Page 23 of My Broken Mate

Ayden grins. “Let’s make sure Fiona finds her dress, so that we can finally have some cake.”

I silently agree, but I don’t want to be a bad friend and rush Fi. By the end of the day, all of us have found something to wear, though, and Fi, Ayden and I make plans to go to the gala together. Clara will go with her mate, obviously, but wants to meet us there.

It’s weird. I didn’t interact with either her or Fiona much in school, but now that we are out there and finally doing our own thing, it’s so much easier to get along.

Chapter six

Keep It Casual

*SEAN*

I’m not sure how long I stand in front of the door… a couple of minutes, half an hour, probably longer. It’s our father’s old office, on the top floor of the company that Gabriel and I lead now. Gabriel hasn’t entered it since the attorney was there for the will reading.

It’s been a long time.

I can sympathize with him, but unfortunately, different rules apply for me. Even over a year later, there are still documents and things we haven’t sorted through, andsomeoneneeds to do it.

I don’t want Gabriel to be there and have to face all those memories, and I certainly don’t want Remy to be involved either. He is already suffering enough, and memories of our fatherwon’t help. I don’t think our father ever beat Remy like he did with Gabriel and me… at least I didn’t see it. But violence doesn’t always need to be physical, and Remy doesn’t talk much about our father, especially not after what happened to his mom.

Gabe and I don’t talk about him much either.

Maybe if we don’t talk about him, his shadow and his memories will go away.

Like he never existed.

This is the legacy you left us, Father, I think, when I finally open the door. We are all happy you are gone, yet broken by what you have done.

It’s like time has stopped when I step into his office. When I sit down in my father’s old chair, it’s like all my emotions hit me again, the fear and the terror. Every time I was here, it was for me to bend over his desk and be beaten.

I can’t remember one single good memory I had here. It was always just pain. At least he had a bare minimum of respect for me for being his heir, but Gabriel… he hated Gabe. I remember days when Gabriel could barely move. Mom sometimes tried to shield him from his anger, but it was all in vain. She would get hurt, too.

And when she died, things just got worse.

Things only got better when he took Iris as his chosen mate and had Remy with her. He was temporarily distracted with this new life and forgot to beat us. But Remy’s mom was fragile, she always had this tired look on her face, and her eyes were becoming more and more empty every day.

Until, one day, she died.

Father turned crazy after her death and became more awful than before.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the room suffocates me. I rest my head in my palms. Pictures of my mom come to my mind. She looked so broken at the end before she died; it waslike life was leaving her little by little. I remember the doctors whispering that her wolf was getting weaker and wouldn’t heal her anymore. I was a kid and didn’t understand, but now I do.

It was his fault.

And then, Iris… she was a kind woman who treated Gabriel and me with love, too, but she was fragile, and eventually she had the same look in her eyes as Mom.

Remy sometimes has that look in his eyes, too.

A certain sense of sadness. Like the world is getting too much for him.

The beeping of my phone pulls me out of my thoughts. Glancing at it, I see a message from Joel. I completely forgot we swapped numbers.

Hey Sean, I have everything prepared. The date’s still good? Friday at your pack.

Yes, I answer. I’m expecting you.

I wait before typing another message.

What are you doing today?I ask him.