My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 23

Lydia

I’m still shocked by what Avery said during the rice-throwing. It’s been hours since then. I’m now drinking a margarita while people are dancing outside our mansion in the garden.

There is laughter and music all around. My mother is switching from werewolf to werewolf while still wearing her dress. This is supposed to be a fun time, yet I can’t relax.

Did Avery mean what he said?

That gorgeous alpha boy told me to figure out if I wanted to be with him. And if I do, he will claim me as his mate. He can’t have been serious. Why would he pick me?

I down my drink, probably way too fast. The world is slightly spinning, and Jinora laughs from the stool by the bar beside me. Her flowing red hair is filled with flowers that she has been given by random werewolf boys wanting to dance with her.

Since she is mateless and beautiful, everyone is flirting with her,

“Careful with that drink,” Jinora’s teeth show in her smile. “I think you’ve had enough for now. You need salt.”

“No, I need another drink,” I correct her and hold up my finger to order another margarita from the bartender. He nods, and I turn to face Jinora with a sparkling smile. “My head is spinning, and alcohol is how I shut it up for like three seconds.”

Jinora snorts and shakes her head. “That’s how addictions start…”

I laugh with her. “We are werewolves—the buzz lasts for a couple of minutes, and then we are fine.”

“True that! And I shouldn’t judge,” she holds up her own glass, clinking it with my new one before downing hers. Once she is done, she sets down the glass and dries her mouth. “These margaritas are good.”

“Amen, sister.”

We both order a few more drinks and down them quickly enough to feel a bit of a buzz despite being werewolves. We discuss men and our taste in the other gender. Jinora points at some guys she has dated, and then, eventually, the topic lands on Avery.

Jinora searches for him, and when she can’t see him, she leans close and whispers. “So, your stepbrother’s a*s is like… Damn. I could serve a family dinner on top of that thing.”

I snort out my drink all over the table. The bartender looks at me like I’m insane but doesn’t get mad at me. He calmly cleans up my mess while I turn to face Jinora, who is wearing a dreamy expression.

With her cheek leaning against the palm of her hand, she smiles at me like a girl in love. “Does Avery has a girlfriend or someone who he considers making his mate?”

Despite being drunk, I realize then that Jinora couldn’t have heard what Avery told me earlier about the claim. That’s a relief. People would hate me even more if they knew the omega slept with the alpha.

Still, I can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy.

Avery is good-looking, tall, and super-hunky, yet I don’t want my new friend to fall for him. My brain has already decided his a*s is mine, and YES, it’s as big as Jinora claims.

“Avery is single,” I tell her. “Why? Do you like him?”

My eyes bury into hers, and Jinora breathes a laugh. “Seriously? Of course, I like him! Have you seen that guy? Avery is so tall and muscular. Every female has a thing for him—even those much older than him.”

“Oh,” I smile even though my c.hest has gone too tight. Hearing that I got competition isn’t exactly what I need right now. “Yeah… Avery sure is pretty…” And pretty damn impressive in the bed.

“I wonder what it would be like to have those bulging arms wrapped around me…”

Jinora releases a sound that sounds a lot like a m0an. It makes images of Avery making love to my body pop up in my brain, and warmth spreads over my skin like a raging forest fire.

No, I can’t get turned on here!

Ugh!

What do I do?!

I decide to flee. I should replace the bathroom and splash water over my face or something.

A smile gets plastered over my l!ps. “I love the margaritas. But drinking them makes me want to pee so badly! If you will excuse me.”

“Sure!” Jinora beams at me. “I will wait for you!”

I keep the smile on my face, and then, once I turn around, I let it fade from my l!ps as I make it through a crowd of pack members. Everyone looks at me weirdly, yet no one dares to hurt me.

I have Avery to thank for that… Speaking of him, where the heck is he? I haven’t seen him for hours. Did he even come to this stupid party in the first place?!

Deep in thought, I enter the mansion from the open doors on the porch. I try to make it through a throng of younger people dancing inside the living room but end up crashing into someone.

“Watch it!” a werewolf man grunts at me.

“Sorry!” I mumble and try to stay out of the way—only to get pushed by a group of girls. This time, I’m slung into the back of the couch, and then I hear snickers behind me.

It sounds like Sally, Owen’s mate, and she isn’t alone. There are three girls by her side that I’ve finally learned the name of. Casie, Rys, and Ava. They are all nasty, according to Jinora.

“Well, well, well,” Sally rakes me up and down. Her evil smile is growing larger by the minute. “If it isn’t the poor little omega. What is the matter? Has your alpha finally gotten tired of protecting you?”

Instead of responding, I straighten myself and turn the other way.

I’m about to leave the female wolves alone, but Sally and her friends block my path. It takes me by surprise, and I take a step back.

“Did you try to leave?” Sally questions and fold her arms underneath her big boobs that look ready to explode. Her push-up bra is pushing up those puppies to the maximum.

