Page 145 of My Broken Mate

“Oh, right!” I smile. “So, you are going through with it.”

“Yes, our three packs will be tightly-knit now.” He grins at Remus. “Not that it was necessary to knit us even tighter together.”

Remus returns his smile and nods.

I glance at my watch. “It’s still pretty early.”

“Yeah, I was thinking there would be more traffic.” He shrugs. “I’ll walk around until lunch.”

“There is a small cafeteria here. It’s on the third floor.” Remus tells him. “Why don’t you wait there? We can pick you up once we are done.”

Joel beams and gives us the thumbs up. “Sounds juicy,” he says, before waving at us once more and hurrying to the elevator.

“Juicy?” Remus asks.

“Don’t ask me,” I sigh. “Half of the time, I don’t understand what he is saying.”

“I actually think you do,” he chuckles. “It’s so weird that you get along so well.”

“I guess I really needed this friendship.” There is no weakness in admitting to it. It doesn’t mean I need to tell anyone that Joel and I aren’t just friends, but friends with some additional benefits.

The specialist I hired for Remus has been one of the doctors working with him for years now. He is waiting for us already and doesn’t waste any time with too much small talk. I can see that he is eager and curious to make sure that his patient’s wolf has indeed returned. Half an hour later, we have the reassurance. The man hasn’t said much yet, but his eyes are telling me all I need to know. Remus’ wolf is here, and he is at his full strength.

“What’s your verdict?” Remus finally asks the man.

The latter smiles. “There is nothing blocking your wolf anymore. He is here with full strength. No need to worry, though I’ll run a few more tests just to be sure.”

Remus lets out a deep sigh. “I am so relieved. Is it true what Atlas told me about my mother’s bloodline?”

“You have a very strong wolf spirit,” the specialist says. “I have no doubt it’s true.”

Remus smiles contentedly. “It means I will be able to help you, Sean.”

“With or without a wolf spirit, I never had doubts you would,” I tell him what I have told him several times already. It pains me that he doesn’t genuinely believe in himself. But we’ll eventually get there. “And I did some digging.”

“Oh?”

“I was able to trace your lineage back a few generations. From the record, it seems that most of your family members were smart, cunning and had amazing strategic abilities.”

Remus looks at me for a while. It seems to think my words through before nodding. “Maybe that’s why… Atlas was strong enough to protect me.”

Again. He said something similar a couple of days ago when we trained together in our wolf forms for the first time.

“What do you think happened?” I ask the specialist. “That my brother’s wolf surfaced now.”

“Well, I guess Remus marking his mate might have pushed his wolf to come forward. However,” he pauses. “We previously excluded any physical reasons for his wolf being buried. It must have been his mind.”

“I was ready to challenge it,” Remus says quietly.

“What do you mean byit?”

“The things on my mind that I didn’t realize were there,” he admits. “Atlas was just trying to protect me.”

I look at him, an anxious feeling gnawing in my chest. “What type of things?”

Remus casts me a short glance. “Dad was obsessed with Mom,” he says. “You remember, don’t you?”

“Yes, he was completely crazy when it was about her.”