Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 175

Matt

I woke up a few hours later in my bed. It was so great to be back in my bed. I almost wanted to kiss it. Then I realized Jesse was there, and if I was caught kissing the mattress, I would never live it down. “Hey, you’re awake.”

I grinned. “Thank you, Jesse. I just want to say that before we say anything else to each other. I appreciate it.” “You don’t have to ever thank us. I know you would do the same thing for us. Any of us.”

I grinned. “Of course. How is everyone by the way?”

Jesse explained that everyone was resting a lot better now that I was home. Colby had been beside himself and was feeling guilty over the fact that I was gone. Then there was Lia, who was worrying even more than usual.

The same applied to Rain, but he was worrying even more.

I hated that everyone had been beside themselves, struggling to accept that I was gone. When I explained what happened on the day I was taken, I admitted I shouldn’t have let my guard down. It was entirely my fault.

What I should’ve done was be smarter about it and not allow myself to get complacent.

A few days had passed since they sent that letter and attacked me. I thought they had decided to back off and finally leave me alone, but of course, I had been so wrong.

They were just biding their time, waiting to attack me. “What did they want?” Jesse asked after a while.

I sighed. “They wanted to make us pay for getting more attention. Can you believe that?”

“Knowing your old pack, Matt? Yes, I can. I’m surprised they didn’t pull something like this before, given how we both know they can be.”

Growling in frustration, I leaned back on the bed. “What happened to the pack anyway?”

“We injured a few of them, and the ones we didn’t injure went on the run, but I get the feeling they aren’t going to stop until they hurt us,” Jesse said, his voice flat.

I huffed. “What of the leader? Please tell me that you all managed to hurt him.”

“No, he got away. But people are looking for him. As soon as we found you, we told the werewolf association, and they have a notice out for him. Trust me, Matt-he isn’t going to be able to get away with this.”

I clenched my jaw. “He should’ve been stopped a long time ago. Before all of this.” “We tried, Matt. You know that. But he always slipped through our fingers.”

I turned my head to look at him. “Yeah, well, slipping through doesn’t mean innocent. It means someone didn’t try hard enough.”

Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not fair. We nearly lost people trying to track him down. You think we didn’t want him gone, too?”

“I didn’t say you didn’t want it,” I muttered. “I just-” I paused, forcing myself to calm down. “I just can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t over.”

“It’s not,” Jesse said, softer now. “But we’re not alone in this. You’re not alone. Not anymore.” There was silence for a moment, the weight of everything pressing down on us like a storm cloud. “Thanks,” I finally murmured. “For coming after me.”

“You’d do the same for me,” Jesse replied. “No matter what that bastard thinks, we take care of our own.” Cursing under my breath, I leaned against the pillows and was glad that I was at least in a nice, comfy bed.

For the past few days, I was forced to lie down on this hard floor with nothing but the hardwood floor underneath me. It was not what I was used to.

I was almost reminded of the time when we were out camping, but the keyword was almost. At least I was able to be with my pack. This was what made it tolerable.

“He’s a tricky bastard, Jesse. You of all people know that.” “I know.”

He grinned and stood up. “Let me go get Lia. She is going to want to see that you are awake. So is Colby and Rain, but I’ll tell them one at a time..

“I will.”

***

Two days later, I was still stuck in healing. But I was planning on sneaking out. I hadn’t even made it two steps into the bedroom before Lia was on me again.

“Careful,” she said, guiding me toward the bed like I might shatter if I moved too fast. “I’m not made of glass, you know.”

“Today? You kind of are,” she shot back, crossing her arms as I eased down onto the mattress with a wince. Lia was standing there, staring at me with this expression that told me she meant business.

I stiffened, but eventually relaxed because I knew I had little choice but to accept that I was going to have to stay here. It was annoying that Lia was hovering so much, but then I had to think of everything she had been through since I went missing.

Of course, she was worried. I should accept that she was going to fuss over me.

Rain was also fussing over me. He and Lia had been the ones who were fussing over me the most, making me want to tear my head out. I didn’t know what else to do but accept it.

Accepting it was the first step to realizing that I couldn’t get out of this. “You do realize I’m fine, right?”

“Oh. Nothing says heartthrob like gauze and a black eye.”

“I’m going to hold you to that when I ask you to make out with me later.”

She laughed-really laughed this time-and leaned in to kiss my forehead. “When you can sit up without wincing, lover boy. Then we’ll talk.”

“Deal.”

And in that moment, bruises and all, I felt like the luckiest damn guy in the world.

It was going to be annoying to go through the entire healing process, but I was going to have a wonderful nurse. When Lia went back downstairs, I decided to rest. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to feel exhausted.

I guess being kidnapped had tired me out.

It hadn’t been the worst kidnapping in the world, but it wasn’t like I had been kidnapped before, so what was I going to compare it to?

The thing that bothered me the most was not knowing what my pack was up to. They were up to something. It was obvious. Would they try to attack us again?

I was going to kill them if they dared to lay one claw on Lia. How dare they even think of hurting Lia, not that I had any inkling that they were going to hurt her, but it was on my mind.

If you wanted to hurt someone, one thing you did was go after their mate. My old pack leader was the type to go after someone’s mate to make a point. I hated the reality of the situation, but it was the truth.

I was eventually able to go downstairs about a day later. My body still ached but I was a lot better off. Everyone kept looking at me, staring at me as if I was going to break or crumble at any instant.

“Guys, I can take care of myself,” I muttered, wincing when Rain poked me in my injured side. “Rain why the fuck did you just do that?”

“To prove that you are still injured,” he said proudly but then he saw the dangerous glint in my eye. Rain knew he had fucked up so he quickly ran out of the room, causing me to smirk

Jesse laughed. “Okay, that was worth staying home late today to see.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t do it again though,” I muttered, giving him a look. “He has bony ass fingers and really hurt me!”