My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 56

Kade

“I know that you’re spying on me, Kade,” Jinora says without looking over her shoulder. She is squatting in the bushes, eyes on a cottage that she is supposed to keep an eye on by Avery’s orders.

“You shouldn’t be complaining,” I say from behind an oak tree. I couldn’t let Jinora spy on the vampires alone, so I followed her. “If they attack you, you will be glad I’m here to help you.”

She snorts. “They won’t attack me—they aren’t even here. The cottage is empty as far as I can tell.”

“That’s great,” I say and cross one leg over the other. “Then perhaps we can head back to the mansion.”

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere with you,” Jinora glances over her shoulder, and I wince at the ice shards in her eyes. “You still haven’t apologized for ignoring me and leaving after I rejected my mate for you.”

My chest constricts at that. Jinora did pick me over her mate, but I’ve been broken since I found out the moon goddess plan was never for us to be together.

What if that means she can’t safely give birth to a hybrid baby? I don’t want her to die because of such a stupid reason. I want to be with her, sure, but I also wish to have kids…

“I’m sorry,” I stare down at the ground. My stomach feels like an empty pit that is only growing larger and larger. “I’ve been a jerk, but perhaps we can return to how we were?”

Her face lights up. “As lovers?”

“As friends.”

She snorts, and I think I see some disappointment on her face before she returns to looking at the cottage. “You and I were never friends, Kade. We slept with each other immediately, and I won’t settle for just being your friend. Either you give me everything, or you give me nothing at all. It’s that simple.”

I frown and raise my voice. “You don’t think I want you, Jinora? Do you think this is easy for me? That I’m just being difficult for no reason? Because then you’re wrong.”

She turns around, shocked. Her lips part, but I’m not done. I’m frustrated. Mad. Sad, and just plain devastated with everything that is happening right now.

“You and I weren’t meant to be together—that fact is what kills me. Finding out that you had a mate that wasn’t me tore my heart apart. Because what if that means you can’t safely give birth to a kit? Or a baby, as you guys call it. You and I don’t have the moon goddess’s blessing for that… I also had a vision of me sacrificing my life for you. It would not stop me from being with you, though, because I would give my life for yours any day of the week. But the baby thing? Yeah, that has me scared because YOUR LIFE matters to me, okay?!”

By now, Jinora is staring at me, wide-eyed. “I… I didn’t realize so many things were going through your head…”

I laugh at that, not because it’s funny, but because my head is a mess every day. “Yeah, well… I might look like an i***t who doesn’t think deep thoughts, but that isn’t the case. My mind doesn’t shut up lately.”

Jinora silently processes this for a bit, and then she just plops down on her butt in the grass, pulling at the straws.

My heart swells.

She is adorable. Her red hair is caught in a ponytail, and her freckles are spattered over her narrow, beautiful face. She reminds me more of a fox than a werewolf…

“I so badly wish to hug you right now…” I give her a tight-lipped smile when she looks up. “But I’m afraid that would lead to more. Touching your gorgeous body is addicting… I miss you.”

Her eyes grow heavy with wanting, and she whispers, “Then why are you staying away? It’s hurting me…”

I exhale heavily. “Didn’t you hear a word I said?”

“I did, but…” she laughs. “I don’t care. I rather take a chance with you than sit idly and do nothing. What if we could be great together? That thought would haunt me for the rest of my life if we didn’t take a leap.”

“But what if a pregnancy kills you?”

Her gaze holds mine. “Every pregnancy is dangerous, but… I want to take a chance at me surviving giving birth to a hybrid child. Are you brave enough to be with me on this?”

I stare at her, parting my lips to give her an answer, but laughter in the distance makes me close my mouth. My focus land on the cottage, and I have to stifle a growl.

“I hope you’ve hidden your scent because here come the vampires,” I whisper and hunker down. “It seems Avery was right—they are using this cottage as their hideout.”

“Which means they must be preparing to attack us. There are probably more vampire strongholds spread across the city.”

I swallow thickly and push my emotions for Jinora aside. Jinora is important, but there is a better time to discuss our relationship. We can talk about the future later, preferably somewhere safer.

Right now, I have to focus on my duty as the beta to my new pack. Avery needs to be informed that Victoria’s men are on our territories. It’s urgent, and I grab Jinora’s hand, pulling her to her feet.

“We shouldn’t stick around. There are at least thirty vampires here, and that’s not good. If they replace us, then we are dead.”

Her eyes narrow, and she whisper-yells. “You’re underestimating my fighting abilities!”

I can’t help but smile at Jinora. She is fierce this one, but while I don’t doubt that Jinora is a powerful werewolf, vampires are… scary. They have ancient magic and—

A vision of a vampire jumping down from the trees hits me, and I immediately push Jinora away from me. She yelps in surprise and looks up from the ground to glare at me, but her questions are soon answered.

A vampire hisses, and I shape-shift as quickly as I can to use my paw to swat the hissing creature away like a fly.

Of course, the problems don’t end there. The vampire has all zeroed in on me, and I look down at Jinora. Her eyes are wide, and I’m amused despite the catastrophic situation.

This is the first time Jinora has gotten the chance to take in my beastly form. She was in wolf form the last time, and perhaps it didn’t hit her just how huge lycans are.

Standing at a proud fourteen feet, I consider myself a glorious lycan: white hair everywhere, long ears, and broad shoulders. My chest is much more expansive, more swollen, and rippling with muscles. It also seems that giving up on my alpha position did nothing to my size—if anything, I’m larger now that I have a bigger pack to protect. It pleases me.

But… I don’t like Jinora’s fear of me.

I take a step toward her, and she blinks. It breaks me when I see her bottom l*p tremble. “K-Kade? You can control yourself in that form… right? s**t, you’re huge… is that normal? Were you always that big?”

My response is to swat away another vampire with my arm and then rush forward to grab Jinora. She shrieks in surprise when I throw her over my shoulder but doesn’t try to fight me.

Is she still terrified of me?

“Oh my god, you stink like a wet dog!”

I just smile, pleased, because she isn’t shivering in fear. She can be angry at me; she has a right to feel that emotion, but I don’t think I could handle having her terrified of my lycan form.

“f**k, they are running after us, Kade!” Jinora shouts from my shoulder and swats at my muscular back like I’m a horse or something. “Run faster, boy! Faster!”

Boy?!

This little s**t!

I will get revenge on her for calling me that! It’s not like I’m a f*****g dog. I’m a large, mountainous lycan—

“If you run faster, I will reward you with a scratch behind your ears or belly rubs if you like those.”

I like the sound of that. I like the sound of that a lot!

It should be impossible, but I force more speed into my steps and run faster past trees and bushes. Snarls are coming from behind me, and I hear twigs breaking as the vampires chase us.

“f**k, they don’t look happy!” Jinora shouts. “Faster, Kade! You have to make it into the city!”

Why the f**k isn’t she running herself?! She is a wolf! Then again, she is probably safer with me. I could fight a few vampires, but not all of them! Better keep running!

“s**t, why are there so many of them?!” Jinora cries. “I don’t like this!”

Jinora is bouncing up and down on my shoulder, but it won’t be long until we are close enough to the house for the other pack members to realize something is wrong.

Just a little more running…