Page 27 of You're Not My Mate

“No, I’m not forgetting that, but you cannot leave him in those cages.”

“Okay, look, Rose, I know you want to help, but you’ve only cleaned up the mess. You’ve not seen the full extent of what these … things do,” Enzo said, putting his knitting on his lap.

Rose sighed. They were at the Poison Wolves MC main clubhouse. Agatha and Amelia had thought she came to see them, but she hadn’t. She’d never been close to girls, no, that wasn’t accurate, she’d never been good at making friends, period. She’d come to approach Alpha in the hope of taking Graham back to her place, hoping to acclimate him a little better.

There was no way they were going to be able to let him go back and live as a human.

They may not know what he was, but he certainly wasn’t human. All the time she was making her case, she felt very much aware of Rocco. Last night had been … very intense. There hadn’t been any sex, but Rocco had touched her everywhere, allover her body, and she had loved every second of it.

He’d brought her to multiple orgasms, and then, when she couldn’t stand it any longer, he’d stopped, and they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. It was like a dream come true.

This is what she’d always wanted with her mate, as well as sex, but she figured they might get to that. Soon. She didn’t know.

There were still times she was mad at him and hated his guts, and other times, all she wanted to do was get naked and make babies. Yep, her mind was confused when it came to Rocco. Graham, on the other hand, felt like an easy, safe topic.

“I get that you guys have seen everything that’s happened, and I’m not going to take that away from you, but Graham has not reacted the same way others have. He’s still going strong.”

“This is not unusual,” Draco said. “We’ve had some that have lasted a few months.”

“And then…” Enzo did an explosion noise. “It is not easy, and you’re going to become attached to it.”

“His name is Graham,” she said, glaring at Enzo.

“It’s easier to not think of them with names.”

Rose put her hands on her hips, and then Rocco did surprise her.

“I think it is a good idea,” Rocco said, coming to stand beside her.

Alpha’s eyes rose. “This, coming from the same guy who said we had to put them all out of their misery?”

“Yeah, and guess what, I was wrong.” He shrugged. “We all can’t deny that Graham is not like the others, and we can’t let him rot in the cages.”

“He’s barely been in our care,” Boyan said.

“But he’s already different. None of you guys can deny it. Normally, they’re screaming and begging. The pain is unbearable for them. They cannot even stand cooked food.Everything must be raw, and we see them dying right before our eyes. Graham is stronger than even his human side looked. We’ve all seen the picture. He is different. He has reacted differently. Now, I don’t know what makes him different, but while we’re trying to keep him alive, we’ve got to get him used to being near the pack.”

“We cannot have him near the pack,” Alpha said.

“And that is why my place is perfect,” Rose said. “I’m pack, but I’m a recluse.” She shrugged. “It’s perfect, you guys know it. It’s a good starting point, and let’s face it, if the”—she gave the explosion noise—“is to happen, I’ll be the one you call to clean it up.”

She hadn’t been the one they called in the beginning. Rose figured they thought they could handle it, and then more kept coming, before they realized they were in over their heads.

“I don’t like this,” Alpha said.

“I think it is a good idea,” Draco said.

Rose had come to see that whenever he spoke up, everyone always seemed surprised. She knew his story, and the truth was, he probably should have been long dead by now, but the club and the pack kept him as sane as possible. They were his rocks.

Alpha looked toward Draco, as did everyone else.

“Come on, guys, you know if Draco is speaking up, that has to account for something,” Rocco said, with a slight giggle to his voice. It made him sound a little crazy.

“I don’t like it. You may be a recluse, Rose, but you’re pack, and I cannot allow anything to happen to you.”

“Perfect, you know, I was thinking the same thing, which is why I should go and stay with her.”

And now, Rose knew why Rocco was so onboard with this. She should have known her mate would have an ulterior motive. Rose looked at him and he merely smiled at her. No oneknew they were mates, at least not as far as she was aware.

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