Lahat ng Kabanata ng Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother: Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

KASMINE.I was equal parts disappointed and happy.I opened it.Jake:"Hey, babe. Noticed something weird in my system. Same bug showed up on yours, too, two weeks ago, remember? I think it might've spread from Kester's since they are all in the same proximity. All three systems were on the same network recently, also. Mind if I check his, too? Might be safer that way."I blinked at the message. Then blinked again, because… what?First off, what the fuck was he doing at the office? It was past eight PM on a Saturday.Me: "Jake, what are you doing at work? It's a Saturday night."My thumb hovered over the screen as I added another message."Also… what do you mean by 'same proximity'?"I pressed send and leaned against the marble sink counter, exhaling slowly.The phone buzzed again.Jake:"I forgot my wallet in the office yesterday. Came to pick it up and decided to run a couple of quick checks on the system. My antivirus flagged something weird. I remembered your PC lagging earlier th

KASMINE."Miss? Miss? Are you okay?" A soft, feminine voice filtered into my haze. My eyelids fought me as I forced them open, squinting against the harsh strip lights above. My face was sticky with dried tears, and my throat felt like sandpaper."Uh... Yeah..." I croaked, barely recognizing my own voice, my confusion colliding with panic. Where... Where was I?Oh, shit! I was still in the convenience. I sat on the floor and cried until I dozed off."Are you sure you are okay, ma'am?" The lady spoke again, and I took in her appearance. She was a janitor.She stood a few feet away, mop in hand, her brow pulled together with concern. Her blue uniform looked like it had seen too many shifts and not enough sleep, but her voice was kind and soft.I didn't respond. I pushed myself off the floor, wobbling on unsteady legs, ignoring the way she instinctively reached out like she thought I might faint again. I glanced at my phone.Fifty-two minutes. I had been out cold for almost an hour.Fuck

KASMINE.I swear I had no idea how to navigate my life at this point. I stared blankly at my phone, my eyes dry from too much scrolling, too many tabs open, and a lot of funny search history — not just in the browser, but in my mind.Do women die from abortion?What are the chances of dying during an abortion?Is childbirth easy?Pregnancy symptoms and how to live through them for nine months.How to run away while pregnant.Can shame kill you before labor does?I couldn't tell if I was more afraid of the answers or the fact that I was even asking them. Every question felt like a war drum against my chest.I was stuck between two impossible roads – risking my life to get rid of it and actually keeping it but running far away from the pack to a place where no one knew me, where no one would look at me and call me a disgrace.Because that's what this was, wasn't it?An abomination. A secret sin growing inside me.My parents would never recover from this. The pack would shame me until I w

KESTER.I knocked again. Harder this time. The kind of knock that wasn't asking permission — it was a warning.I swear to fuck, I was seconds away from tearing this damn door off its hinges. I didn't care if it splintered. I didn't care if Claire came home to a crime scene of wood and rage.But Claire was so lucky that Kasmine opened it before I could make that mistake.She barely got the words out. "What the hell are you—"I pushed through the doorway, slammed it shut behind me, and crashed my mouth against hers.God, her taste.Fuck. I missed her.I was losing my mind. Couldn't concentrate on anything else until I saw her. Fuck, I wouldn't have survived another night away from her.But she shoved hard at my chest, and I let her go. I had to. I wasn't about to add stress to her… not with our baby growing inside her."You manipulative bastard!" she hissed, trembling with fury. She scrubbed her lips like I'd stained them. "How dare you step foot in this house?"Her voice... Her eyes.W

KASMINE.It was finally happening.My birthday!!!The day I'd dreamt of since I was old enough to understand what it meant. The day I would shift for the first time, meet my wolf, and maybe—just maybe—feel the mate bond that would finally free me from the chains I'd never dared speak of since I turned 16 – my stepbrother.But why, then, did my heart feel so heavy?Why did it feel like today—my day—wasn't mine at all?I was supposed to be excited, giddy even. Months ago, I'd imagined this evening with a smile on my face and hope lighting up my soul.Instead, my chest ached. There was a tremble in my fingers that no one else could see.Because stupid, naive me had gotten entangled. Entangled with the one person I should have run from so much so that today, which was meant to be my happy day, I'd feel sadder than a woman who just lost her mate. No. Not just lost him. Watched him die and had to keep breathing anyway."Oh, Selene! You already look breathtaking!" Claire shrieked behind me,