My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 137

Josie

I’m eating dinner with Misha and his family: Lydia, Avery, and Damien. Little Michelle is with us too, and all of Misha’s sisters, Abby and Danielle, who are like seven, soon eight years old.

“Abby!” Lydia hisses at her daughter. “You don’t need more Nutella on your bread! You’re not even supposed to be eating it for dinner!”

“But it’s so good!” Abby whines.

Danielle pushes her glasses further up her nose. “Since Abby is eating Nutella for dinner, can I have ice cream for dessert?”

Lydia throws her hands up in defeat. “You know what? Fine. Eat the ice cream, but there will be no candy this weekend.”

“What?!” Abby spits out her bread in a napkin and shoves it aside. “There, are you happy? Will I get candy now?”

The sound of the door opening and someone running through the corridor makes us all turn our heads. A second later, the door leading into the kitchen flies wide open.

“Alpha, Alpha, it’s happening!” A young werewolf man I don’t recognize is standing in the doorframe to our kitchen, panting wildly. “The Howler pack is on our grounds, and things look bad! They are attacking! Plenty of our men are dead in the forest. It was an ambush to one of guarding squads! I’m the only one who made it out alive!”

Misha stands up from the table. “Were they many?”

The young werewolf nods. “Yes, Alpha, but…” a look of pure terror washes over his features, and he hesitates. “But…”

Misha narrows his eyes at him demandingly. “But what?”

The guy swallows thickly. “They didn’t look like werewolves or even remotely like humans, sir.”

“They didn’t look human?” Avery asks, blinking slowly. “Were they demons then? Vampires?”

“No. It was monsters that attacked us. Hideous beasts that looked like foxes, but their faces were disgusting, like a mix of fox and human. They also all had different amounts of tails, one, two… there was one that had eight of them.”

My lips thin into a stretch, and then my nostrils flare. “It sounds like Marissa’s experiments. Alex apparently wasn’t the only one she had locked up in her lab.”

“Apparently,” Misha agrees and sighs. He looks frustrated and rubs his eyelids with his fingers. “I’m not sure how we should go about this. Perhaps I should go alone to see how bad it is? I don’t want to send my men into a death trap.”

“Alone?!” Avery exclaims. “Absolutely not! I’m coming with you!”

“So am I,” Damien says, placing his glass of b***d down on the table with eyes glowing with fury. “They got some nerve interrupting my first family dinner. I’m not especially happy about that.”

Misha smiles, then faces me. “I expect you to look after our daughter—”

“Absolutely not!” I interrupt in a frustrated tone. Everyone stares at me, and I swallow thickly, mad that I must explain myself. “No offense, but I’m a far better fighter than my mom and Lydia—they should be looking after Michelle, and I should come with you!”

Misha scowls. “Josie—”

Avery silences him with his hand. “No, Josie has a point. She should be in the battle. Your mate is strong and capable—let her be useful, son. You forget that she isn’t only a mother. She is also a warrior.”

Misha still doesn’t look convinced, so I hold his gaze, entirely serious when I tell him, “Don’t underestimate your own mate. Please. You’re the one supposed to know me better than anyone.”

He wavers then and slumps his shoulders. “It’s not that I’m underestimating you. I know you’re a capable fighter, but you and Michelle are the two most important people in my life,” he looks at Avery and Damien. “No offense.”

Damien and Avery simultaneously hold up their hands in defeat and say, “None taken,” before glaring at one another. They are more similar than they would like to admit, and Lydia snorts in her seat. Even Misha’s sisters laugh before sneakily grabbing more Nutella bread.

“Mom…” Abby drawls in a worried tone while nervously chewing on her bread. “Are we staying at home?”

“Yes, honey, we are,” Lydia says while carefully dabbing around Michelle’s mouth with a wet napkin. “There is no need to worry. We won’t be joining this war,” she looks at me. “And don’t worry about Michelle. She is safe with me… I believe your mom would like to join the battlefield.”

“Oh, definitely,” I grin despite the sickening situation. “My dad will probably leave you with all my siblings. There is no way he is staying at home, either. He believes Marissa is the answer to the lycan curse. If she can create monsters, maybe she can revert them too?”

“That is an excellent point!” Lydia exclaims and beams at her husband. All teeth and awe. “You should take Marissa as our prisoner if you get the chance. We can torture her for answers.”

“LYDIA!” Avery growls. “Not in front of the children!”

Abby and Danielle giggle and Abby says, “Dad, we aren’t children anymore. I’m actually turning eight next week.”

Danielle, the more serious and complete Besserwisser, lifts her defiant chin high in the air. Even her l*p is jutting out. “Misha, if you die in battle, I hope you understand I will become the next Alpha.”

Amusement crosses Misha’s features, and he lifts an eyebrow. “You want your big brother to die, huh?”

Sadness immediately washes up over Danielle’s features. It’s like she hadn’t given what she said a serious thought until now. But now, when she imagines Misha dead, tears run down her face. She is trying to appear strong, though, and speaks in a shaky voice.

“I’m just trying to be strong!” Danielle exclaims and gets up from her seat to run over to Misha. She is tiny compared to her brother and wraps her arms around Misha’s waist. “You can’t die!”

Misha grins and picks up her sister in a hug. “Are you really soon eight years old? You’re acting like you’re five. Such a crybaby.”

“Don’t call me a crybaby!” Danielle sobs and hugs his neck. “Stupid, stupid, Misha!”

My heart melts seeing the two together, even though Misha is kind of a d**k for laughing at Danielle right now. Some brotherly love right there, teasing his sister even when she is upset.

“I want a hug too!” Abby whines.

Misha glances down at her. “Oh my, are you crying too?” He laughs in amusement. “Guys, I’m not going to die. There is no need to be acting like this is my funeral.”

Lydia looks up from her seat. “You disappeared Avery and me once, Misha, and now when your sisters know you, they don’t want to lose their big brother. So please, be careful.”

“I will,” his face looks soft, and my heart flips like a pancake when he aims a toothy grin my way. “I have Josie to protect me—I will be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.”

I smile back at Misha, hoping he is right. I can’t lose him again. Not when our life together has barely even started. There are still so many things that I want to do and tell him.