Page 39 of My Broken Mate (Healing Bonds #1)

Chapter twenty-seven

Meeting His Friends

*KAT*

I dash around to organize everything for my friends coming over. Normally, I don’t stress this much, but this time Remy and his friends are coming – this changes everything! Ayden has the task of setting up his console and games while Fi picks a couple of movies we can watch.

“It’s just us, Kat,” Ayden groans.

“I want them to like it here!”

“Remy has been here plenty of times,” he argues. “And I am sure Lyle and Kiki will be fine as long as he is.”

“And Cora,” I add. “She is from a completely different pack. I know Joel is trying to strike a deal with them, too, like Alpha Sean did. I need to show her how awesome it is here.”

“Whatever helps you sleep,” Ayden mutters.

“By the way, what’s this new friendship you have going with Gabriel?” I ask him while I balance some snacks into the living room. Eve will spend most of the night in his atelier in town, and Joel has promised us he will go out, too, mumbling something about meeting Sean for some drinks.

“I wouldn’t call it a friendship,” Ayden says. “The guy is just so lost. And you know I am a Boy Scout.” He laughs at his own joke while I just shake my head.

“For real?”

“Yes, he wants to connect more to his family, but he is standing in his own way. That’s all I’m telling you, before you think something scandalous is going on.”

Actually, I didn’t think of anything scandalous. Ayden is not gay if I go by his dating history, though I guess he could have a bi-awakening. But with Gabriel of all? “Your comment made me think of weird stuff now,” I mutter.

Ayden grins. “Believe me. I like the guy, but seriously not that way.”

I contemplate asking more about what the two of them are talking about and what Ayden means by Gabriel wanting to get closer to his family, but I stop myself.

Ayden just told me as much as he could without breaking his friend’s trust – doesn’t matter how he twists it, I am sure he is becoming friends with Gabriel.

How he is pulling that off with Remy’s stiffest brother, I have no idea.

I shake my head once more. Don’t be judgmental, Kata, you don’t know Gabriel.

If Ayden doesn’t want to break his trust, I will respect it. He doesn’t ask anything about Remy and me either, and just accepts what I tell him.

As if Remy knew I was thinking of him, he writes me a message saying he is going to drop by in half an hour to help, and to spend time with me. His friends will come a bit later.

Aw, my cute man!

“Remy is coming earlier,” I tell Ayden. “I will wait for him downstairs.”

“Sure, go ahead, I have it covered.”

I leave Ayden to it and make my way down the staircase.

Remy always uses the side entrance; he hates attracting too much attention.

While I sit down on one of the stairs, waiting for him, I skim through my phone.

Clara has written to me and updated me on her new life.

She even sent some pictures. It seems like she is really happy with her mate.

I make sure to reply swiftly, setting a date with her for when she visits, so that we can all meet up.

The now-familiar pull makes me put my phone away. It’s getting stronger the more time I spend with Remy, meaning it pushes him closer to his wolf as well. Marise has told me that she can feel his presence more now.

“Remy!” I call out, jumping forward to hug him the moment he quietly comes through the side entrance.

He takes a step back immediately. When he notices what he did, he looks shocked, guilt flashing in his eyes. “Kata, I am so sorry, I didn’t notice it was you. You know, my senses still don’t work well.”

“No, don’t be,” I reassure him. “I go overboard sometimes. I am sorry, I don’t want to invade your space.”

“But that’s the thing,” he says, clearly frustrated now. “You don’t. I don’t mind when it’s you. You can be as close to me as you want. It’s just, sometimes my body acts on its own.”

“Okay,” I say softly. I don’t truly understand why he is the way he is or what he went through.

I just know his body and mind are constantly jumping into a trauma response.

I am beginning to understand that he went through things he hasn’t shared yet.

I know his father was brutal and violent, and both his mates died miserably, but he isn’t ready to talk about it yet, and I don’t want to push him.

“I am not offended or anything. How about I announce myself before I come closer? Then, I won’t surprise you, and your mind won’t switch into panic mode? ”

“We could try that,” he agrees.

I smile. “So, what about now?”

Instead of an answer, he pulls me into a swift kiss.

We don’t kiss as long as we’d usually do in fear of being discovered.

Soon, we draw apart and reluctantly make our way upstairs.

Remy is instantly jumping in to help me prepare everything, much more of a hard worker than Ayden is.

