Page 77 of My Broken Mate

“KiZ offered for you and your friends to come backstage.”

“Please say yes,” Ayden begs. “I am done with this large crowd anyway.” He turns to Remy, shameless as he is. “I was just here to get you two going. It was painful to watch!”

“I apologize,” Remy says. “The fault lies solely with me.” The vulnerability from before, when it was just the two of us, is gone. Instead, he is his usual polite but slightly distanced self. It’s his coping mechanism, not arrogance. Step by step, we will work on it, because we are mates.

We are mates!

Marise is on cloud nine, basically in bliss that our mate accepted us.Can you reach out to his wolf?I ask her.

When we were outside before, I definitely was able to catch him for a brief moment,she says.But something is holding him back. We will overcome this, though! They both want us, that much is obvious now.

And that’s the most important,I add.Do you have any idea why his wolf is hiding?

I don’t know,Marise says.Maybe he got hurt. Wounds that are not easy to spot or to heal.

Her words oddly make sense because they pretty much describe Remy’s behavior, too. I don’t have time to dwell on this, though, because clearly KiZ’s manager is waiting for an answer. “If everyone is on board, I’d say let’s head backstage. I am curious to meet KiZ.”

“I am certainly on board,” Fi exclaims.

“Me, too,” Ayden says, looking relieved.

“It’s fine with me,” Remy says. “As long as you are there, I don’t mind.”

“Goddess,” Ayden groans. “How did we go from all broody and icy to this?”

Fi and I elbow him simultaneously. “How about you keep your comments to yourself?” Fi says, making Ayden grin.

“Would be more threatening if you didn’t look so cute,” Ayden teases her.

I am debating how to make Ayden shut up when Remy squeezes my hand. “I don’t mind,” he says. “He isn’t wrong. I am not really thin-skinned.”

“How come?” Fi asks curiously.

“You are from my pack. I am sure you have met my brothers,” Remy says, surprising me once more. His tone is dry, a bit sarcastic, almost like he is joking.

Fi indeed giggles, and Ayden grins. “Yeah, we all know your brothers, dude,” Ayden says.

“Then you must know what utter perfection looks like.”

“Alpha Sean certainly is the textbook example of an alpha,” Ayden muses.

“Right,” Remy furrows his brows, staring at Ayden with a serious expression. “This is not bad, Ayden, but didn’t you forget someone? I do believe you can still do better,” he says, mimicking Gabriel’s voice.

“Gabriel,” Fi giggles.

At that, Ayden loses it and bursts into laughter. “I didn’t know you could be funny,” he snorts.

“I am not,” Remy says.

“Maybe funny is not the right word,” Ayden muses when we finally make our way backstage. “But that dry humor is definitely something.”

“You really think that?” Remy blinks.

“You don’t?” Ayden asks. “You clearly have a sarcastic side to you. I had no idea.”

“Me neither,” I say. “But I love it!”

“Yeah, gives you some edge,” Fi agrees.