His Perfect Mate [Nehalem Pack 6] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) by AJ Jarrett (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📕

their way back to where they left Seth’s Jeep. The parking lot was empty and they were able to leave unseen. It would have been pretty hard to explain the condition they were all in. Plus him carrying a passed-out bloodied and beaten Carl wouldn’t have gone over well had someone seen them.

Back at Seth’s house Jake carried Carl into the room he and Holden had shared and laid his mate on the bed. Casper had gone to the kitchen where Holden brewed some coffee and hot tea.

“Has he woken up yet?” Seth asked.

Jake sat in a chair by the bed, staring at his mate. “Nope.” He was starting to get worried.

“If he’s not better by tonight I’ll call that doctor I know,” Seth offered then left the room.

Jake scooted his chair closer to the bed and caressed his fingers over Carl’s forehead. The man’s hair had clumped together from sweat and blood. His face looked so pale but his chest rose and fell in soft succession. Carl looked as if he were just sleeping and Jake assumed maybe he was. His mate had gone through a lot and not just the past couple of days but years.

A soft knock at the door drew his attention. He turned to see Casper standing in the entryway. “Can I come in?”

Jake sat up and dried his clammy palms on his thighs. “Sure. I think he’d like to hear your voice, Casper.”

Casper smiled brightly as he rushed into the room. The young wolf climbed on the bed and snuggled close to his sleeping brother. It warmed Jake’s heart to see them together. It made him miss his brothers.

“Casper, I’m going to go call home.” He stood up. He had just reached the door when a thought occurred to him. “Hey, Casper.” The young wolf propped up on an elbow to look at him. “Do you think you and your brother would like to come live with me? I fully intend on asking Carl but what do you think about it?”

“I think there’s no other place my brother would want to be.” Casper smiled at him. “But are you sure you want me to come along?” Casper still smiled but Jake could see the uncertainty and fear that he’d say no in the young man’s eyes.

“Casper, wherever we go, you go. You understand that? We’re family.”

He could see the shine in Casper’s eyes. “Thanks, Jake.”

Jake smiled and gave Casper a small wave and left the room. He fished out his cell phone and punched in his brother’s number.

“Hello.”

“Cole, it’s me.” Jake gave Cole a simplified version of what took place. He told his brother that he had found his mate and that he’d be bringing him and his younger brother back home with him. Cole sounded excited and promised to inform Devon. Hearing his brother’s voice made him long for home.

They said their goodbyes and Jake hung up the phone. So much had happened in such a short span of time. If someone would have told him four days ago that he’d be shot, find his mate, and be involved in murder and arson he wouldn’t have believed it. But going through all that he still wouldn’t have changed a thing because it brought him to Carl. He just prayed he could help his mate recover from his past.

Chapter Fifteen

The soft sounds of snoring woke Carl up. He shifted on the bed and opened his eyes to see Casper curled up next to him. He blinked his eyes to try and clear away the sleepiness. Casper’s face was covered in marks that had started to heal. He lightly touched one and his heart threatened to crack at what his little brother must have gone through.

“He’s fine, Carl.”

He rolled over to see Jake sitting in a chair besides the bed. “We made it out?” Carl asked as he tried to remember what happened.

“Yes and thanks to you, Tobias is dead.” Jake scooted his chair closer to the bed and took Carl’s hand in his.

Carl closed his eyes and bits and pieces flashed before his eyes, being restrained, the burn on his neck, and Tobias biting on his body like a hungry dog. Then he saw himself over a large black wolf forcing the very same fire poker with the decorative handle into Tobias’s neck. The beast was trying to kill Jake and he couldn’t let Tobias take his mate away from him too. Murder was a sin and against the law. Carl should have felt bad but he didn’t. Tobias got what he deserved and Carl would never apologize for that.

“You okay?” Jake’s eyebrows rose to his hair line.

“You know what? I think I am.” He grinned so hard his face began to ache. “We’re free, Casper and I.”

“You are.”

“I just wished I could have prevented everything that had happened.” Guilt sat heavy in his stomach over what he had learned from Tobias, all the bad things Tobias had done in the name of love.

“Baby.” Jake’s thumb stroked over his hand in a circular pattern. “There’s nothing you could have done to stop Tobias from doing the things he did. There’s no rhyme or reason to the thought pattern of a madman.”

“In my head I know that and understand but it doesn’t take away my guilt.” He took a deep breath. “Tobias killed my parents. He also killed the alpha all because he loved me. How sick is that?”

“Like I said it’s not for us to understand.”

“I know but it’s not fair to Casper.” He turned to look at his brother. “He didn’t ask for any of this.”

“And neither did you,” Jake said sharply. “What Tobias did rests on his shoulders not yours. It’ll take time but we all can get past this together. It won’t be easy but we’re family now and we have each other to lean on.”

“Family,” he whispered. Carl stared into Jake’s deep-green eyes and the heavy burden of the past started to lift away. It wouldn’t all disappear overnight