Page 44 of His Wild Mate

“Hey man. How are you doing?”

“I'll live. Did you get her? I heard you went after the she-bitch that did this to me.”

I growled and then took a deep breath, slowly exhaling as I tried to calm myself.

“Is that a no? She got away, didn't she? Everyone's been acting weird around here today, so I had already assumed.”

He deserved to hear the truth from me.

“I did find her, Brady.”

“You did? She didn't attack you too, did she?”

“No. She can't hurt me.”

His brow furrowed as he tried to put the pieces together.

“She can't hurt me because she's my true mate.”

Peyton gasped. “What? I hadn't heard that, only what happened at your place.”

“At his place? What happened there?” Brady asked.

I huffed, but Sam intervened.

“It would seem that his mate is in heat and that has affected pretty much every unmated male in the area. Jerron confessed that him and the kid everyone calls dumbass contributed to your attack as they both wanted her too.”

“Will kept his head about him though. He got you guys away from her and back here safely,” I assured him. “And then the kid insisted on going with me to take her out, only when I got there and I saw her, I knew who she was to me. I never should have brought her back here.”

Brady's eyes widened and he tried to sit up. “She's here?”

“His house,” Sam explained. “But her scent called in every unmated male in the Pack, I think, including me. It was a blood bath until Thomas sent out an Alpha order to stop it.”

I growled at the memory of it all.

“Are you okay, Emmett?” Peyton asked.

“No. But I'm trying my best to hold it together.”

I wasn't going to sugarcoat this or try to lighten the situation. A good portion of my Pack had turned on my mate and destroyed my house. There was nothing okay about this situation. And to make it worse, I couldn't even touch the one person who could calm my wolf and settle my nerves. Nothing about any of this was okay.

“I'm sorry, man. I had no way of knowing she was your mate.”

“I know. It wasn't your fault. She thinks she's cursed. Apparently, this is an ongoing issue for her.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Oliver asked.

I shrugged. “Don’t know yet. For now, she's safe, and that's all that matters to me.”

“If she's your true mate, you fight for her at all costs,” Oliver told me as he looked at Peyton. “I'll forever be grateful that she did when I was too stubborn to believe I could ever be good enough for her.”

Peyton kissed him and my chest constricted with longing, not for Peyton, but for the love they shared. Right now, not being able to even touch Paige made it hard for me to believe that she and I could ever be that happy.

“I'm going to finish my rounds, but I'm really glad you're doing okay, Brady. Take all the time you need and listen to this guy. No rush getting back to work. Your job will be waiting no matter how long it takes.”

“Thanks, Emmett. And again, I'm really sorry about all of this.”

I smiled and nodded. I couldn't say it was okay even though I knew it wasn't really his fault. Still, no mating male wanted to hear about how desirable other unmated males found his mate. It only made my wolf even more agitated.

---