Chapter 4

Emma's POV 

I opened my eyes, and to my shock, I realized I wasn’t in my room. The stark white walls of the unfamiliar room confirmed it. At first, I wanted to dismiss it. It didn’t matter whether the walls were white or dark, I felt groggy and hungover from everything I had drunk the night before.

I stretched on the bed, only to freeze. A figure blocked me. As I blinked and tried to focus, I realized it was a man on the other side of the bed. My chest tightened, panic and disbelief mixing with the vivid memories of the previous night.

The moans, my whimpers, the soul-wrenching desire I had surrendered to, the movements and rhythm that had left me trembling… All of it replayed in my mind. He had given me exactly what I craved but couldn’t ask for, shrouded in shame I had carried for too long.

“Who are you?” he snapped, his voice sharp, eyes flashing crimson with anger as he stared at me.

“What are you doing in my room?” he added, his words laced with arrogance, tone dripping with cockiness.

I wanted to speak, but the audacity of him asking me that infuriated me. This was my room I had paid for. He had come uninvited, and yet somehow, I was the one being questioned. I hadn’t wanted to dwell on last night, hadn’t wanted to put a label or expectation on it, but standing there, watching his smugness, my anger flared.

I was about to respond when my phone rang. Naked, I hastily dragging part of the bedsheet over myself, I fumbled for my bag and answered. My mother’s voice burst through the line, sharp and piercing.

“Emma, you little witch! Where are you? Why aren’t you at the venue yet?” Her anger seared through the call.

I glanced at the clock. Almost twelve. Hours had passed while I slept, oblivious to time thanks to the heavy blinds and my hangover.

Without thinking, I grabbed the dress lying on the floor I had worn last night, some parts loose from the way the stranger had undressed me but I didn’t pause to care. I put it on as quickly as I could, ready to leave. All I wanted was to escape, to face the hell my mother would unleash if I didn’t show up at her ceremony. I didn’t want her remarriage, but I had no choice, at least, it seemed that way.

I moved toward the door with my bag in hand, only to have a hand clamp tightly around my wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was low, but it burned with veiled anger and disdain. He still hadn’t let go of his grudge about me “intruding” in his room.

I froze, torn between the urgent need to leave and the fiery frustration building inside me. His grip, his tone, the dark edge in his expression. Yet part of me, despite the shock and lingering tension from last night, couldn’t stop the rush of adrenaline that surged through me at being caught.

I was about to hiss at his question once more when a burning sensation shot through me, making me stop. I yanked my wrist free from his grip, just as he had done to me.

No… no… no… I whispered to myself. This couldn’t be happening.

A mate bond had seared between us but before it could fully form, I had run. I hadn’t looked back, didn’t care to get his contact information, even though everything pointed to him being my mate.

It had to be a mistake, I told myself. For two years, I had hoped Ronan would be my mate only to find out he was a lying scumbag. And now? A stranger… a stranger was my mate?

Outside the door, I glanced at the room number and my heart sank. The error was mine as I had walked into the wrong room. It wasn’t mine. It had been his.

Part of me wanted to go back and apologize, to make amends for the intrusion, but the thought of being late to my mother’s mating ceremony overrode it. In the end, I had run, leaving everything behind.

*****”

SilverFang pack was bigger than I had imagined. Perhaps it was because I had never been inside the alpha’s mansion before. Lowlifes like me had no chance of being this close to the center of power and yet here I was, walking through halls lined with wealth and opulence I had only dreamed of.

People laughed, glasses clinking, their joy loud against the backdrop of luxurious decorations. But even amid the festivities, I felt the venomous gazes following me. Without needing to be told, I knew who some of them were—girls from Lunaris Academy who had tormented me relentlessly.

I spotted Jenna, the beta’s daughter, head of every scheme and taunt that had made my life miserable at school. She whispered something to her group and I knew instinctively it was a new plot, another attempt to humiliate me. I was nothing and in their eyes, I always would be. Becoming the alpha’s stepdaughter wasn’t supposed to happen and now I feared the bullying would only intensify.

I hadn’t walked half the distance when a voice called my name. I turned to see my mother approaching, her presence looming as she reached for me.

The dress I wore was itchy and uncomfortable, a luxury she had forced upon me. It was expensive, ornate and all that mattered to her. My discomfort was irrelevant.

“Emma,” she whispered, her hands tugging me along as if in affection, guiding me toward the alpha, her new mate. I had arrived late, missing the vows. Part of me was relieved as I wasn’t sure I could have endured watching them exchange them.

“Behave yourself, you little brat,” she hissed in my ear, pretending to adjust my hair. Her words burned more than her touch ever could.

I said nothing, letting her lead me closer to the alpha.

“Emma…” he called calmly, his tone unnervingly gentle. He pulled me into a hug, planting a quick peck on my forehead. I didn’t return it. I had no intention of acknowledging him as family. My father’s memory lingered stronger than any imposed affection.

“Emma, greet your new father back!” my mother whispered. I complied, but only in pretense, as if he were a stranger.

“Hayes should be back by now. Don’t take it out on her, baby, They're always like that” the alpha said, speaking to my mother. I rolled my eyes, disinterested in their conversation.

“Oh, there he comes,” he added, gesturing. My mind was too scattered and confused to focus on their pleasantries. Questions and emotions swirled inside me, unformed and threatening to overwhelm me.

“Hayes, meet your new stepsister, Emma. Emma, meet your stepbrother, Hayes,” my mother announced. She pressed closer, pinching me as if to make me behave.

I turned to face him, the infamous boy sent abroad at a young age for reasons I had heard whispered about. And then my world tilted.

My eyes met his and everything froze.

“You?!!!”

“You?!!!”

We both asked simultaneously, voices laced with shock and disbelief, our gazes burning into each other.

I could feel the confused stares from those around us, but I didn’t care. Hayes—the stranger I had shared last night with, whose touch had ignited something deep inside me, was my stepbrother. And not just that… my mate!!???.