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with her while you pack up?”
    Raul’s brows creased. “A quarterback? Stay with her?” He rolled his eyes. “God, you’re an idiot sometimes.”
    Jared smirked. “No, I’m not. There are those women’s teams,” he pointed out.
    “They have some really hot uniforms,” Carson added.
    Sean snorted, shaking his head. “Seriously? What planet are you guys from?”
    “I think we call this Earth, don’t we?” Jared deadpanned, looking between Carson and Raul with a lifted brow.
    “It is. Yes,” Carson agreed.
    Sean burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it.
    “There’s your smile,” Raul murmured, taking his hand and tugging him toward the motel. “Come on. Lily will be fine with Carson.”
    Sean cocked his head, but allowed his mate to lead him as he tried to process what had just happened. After unlocking the room, he paused and watched his mate start picking up baby toys. “Wait a minute. Your friends spouted all that ridiculous nonsense because they were trying to cheer me up?” he asked incredulously.
    Raul paused and turned to look at him. He cocked his head. “Why does that surprise you?”
    Frowning, Sean racked his brain for a response. “I don’t think anyone other than my sister has done that for me before,” he admitted. Well, damn. Wasn’t that a sad admission?
    Sighing, Raul came toward him. The man was only a couple inches shorter than Sean’s six foot one height, but when Raul wrapped his arms around him and pulled him into a hug, he fit perfectly in Sean’s arms.
    “They’re good guys,” Raul murmured, holding Sean close.
    “Yeah,” Sean agreed. “I’m beginning to understand that.”
    “I’m sorry we won’t have time to figure things out between us right away,” Raul added, pulling away and putting a few inches between them that Sean didn’t like. “But maybe it’s better this way.”
    Sean frowned. “Why?”
    “Because even though you knew we were mates for the last five months, I didn’t,” Raul explained. “I need to come to grips with this. I’ll be gone a few days, a week or two at most, then I’ll be back.” He pressed a kiss to Sean’s lips. “I promise I’ll be back. I will accept this, I just need time.”
    Raul’s admission nearly tore Sean’s heart from his chest. It was a real shame he understood where Raul was coming from, and Sean didn’t have the time to woo the human. He had to accept his mate was a strong, independent human.
    Even as he mentally chanted those words over and over again an hour later while standing in Raul’s front room as he watched Raul climb into Carson’s SUV, it didn’t make him feel any better.
    In fact, it really pissed him off. What the hell was Fate thinking?

Chapter Five
    Raul couldn’t remember packing his bag or the drive to the airport, but since he carried it over his shoulder and climbed into Manon’s helicopter, he knew it’d happened. He tried to keep his breathing even, hoping that with each breath, his life would start to make sense. It didn’t work.
    Dropping his bag on the ground, Raul rubbed his hands over his face, then buried them in his hair. He massaged his temples, trying to get his shit together. They were about to face scientists and possibly jacked-up soldiers. He needed to be able to focus.
    Someone slapping him on the back pulled Raul out of his chaotic thoughts. He turned to see his friend’s concerned gaze. It wasn’t a look Jared wore often and appeared extremely out of place on his tanned face.
    “You doing okay?” Jared asked.
    Raul scowled. “No. No I’m not,” he answered honestly.
    “Which part is bothering you?” Carson asked from Jared’s other side, leaning over his mate to eye him with a penetrating gaze. “That he’s a man, a wolf shifter, or has a daughter?”
    Well, put like that, Raul had no fucking clue. He shook his head, shrugged, then dropped his gaze to the floor of the chopper as if the answers would be written there. They weren’t. Raul brought his