Page 2 of My Broken Mate

“Are you sure that’s okay?” I ask.

“Can’t leave you alone or you might get hurt,” he says.

“That was just once,” I point out. “Once!”

“You dropped a pan and it fell on your foot, breaking your little toe,” he points out mercilessly. “I’ve never seen anyone clumsier than you are!”

I groan. “Shut up. I know I am chaos.”

“Endearing chaos, though,” he says, while pushing me out of the door to hit the party. The others are already dancing around, eating and drinking. Some have started making out, and I can almost sense how Ayden wants to turn around and leave, but he puts up a brave face for me.

“I will get you a drink,” I say.

A shirtless guy starts dancing around us. “Make it two,” Ayden groans.

I’m lying on the beach, drinking my pina colada, served by that half-naked waiter with abs of steel. I can hear the soft sound of the waves brushing against the shore. Ah, this is paradise. The sand feels warm beneath my toes, and the sun tickles my nose slightly. It’s so peaceful.

“Kat!”

Hm, shut up.

“Katalina!”

My eyes fly open, and I sit up abruptly as all my dreams evaporate. One glance around tells me that I forgot to clean up after the party I had yesterday, or rather, I fell asleep before I had the chance to. Oh shoot, I just wanted a nap after I had one drink too much. At least my friends went home already.

“Katalina!”

Oh fuck, right. My brothers! They were on a business trip slash alpha meeting yesterday. The perfect timing to go a bit wild. I jump up, dropping out of bed and hitting my toe against the bed frame. “Oh, shit, shit, shit!”

“Are you alright, Kata?” My oldest brother Joel peeks into my room. He is the new alpha of our pack. The last one, technically our uncle, had a few screws loose and engaged in gambling and human trafficking. It’s a complicated story, really. Joel challenged him and got rid of him for good.

Evander, brother number two, ‘Sandwich’ as Joel calls him, doesn’t look as amused, though. “The place is a mess! Kata, you said you would invite a few friends, not half of the pack-youth!”

“It was kind of an open party,” I groan. “Also, could you speak in a lower tone, please? My head.”

“He is right, you know,” Joel chimes in, looking at me earnestly. “You should have at least waited for us to be home. It’s not nice to throw a wild party when your oldest bro isn’t here and can’t participate.”

“Joel!” Evander pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is not okay. Try to act as an alpha for once!”

“Don’t make this personal,” Joel grumbles. “I am a great alpha! In fact, I’m alphatastic!”

“You are also the alpha of all cringey jokes,” Evander mutters.

Joel just elbows him. “Don’t be such a bore, Eve.”

“I’m not a bore,” Eve says. “But one of us has to be the adult here.” He gestures at my room before opening the door, which reveals our completely messed-up living room. “But this, this can’t be it! This household is out of control!”

“So, someone has to clean it,” Joel says earnestly, making me die inwardly with laughter, especially when Eve narrows his eyes to a glare.

“I hope you don’t say I should be this someone!” Eve huffs.

“Well, Kata is hungover-ish, and I’m the alpha!”

Eve looks like he is going to explode any second, but then he massages his temples. “If you help me clean, I will bake pizza. Not the one the kitchen makes for the pack members, but the Evander-approved-special pizza with all the ingredients you want.”

Joel’s eyes widen before he shoves both of us aside and dashes to the storage room. Meanwhile, I go and fetch some trash bags. Eve just knows how to get us to clean up our mess. Food always gets Joel and me. Actually, food is the one thing the three of us share – we are so passionate about it.

It’s funny because on the outside, we all look completely different.