I give Ayden the stinky-eye when I spot him lazing around on the sofa, but he just grins.

Fortunately, Remy and I manage on our own and are even able to sneak kisses in between.

Two hours later, Fi arrives with our guests. I know she is nervous, especially since Lyle and Kiki are from important families in the pack, so I am happy to see her chatting with them when they finally arrive. It seems like she is getting on particularly well with Kiki, and Cora.

Up close, it strikes me how beautiful Kiki is.

I have heard from Ayden that she models, and I googled some of her pictures, but seeing her so close takes my breath away.

She has long legs, a slim figure and a slender face with big eyes and full lips.

And she is tall. Easily as tall as Lyle and almost as tall as Remy.

Remy could have had a woman like her, yet he likes me.

Why?

I feel a sting in my chest, wondering if he would have preferred a mate like her. A dignified, strong beauty who can obviously carry herself perfectly in any situation.

Half an hour later, however, most of the jealousy has left me.

Kiki is sweet, funny and very nice to me and Ayden.

She also doesn’t flirt with any of the guys.

By the way she talks to Lyle and Remy, it’s obvious that she isn’t interested in them at all.

In fact, she seems to be much more interested in getting to know me.

Just like Remy, Lyle is more reserved, but he comes out of his shell when his mate warms to everyone.

This is all going so well. I can’t believe it.

“I can’t believe we went from gaming to trashy horror movies,” Lyle says, amused. We’d moved on from Mario Kart, which all of us, minus Ayden, were terrible at, and started watching the first movie.

“Let’s bet on how many characters will die,” Kiki suggests. “I am betting on the girl with the big boobs, and the guy who jerked off to the pictures of the main character.”

“Safe bet,” Ayden says. “I am adding the stereotypical smart guy to the death mix.”

“You sure they will kill him?”

“Yes, he is book smart. Typical food for any killer in such movies.”

“Say,” Fi starts. “Is Kiki a short form of a name?”

“No, it’s actually my name,” Kiki says. “If my mother hadn’t named me right after giving birth, I’d say she was drunk.”

“But it’s a very modelesque name,” Ayden points out.

“True, it works well.”

“Remy,” Cora smiles at my mate. “Your name always reminds me of the cute rat.”

“I am so glad you said that!” Fi exclaims. “I was thinking the same. I love Ratatouille.”

He stares at them. “Is that a movie?”

“You don’t know Ratatouille?” Cora exclaims. “It’s my favorite!”

“My favorite is Tangled,” Fi says. “Though I like all of them. I am such a fan of animated movies.”

“Same,” Cora agrees.

Ayden nods. “I like them, too. I am a sucker for the old classics like Snow White and Cinderella.”

They look expectantly at Remy, who simply smiles. It’s the smile he puts on when he wants to put distance between himself and others or between himself and a topic he doesn’t want to talk about. “I am sorry, I haven’t watched many of them.”

“Don’t worry, not everyone is into animated movies,” I assure him.

“Yeah, some people in this room haven’t even seen Harry Potter,” Ayden says, glaring at me.

“I did! I watched the first three movies, but the books are better, so I stuck with them.”

Ayden eyes Remy. “Can you believe that woman? The movies are so good. Have you watched Harry Potter?”

“No,” he says. “I… I haven’t watched many movies at all.”

It’s a split second, a moment so fleeting I could have missed it easily if my attention wasn’t so much on alert.

Kiki and Lyle exchange the quickest of all glances, Kiki gives the slightest nod to him and then speaks up.

“You know, talking about movies. They offered me to play in a porn movie once.”

She successfully distracted everyone. “What?”

“My old manager was a sleazeball and wanted to force me into pinup modelling and the like. I told him to fuck off,” she says, and explains in detail how the story went down.

Next to me, I can feel Remy relax slightly.

I intertwine our fingers, not giving a shit about who sees us.

They can think whatever they want to. He is not the only one relaxing, though.

Lyle’s tensed shoulders ease up, too, and relief fills him.

I notice Cora looking at him curiously. He puts an arm around her shoulder and whispers something into her ear.

I wonder how often Lyle and Kiki have done that. It looked so effortless, the way they distracted everyone from Remy. It’s obvious that they are used to doing it. Something about this makes me incredibly sad.

Well, I mentally give myself a kick to the butt to take me out of that gloomy mindset. Even more reason to make sure he has some fun from now on!