7: His Fiancee

BROOKS

Living with the Romano Brothers came with many unexpected things. Heath hasn't made a move to touch me again, not like I'd have allowed him to anyway. Zade was still ignoring my existence, and when he wasn't ignoring me, it was to treat me with disdain… Stephan was still Stephan, my new boss, and stepbrother who thought I was dumb, whom I had watched fuck one of the office girls while my mother and the alpha were having the time of their lives. They were still in their honeymoon phase, and most times, I'd catch him whispering into Mom’s ears while she blushed like a 13-year-old girl.

It always made me smile, but it also made my heart ache. I was once like that, too, alive with the man I thought loved me more than life itself.

But it turned out to be false, and here I was, stepsister to the Romano Brothers, harboring illicit and unspeakable feelings towards the first two.

It was Saturday, and I was walking around the castle and getting familiar with the gardens and halls. It was huge and beautiful, with architecture that combined the Victorian-era style and modern structures. This was going to be my home for the next couple of months, and I was going to make the best use of it.

I was still walking around when I stumbled upon a set-up canvas in the garden closest to the car park. The canvas was bare, and so was the stool in front of it. I never knew there was an artist amongst the brothers, and instead of leaving before whoever it was caught up with me, curiosity got the better of me and propelled me to walk closer.

There was a sketchbook on the other stool, and before I could think, I had picked it up and was flipping through the pages. The sketches were impeccable and wild, and as I stared at the sketches of skies, oceans, sad eyes, marketplaces, riverbanks, and kids playing, it pulled at my heartstrings. But what really stopped me was the sketches of a lady who looked so familiar.

She was pretty in a way that defied logic, and with the way she came alive under his pencil, it almost felt like…

The sketchbook was snatched out of my hands with so much force I nearly stumbled to the floor in fright.

It was Zade, and he was distraught. He was glaring at me; fists clenched tightly around the sketchbook. I was used to his indifference and dismissal, but this? The anger radiating from him in waves… I wasn't sure what to make of it.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry, but the sketchbook was lying around and…”

“Shut up,” he interrupted, and my heart actually stopped. My mouth dropped open at the sheer audacity.

“If you're going to lie, at least do it with sense. You don't mean to pry, but I found you in the middle of flipping through my sketchbook. That's the definition of prying, in case it's too much of a fancy word for you to understand.”

He completed it, and he turned to walk away, but my next words stopped him.

“And who do you think you're talking to like that?”

His eyes narrowed. I crossed my hands over my chest.

“Yeah, I was wrong. My curiosity made me admire great pieces of art that I saw, but it seems like the artist lacks basic manners.”

His eyes narrowed more, and a flicker of annoyance flashed green in his eyes. He opened his mouth to talk, but I held out a palm to stop him.

“We seem to be around the same age, so I'm not going to allow you to walk over me like I'm some dunce. You might be an Alpha Prince, but that really doesn't mean anything to me. I wouldn't be here if not for my mom, so I don't care if we get along or not. What I care about is you treating me with common courtesy.”

I didn't allow him to talk before turning on my heels and walking towards the park, but I'd hardly taken five steps when I noticed a duo walking towards me. I immediately recognized the man.

Stephan Romano. He walks as if he has the whole world at his fingertips, like he owns everything and everyone. The lady beside him, who looked strangely familiar, walked like a queen, like a true-born Luna who was made to rule over kingdoms. I didn't know who she was, and it wasn't until they got closer to me that I took in the fact that their hands were interlocked. I felt a sudden and bizarre urge to look back, and I did.

Zade was still there, still fuming. His fists were clenched so tightly that the sketchbook was starting to tear. But he wasn't looking at me again. He was looking at the duo… His gaze was fixed on their intertwined hands as if it was the biggest curse in his life. The more he stared, the more his fists tightened.

That was confusing, and so I stared back and forth, at him and at the intertwined hands that seemed to be bothering him so much and then finally, at the she-wolf that radiated so much power and elegance.

I was still staring when the puzzle started to click into place, and just before my mind could solve it, her voice broke the magic.

“Hello,” she was smiling when she got to me, and her smile was so contagious that my lips stretched into a smile of their own. “You must be Brooks-Dalton.”

“Yes,” I managed to nod. I was swept away by the glamor that was her face and voice.

“That's nice. I'm finally going to have a sister-in-law. I'm Venita Castle, Stephan’s Fiancee.”