Page 31 of My Broken Mate (Healing Bonds #1)

Without further ado, he knocks at the door.

A couple of minutes later, it opens and Gabriel looks out.

The beta must have linked him in advance because he is clearly expecting us.

Gabriel looks stern and serious as always, but close up now, he actually has surprisingly gentle eyes.

He also smiles happily when he sees us. Of the three brothers, he is clearly the least stoic.

“Katalina,” he says. “I am happy we meet again.”

“We are sorry for dropping by so early,” I say while not feeling sorry at all.

Gabriel doesn’t seem to mind either. He just ushers us inside. “Remy is here. He is in his room.” Before I can even ask, he already points us in the direction.

Ayden and I exchange a glance. “Why is he so happy about us being here?” he whispers.

“Beats me, but makes this so much easier than anticipated.”

Remy must have heard the ruckus because he opens the door before we can even knock, and just like that, I completely forget how to breathe.

Usually, when I see him, he is wearing formal clothes, but now he is in jeans and a sweater, and he looks so amazing in them.

I wish I could just hug him and rest my head against his chest. Weirdly, today, I also feel the mate pull stronger than usual.

Ayden saves me by greeting Remy and explaining the situation to him. “I hope we are not bothering you,” he adds at the end of his explanation.

“Not at all,” Remy says. “I was about to get ready for later anyway.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you properly,” Ayden says. “I am Ayden.”

“Remy.” He proclaims. “Come in,” he says, stepping aside and letting us in his room.

Is it just my imagination, or is he looking at me longer than usual?

Again, my heart makes a joyful leap, only to sink to new depths when I spot his room.

Goddess, it’s so tidy! How does he not go insane in my room with all the stuff lying around?

I am not particularly messy, but it’s not super clean either.

And I have a lot of stuff and decorations.

Remy’s room is clean, tidy and has barely anything standing around.

“Dude,” Ayden says, ever so without filter. “Are you really living here?”

“I know, it lacks personality,” Remy says.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Ayden exclaims.

I hide my grin. I love seeing Ayden panicking like this. He doesn’t know Remy yet, and how straightforward he can be. Thinking about it now, I realize that Remy never talked much to me, but when he said something, he was always pretty direct.

“It’s just so clean,” Ayden adds.

“Don’t worry, I am not upset,” Remy says. “You can sit down anywhere.”

Ayden sits down on the chair in front of Remy’s desk while I carefully sit down on his bed.

There is no other place to sit, and with my short skirt, I don’t want to sit on the floor.

Remy looks at me for a moment, then at his bed, before turning around to his wardrobe abruptly, as if he is embarrassed.

Ayden just wiggles his eyebrows in my direction, making me feel flustered, too.

His bed feels soft, but not too soft.

I wonder how—

No! I don’t wonder about anything right now. Not the right timing, Kata!

I decide to distract myself by asking questions. “How come you have nothing lying around in your room?”

Remy looks at me again and then surprisingly gives me an honest answer. “I sometimes have trouble sleeping,” he says. “I figured it’s easier to sleep without any distractions.”

Wow, I didn’t expect him to answer so honestly! After the last couple of weeks of him dodging every question, he suddenly is so much more open.

What happened?

“I see,” I muse. “Makes sense. I hope you don’t find my room too crowded. I never thought about it. It’s such a mess there.”

“Not at all. It’s a very cozy room.”

He smiles at me. It’s a small smile, as if his facial muscles aren’t used to it and it’s all he can pull off.

Still, I can’t help but instantly return it.

I will make sure to make him smile a lot more from now on.

Because if there is one thing I fucking know now, it’s that there is no way I will let him reject me or not fight for this mate bond.

Remy grabs a black buttoned shirt and some other stuff, and leaves Ayden and me alone for a moment to get changed. My eyes are pinned to the door through which Remy just left, as if I could develop some awesome superpower and make it disappear.

Ayden clears his throat, making me remember he is still here.

“You want me to leave? I feel like if I stay any longer, I might be invited to a weird threesome, judging by the tension in the room. And neither of you is my type,” he says with a shit-eating smirk.

“You know, I can make up some excuse, take Fi to the concert, and you can fuck with your handsome guy.”

I groan. “Shut up, Ayden!”

“What? The tension is there! To me, it looks like you were worried over nothing.”

I gaze at him in surprise. “You mean it?”

“Babe, I have never felt that invisible in my life,” Ayden says. “He only had eyes for you.”

“But I don’t know… how, why… it wasn’t like that before? And why does he not acknowledge me being his… you-know-what?”

“Maybe he wasn’t able to show how he felt,” Ayden offers. “Maybe he felt the block to your bond as well, and wonders if maybe you don’t like him.” He pauses. “Maybe he got a little push, was honest with you, and realized it’s worth the risk and that he can trust you?”

I look at him for a while, my brows furrowed. I know Ayden. He is a very perceptive guy. He never would say something like that lightly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that the last time you met, he suddenly told you honestly why he couldn’t eat your baked goodies, didn’t he?

He did it all of a sudden, as if he didn’t want to hurt you anymore, like he’d realized that you felt as if he was constantly rejecting you.

He swallowed his pride and told you about his lactose intolerance.

In a family as perfect as his, it’s probably something quite unusual to even be sick. ”

I still have difficulties grasping everything Ayden is telling me.

“How did you react when he told you?” he asks.

“I apologized for being such a dunce and fetched him something he could eat. Then I looked up stuff I could bake.”

“He opened up to you and you didn’t disappoint him, because you are you,” Ayden says simply. “And now he has his guards down just a little bit more. Hell, the guy is nice to me, too, and we haven’t even met before. Wasn’t expecting that at all.”

“He is never impolite to anyone,” I hear myself say. “He would have never treated you badly.” I pause. “I still feel there is something you aren’t telling me.”

“That’s because it’s just an assumption. I don’t have proof. Just let me watch you two this evening to make sure,” he promises.

Before I can retort, I hear a door being opened and closed in the distance, and footsteps. “He is coming,” I whisper.

Both Ayden and I shut up and pretend we have been lazing around in Remy’s room, and didn’t just talk about weird things.

When the door opens, my eyes instantly fall on Remy.

He is wearing ripped jeans – I fucking didn’t know he even owned something like that – a black buttoned shirt that just hugs his chest in the most delicious way.

He is more on the lean side compared to his and my brothers, but he has muscles.

Where did he hide them? Everything is matched with perfect accessories, and he has even styled his hair.

“You look fucking amazing!” I blurt out.

Awesome, Kata, way to be cringe.

Remy blinks before staring at me again. His eyes are pinned to my legs and then wander up my body to my face. “You look amazing, too,” he says astonishingly. “I apologize for not saying anything earlier. I was just too surprised at seeing you.”

Ayden clears his throat, again. He tosses me a smirk. “Let’s go,” he says with an innocent blink of his eyes. “It’s getting hot inside.”