Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

KESTER.

Thurried to the house as fast as my car could take me.

I didn't even wait for the engine to cool. The moment I pulled into the driveway, I slammed the gear into

park and flew out of the car, the door banging shut behind me with a violent thud. Gravel crunched

beneath my boots as I sprinted up the steps, nearly ripping the front door off its hinges as I burst inside.

froze for a heartbeat in the doorway of the living room. The faint scent of baked bread still lingering from

dinner.

Mum was perched beside Dad on the couch, one hand draped over his arm, her eyes shining with

amusement. He was mid-sentence, chuckling about something I didn't care to know until I caught the tail

end of his words, spoken just before the

door crashed shut behind me:

...I hope she reasons with him."

My blood ran cold.

I didn't need context.

I knew who they were talking about. It was Kasmine.

But who the hell was the "he"?

They lifted their gazes in my direction, and their little chit-chats died abruptly when they saw me.

"Kester!" Mum called, surprised like I'd appeared from the grave, almost as if she hadn't expected to see

me at home.

"Where is Kasmine?" I asked, already headed toward the stairs, giving them only half my attention.

I expected a response even though I wasn't paying attention.

I expected them to say, "She is in her room."

But they didn't. They were silent.

That kind of silence didn't come from confusion. It came from guilt.

I stopped halfway up the stairs and turned to face them.

Mum had stood up, smoothing her dress like it

distract me. Her lips parted, but it seemed the words refused to

come out. Dad remained seated with an unreadable expression, but the twitch in his jaw gave him away.

Fuck.

They knew something.

And whatever it was, they didn't want to say it out loud.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

"I'll ask one more time, I said in a low and deadly voice, coming down the stairs, the storm in my chest

already rising. "Where. Is. Kasmine?"

There was a beat of silence before Jorja cleared her throat. I heard the nervous bob of her swallow before

her votee, brittle as glass, finally broke the quiet.

She... uh... she stepped out briefly," she said, her fingers wringing the hem of her blouse: 'She'll be back

soon."

The floor shifted beneath me.

I blinked.

Stepped out?

Stepped out with who?

"Was it Jake?" I asked. The words were so thick in my throat like they had to fight their way past disbelief.

"Did she step out with Jake?"

They said nothing.

The air in my lungs curdled. My chest heaved. My body moved before my mind caught up.

CRACK!

My fist collided with the wall beside

the stair railing, drywall splittingnoveldrama

under the force, white dust

crumbling to the floor, and a long

jagged dent spidering out from the

point of impact. I didn't care I barely

even felt it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I growled, turning to face them.

That was when Dad snapped to life. He shoved off the couch, eyes flashing with frustration like I was the

one being

unreasonable.

"Yes!" he barked. "She stepped out with Jake. And I hope, for all our sakes, they patch things up soon."

For a moment, I just stared at him, then I laughed. It was more pain than humor, more despair than rage. I

dragged a hand down my face, and when I dropped it, my eyes were glassy and cold.

"You really don't get it, do you?" I said, my voice turning rough and hoarse. "You're still doing it. Still pulling

strings, still playing matchmaker even after fate has spoken?"

Dad said nothing.

"I told you all to let us be. But you've

been hellbent on breaking us

apart." whispered, stepping

backward toward the door now.

"And now your irrationality is about

to cost Kasmine her life."

They both froze.

I paused at the threshold, one hand gripping the doorknob, the other still balled

into a trembling fist.

"You better pray to every god you believe in," I said, my voice already trembling

with fury, "that nothing happens to her. Because if it does, I swear to you..."

I looked them both dead in the eye, "...I will set this whole fucking pack on fire.

Literally,"

I yanked the door open and slammed it behind me with enough force to shake the

hinges.

The screen glared up at me from the

passenger seat, the little blue dot

that was Kasmine inching farther

into the gray nothing at the edge of

town. Off any main road. No lights,

no houses, just empty backcountry.

And she was still moving.

I panicked even more. What the fuck were they doing in the middle of nowhere at

this ungodly hour?

Thank the Moon she didn't rip that necklace off because she was upset with me. If

she had tossed it in a drawer or somewhere out of anger, I'd be driving blind right

now.

Norlan had been on the phone with me almost all the way. He kept assuring me

everything would be fine and that I'd find Kasmine alive and well. But why did I

find it so hard to believe him?

The road narrowed to cracked asphalt. I shoved the accelerator to the floor; the

engine howled, the speedometer climbing past ninety. Trees blurred by in the

headlights, nothing but black between them.

Jake's name pulsed in my skull in time with the thud of my pulse. He'd thought he

played a smart game. But all he'd done was sign his death warrant.

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