Page 8 of Griffen's Mate

Chapter 3

Griffen

A month passed slowly.

Griffen felt like shit. He hadn’t left his house and basically stayed in bed, avoiding the pack, his family, and Pet. This wasn’t what he expected when he found his mate. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, he’d seen his brothers and sister find and be with their mates, but he didn’t expect what he had with Pet, or more accurately, what he didn’t have.

He’d learned from Arden not to stay in his wolf form all the time or to drink bottles of alcohol to drown the pain, but wolfsbane wasn’t just good for getting rid of unwanted pregnancies, it also numbed.

Bang!

Startled as the front door slammed open, Griffen darted upright and debated getting out of bed to see who the hell had let themselves into his house. His mother knew to stay away from him at the moment. His dad had come by a little over two weeks ago, and after he’d told him everything and that he just wanted some time to breathe, to sort out what he’d learned and figure out what he needed—no, wanted to do, his parents left him alone.

“Griffen. Griffen, get your arse in here now,” Remy yelled.

He fell back on his bed. Groaning at the sound of his brother’s mate’s voice, who was also the biggest pain in the arse, he picked the pillow up next to him and covered his face.

“Don’t hide in your room,” Faith shouted.

“Fuck.” Not those two together.

The sound of knocking on his bedroom door had him moaning into the pillow, and then he heard, “If you don’t get your butt out here now, I’ll drag you out.” Ava growled.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” He screamed into the pillow before he threw it across the room. “I’m coming.”

He didn’t want his sister in here, because pregnant or not, she would drag him out. Getting out of bed, he rummaged through the clothes he had, sniffing them to try to find the least dirty ones.

The knocking, or more like banging, started again, and he picked up a shirt before him, not caring about the smell, and slipped into boardshorts.

“Ava, I’m sure he’s coming. Stop banging on the door.” The sweet voice of Kirby, his brother Rane’s mate, had a small smile slipping over his face for a moment. So, all the women were here.

Opening the door, he found Kirby and Ava standing just outside his door. His sister looked him up and down and frowned, but Kirby, with her massive pregnant belly, was smiling at him. She was overdue and huge, but her eyes held pity. He hated that people felt that for him. Before Pet he’d never known people felt that for him, or seen it in their gazes, but maybe they did and he’d just ignored it.

“You look and smell like shit, brother.” Ava took a step back.

Remy came down the hall, and for the first time he noticed she had a tiny baby bump now showing. Unable to stop it, a smile spread over Griffen’s face.

“Stop standing around. Let’s get this shit done. I’m hungry again.” She patted her small baby bump. “This one likes to eat. She takes after her daddy.” Remy shined with love as she hugged herself and had a dreamy gleam in her eyes.

Focusing on the pack, Griffen stilled and grunted when it took him a lot longer than it ever had to link to them, but he found it after the longest time and followed it to Remy; love flooded him, unconditional, overflowing, glowing love. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a while. For the first time in weeks Griffen focused on his family’s links and found all the women around him deliriously happy—well, with their mates and friends, but with him, not so much.

His strength returned to him, and his pity party stopped. He kept his focus on them and moved to his loungeroom to see Sara, Nara, Lexie, and Sandra sitting with Pet, who looked ready to bolt and was barely resisting blending into the furniture. That was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to.

“We are all here to help you get your shit together.” Remy, not one to beat around the bush, whacked his back as she went by and sat on his recliner, which meant he would be sitting on the floor as all the women took the sofas.

“I bet she doesn’t hear this often, but Remy is right.”

“Fuck you, Ava.” Remy glared at Ava, but there was no heat, and she was still happy, and Griffen knew Ava and Remy had become really close. “We’re all sick of your moping. Pet is awesome, and you shouldn’t give a fuck that she’s an alien. I think it’s so cool.”

Of course she did. Remy wasn’t one to follow the rules, or do what she was told. Damn, he’d watched her tell a high-ranking military officer to go fuck himself. She liked to be different. She loved being unpredictable.

“I agree with Remy.” Faith grinned at her friend and then set her gaze on Pet. “You are beyond amazing. What you’ve given me, I can never repay you for. I have my life back.”

“Yep. She’s totally not crazy anymore. Well, she’ll always be a bit loopy, but…” Remy smirked. “Now, she’s at least in the here and now about eighty percent of the time.” Remy dramatically winked at Faith then looked at Griffen. “We’re not here to talk about Faith though, so let’s get this over and done with. Here’s what I think we should all say—Griffen, stop being such a pussy and sulking. Man up. Pet is worth taking time to get to know.” She turned her gaze to Pet. “Pet, stop crying and start living.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “What Remy said is why we’re here, but not all of us are here to say it the way she did. I know you’re hurt and that she…” Faith jerked her head to Pet, not willing to call her that name. “...lied and kept what she was from you, but I understand why she did it. Think about it. Why would she show us what she was when she’d just met us? We weren’t ready to learn that. We all needed to get used to her, and she needed to settle here and trust us before she could reveal herself. Even more than that, she needed to recover. My God, you saw the condition she was in when we found her and brought her home.”

“You mated Pet. You need to start being a mate.” Ava held her hand up. “Don’t say you were before you found out what she was...er, is, because you weren’t. You were more like her caretaker, or even a parent. Pet doesn’t want you to be her father or brother, she needs you to be her mate,” Ava added before she turned her focus on Pet. “Pet, you need to stop sulking. Everyone here knows you’re not human, and not one of us cares. We are all beginning to love you. You need to start living your life though. You’re not a prisoner anymore. Start getting out there. Explore. Live.”

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