Chapter 2 Meet Felix, Your Stepbrother
Soren
This cannot be happening.
I stand in the shadow of the garden wall staring at Felix like the universe has finally decided to turn my life into a comedy.
A very cruel comedy.
A mate.
Him.
The word still echoes inside my skull.
The last time I believed in anything close to romance was two years ago when I was nineteen and dating Jacob, a boy who had exactly three brain cells and somehow managed to use all of them poorly.
Jacob broke up with me because my auburn hair reminded him of his grandmother.
His grandmother who died at fifteen.
Even now I still do not understand the logic behind that sentence. I remember staring at him across the table, trying to decide if he was joking or if I had accidentally dated a man who believed time traveled backwards.
Two days later I walked into my neighbor’s bedroom and found him in her bed.
When I demanded an explanation, he looked at me with complete sincerity and said he had been helping her search for pimples.
That was the moment I realized I had been surrounded by idiots my entire life.
Which brings me back to the present problem.
I lift my eyes and glare at the man standing in front of me.
Felix Dimitri.
Future Alpha of Elsbridge.
My new stepbrother.
Apparently also my mate.
My brain struggles to accept the information.
“Your wolf is sick,” I announce loudly.
A few guests wandering the gardens glance in our direction, then quickly pretend they heard nothing.
Good choice.
“I refuse this,” I continue, pointing a finger at him. “I reject it. You… you…”
My brain empties at the worst possible moment.
“Pumpkin.”
The word leaves my mouth before I can stop it.
I stare at him.
Did I really just call a six-foot-tall Alpha pumpkin?
Felix blinks once.
His left eye twitches slightly, and for some infuriating reason the small movement makes him look even more attractive.
Which is unacceptable.
Completely unacceptable.
“Pumpkin?” he repeats slowly.
His voice drops lower, quiet enough that it brushes across my skin like a warning.
“Yes,” I say quickly, folding my arms to hide the small tremor running through me. “Orange. Round. Completely useless decorations people carve up and throw away after Halloween.”
My heart is beating so loudly I am fairly sure the entire pack can hear it.
“That’s you.”
Felix studies me as if I am some strange animal that wandered into his territory.
“I’m not pumpkin head,” he says calmly.
The tone of his voice does something unpleasant to my stomach.
“I’m your stepbrother.”
The word makes my brain stall.
I blink. “Stepbrother?”
He lifts a hand as if stopping my reaction.
“Yes. Technically.”
Then his expression shifts slightly.
“But I do not see you as family.”
Something about the way he says it makes my pulse skip.
“Not because of the mate bond,” he adds quietly. “And not because of our parents’ marriage.”
“Then why?” I ask before I can stop myself.
He pauses.
“Just know I am Alpha Donovan’s son.”
That explains the confidence.
The control.
The way the air around him seems to tighten when he speaks.
“Whatever, pumpkin head,” I mutter.
His eyes narrow.
Then he steps closer.
I instinctively step back.
My spine hits the garden wall.
Wonderful.
Felix stops directly in front of me, close enough that the heat from his body brushes against my skin.
“You done?” he asks.
Up close I can finally smell him properly.
Leather.
Pine.
Something darker beneath it that sends a strange shiver through my chest.
My wolf stirs.
The reaction surprises me.
My wolf has been quiet for years, tucked away so deeply that sometimes I forget it exists.
Now it presses forward cautiously, like a curious animal waking from a long sleep.
“Oh, now you wake up,” I mutter under my breath.
Felix tilts his head slightly.
“Listen, Siren—”
“My name is Soren,” I snap.
I shove at his chest.
The effort accomplishes nothing.
It feels like trying to move a brick wall.
His lips curve into a small, infuriating smile.
“Soren is a boy’s name.”
His gaze travels slowly down my body and then back up again.
The movement feels almost like a physical touch.
“And you,” he continues calmly, “are clearly not a boy.”
My face burns.
Every inch of my skin suddenly feels too warm.
“Well,” I say quickly, ducking under his arm, “you are not my mate either, so I suppose we are both disappointed today.”
I make it exactly three steps before his hand closes around my wrist.
The contact hits like lightning.
A sharp burst of heat rushes through my arm and straight into my chest.
I gasp.
What the hell was that?
Felix stiffens too.
His grip tightens slightly as if he felt it as well.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks quietly.
“Away from you.”
I pull my wrist free.
The moment our skin separates, an ache spreads through my chest that makes no logical sense.
The mate bond.
I hate it already.
“We need to talk,” Felix says.
His voice carries a quiet authority now.
The Alpha tone.
The one that usually makes wolves instinctively obey.
Unfortunately for him, I have spent my entire life ignoring authority figures.
“We are talking,” I reply, waving my hands between us. “See? Words. Communication. What I am communicating is that I reject this.”
“You cannot reject a mate bond alone.”
“Stop calling me Siren.”
“I like it.”
I stare at him.
For a moment anger surges through me so quickly I almost laugh.
“This is insane,” I whisper.
The anger fades just as quickly.
Fear replaces it.
Because if anyone discovers this bond…
If my mother finds out…
Felix runs a hand through his hair.
For the first time since we met, he looks tired.
“Let’s agree on one thing,” he says.
“That this is a disaster?”
“That too.”
I slide down the wall until I am sitting on the ground with my knees pulled to my chest.
“My mother is going to kill me,” I say quietly. “She warned me before the ceremony. She said this was her last marriage and that I was not allowed to ruin it.”
Felix leans against the wall beside me.
“Well,” he says after a moment, “your mother sounds unpleasant.”
I let out a short laugh.
“You are an ass.”
“That may also be true.”
For a moment the tension eases.
Music from the reception drifts faintly through the walls behind us while the moonlight spreads across the garden path.
Then reality returns.
“We cannot tell anyone,” I say.
“Agreed.”
“Especially our parents.”
“Definitely not.”
“And we avoid each other.”
Felix looks at me.
Something darker moves behind his eyes.
“We are about to live in the same house,” he says slowly.
Right.
I forgot that part.
My stomach sinks.
Living together means the bond will only get stronger.
The pull already humming beneath my skin will become impossible to ignore.
“Then we pretend it doesn’t exist,” I say desperately.
Felix gestures between us.
“You think you can ignore this?”
The invisible force between us pulses again.
I feel the urge to move closer.
To touch him again.
“I can ignore anything if I try hard enough,” I lie.
Felix pushes himself away from the wall and stands.
He offers me his hand.
I stare at it.
“I can stand by myself,” I say.
I do exactly that.
His expression closes slightly.
“Right,” he says.
“Ignore it.”
He turns and begins walking back toward the reception.
My wolf whimpers.
Actually whimpers.
Traitor.
“Felix.”
He stops but does not turn around.
“What do we do now?” I ask quietly.
His shoulders tense.
“We survive,” he says.
“And we make sure no one finds out.”
Then he disappears back toward the lights of the reception.
I remain in the garden alone.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
Three missed calls from my mother.
Fantastic.
I shove the phone back into my pocket and head for the exit gate instead of returning to the party.
Cool night air rushes over my skin as I step onto the empty road.
But even as the mansion disappears behind me, the strange pull inside my chest does not fade.
The mate bond hums beneath my skin like a live wire.
And somehow I know one thing with absolute certainty.
Living under the same roof with Felix Dimitri is going to destroy my life.
