His Imperfect Mate 26 by Lynn Hagen Page A

home?”
    Magnum’s home? Fuck, the brothers’ references to their upbringing and their father were anything but normal. Sloane wanted to ask what that was all about, but now wasn’t the time. He’d ask his mate once they were back home.
    Raven gave a lazy shrug. “We needed a change of scenery.”
    “Liar,” Daniel uttered softly.
    Sloane could hear a gentle rain begin outside, tapping at the roof in a soothing rhythm. He always loved the rain and wondered why in the hell he was thinking about that instead of concentrating on the men in front of him. God, his mind wandered a little too easily these days.
    D yanked his hand from Sloane’s as he pointed at Raven, anger and disappointment coloring his face. “After the help I gave you, you’re going to sit there and give me a hard time?”
    Raven shot from the bed, Sloane inserting himself between the two.
    “Help? We wouldn’t be in this damn mess if it weren’t for you. Why in the hell did you have to go and mate a shifter?”
    Sloane was shocked at the speed D used to come from behind him and shove his hands into Raven’s chest. “Dumbass, fate chooses mates. You should know that by now. I had no more say in this than you do for breathing. But that’s neither here nor there. He’s my mate, and I stand by his side. I love him, and there’s nothing you can do to change that!”
    Sloane was sucker punched with D’s declaration. The vampire loved him? Why did his mate have to choose now to say this? It would have been nice…fuck it, at least D had said it.
    “Boy, this is awkward,” Remus said as the side of his lip lifted into a smile. “From the stunned look on the wolf’s face, this is news to him.”
    D spun around, his eyes wide for a moment, and then he dropped them to Sloane’s chest. “Are you mad?”
    “We’ll talk later about you keeping things from me.” Sloane placed his hand on the small of D’s back, encouraging him to finish what he had come here to do.
    D nodded and then turned back to Raven. “So why did you leave?”
    “Magnum should never have been a parent,” Daniel spoke up, answering D’s question. “You know this, Dudley. He’s cruel and cold, only wanting power. He’d sacrifice all four of us to gain it.”
    “You knew this before. Why leave now?” D pressed.
    “Maybe because we’re nothing like him. Maybe because we know it’s wrong for him to pit his sons against each other,” Remus said as he leaned his hip into the dresser. “The first time he sent us here, we honestly didn’t want to hurt Sloane…well, Daniel and I didn’t want to.” Remus glanced over at Raven before he continued. “We had to make a show of it for Magnum. Sorry about that,” he said to Sloane.
    Sloane wasn’t sure what he should say. He gave Remus a nod, words failing him.
    “I didn’t want to either,” Raven snapped. “But I would rather go after you than deal with Magnum. He wasn’t too happy with us when he found out you were still breathing.”
    Gee, that made Sloane feel so much better. Whatever. They could have stated this from the start, and it would have avoided a lot of hurt feelings. Maybe. Sloane wasn’t sure what to think at this moment. He didn’t know if the brothers were lying or telling him the truth, and honestly, he didn’t care. All Sloane wanted to do was take D home.
    Sloane yanked D behind him when furious argument erupted between all four men. Damn, this family was more dysfunctional than his own. At least Sloane knew for a fact Maverick had wanted him dead. There was no grey area. The bickering among these men was giving him a damn headache.
    “Enough!” Sloane shouted and then took in a deep breath, trying his best to steady his nerves. The room fell silent, all eyes on him.
    “We’re leaving. If D wants to talk to you, he’ll call.”
    “Sloane,” D started then curled his lips in when Sloane gave him an even glare.
    “Later, mate.” Sloane pulled D from the room and down the steps, happy