05: Towel

SUNSHINE:

Mate.

My head spun in a moment and even Alpha Knoxx also realized our connection. He was my second chance mate? Why? I was not prepared for this nor wanted any of this. I haven't moved on from my failed relationship and now there was my stepbrother?

His nostrils flared and clenched his jaw. “Mate? What kind of fuck twist is this?”

I shook my head and watched him in panic. 

“You think I also want this? You’re the last person I wanted to become a mate.” 

There had to be some kind of mistake. Why would this happen?

Growling, Alpha Knoxx said, “No one will know of this.”

Yeah. For the first time, I agreed with him. No one should know of our relationship or else, we will become the cause of ridicule and mockery among the pack. They all knew Knoxx and I had a dog and cat relationship, always biting each other’s heads.

And having a mate as my stepbrother? We were siblings. What would Alpha Ezra think? What about Mother?

“You think I also like this? You’re the last person I wanted to be paired with, Knoxx. I still haven’t forgotten how you ruined my wedding.”

“It was your groom who ruined it in the first place,” he retorted. 

Droplets of water fell to my chest from my wet hair. 

Following the path of the water, Knoxx’s eyes stopped in my chest. Something flashed in his eyes before it disappeared the moment I tried to decipher it.

“Cover your eyes!” I snapped and drew the towel closer to my body. 

"Indecent!" he exclaimed. “You’re seducing me. Did you know I will become your second chance mate, that's why you’re dressed like that?”

He glared at me which was not a shock. He was always in a bad mood whenever he saw me.

Putting both hands on my hips, I said, “Excuse me? I never wanted you in the first place. I can even reject you now.”

He smirked. “You can? You just rejected that bastard last time. You think you can do it now?”

Reality slapped me hard. 

I could not reject him. It was something of a rule among werewolves that we cannot reject twice in a year. It should only be once a year. 

“Reject me, then!” I demanded. “You hate me, right? Rejecting me is as easy as pie to you. I promise your Father will not know of this.”

The corner of his lips suddenly lifted. Then, he crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

“Why should I, Rain? I want to see you suffer in my presence.”

Rain. Sometimes he would call me that. According to him, my aura was not full of sunshine but of darkness. Seeing me always reminded him of rain.

“Fuck you, Knoxx. After a year, I will make sure to reject you!”

He mockingly bowed at me. “Be my guest. There's a pool of water under your feet. It will become slippery. The slaves will fall."

“The slaves are luckier than me. Tell me. Why do you hate me so much? Why can’t you accept me as the new member of your family?”

It had been two years since Mother's marriage to his father, but until now, he could not open his heart and treat me nicely.

"If you wait for the day when to accept you, stop. It won't happen. Ever. I won’t ever welcome someone like you."

"Why?"

"Seeing you makes my blood boil. It angered me how Father replaced Mother easily."

"We did not replace the previous Luna. We were an addition to your family."

I already felt the cold seeping inside my pores. 

"Your Mother and you did," he spat. "Don't ever wait for me to accept you. It won't happen. Not in this lifetime. You will never become my sister and my mate."

“You won’t accept me? It’s not like I also wanted you.”

"Pathetic. Loser. Cover yourself, woman. You're inviting others to sin. Seductress."

Seductress? I never seduce anyone. 

"Who would  I invite to sin? You never treated me as a woman, anyway." And even if we were mates now, he wouldn't desire me. 

His eyes went down to the cleavage on my chest but returned his gaze to my face.

My cheeks burned and wrapped the towel more securely around my body. It did not even reach after my knee. It was way shorter than the other towels I had in my room. 

"There is nothing attractive about you," he spat.

“Same as you!” I retorted, lying with a straight face. I would never say the dimples on both sides of his cheeks were attractive. I won’t. 

Silence passed between us and when it became unbearable, I asked, "Why do you hate me this much? Is it really about Mother marrying your Father? Your hatred was too great for that reason alone."

When we first reached this pack, I was always good to him. Tried to get his favor. But all my efforts were futile. It won’t reach his hardened heart. 

He scoffed and folded his arms in front of his chest. "That’s none of your concern. You won’t understand it.”

“I understand that you don’t like me as your mate. But what I don’t understand is why you cannot accept me as your stepsister. It sounded immature to me, Knoxx.”

“You should call me alpha.”

“Are you still thinking that your father no longer loved your Mother? No one could replace the previous Luna in your Father’s heart.”

“I know. Your mother is incomparable to my Mother,” he spat. “There is only one luna in Heartstone Pack. That’s not Luna Margot, but my mother.”

Knoxx was civil towards Mother. Maybe he also hated her, but he never showed. Instead, he showed how he did not want us through me. He kept on taunting me to tell his father about his bullying, but I did not give in to the temptation. At the back of my mind, I was silently waiting that someday, I hoped he would have the heart to accept me and Mother. 

But now…I understand that there was no more hope for us.

Knoxx had four other siblings. All male. The previous Luna died due to sickness, leaving the former alpha to manage the pack. When Knoxx’s father asked his son’s permission to wed again, Knoxx proposed that the alpha position should be handed to him so that the wedding would push through. 

Knoxx was cunning.

He had the alpha position, so I did not understand why he continued hating me.

“Yes, so why, Knoxx?”

He smirked. “You think I will answer your question? I won’t. Cover yourself. Seeing you like that disgusts me.”

My hold on the edge of the towel tightened. 

“What do you want me to do so that you will stop loathing me?”

He leaned into my ears and whispered loudly. "You want to do anything to remove my hatred? The answer is simple. Disappear from our lives. Both you and your mother." He leaned away and smirked at me. "I'm sure you cannot do that."

He wanted us to disappear?

"Alpha Ezra will be devastated if Mother and I leave."

"You leaving is enough."

“You want me to leave? Can you deal with your wolf? It will always long for my presence. You may not notice it now, but soon you will.”

“I can handle my wolf fine.”

He turned his back. "Finish your bath. Father wanted all of us to dine together. He is expecting your presence. Be sure not to say useless things to him, especially what we discovered today. And for fuck sake. Stop wearing a towel anymore. Stop seducing men.”

“I don’t see any men!” I called. “You don’t even know how to become a man!”