Page 52 of My Broken Mate (Healing Bonds #1)

“Goddess, Remus, I… fuck… I don’t know what to say. This is… I am so sorry! I have no words.” I feel tears burning in my eyes, but I don’t want to break down now and make this about me. I want to be the one to comfort him instead. “Is it okay if I hug you?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t feel repulsed when it’s you,” he assures me.

I turn around in his arms and cling to his chest, wrapping my arms around him. I just want him to feel safe, to know that I will never allow anything to happen to him. I want him to know that I won’t allow any monsters to get close to him again.

“You saved me,” he says into the silence.

A shiver goes through his body. “You truly saved my life. I don’t think I would have been able to continue for much longer in the state I was in.

I was close to ending it. But then you came and saved me.

I will be eternally grateful to the goddess for sending you my way. ”

*SEAN*

Remy’s room is tidy, a stark contrast to the organized chaos—as Gabe himself calls it—in Gabriel’s room, or the many dusty books in mine.

We have repaired his window, and he moved back into it.

There are more sprinkles of personality ever since he met Katalina.

I even spy a yellow figurine on the windowsill.

She must have gifted it to him. Obviously, she’s brought light and color to his life.

Without the sprinkles of colors from Katalina, his room is almost clinically neat. Something about this makes my chest hurt. Why did I never notice before?

Going through the drawers of his desk makes me feel uncomfortable once more. Most of it holds stationery and books, but in the last drawer, I find a shard, splashes of blood still on it. My wolf stirs, verifying to me what I already know. It’s Remy’s blood!

We’ll have to talk about that, eventually.

But right now, it’s not the priority. I close the drawer again, moving to the other side.

I am still in the middle of going through Remy’s stuff when Evander calls, telling me that Sky traced both Katalina and Remy’s steps.

Sky claims it’s unlikely they were abducted or even chased.

He is still trying to track them, but wanted to update us immediately.

At least one thing less to worry about, but now another realization settles in.

If they weren’t kidnapped or threatened, did they just run away?

Elope? And if they did, why? They are both adults.

Neither Joel nor I ever commanded them to do or not to do anything.

We aren’t that type of alpha, and not that type of brother.

Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.

He hesitated. When I asked him not to do something stupid, Remy answered evasively, only promising me he wouldn’t endanger his life. Did he know at that point already?

No way. He couldn’t have had a plan that early. He just received the envelope.

Closing my eyes, I try to think of how he’s acted during the last couple of days.

He had a panic attack when he received his mother’s belongings, and both Gabriel and I were terrified he would spiral again.

It’s only recently that the haunted look has left his eyes, and he doesn’t look like he wants to vanish anymore.

Even after he found out that Dad had hidden this major part of his mom from him, he was sad, angry, and devastated, but he didn’t look completely lost.

Tapping my lips, I return to the living room, noticing that Gabriel is sitting there, looking exhausted.

The door opens slightly, and Levi enters, guiding Evander and Joel inside.

It’s the first time Joel has been in the Alpha Suite, and I can see the intrigue and curiosity in his eyes.

He recovers fast, though, and returns to the subject at hand.

He and Evander start discussing the possibilities they can come up with. It’s the same as I was thinking of right before.

“Kata wouldn’t elope,” Evander says eventually.

“How do you know?” Gabe asks.

He shrugs. “I just know.”

“What about Remy?” they ask us, simultaneously.

I exchange a glance with Gabriel. “I doubt that’s what he had in mind,” I say.

“You don’t think—” Gabriel swallows thickly. “That he is about to do something… something harmful… to himself.”

“I don’t think he would do that,” I say firmly, surprising myself by how confident I sound.

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because he promised me,” I say.

“And you believe him?”

“I have no reason not to. He was pretty open about the fact that he was making a promise he was able to keep.”

Gabriel looks momentarily relieved before another cloud of worry crosses his face.

I feel a twinge in my chest at seeing him like that, but I can’t help it.

Seeing how I am more useful by continuing my work in Remy’s room, I return to it.

Joel follows me, looking tired, a look I haven’t seen on his face before.

“Remy loves Katalina,” I tell him. “He would never endanger her.”

“She loves him, too,” he answers. “She wouldn’t endanger him either.”

I turn to look at him curiously. “Why do you say that?”

“I sometimes feel like there’s a darkness around her which I can’t quite grasp, and I wonder if I should have tried harder to make her open up.”

My mouth opens slightly at his words. “Are you saying she isn’t always as cheerful?”

“I am saying there are things she is hiding, successfully.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I offer.

“I don’t know,” he admits, sitting down in Remy’s chair. “I think there was something going on at home when our parents were still alive, but I am not sure. It’s hard asking these things, you know?”

Yes, I know.

I watch Joel for a moment. He is spinning around in the chair, a soft breeze rustling through the papers on Remy’s desk, until my eyes catch something. I move past Joel, kneeling down. “What’s wrong?” Joel asks.

“Lift the desk,” I tell him.

He does as I said, lifting it slightly so that I can angle for a piece of paper and a picture. It must have dropped there by accident. Wiping my pants clean, I get up. My heart stops beating momentarily. I look at the picture, then at the note.

Sean, Gabriel,

I am sorry for running off like this without notification, but there is something I have to do.

Please don’t worry. I will explain everything when I am back home in a couple of days.

Sean, I didn’t forget my promise. Please trust me to do the right thing.

I love you two,

Remus