Fated To My Lycan Stepbrothers
Chapter 3

Naya Cod

"Marley? What are you doing back here? Away from your precious mansion, come to mix with the likes of us?" I snarled, my entire body shaking with fury as I narrowed my eyes at her, letting the disgusting pothole water from the road seep into the back of my dress. If I had any doubts about looking like roadkill before, I definitely looked like it now.

"The villagers will stone you to death if they see you out and about, stalking innocent school girls," I growled, the bitterness in my voice surprising me as I watched the woman's full red lips tug downward into a pout like she had expected better from me. I was angry because she was still beautiful, even after so long, the wild flame of her blood-red hair was straight as a pin, held back from her face by a diamond brooch.

"Oh, don't be so childish Naya, and would it kill you to call me mother?" The tall curvy woman snapped harshly under her breath, muttering apologies at the truck driver that almost ran us over as she tugged me back onto the sidewalk. My lips formed a tight, straight line as I allowed her to hurry me along, wisely keeping from telling her that she didn't deserve that honor after abandoning me so long and then showing up out of the blue and damned near getting us killed! "What do you want?" I hissed impatiently, feeling her tall figure looming behind me as I grudgingly opened the door to the small cottage house Pa had left me after he died and followed her when she bulldozed her way inside, ignoring me. "Mrs. Cod? What the f-" I jeered, trailing off and feeling a chill run down my spine when she threw open the small dark wood dresser in the corner of my room and began hauling most of my clothes inside before snapping it shut and handing it to me. "We can't stay here, we've got to go, you're coming with me to the Alpha's mansion." She whispered hastily, the fine lines on her face rigid with displeasure.

Excuse me?

"Yes, you will, if you want to live. My HUSBAND insists." Marley Cod deadpanned and I felt my body tense.

No one disobeyed a direct order from Alpha Storm, the Lycan twin's father.

I folded my lips, stubbornly facing away from the woman as we hurried into the taxi and she sighed heavily, patting out the creases on her fine white suit after disposing of that nasty fur coat she had on before. My mother was a woman who took appearances very seriously.

"To the Storm Mansion please!" Her honeyed voice called and my heart hammered in my ribs as the car zoomed off.

Just like that, I was leaving everything I knew and loved behind, going off with a woman who had long become a stranger to me.

#

"We're here...brace yourself." My mother's harsh whisper caught in my ears suddenly, snapping me out of the trance I had been in as I stared open-mouthed at the lavish white brick of the luxury manor.

The huge white gates opened into what must have been acres of land with the staggering hulk of the mansion dead center surrounded by rows and rows of pine trees and gardenia that danced in the wind.

The Alpha and his sons were standing with their hands folded in front of them, the power radiating from their glossy silk suits as we got off in front of them.

"Y-Your Highness, a-a pleasure to meet you," I breathed, dropping a hasty curtsey to the broad-shouldered man with salt and pepper hair and a full-bearded face that made him look more like a mafia lord than a wolf king.

He had a long scar running from his forehead to the high, gaunt cheekbones that did not curve into a smile and stayed impassive instead, like his two sons who watched me with open contempt.

"You've got to be f*****g kidding me," Kyle groaned, rolling his beautiful gray eyes and turning to walk back into the huge double doors up ahead.

"Is this the girl?" Alpha Storm growled, talking to my mother as though I wasn't worthy enough to be addressed directly and I felt a wave of heat roll up my cheeks before I self-consciously crossed my hands over my chest, watching Zeke's piercing gaze move from my breasts to the cleft between my legs.

Holy crap, if was he going to look at me like that the whole night I was almost certain I would be a puddle of mush by morning!

"Very well, take her things inside, get her accustomed to the way s**t works around here, we don't have time to wait around and hold hands," The man barked, making my heart skip a beat as I exchanged confused looks with my mother, feeling my eyes bulge when she walked ahead behind her husband, leaving me with the man who hadn't stopped glowering at me.

Zeke turned wordlessly to walk back into the mansion and I followed behind him, feeling my heart hammer loudly in my chest as every nerve in my body screamed for me to run but I stabbed my nails into my palm, plastering an awkward smile to my face. "There you are, don't look so drab Naya, come along now, and I'll show you to your room." Marley Cod rasped impatiently, motioning me over as I managed to tear my eyes of the twins retreating backs as they disappeared up the winding polished staircase and I exhaled in a rush.

What would people at school think if they saw us coming in together? Crap! Brooke Bentley would have a field day printing my name in the local school paper as a slut, given my mother's history it was given everyone would believe her! Ugh! No matter where I went or what I did, it was like I couldn't get away from her stain!

"Marley?" I called for what felt like the hundredth time as the redhead droned on about which rooms had private access and which ones I could enter.

I had stopped keeping track at twenty because they all looked the same to me, expensive, like showrooms that were meant to be looked at instead of being lived in. I couldn't stand not knowing what the f**k this was all about for a second longer! "What exactly is going on Marley? You haven't told me a single thing, and what? I'm just supposed to fit in with the royals as I belong here?"

"Listen here you little s**t!" She snarled, her hair slapping into my eye as she whirled to face me, baring her fangs at me so that I stumbled back against the door, freezing with shock.

"I will not tolerate that stinking attitude you've got going on, you're here because I have no other choice and you will obey the rules of this house or so help me God, I will do something we'll both regret!" The woman's thundered whisper made something bitter twist in my chest as she eyes me up and down before pushing past me into the hallway.

"Meet me downstairs after you pick yourself up, in this household, we cook for our men." I felt my eyes widen before I turned around to see my mother half-turned, her neatly-manicured hand white on the doorway as she spat the words over her shoulder before storming away.

How could a mother be so mean to her only child? Whatever had I done to deserve this?

I gasped, knocking a hand to my chest as I choked on a sob before turning around to see the hulk of Kyle's hard body as he stood a few feet away from us, a blanched look on his chiseled face.

Holy crap had he heard everything? My insides turned with shame as I watched the flicker of something like pity cross his face before it became hard again and he strode toward me, making me inhale sharply until he brushed past without another word.

I wiped at my eyes frantically, making sure the hallway was clear now before speed walking across the wide halls and reaching the kitchen where the scent of ginger and cloves boomed.

"Quick, help me with this." My mother's frantic whisper came as she handed the washing over to me like nothing happened between us earlier before sweeping past in her sexy kimono to heed the Alpha's booming beckon.

What the hell had I gotten myself into? I had to get out of here as soon as possible.

"After school tomorrow, after..." I whispered, tightening my lips to keep the tears brewing in my throat from coming out as whimpers.

I craned my head attentively, feeling my breaths puff faster and faster from my chest as I listened to the distant sound of my mother's shouts and screams as her argument with the Alpha escalated.

I felt the water cascading down my wrists like chain cuffs as I tried to shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong off me, scrubbing at the fine bone china plates faster and faster, all the while feeling the back of my neck heat up. Almost like someone was watching me.