All Chapters of Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Riley’s POVMy mother stared at me for a long moment. Then she did something that made my blood run colder than any mountain wind.She laughed, pity and mockery."Oh, Riley." She shook her head and pressed one manicured hand to her chest. "You're so dramatic.""Dramatic?" I couldn’t help but raised my voice. "You just gave away my win on the phone. And you are keeping me locked in here like a prisoner. And I'm dramatic?!"She stepped past me into the bedroom, completely unbothered by my anger. Her silk robe whispered against the floor. She didn't even look back to see if I was following."You got lucky in that game," she said, pouring herself a glass of water from the crystal decanter on my nightstand. "I know your real ability, Riley. I've known it your whole life. You're not championship material."“But I’ve proven you wrong. I won! It’s you who are stealing it away from me!”“Not stealing. I’m correcting things,” she said. “Like I said, you got lucky. Or you must have help from you

Riley’s POVThe whole crowd went dead silent.Camila’s father’s mouth was still half open. Layla’s mother looked like someone had slapped the life out of her. Even the guards holding my arms loosened their grip without being told.Ezra reached a hand to Layla’s mother. “Give me that.”Layla’s mother froze. “Y-Your Highness, this is just a parent petition—”“Don’t make me repeat myself.”Her fingers shook so badly the paper rattled when she handed it over.Ezra glanced at the signatures once. Then he tore the whole thing clean in half.The ripping sound cut through the silence like a knife.“NO!” Layla’s mother made a strangled noise. “I—I spent two months collecting that! That petition has more than two hundred signatures—”Ezra sneered. “Then two hundred idiots just wasted their time.”“You can’t—”“Think again,” his voice was cold, dangerous. “Before telling me what I can or cannot do.”Layla’s face had turned white. Camila looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole, but

Riley’s POVFor a heartbeat after Ezra pinned the medal to my dress, the entire hall seemed to forget how to breathe.No one moved or spoke. Hundreds of eyes stayed fixed on the gold resting against my chest.I could feel the weight of the medal through the thin silver fabric, cool and real and impossibly heavy. And all at once it hit me that this was not some fantasy.I had really done it. I had achieved the impossible.I won.The first sound to break that silence was clapping.I turned instinctively and saw Silas standing near the edge of the crowd wearing a huge grin on his face.A second later, another pair of hands joined his. Then another.To my surprise, two boys from Ezra’s team began clapping too. Hansen, of course, looked thoroughly entertained by the scandal of it all, but the other one nodded at me with respect in his eyes.Their support loosened something in the room.A few more guests began to clap, awkwardly at first, as if they were waiting to see whether they would be

Riley’s POVHis fingers dug into my chin hard enough to hurt. I slapped his hand away at once.“Don’t touch me like that.”He let me go, but only because he was too angry to stay still.He turned away, then swung back around, pacing two short steps like a wolf trapped in too small a cage. The dim light from the window cut across his face, sharpening every hard line in it. His eyes were dark and vicious, and I could feel the heat of his rage filling the whole room.I was exhausted. My head still throbbed from the party, from the king, from the arranged marriage dropped into my lap like a chain. I did not have the strength for another war tonight.Too bad Ezra had clearly brought one with him.“Try thinking about this from my perspective for one second,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I didn’t have a lot of choice in there.”He let out a cold laugh. “You think I’m a fucking idiot?”“Will you let me explain?” My hands clenched at my sides. “He’s the king, Ezra. He can force m

Riley’s POVMy fingers closed around the dagger.The metal was cool, elegant, perfectly balanced. A weapon made for a clean kill.I hated how natural it felt in my hand.I lifted my head and glared at Ezra. “You’re insane,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Stop it…Take it back.”He didn’t even blink, just staring right back at me icily.Maybe under different circumstances I could have fought him. Maybe I could have thrown the dagger into the hedge, cursed him out, and stormed away.But the mate bond had tightened around me the second he gave the order. I could feel it now like invisible chains wrapping around my ribs, my throat, my spine. Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to resist, and every part of that cursed bond was pushing me in the opposite direction.My pulse was pounding so hard it made my vision blur.Ezra’s eyes stayed fixed on me, dark and unreadable. “Do it.” He repeated.My breath caught.I wanted to tell him to go to hell. I’d never forgive him for this.Ye