All Chapters of The Alpha Rejected mate is now his step mother : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"Get your hands off me," I snarled at the guards as we reached the mansion's front steps.They released me immediately, stepping back like I was diseased. Fair enough. In their eyes, I probably was.The banished son and the disgraced heir.The failure.I straightened my jacket and tried to salvage what was left of my dignity. This hadn't gone according to plan. Not even close.I'd expected the council to rally behind me. To see Magnus's obsession with the omega as the weakness it was. Instead, they'd looked at me like I was something scraped off their boots.All because of her. Because of Fiona and her innocent act."Damon!"I turned to see Celeste hurrying toward me, her heels clicking on the stone path. Even upset, she was beautiful. Perfect blonde hair, flawless skin, the kind of breeding that made other she-wolves jealous.Everything an Alpha heir should want in a mate.So why did the sight of her make my chest feel hollow?"What are you doing here?" I asked."I had to see if y

Next morningMAGNUS'S POVThe council chamber felt like a battlefield even before I walked in. You could taste the tension in the air. Morrison's empty chair seemed to mock me from across the mahogany table.Twelve pairs of eyes tracked my movement as I took my seat. Some hostile, others uncertain. A few still loyal, but even they looked worried.Good. They should be worried."Gentlemen," I began, my voice carrying the authority of twenty years of leadership. "We have a problem."Councilman Porter leaned forward, his weathered face creased with concern. "The armies at our borders?""No. The traitor who was slowly poisoning a guest under my protection." I let that sink in for a moment. "Morrison's confession before he fled makes it clear this wasn't just about Fiona. This was about destabilizing my leadership.""Maybe that's exactly what we need," Councilman Hayes said quietly.The room went dead silent. Hayes was old school, conservative, but he'd never openly challenged me before.

"Here's the truth. I loved him. I loved Damon with everything I had, and he used that love to destroy me. He made me believe I was special, made me believe I mattered, then threw me away like garbage when he got bored."The frost was spreading now, creeping across the walls and ceiling."And all of you," I continued, turning to face the room, "all of you stood there and watched. You watched him humiliate me, watched your council member slowly poison me, and did nothing. Because I'm just an omega, right? I don't matter.""Fiona, stop." Dr. Hendricks had appeared in the doorway, his face urgent. "This is exactly what we were trying to avoid."But it was too late. The power was flowing out of me now, uncontrolled and dangerous."You want to know what I am?" I asked Celeste, who was backing toward the exit despite her earlier bravado. "I'm the nightmare you created. I'm what happens when you push someone too far."The frost reached the dining table, and the wood began to crack under the s

"And that's bad because?""Because the Midnight Court just felt that power surge too. And they're going to be very, very afraid."As if summoned by his words, a new voice echoed through the mansion. Cold, aristocratic, and absolutely furious." Fiona Blackthorne. You have violated the terms of your awakening. The Midnight Court hereby declares you a rogue royal, subject to immediate execution."But this time, the voice wasn't coming from a mysterious stranger.It was coming from Damon.He stood in the doorway wearing clothes I'd never seen before. Black leather, silver buckles, and a cloak that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.Court regalia."Hello, Father," he said, his voice carrying harmonics that made the damaged walls vibrate. "Did you really think I'd let you steal my mate without consequences?"Magnus stepped protectively in front of me. "You're not pack anymore.""No. I'm something much more dangerous now." Damon smiled, and his teeth were definitely sharper than

MAGNUS'S POVI stood in the wreckage of my study for a long time after Fiona left, staring at the scorch marks on the walls and trying to make sense of what my life had become.Twenty years of careful leadership. Twenty years of putting pack needs above personal desires. And now I was mated to a woman who might be the most dangerous supernatural being in North America.Or the most innocent."Alpha?" Dr. Hendricks cleared his throat gently. "We need to discuss your options.""My options." I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You mean my choice between believing my son is right about Fiona being a manipulative sorceress, or believing that I've mated with a prophesied destroyer of supernatural kingdoms.""There is a third option.""Which is?""That she's exactly what she appears to be. A young woman caught up in forces beyond her control, trying to survive the best way she knows how."I wanted to believe that. Christ, I wanted to believe it so badly my chest ached. But twenty years