Page 5 of My Broken Mate

Joel grows surprisingly earnest. “Sometimes I feel like you forget yourself,” he says. “Like everyone else matters, but you.”

“He is right, Kata,” Eve says quietly. “I don’t know, I feel like we aren’t doing enough to support you.”

“But I like my life,” I reassure them. “It’s great,” I add, not feeling too convinced myself, though. Sometimes there is this feeling in my chest, like a little void that gets bigger, and I don’t know what to do when I feel it. Whenever it’s there, I try to make sure to shut it up again, by going out, by meeting friends… by helping others.

“Kata, we know you struggle in college,” Joel says.

“Yeah, because I’m just not smart enough.”

Eve and Joel exchange a glance, and briefly, they both look sad. “I don’t know why you think that,” Eve says. “You have said it so often, and I don’t know what we can tell you for you to believe that you aren’t stupid.”

“But I fail so many of my classes,” I say.

“This doesn’t mean you are stupid,” Joel says. “You just haven’t found the right way for you to study. When you were in school, the mess around our parents was major. You had no choice but to try surviving school without the help and care of a settled homelife.”

“Unfortunately, neither Joel nor I can help you in person,” Eve says. “Neither of us had the chance to go to college.” He pauses. “Kata, if you don’t want to study and you truly think that it isn’t for you, that’s one thing,” he says. “We will respect that. But at least try it first before you quit, thinking you can’t do it. I assure you, you can!”

I take a deep breath. “How?” I ask.

“We will hire you a tutor,” Eve says. “One of my best friends, Gabriel, is from the Dark Forest pack.”

“Our neighboring pack?”

“Yes, his brother is the alpha there, and they happen to have a younger brother your age. He attends your college, too.”

“Right,” Joel grins. “The big brother, Alpha Sean… Sean Silver. Two hot names for a hot dude. Did you know his last name is Temple? Sean Silver Temple. Oh… his body for sure is a temple, too. I mean… that ass! I swear, that’s a forbidden fruit I’d like to take a bite of.”

Eve groans. “Please keep that to yourself. Alpha Sean is said to be a very strict and serious person, with a bit of a temper. He is said not to be blessed with a lot of humor.”

“Oh,” Joel wiggles his brows. “But he is blessed with a hot body. Maybe I can suck the humor out of him.”

“Yuck,” I groan. “Eve is right. Too much information.”

“Let’s forget about Joel’s horny detour for a moment,” Eve says. “What do you say, Kata, are you willing to give this a shot?”

I’m feeling torn. Part of me just wants to give up and live a calm, casual life. I’m the alpha’s little sister, so I know I need to keep a certain image. I could still do that and lay low, I could work as a warrior – I’m quite good at fighting. It’s the story of my life that I don’t excel at anything, but I could certainly join the top warriors if I train hard.

“Give yourself a chance,” Joel says quietly. “If you don’t believe in yourself, how will you ever expect someone else to do it?”

Something about his words acts like a trigger on me. “Okay,” I hear myself say. “I'll give this one shot, just one.”

Joel and Eve look shocked, as if they had expected me to put up more of a fight.

“What is it now?” I ask, annoyed.

“You are not just saying yes because you don’t want to shoot us down, are you?” Eve asks.

I narrow my eyes to a glare. “No. Why are you even complaining now? You were the one who just went all Buddha on me. Would you feel better if I said no?”

“No,” Eve hurries to reassure me. “I just didn’t expect you to be so…”

“Reasonable?” I ask.

Joel groans. “Come on, Kata, don’t make his life so difficult. You know, Eve, he just can’t help himself sometimes.”

Eve glares at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Next time, it’s better you just draw a picture instead of using your words,” Joel continues mercilessly.