My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 37

Lydia

My heart is pounding like a drum.

I can’t believe this…

I’m sitting on the toilet seat inside the bathroom, and my hands shakily put away yet another test on the floor. I’ve peed on at least five RFSU pregnancy sticks, and they all show the same result: positive.

It’s unreal…

“I need to tell Avery…” I whisper to myself, but no matter how hard I try to mentally scream his name, he won’t respond.

‘AVERY!’

I’m met with silence.

Weird.

He is usually always inside my head…

‘Avery?’ I ask again, calmer this time. ‘I need to talk with you. It’s rather important, actually…’

No response.

My stomach churns.

Did something happen? Or perhaps he isn’t even here. He was talking about greeting another alpha’s daughter by the border to the city to let them know they are welcome inside our territory.

“Avery?” I try saying his name out loud instead, hoping he will respond. “Are you there? Hello? Avery?”

He doesn’t respond this time, either.

Avery must be busy with the preparations for tonight and greeting all the other werewolf packs, and that’s okay.

I can tell Avery the news at the claiming ball. Then I have time to replace the right words to say to him.

“Avery, I’m pregnant…” I whisper, and my heart responds by thudding faster against my ribcage.

It’s been less than five minutes, and my head is already spinning with questions about the future.

What are our parents going to say?

Will they be furious with us?

Probably.

And what about the pack?

Avery will claim me, and then immediately we have a baby—pack members will have an opinion of this. Especially my mom, but that won’t matter. She might hurt my feelings, but this baby will happen, and no matter what, I will love this child.

I still can’t believe there is a little life inside of me.

Fighting tears, I smooth my hand over my stomach. I can’t feel anything yet, which is a given. Werewolves have shorter pregnancies than humans, but it’s still too early to feel kicks.

Kicks.

All teary-eyed, I giggle with my hand pressed to my stomach. “I can’t believe this is happening… I’m pregnant and about to have a baby with Avery. I’m about to become a mom, and Avery will be a dad. It’s surreal…”

Happiness rushes through me, and I walk out of the bathroom with a big smile on my l!ps. This day just turned immediately better. I can barely contain myself.

Tonight I’m going to wear the most beautiful dress I can replace, and hopefully, Avery will take the news well. I don’t know if he wishes to have children…

Avery thinks he is a monster, and he might get worried that the child will share the same faith as him: become a hybrid. But I don’t think this is a problem at all. I love Avery despite his bloodthirst.

“I should wear something green…” I mumble to myself while opening the wardrobe.

The people who lived in this mansion before us owned a lot of dresses, and I’m met with plenty of them hanging on racks.

I pick one out and turn around, jumping in startlement when Victoria blocks my path. Her hair is caught in a ponytail, and she is wearing a white dress as if she plans to go to the ball herself.

“You…” I narrow my eyes and open my mouth, but Victoria hushes me with a spell. It pulls at the seams of my l!ps, shutting them close.

This freaking b!tch!

I try to punch her, but he grabs my hand.

“Shhh,” Victoria tilts her head and gives me a glittering smile. “I’m not here to fight with you, Lydia. I’m here to bless you by removing the blockage that keeps you from replaceing your true mate—the heart of Chang’e will finally be mine.”

My eyes widen.

Victoria laughs. “You don’t look happy to see me, but not to worry. The guards in the garden weren’t happy to see me either. They all attacked me, but I killed them—that ought to teach them a lesson.”

She killed the guards?!

f**k, this woman is crazy!

I’m about to sprint away from Victoria, but she pulls me in with her grip on my hand. I can’t fight a vampire’s strength. She is also much taller than me and wearing high heels.

“There we go, Lydia, don’t fight it. Give in to the calming spell and listen to me closely.”

I don’t want to listen!

I squirm in her arms, but Victoria only chuckles before talking to me, whether I want it or not.

“I’m going to remove the heart of Chang’e from your c.hest. It won’t kill you directly, and you will finally be able to replace your mate—hopefully, it’s not my son… Anyway, I imagine you will eventually die without the heart inside of you. But that’s not my problem.”

Victoria pulls my back against her c.hest.

I try to scratch her and fight, but she chants a spell that calms me even more. The strength disappears from my arms, and Victoria’s nails become sharp claws.

Her voice lowers to a whisper. “This might hurt a little, but please don’t move. I might accidentally kill you if you do…”

I want to scream. I already know what is coming, and three seconds later, it’s happening. Victoria tears through my flesh with her sharp nails, digging into my clothes and then my skin.

B***d gushes out on my shirt and the floor, and Victoria happily pulls out something significant from deep inside my ribcage. It’s glittering like a diamond, and I can feel the magic wafting off it in waves.

“Oh, it feels wonderful…” Victoria inhales deeply and then pushes me to the floor. I whimper once I hit the floor, but there is no sound, and the vampire laughs behind me. “Don’t worry. The spell will wear off itself. You can go to the ball, even if you will eventually die.”

“Unless…” Victoria is quiet for a while, and then she laughs. “How interesting… It seems the child inside you is trying to save your life—a life for a life, isn’t that how the saying goes?”

I freeze. Is my child trying to sacrifice itself to save me? No! I don’t want that to happen! I was so happy to be pregnant! Stupid Victoria! How could she do this to me?!

When the spell clamping my l!ps shut releases me, I turn around on the floor. My vision is obscured by tears, yet I can make out Victoria’s beautiful yet incredibly evil face.

“You’re… You’re a monster…” I say. It’s a miracle I can talk from all the sadness overwhelming me. I’m a mess. “This baby was your grandchild, and you murdered her. I can’t believe you did that—you’re terrible. A true f*****g monster! How could you do this?!”

“Some sacrifices have to be made for power,” Victoria k!sses the bloodied diamond and smirks at me. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must figure out how to harvest the power of this gem. You have fun at the ball, okay? Say hello to Avery for me, and tell him that I will come for my kingdom once I figure out how to access the power inside the heart of Chang’e. His city shall be mine once more.”

“We won’t let you take over our territory!”

“Oh, there is no choice. My army is far stronger than yours, and my men are more powerful than you werewolves. In fact, I could kill you right now, but what would be the fun in that?”

I glare at her. She might be beautiful, but there can’t be a soul inside of her. Victoria is rotten, and I’m about to let her know.

“You’re a psychopath!” I growl at her. “Truly rotten without a soul.”

“I won’t deny that,” Victoria laughs in amusement. “I’m crazy, but at least I admit that, so maybe I’m less crazy? Either way, I won’t take up much of your time. I have a gem to study. Buh-bye!”

With that, Victoria disappears into the floor with some shadow magic, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

I’m glad the vampire queen is gone, but I’m unsure if my life matters at this point. The little life inside of me, is it gone? Is my baby dead?

I press my hand to the hole in my c.hest that is repairing itself, and then I shape-shift to howl inside my room.

My inner pain is overwhelming.

How do you recover from something like this?

What do I tell Avery?

Should I spare him from this pain?

Losing my child—I can’t think of a worse pain than that. I’m in agony, and no matter what, I won’t stop screaming and singing about the loss inside of me. Something inside of me has shattered…

It all happened so quickly, and I only had a few minutes to be happy with life before everything was ripped away.

Victoria took everything from me, and I’m tired of being weak. I couldn’t fight her, and that breaks me! I wish I had magic. f**k. How could that vampire do this to me?! Part of me wishes to cry the entire day away, but I know I have to replace Avery. He needs to know what happened.