Page 49 of My Broken Mate (Healing Bonds #1)

Chapter thirty-seven

An Alpha’s Son

*KAT*

L yle paces around, gazing at his watch. “Where the fuck is he? Lecture starts in five minutes. He said he would be here fifteen minutes ago.”

Thudump. Thudump.

My heart hammers against my chest in an arrhythmic pattern, alarming me that something feels off.

“When did you last talk to him, Kat?” Ayden wants to know.

“Last night,” I say.

“And he said he would be coming today?”

“Yes,” I verify.

Although, did he? I said I would see him tomorrow, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t tell me he would meet me here. In fact, he was very vague.

“Be patient with him,” Cora says quietly. “Finding his mom’s inheritance must have been devastating.”

“Especially in the way it happened,” Ayden mutters.

They gaze at me. “Yes, he was devastated,” I say warily, again getting lost in my thoughts.

I spent the last few days helping him every waking second.

And if it weren’t for the stupid exams—and unlike Remy, I can’t afford not to give my best—I would have stayed at his place overnight, too.

But he didn’t want me to, as he wanted me to study and do well.

Maybe that was part of his plan. He wanted to wait for the exams to pass so he wouldn’t be at fault if I failed… for whatever he is planning on doing now.

“Kat?” Fi urges.

“I am trying to think,” I mutter.

Lyle looks at Ayden. “Did you talk to Gabriel this week?”

“Yes, I met him briefly. They are all a bit shaken,” Ayden admits. “I don’t really know what happened, not in detail, and I don’t know the gravity of it, but I just know that it was serious.” He perks up. “Oh, there is Kiki!”

“Finally,” Lyle sighs, waiting for the long-legged beauty to approach us. “Kiki, did you find anything?”

“No, but one of the guards told me he left the pack a bit later than usual with one of his bodyguards. Maybe they had another appointment on the way?”

None of us answers her. Remy is the most diligent person I know. He wouldn’t be late for nothing.

He is also an alpha’s son, Marise intervenes.

What do you mean? Why are you emphasizing that? Does it matter?

Of course it does. It always matters. It’s in Remus’ blood.

Remus…

That’s what his mother called him, and that’s how the letter was addressed to him.

He kept staring at his name for a long while.

It starts to slowly settle in. Marise had a point with her words.

She might not truly realize what she just said, but she is right.

He is of alpha blood and has a certain drive in him, like all alpha’s children do.

Maybe that drive was buried, maybe he pushed it to the side because of his past trauma, but it’s always been there.

“I am worried,” Lyle says quietly. “He struggled with depression before.”

“We all are,” Ayden agrees, “worried, I mean.”

Instead of inserting myself in the conversation, I keep firmly in my head.

Depressed. Clearly, he struggled with depression, but the Remy I met a couple of weeks ago isn’t the same person he is today.

He is much bolder today, he is more confident, he has already ripped some walls down and begun mending his relationship with his brothers.

Finding his Mom’s belongings made him spiral, but not into devastating depths. He wasn’t depressed when I was with him. He was sad and angry.

And determined.

He is also an alpha’s son.

I grab my phone, looking at it, before I gasp. “That’s him!” I blurt out, pretending like I just received a message

“For real?” Lyle exclaims.

“Yes, he apologizes. Said one of his doctors wanted to see him spontaneously. He wants us to go ahead, and he will come later.”

Kiki lets out a sigh of relief. “I am so glad to hear from him.”

“It doesn’t feel right not to wait for him, though,” Ayden points out.

“You know what,” I say, grinning at them. “I will wait. You go ahead. He is definitely going to be happier to see me than you!”

The others laugh. “True,” Kiki chuckles.

“You are just waiting for an opportunity to ravish him,” Ayden rolls his eyes. “Seriously, you two need to move in together.”

“I wouldn’t be against that,” I say honestly. “Now go. I will grab two cups of coffee from Remy’s favorite coffee shop and wait there for him.” I pretend to type a message to send it to him, just to make sure they don’t get suspicious.

They buy it. All of them. I am not a good liar.

The fact I pulled this off, especially in front of Ayden, shows that I might not be the same person I was a couple of weeks ago, either.

Something changed. I wave at my friends, waiting for them to leave before pretending to walk to the coffee shop.

Once out of their view, I start picking up my pace, running to the next taxi.

“Take me to the train station,” I command, handing the man far more than he would usually receive for such a short drive. “Be quick! You will get the same amount again if we arrive in ten minutes!”