“It sure looked like it, but I don’t think so…” Rys comments. Her eyes are burning with hatred. “You’re the reason my brother, Rhaegar, was murdered. And I want justice.”

“Justice?” I question in an angry voice that shocks both the girls and me. I’m usually too shy to speak, but I’m frustrated and buzzed from the alcohol. It gives me courage. “What are you going to do? Beat me up?” I roll my eyes. “Real original.”

Sally and the others snarl, but in the end, it’s Sally who is the Barbie leader in the group.

“Grab her arms, and let’s bring her outside. It’s about time this omega had her a*s handed to her!” Sally growls.

Rys eagerly nods in agreement before digging her seething eyes into mine. “To think you would speak up against us like that… Are you stupid, or do you have a death wish?!”

“Probably the latter…” Casie comments. “She is probably miserable from being the omega—it wouldn’t surprise me if she wanted to die. It must be tiring living the filthy life of being at the bottom of the food chain.”

All the girls laugh, and while I’m not usually a violent person, I feel rage curling in my c0re. It rises to my c.hest, and a snarl threatens to leave my l!ps the longer I stare at the girls.

It’s shocking.

What is the matter with me?

I’m a happy-go-lucky person, but I want to teach these girls a lesson right now. But how? I’m not strong enough to beat them, and neither will I grow sudden superpowers and become a badass main character just because I want to. This isn’t a fantasy book.

I’m not a fighting, avenging angel, but… I guess I can choose to rise above and ignore these girls. I shouldn’t fall to their level; not falling to tears is a big achievement in itself.

I’m proud of myself.

I turn around, and Sally gasps.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going!”

I turn around to watch Sally reach for me, but an enchanted armchair tackles her to the ground before her claws can graze my skin. My eyes bulge out of their sockets, and then I laugh.

“What the heck?!” Sally squirms underneath the armchair that has toppled over her. “Moving furniture?! What is wrong with this house! Help me remove the armchair!”

The three other girls look reluctant, especially now that two moving footstools are growling at them like a pair of hyenas.

I cover my mouth with my palm in order not to laugh. ‘Are you having fun, Avery? Growling footstools? Really?’

‘I’m not doing anything,’ Avery replies inside my head. He definitely sounds amused, though. ‘My magic is wild and unpredictable, and the furniture has grown minds of their own… I have a feeling they didn’t like seeing you get bullied into a corner.’

In the background, Sally is crying. “Remove the armchair! Oh my god, it’s eating my hair! Where did that mouth come from?! Get off me! You’re crushing my ribcage!”

A laugh finally slips out from my l!ps, and then I smile. ‘Where are you right now? Enjoying the party?’

‘I’m upstairs on the balcony.’

‘Oh…’

‘Yeah, I don’t like parties… Or people. I like the quietness.’

Aha, I see how it is. Those words must be code for Avery telling me he would like to be alone tonight.

‘Don’t put words in my mouth,’ Avery breathes a laugh. ‘Care to join me? The view is rather spectacular. And I have a new magic trick I would like to show you.’

That gets my interest. ‘I will be right there!’

I hurry for the staircase but freeze when goosebumps prickle over my back in a warning. My gut seems to be telling me something, and I turn around to look at a person I’ve never seen before.

White long hair and clothes that don’t look like they are from this century—this person definitely isn’t from our pack, yet no one seems to pay attention to him. Some sort of magic to fit in?

I stare harder at the tall man, and eventually, he turns around. Glowing purple eyes connect with mine, and the air seizes in my lungs.

The man looks like a villain: beautiful and challenging to take one’s eyes off, but his smile is too sharp and too damn wicked to be considered pleasant. He looks as friendly as a wild wolf.

I’m having such a hard time peeling my eyes off him that I don’t even realize the man is moving. Soon he is hovering over me, and I shudder when he takes my hand in his larger one.

“Lydia, right?”

I repeatedly blink up at him. “W-who are you?”

‘This isn’t good, Lydia,’ Avery sounds frightened. ‘You have to get away from that man and fast!’

‘Why?’ I don’t look away from those purple eyes that are studying me with way too much interest.

“How interesting,” the man says, and his l!ps curl upwards. “When your father took the heart of Chang’e, I never knew what he would use it for. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it could create a person.”

‘Lydia…’ Avery warns. ‘Get away from him.’

I try to snatch my arm back from the man, but he doesn’t let go and doesn’t even seem bothered by my trying to fight him. Instead, he rakes me up and down and then breathes a laugh.

“I wonder what would happen if a lycan were to breed with you—would the children come out having control of their lycan forms?”

My eyes widen. Is this person a lycan? The very same creature that killed my dad three years ago?!

I have my answer when the guests suddenly begin screaming, and when I look around me, I notice large lycans attacking my fellow pack members.

People are rapidly shape-shifting, but lycans are far larger than us werewolves. They dwarf us from towering heights of above ten feet while standing on their hind legs. And when I look up at the man holding my arm for answers, he laughs in amusement.

“My name is Kade, and it seems I’ve found my bride.”