Page 124 of My Broken Mate

Joel rises from his seat when I come to the meeting a couple of hours later. Evander and Gabriel are already with him. “Nothing?” Joel asks.

“Nothing.” I rub my head in exhaustion. “We tried to trace Remy’s last steps. And I talked to the store owner again. He just repeated what we already know. The side entrance leads to a small back alley. From there on, no one has seen him.”

“I checked all the airports with Levi’s help,” Gabriel says. “But no one who fits Remy or Katalina’s description passed any security checks.”

“What about Katalina? Did her friends find anything?”

“Ayden, Lyle and Fiona have looked everywhere. Kata did go in the direction of the coffee shop like she told them she would,” Evander explains. “Then she looked at her phone again and just ran off. She took a cab. An old lady saw her; she claims Kata looked panicked.”

An uncomfortable silence settles around us. My thoughts go in a million directions. “I have enemies,” I say into the silence.

Before anyone can answer, Joel shakes his head. “I have more enemies.” None of us manages to say anything before he stops us. “We know it’s true. Let’s not sugarcoat it.”

The sad part is that he is right: it’s true. Joel is unconventional, new in his rank and has already made powerful allies. Not everyone is happy about that. Still, none of this adds up. Why now? And why was Katalina on her phone when she suddenly panicked? Who was contacting her when she was supposed to meet Remy anyway?

The meeting room has glass windows. I let my gaze wander outside, noticing Beta Sky. “Here he is.”

“He is an imposing man,” Gabriel says.

“That’s because there is no way he is just a beta,” I say.

Gabriel and Evander look at me in shock; only Joel looks like he understands what I am saying.

“But he is…”

“I know, he has the rank of a beta,” I say. “But it doesn’t mean that this is what he was born as. Levi is a typical beta, but Sky…” I raise my gaze again to look at the approaching man. Buff, tall, with an air of intimidation around him. “If I had to bet, I’d say he was born alpha.”

“What?” Gabriel exclaims.

“No way,” Evander mutters.

Joel nudges his brother. “Did you never bother to ask him where he is from? Aren’t you friends?”

“You know I hate small talk.”

Joel just groans. “Of course you do. Where again did you say you met?” he asks

“I didn’t say anything,” Evander says.

“Well, then say something now!”

“It was around the time when you challenged our uncle,” he says. “Right before you did it, you sent Kata and me into hiding. I travelled on foot at that time, just with a tent, to keep hidden. I met him while hiking, you could say.” He pauses. “You think the same as Sean? That he is of alpha blood?”

“Yes, I would bet the same,” Joel agrees. “He is like Sean. You just see and feel it when you look at them. They aren’t just of alpha blood, and they didn’t become alpha like I did; they were born as it.”

I get up to open the door for Sky.

“Alpha Sean,” he greets me, bowing his head politely.

“Beta Sky, thank you for offering your help.”

Sky sits down with us, and for the first time since I met him, I try to study him more closely. The more I look at him, the more I know my intuition is right. Joel has a deep frown on his forehead as well, before his facial muscles relax and he has that impish look in his eyes. “Sky…” he muses, as if he is talking to himself. “That’s an interesting name. Right, Sean?”

“Yes, unusual for the rank.”

“No alpha calls his heir Sky,” Joel says, folding his fingers and smiling. He comes off as aloof, silly and fun, but deep down, he is much more capable than he lets on. His smile can be a weapon.

“They usually choose from a list of names,” I agree. “Evan, Liam, Marcus.”