“Really?” I asked, then chastised myself for sounding insecure.

“Really.”

She reached over and gave my hand a squeeze of encouragement before getting out of the car.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and then followed her.

I performed in front of thousands of people and never battled a single nerve. Even with all eyes on me I never once felt as exposed and vulnerable as I did walking into a room full of strange women that I desperately wanted to like me.

“Hey, you got her here,” Ruby said, shooting me a knowing look. “Hi Winnie. Let me introduce you around.”

“Did you think I wasn’t going to come?” I asked as she linked her arm through mine.

“More like I wasn’t sure Clay would let you out of his sight. He was a mess today.”

I frowned. “Really?”

“Trust me girl, totally normal. I mean not normal behavior for him exactly, but definitely normal for a mating male. You need to put that boy out of his misery and let him claim you already.”

“He hasn’t even tried,” I blurted out.

She stopped and gawked at me, then seemed to consider it.

“Put a pin in that and come meet the girls.”

I had only met Ruby a couple of times in passing, but she acted like we were best friends already.

“Is this Winnie?” one of the ladies asked.

“Yes. Winnie, this is my sister Peyton. We’re at her house today.”

“Hi Peyton. Thanks for having me.”

She surprised me with a hug.

“Are you kidding. We’ve been so excited to meet you. Brady speaks very highly of you.”

“You know Brady?” I blurted out.

“Well, yeah, he’s one of my boys.”

I was certain I was looking at her like she was crazy. There was no way this was Brady’s mother, then I suddenly remembered hearing his brother had raised him and his brothers.

“Oh, Peyton. Yeah, he mentioned you,” I said as the pieces started clicking into place.

“It’s okay. No one here expects you to remember everything.”

“Good thing,” I said with a smile.

“This is another sister, Clara.”

I looked around suddenly confused.

“Is this like some sort of family event I’m intruding on?”

Kate snorted. “It’s not. I promise. There’s just a lot of sisters. I’m Kate.”