My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 114

Tarryn

The Howler mansion seems neverending. Marble floors, red carpets, banners dangling from the walls, and old portraits glaring at me—this place is how I would imagine a modern castle to look.

“I believe your friend should be upstairs. My mother keeps all her test subjects in a lab there,” Sky explains while jogging through a corridor with countless paintings on the walls.

“I hope you’re right,” I respond and move my arm to hold it over my chest, pressing lightly. It hurts to run when you have big breasts and isn’t wearing a proper bra.

“Me too,” Sky glances downs at me, hesitating. “There is something you should know…”

Concern hits me. “What?”

He sucks in a deep breath. “These experiments my mother is running on your friend come with a price.”

“Price?” I’m not sure if I’m following. Luckily, Sky explains to me what he means as we run.

“There is no telling how time passes in the other dimensions, and the place where they were sending your friend to… well… the last subject came back withered and grey. So yeah, your friend might come back a little bit older if they are unlucky.”

Older?

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind,” Alex and I would still be friends. Like it would be weird, sure. The kid is two years younger, and it would be awkward if he suddenly were older than me. “It would maybe suck for Alex, but I’m still taking him home with me.”

“I figured you would say that. But I still thought I should warn you… they are also filling him with a serum.”

“Serum?”

He shrugs. “My mother is trying to create some hyper lycan. She believes Alex has the survival instincts not to die from her experiments.”

“Hyper lycan?” I slowly blink. “But wait a minute… Alex is a werewolf? How could she create a hyper lycan out of him?”

“His original species doesn’t matter. My mother’s serum gives her subjects all sorts of DNA. It’s a magical blend and totally random. So while your friend was a pureblooded werewolf when he came here, he might have already become a hybrid. There is no telling what DNA he was mixed with now, either. My mother might want a hyper lycan, but she has yet to succeed in creating one. So your friend might be a monster right now. A little bit of everything.”

“I see,” my concern grows, and I sigh. “After we replace Alex, what is the plan? How will we get out of here?”

“I will make sure you can escape, and then when you’re gone, I will challenge my father for the alpha position,” he glances down at me with a hard-to-read expression.

“I will make sure you can escape, and then when you’re gone, I will challenge my father for the alpha position,” he glances down at me with a hard-to-read expression.

“You think you can beat him?” I ask.

“Maybe? After we demons come of age, our magic grows insanely powerful, but it isn’t safe to use it unless we are mated. We need s*x and intimacy to use it without aging ourselves. But as a young teenager, I can use a fraction of my power without worrying about this. And I intend to beat my father in a duel like this… and hopefully, I will replace my mate before I turn eighteen to keep my position.”

“What happens if you don’t replace your mate?”

He grimaces. “I might lose my mind without a mate since my magic is insanely dark and hard to control… but that’s my problem. You shouldn’t worry about that. Focus on your friend.”

“Right,” I say. “Alex is my priority.”

“Exactly.”

As I follow Sky, I can’t help but think he is far more mature than his age lets on. He is young but acts like a grownup. It tells me he will be a good Alpha. Better than his crazy father, which gives me hope for the future. Perhaps a full-scale war can be avoided?

I ponder on that until Sky comes to a full stop. I can see why…

In front of us, there are three warrior werewolves. They all turn their heads, but Sky barely snaps his fingers to stop time the second they see us. And then, we have nothing to worry about.

“They should be frozen in time for a few minutes,” Sky explains while opening the door to what I’m assuming must be the lab. He doesn’t smile, yet he is polite enough to say, “Ladies first.”

I blush a little. Sky is younger than me, but he is pretty. I’m momentarily distracted by his good look until I enter the room. It’s a lab with different machines and magical vials. But that isn’t what got me staring. There is a portal in the middle of the room, and ominous lightning zaps around it, and inside it, all I can see are shades of purple.

“Your friend is inside that thing,” Sky explains. “My mother knows how long he will stay based on the amount of my deceased brother’s b***d she gave him, and she usually comes here when it’s time for her subjects to return. But since I froze my mother in time, we are here before she is. It means you can grab your friend and run back to your pack as soon as my brother’s b***d sends him back here.”

I swallow thickly. “Are these experiments common?”

“Unfortunately, yes, but it will change when I become the new Alpha,” Sky says those words with conviction as if he truly knows he will become the next Alpha. I like his confidence, and I sincerely hope he is a good person.

And since I wish to confirm my suspicions, I smile at him and load my tongue with a question. “As the new Alpha, what will be your goal? What are you hoping to achieve?”

“Peace,” he says those words so easily that they must be the truth and then chuckles. “I’m also a family man. I wish to replace my mate as quickly as possible before I grow bitter from being a single man. I’ve heard that’s what it does to my kind, especially if you’re a single Alpha. Endless fights and no one to come home to destroy you from within.”

Oh, he actually has some depth to him.

I open my mouth to say something, but the portal chooses that moment to buzz at a louder volume. It zaps and shoots lightning around it until spitting out a creature.

What in the world?! It’s not a human. It’s a wolfish, hairy animal, yet I somehow know it to be Alex. Don’t ask how I know. I just do and gasp at the enormous thing shivering on the floor.

“Alex…” I whisper, but my movements stop when Alex growls and hisses from his spot on the floor.

He isn’t looking at me, which is a relief because he is terrifying. Grey fur covers his huge body. He is bigger than a lycan, with three tails, talons for claws, and muscles stacked on top muscles. There are tusks in his mouth, making him look like a sabertooth tiger, and he isn’t happy.

Another hiss leaves his mouth. It’s not wolflike, and Sky snorts beside me as if knowing what it means. “Looks like your friend wasn’t so lucky after all. His DNA has clearly been tampered with.”

My heart cracks at that. Poor Alex. I reach out my hand, staggering forward on a mission to touch him. “Hey, Alex. There is no need to hiss at me. We are friends, right? It’s me—Tarryn. I’m here to—”

The words die on my tongue and are replaced by a shrilling scream when the beast jumps over me, pushing me to my back. Within seconds, a bad, warm breath hits my face, and my heart pounds in my ears when Alex snarls at me like a rabid polar bear.

What the heck!

Doesn’t Alex recognize me?!