Navy's Sons: Bullied by Quadruplet Stepbrothers

Tabitha’s POVEmery rises slightly from his seat and extends a hand with the confidence of someone who’s used to being in charge of entire cities, not just lunch tables. Of course, he is. Emery Aldair is the Alpha of Crystal Ridge pack and the commanding officer of the Kaelara Naval Station!“It’s nice to finally meet you again,” he says with a warm smile. “You used to be schoolmates with my sons, back in Kaelara. I believe you were in the same year.”This must be some kind of bad dream, because there’s no way that my mother’s fiancé is Emery Aldair. And yet, no matter how hard I pinch my arm, I just won’t wake up. Shit. This is real. That’s why the symbol on Gerald’s cuff looks familiar… there’s only one family whose staff wears that exact design… the Aldairs!Is this really happening?“Sweetie, Emery wants to shake your hand,” my mom whispers and lightly nudges me.I snap back to my senses and take the man’s hand. He gives me a firm handshake and gestures to the table.“Shall we eat

Tabitha’s POVThe hallway is cold this late at night, but Evren’s voice is colder.“You shouldn’t be here.”I face him fully. He stands a few feet away with water still dripping from the ends of his damp hair. His eyes are unreadable, but I feel the weight in them. There is something in the way he looks at me that is almost accusing.I take a deep breath and boldly raise my chin up as I equal his piercing gaze. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d have a little stroll around here.”His eyes flick once toward the portrait behind me, then back to my face. “This isn’t a place for wandering.”“It’s a hallway. Not a crime scene.”Evren steps closer. His presence is sharp and almost suffocating, it’s like the air itself folds around him.“That’s not just a hallway. That’s where she is.” I can almost freeze to death by the way he is looking at me.I glance back at the portrait on our side. Corinne Aldair looks so regal. And the glacier look in her eyes definitely resembles the man in front of

Tabitha’s POVTwo days later, the day of the engagement party finally arrives and the whole Aldair estate is unrecognizable. The entire courtyard is transformed into a grand venue, with deep navy and silver draping the tented ceilings, which reflect the pack’s signature colors. The place smells faintly of fresh pine, expensive cologne, and champagne. The estate screams of so much wealth and luxury that I momentarily forget I used to live in a one-bedroom apartment with my mother just a week ago.“Is everything in order?” my Mom asks one of the maids while scanning the whole courtyard area that will host all the guests. It is so huge you can build another mansion there. “I need everything to be perfect.”My Mom is a meticulous woman, especially with things that involve parties and anything grand. She’s got keen attention to detail—I’d say she has a talent. She was just born in the wrong tax bracket, so she wasn’t able to put her talent into use. But since she’s marrying Emery Aldair, s

Tabitha’s POVSuddenly, their faces morph into the familiar faces of my high school bullies. I hear the laughter. Feel the heat crawling up my face. Just like back then. they’re all looking. All judging and hurling painful words at me.Suddenly, I’m back in the same hell that I fought so hard to escape five years ago.I can’t breathe.I need to get out of here.“Tabitha…”I ignore Evren’s voice and do the only thing that I’m good at… run away.“Tabitha!”I rip my arm from Evren’s grasp when he tries to reach for me. I hear more people calling my name, maybe Jace, maybe my mom, but I don’t look back. I can’t look back. I need to get out of here!I don’t stop. I just run, pushing past the stone path. My aching heels scrape the edge of the gravel as I dart straight toward the trees beyond the estate. Away from the lights. Away from them all. The familiar spread of the woods welcome me as I dart towards the towering trees. It reminds me of the last time I went there, I was also trying to

Tabitha’s POV.As I let my thoughts loose, the brothers talk about the rogue attack.“Rogues are getting cocky these days. That one came in way too close,” Reed remarks while sitting beside me.Luca nods. “We’ve seen more of them in the past few months than the entire year before that.”“Maybe we’ve gotten too soft on them. They thought they had a free pass just because we’re not as ruthless as we used to be. We need to teach them a lesson,” Reed declares. I can see the fury simmering in his eyes as he stares at my swollen ankle. “They can’t just prowl near our turf and attack our people.”“The attacks won’t stop just because we’ve dealt with a few of them,” Luca mutters matter-of-factly.“In that case, we’ll just have to hunt each one of them,” Reed declares. “They are the reason why the navy has spotted many human corpses scattered all over the island these past few weeks. We can’t keep covering up their tracks. We have to stop them all before they kill any more people. Or else, we’