I don’t need to tell him twice. I grab the handle of the door, holding on tight while the man moves his car at an insane pace. My heart keeps hammering against my chest.

What are you plotting? Marise demands to know.

We know Remy left the pack maybe twenty minutes ago. I just checked my phone for the train schedule when I was pretending to message with him. The next train is supposed to leave in fifteen minutes. If he takes it, we will make it in time.

You think he is going to run?

I am not sure what he is planning, I say. But he is certainly going somewhere.

What makes you so sure he is going to be at the train station? He could as well fly!

No, because Sean would be able to track him immediately if he did. They will never expect him to take the train.

How? Marise asks. How are you so sure? He could be anywhere. He could rent a car.

Not anonymous enough, I point out.

He could walk.

Too slow.

Still, how can you be so sure?

I feel a sudden calm in me, something warm spreading through my chest. Some things you just know.

*REMY*

I stare at my watch, taking a deep breath to calm down my stitched sides.

I ran so fast I felt like I could collapse any moment.

But I only had a very small window that allowed me to escape my bodyguard without him noticing it too soon and arriving here, again, without him noticing I would be missing.

I can’t risk that he alerts my brothers and has them send out the warriors to search for me.

I make it just in time. The train is going to leave in five minutes.

Fortunately, I can buy a ticket via the app once I am inside.

Grabbing my backpack, I hurry to get onto the train.

The warning sound rings, indicating that the doors are closing.

I step aside a little, away from the door, when another figure squeezes through it at the last minute.

I drop my bag in shock, not able to fathom who I am seeing in front of me. “Kata…” I hammer against the door. “You need to get out of here, Kata. Goddess. I didn’t want to drag you into this!”

“Like fuck will I be leaving now!” she says firmly. She is panting, but not as much as I was.

“How?” I exclaim. “How did you know?”

“I had a feeling,” she says, gazing at me with a hint of hurt clearly in her eyes. “I am trying not to be upset that you would have just left.”

I take her hands into mine. “Katalina,” I say. “I would have returned. I am not leaving you. Goddess, Kata, I would never leave you behind! I just wanted to cross an important point off my bucket list, something I need to do to be able to move on. But I would have never left. We have plans.”

“We do,” she says, eyeing me thoughtfully. “When you didn’t come to the lecture today, I was wondering what you would do. I felt like running away isn’t like you, but that maybe you had something specific in mind.”

“I want to do something important,” I explain. “Something that will hopefully give me closure.”

“And you couldn’t share it with anyone?”

“I need to do it alone,” I say quietly. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s something my wolf and I need to do with each other.

If I told Sean or Gabriel… they would have supported me, but it’s not the same.

She was my mom, and none of them knows what truly happened.

” I pause. “What he did to us,” I add quietly.

“I need to come to terms with it to be able to tell them the truth one day.”

“And me?” she asks. “I am not your brothers. Why not share it with me?”

“I have relied so much on you already,” I answer honestly.

“Bullshit,” she exclaims. “Maybe I am carrying something inside me, too, something I want to get off my chest. Something I want to make peace with.”

I stare at her. “The story about your parents… You said it wasn’t the full story when we talked.”

“Exactly,” she says. “And even if there wasn’t something dark I was carrying around, it doesn’t matter. I am still your mate. It is not a bother to have you rely on me.”

We arrive at the next station, the last one close to the city. The next one will be a lot further away. “If you want me to get out, I will do it,” she says. “But I am asking you not to. I love you, you know.”

“I said it first,” I mutter. “When you hung up yesterday. I am doing this because I love you.”

“I know,” she says. “That’s why I had this feeling today.

I just knew you wouldn’t simply ditch a class just like that.

I knew you wouldn’t run. You looked so determined during the last couple of days.

I just had the feeling you would have a plan.

” She pauses. “And then Kiki found out the exact time you left the pack today. The only place that made sense to me was for you to be at the station.” She pauses.

“Do you want me to get out, or are you taking me with you?”

I take her hand, holding her as the doors close again. Her eyes close in relief. Leaning forward, she rests her forehead against my chest.

“I am sorry,” I say quietly. “That was wrong of me. I should have planned this with you all along.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “What matters is that you trust me enough now.”

“Are you truly okay with it?” I ask. “With seeing the darkest part of me?”

“I don’t mind,” she says. “Take me with you, Remus .”