Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

KASMINE.

I paced the living room frantically like a prisoner waiting for a verdict I already knew would break me.

Everywhere I turned, those damned pictures stared back at me-me, smiling like life was perfect.

I hated them.

I hated how those frozen moments of joy mocked my current misery!

How could I be so happy in there while, in reality, I was just seconds away from flinging myself off the earth into a different planet if that would give me peace?

June had stormed out after I finally gave her a piece of my mind. And honestly? I didn't care anymore. Let her burn. Let her do her

worst.

I was done letting everyone gaslight me. I couldn't keep letting guilt dig into my skin like I had brought this upon myself. I didn't ask for any of this nor bring it upon myself. The Moon Goddess did.

Mum called me several times after I had promised to see her earlier. told her Kester asked the guards not to let me out.

She tried to get the guards to let me leave. She even threatened them at some point. But they were terrified. That kind of fear that says, I want to help you, but I like my life more.

Because who wouldn't be scared for their lives? Who would want to stand between Kester and his orders?

They respectfully refused.

Mum threatened to be here first thing tomorrow morning, and honestly, I was worried. That meeting won't go well.

Claire hadn't called me since last night. I was certain she had heard the news already. And I didn't even want to imagine what was going through her head right now. She's probably disgusted. Shocked. Hurt. All of it. I wouldn't blame her.

This whole thing-me and Kester-it's would tear everything apart. Everyone we love was going to bleed from this.

This union was already shaking the ground beneath our feet, ready to shatter the relationships we'd built with the people we loved. The wreckage was coming. I could feel it.

It was already 8 PM, and Kester still wasn't back.

I hated him, yes. God, I hated him so much that sometimes I couldn't even breathe.

But the bond? That stupid, fucked-up mate bond? It kept pulling at me, twisting my insides and making me wonder where he was, if he was okay, if he was thinking about me too. And I hated that even more.

Tkept longing for his presence, even though all I wanted was to push him away.

I didn't know what wanted anymore. I was a wreck. Confused, angry, and sad. A thousand emotions crashing together, none of them making sense.

I was a disaster in the skin of a girl who didn't know what she wanted anymore.

My phone chimed, and the speed at which I reached for it on the couch was unhealthy. It made me a bit dizzy.

It was Melissa.

My brows narrowed.

Why was she calling me? Was there something else she had to tell me?

My heart skipped a beat.

I had been careless that one time she called to tell me about Kester was so stupid to have answered that call on my phone.

Kester had always had my phone bugged. No calls I made or received were without his knowledge. But... A part of me had hoped that after that one mistake of speaking with Melissa over the same bugged phone, he'd be too busy to snoop around to see who Inoveldrama

had called or not.

Hell, I didn't even know he still kept an eye on my activities. Those happened when I was still back at the pack house. When we began our affair, I guess I expected him to have stopped already.

And I hope he truly stopped and that he never knew I spoke with Melissa.

It wasn't safe to answer the call. So, I tossed the phone back on the seat and let it ring.

I got worried when the call became persistent. She had called four times in a row, and it was enough to unsettle anyone

I picked up the phone and answered the call, and her voice trembled with the kind of fear that made my spine turn to ice.