Fated To My Bully

I woke to a pounding headache that felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer to my skull.

I groaned and tried to remember what happened. The gala. Sienna. Champagne. Then everything spinning out of control and—fuck. Someone had drugged me.

Where was I?

My eyes flew open, taking in unfamiliar surroundings. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Sleek modern furniture. Expensive art on the walls. This definitely wasn't my apartment. 

Oh dear goddess…Please tell me I didn't do anything stupid.

A voiec chuvkled inside my head, "Thank the goddess you're awake."

My blood ran cold.

I turned my head slowly, and my heart stopped.

Xavier Sterling sat in a chair beside the bed, watching me with an unreadable expression. Those same green eyes that had tormented me for years now studied me with something that looked almost... concerned?

No. Absolutely not.

I jumped out of the bed so fast the room spun violently. My legs tangled in expensive sheets and I nearly went down.

"What the hell are you doing here?" My voice came out hoarse, panicked.

"This is my penthouse." He leaned back in his chair, perfectly calm. 

My heart sank straight through the floor. How the hell did I end up in his penthouse of all places? Of all the people in that entire gala, why him?

"I..." My mind was reeling, trying to piece together fragments of memory. Being lifted. Cedar and smoke. Strong arms. "How did I…"

"You know, I have to say," Xavier interrupted, a teasing note entering his voice, "I've missed you, Kira. You look so different now. Hot, actually."

"Fuck you!" The words exploded out of me. "How the fuck did I end up in your room?"

"I saved you." He stood up, moving with that predatory grace he'd always had. "Someone drugged your drink at the gala. You were about to collapse in the middle of the ballroom when I caught you. I brought you here because it was closer than the hospital, and I wasn't sure what you'd been given."

I stared at him, trying to process this. Xavier Sterling saved me?

"But here's the interesting part." His smile turned wicked. "You were all over me, little wolf. Begging me to kiss you. To fuck you. It was quite the performance."

Mortification crashed over me in waves. My face burned so hot I was surprised I didn't combust on the spot. I closed my eyes, wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole.

"Did you..." I couldn't even finish the sentence, my voice shaking.

He scoffed. "What kind of man do you think I am? I would never take advantage of someone in that condition, Kira. You were drugged and vulnerable. I'm not a monster."

"That's quite a shock," I shot back, finding my anger again. "Last time I checked, you were a shameless jerk who made my life hell for six years."

His jaw tightened slightly, but he didn't argue. "Well things change and people change."

"Right. Well, thank you for saving my life, but I need to go." I looked around frantically for my shoes, my purse, anything.

"Ah, not so fast." Xavier moved to block my path to the door. "There's something important we need to discuss first."

"I have nothing to discuss with you." I tried to step around him, but he shifted to stay in my way. “Get the fuck out of my way.”

"Oh, you'll want to sit down for this one." His expression turned serious, almost grim. "Something strange happened last night when I carried you up here. Something neither of us expected."

"What are you talking about?" 

"I have no idea why you haven't noticed it yet, but for whatever twisted reason..." He paused, watching my face carefully. "The moon goddess threw a mate bond at us last night. As it stands, Kira, we're fated mates."

The world stopped spinning.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't process what he'd just said.

"You're lying." My voice came out barely above a whisper.

His voice suddenly whispered directly into my mind, intimate and undeniable. "Am I?"

I gasped and collapsed to my knees on the plush carpet. The connection between us flared to life—a golden thread I'd been too drugged and disoriented to notice before.

No. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't be mated to him. Anyone but him.

"I don’t know…this can't be…” I looked up at him. "Reject the bond. Please."

Xavier crouched down to my level, his eyes impossibly green this close. "I have absolutely no intention of doing that."

"What?" The word came out strangled. "You can't be serious. You hate me. You've always hated me."

"I never hated you, Kira. I was cruel and stupid and I made terrible choices, but I never hated you." He reached out like he might touch my face, but I flinched back. His hand dropped. "Byt that is not the point right now. The mate bond is real so I'm not rejecting it."

I stood up on shaky legs, putting distance between us. "Then you should know that I have zero interest in having any sort of relationship with you, let alone being your mate. So reject it or don't—I don't care. The bond is completely irrelevant to me."

"Kira—"

"No." I held up a hand, my voice stronger now. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to torture me for years and then suddenly decide we're meant to be together because of some cosmic joke. I don't want this. I don't want you."

I spotted my shoes by the door and grabbed them, not bothering to put them on. My purse was on a side table. I snatched it and headed for the exit.

"You can't run from this forever," Xavier called after me.

"Watch me."

I slammed the door behind me hard enough to rattle the frame.

Three hours later, I stood in front of the address Mom had texted me, my stomach in knots.

The house was nice. Really nice. A proper two-story home in a good neighborhood with a manicured lawn and flower boxes in the windows. So different from the trailer park that I almost checked the address twice.

The mate bond hummed quietly in the back of my mind, a constant reminder of the nightmare I'd just escaped. I shoved it down as far as it would go and rang the doorbell.

Mom answered immediately, her face lighting up. "Kira! Oh, sweetheart, you came!"

She looked good. Healthy. Her eyes were clear, her skin had color, and she'd gained weight in a good way. She actually looked like a person instead of a walking corpse.

She pulled me into a hug, and I stiffened but didn't pull away.

"Come in, come in!" She ushered me inside, practically vibrating with excitement. "My husband just stepped out to grab dessert, but his son is here. I'm so excited for you to meet him."

"You have a stepson?" I asked, following her into a spacious living room.

"Yes! I know it's strange, isn't it? Instant family." She laughed nervously. "But they've both been so wonderful to me. So patient and kind."

Footsteps sounded from upstairs. Mom turned toward the staircase with a smile. "Oh, that must be him now. Xavier, honey, come meet my daughter!"

The world tilted sideways.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Xavier Sterling appeared at the top of the stairs, his expression mirroring my horror as our eyes met.

"Kira," Mom said brightly, completely oblivious to the tension crackling through the room, "this is Xavier Sterling. Your new stepbrother."

The mate bond flared between us, burning bright and undeniable.

I was mated to my bully.

And now he was my stepbrother.