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221. Determination
publish date:
2026-04-03 23:58:56
Latest chapter
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 224. Was The Confession Real?
Alex's POV:I did my first set of pull-ups at seven and my arms were already feeling the morning session but I kept going because tomorrow was a physical round and physical rounds were won by people who had prepared when they were tired and not just when they were fresh.The bar above my door frame. Standard. I had put it up in the first week.I pulled. Released. Pulled again.My father and Silver Luna.Gregory Thorne and Selene Silver, aka Blake's mother.I had known for longer than tonight. The knowing had sat in me like something I had been deciding what to do with and the deciding had taken longer than it should have because every version of the decision led back to the same place which was Blake.Everything led back to Blake.I released the bar and dropped and shook my arms out and looked at the ceiling.Blake had stood in my room and said I love you and walked out and I had let him walk out and I had spent the night not sleeping and had nearly lost a trial match I should have wo
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 223. Eternal Grief
Maya's POV:The atrium was still moving around me and Alex was still standing there waiting for an answer and I had not said anything for approximately five seconds which in a public space with four people watching felt considerably longer.Dinner. Just the two of us. Tomorrow night.I was still processing the shape of the sentence when my phone buzzed in my jacket pocket.Reflex. I looked at it.The number had no name.It never had a name.My chest tightened before I even opened the message. The specific tightening that came from two years of conditioning to what that number meant when it appeared.I opened it.~ If you are done with your shit with Lyra, just say the fucking yes. Otherwise, there won't be any Lyra on the earth who will be breathing.The atrium continued.Students walked past. The announcement screen cycled. Someone laughed somewhere behind me at something that had nothing to do with anything happening in my chest right now.I read it again.Then I locked my phone and
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 222. Alex's Date Offer
Maya's POV:The classroom smelled like old paper and ambition.I slid into a seat near the middle row and dropped my bag on the floor beside me and told myself I was fine. Completely fine. Totally normal. Not in any way still thinking about this morning and warm hands and a kitchen that smelled like butter and a question I had not answered directly.I was absolutely thinking about all of those things.Lyra sat down beside me with her bag and her notebook and her completely composed exterior and I looked at her for exactly one second and then looked at the front of the classroom because looking at her for longer than one second was currently a hazard I was managing carefully.She had not made it weird.That was the thing. After breakfast, after everything, she had simply moved through the morning like a person who had made peace with whatever was happening and was not going to perform anxiety about it for anyone. She had handed me honey for my tea. She had checked my temperature again
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 221. Determination
Blake's POV:Coach Vega set the papers face down on each desk with the unhurried efficiency of someone who had done this many times and had no interest in making it dramatic."Theory assessment," he said from the front. "Pack governance. Historical territorial law. Strategic leadership under pressure. Alliance ethics." He looked across the room. "You have ninety minutes. The assessment is closed material." He paused. "Begin."Papers flipped over across the room.I looked at mine.The first question was on pre-treaty inter-pack boundary law. I knew this. I had read three chapters on it two weeks ago and the information was still accessible in the part of my brain that retained things properly when I had slept enough and applied myself.I had not slept enough.I started writing anyway.The first section moved through me reasonably well. Boundary law and the historical cases that had defined its application. The Silver pack's role in the 1887 accords which I knew in specific detail becau
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 220. The Theory Test
Blake's POV:Lunch was loud and I ate half of it.Not because the food was bad. Liam had somehow secured a table near the window again which meant the light was good and the view of the grounds was unobstructed and the lamb on the plate was exactly what it should have been. I ate half and pushed the rest around and Liam watched me do this with the expression of someone exercising considerable patience."You are going to need energy for the theory test," he said."I know.""That is not a statement that requires acknowledgment. It is a statement that requires eating."I picked up the fork and ate another three bites and he looked satisfied enough to drop it.The morning had gone the way it had gone. My preliminary trial round had been straightforward. The opponent was capable and I had taken him seriously and won it cleanly without anything dramatic. Coach Vega had nodded from the platform which from Vega was approximately equivalent to a standing ovation from anyone else.None of that
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 219. The Thing He Cannot Put Down
Alex's POV:The arena was loud and I was not listening to any of it.I had found a position near the eastern wall after the bracket announcement, far enough from the main crowd that I could stand without being pressed on all sides, close enough that I could see the floor. I told myself I was studying the competition. Reading the room. Doing what a serious competitor did on opening day.I was watching Blake.He stood near the center with his arms loose at his sides and his eyes on the bracket board and the morning light coming through the high arena windows landed on him in that particular way that I was choosing not to think about. He had not looked back in my direction since that moment earlier. Since we had stood three steps apart and looked at each other and I had opened my mouth and nothing had come out.I love you.He had said it in my room last night and I had stood there and responded with information about our parents and a threat and watched him walk out in my t-shirt and I h
Mated to My Rival Step Brother 136. A Morning Built for Him
Blake’s POV:The kitchen smells like coffee and toasted bread, and somehow that feels like a good sign.Lyra is leaning against the counter, eating like she has not slept enough but refuses to admit it. Maya is sitting on the chair, holding her mug with both hands, quiet but softer than when I first
Last Updated : 2026-03-30Mated to My Rival Step Brother 133. Sharing Breath
Lyra’s POV:The chocolate shake smells richer than it should.Maybe I added too much syrup. Maybe my hands were shaking. Maybe I just needed something sweet in the air to fight the heaviness that settled in the room tonight.I pour it into a glass and stare at the surface for a second. Small bubbles
Last Updated : 2026-03-30Mated to My Rival Step Brother 138. Fingers Crossed
Blake’s POV:By the time the sun starts leaning west, the academy feels like it’s holding its breath.Everything looks normal from the outside; classes, drills, patrol rotations, but beneath that calm, there’s a countdown ticking loudly in my head.Midnight.Alex’s birthday.Now, it's 9:30 pm.I kee
Last Updated : 2026-03-30Mated to My Rival Step Brother 134. Rhythm of Peace
Maya’s POV:I did not realize how loud my own thoughts were until they started to quiet down.It happens slowly. Not like a switch turning off, but like waves pulling back from the shore. The panic that had clawed inside my chest earlier is still there, somewhere deep, but it is no longer screaming.
Last Updated : 2026-03-30
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