My Stepbrother’s Secret Mate Chapter 01

My Stepbrother’s Secret Mate Chapter 01

Before the Summer Solstice Festival, my brother Ivan said to me, “Xander’s seeing someone. Lately he’s not only been turning down everybody else’s picnic invites, he’s even been going into the woods to look for moonlilies.”

“We’re the only two singles left in the family now.”

I laughed to myself.

My fingertip brushed over the latest text on my phone.

Xander: [Miss you.]

Silly Ivan. He was the only single one left in the family.

I’d already been dating Xander, my stepbrother, for a long time.

Ivan went on, “Who would’ve guessed a guy as cold as Xander would be so devoted once he fell for someone?”

“He said June twenty-first is the most important day of his life, because that’s the day he finally won over the person he’s liked for a long time.”

June twenty-first was my birthday.

The thought made me secretly happy. I was glad it mattered that much to him.

Then one day, Ivan Hale dragged me to a bonfire party to see what all the fuss was about.

“Tonight we’re absolutely finding out who this secret girlfriend of Xander’s is.”

I was still wondering how I was supposed to come clean to Ivan.

Then, in the very next second, I was standing beside the bonfire with my whole body gone cold.

Not far away, an affectionate pair of wolves were nuzzling and grooming each other, the air around them sweet with pheromones.

I caught their scent immediately. The male wolf was my stepbrother, the boyfriend I’d been with for two years.

Xander Hale.

…

The two wolves shifted back into human form. An attractive young couple stood there on the grass.

I hadn’t been mistaken. It really was Xander Hale.

My pupils constricted, and my mind went completely blank.

Ivan didn’t notice anything strange about me. He gently ruffled my hair and flashed me a mischievous grin. “What if we mess with him a little? We’ll video call Xander and ask what he’s doing. If he won’t give us a straight answer, we’ll just walk right up and scare the hell out of him.”

I tightened my grip on my phone. Even though my heart ached, I still wanted an answer, so I called him without a word.

I watched Xander pull out his phone. The second he saw the name on the screen, he frowned.

Then he kissed the girl beside him on the forehead and declined my call.

A text came in right after.

Xander: [I can’t talk right now. I’m busy. What’s up?]

I stared at the message in silence, and my wolf went silent with me.

At that exact moment, Xander turned his head and our eyes met.

“Valencia?” he said, startled.

The girl at his side looped her arm through my boyfriend’s and looked at me curiously.

I forced a polite smile. Inside me, my wolf muttered, “Stop smiling. You look worse than if you were crying.”

But I had no choice. Every werewolf here knew Xander was my brother.

If a sister ran into her brother at a bonfire party, the normal response was to smile.

My throat tightened. I had to force the words out. “Hi, Xander. I didn’t expect to see you here. Who’s the girl with you?”

Xander looked at me with a stiff face and icy eyes. “What are you doing here? Did you just make that video call to test me?”

Before I could say anything, Ivan laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders.

“Xander, if we hadn’t run into you here, were you seriously never going to introduce your girlfriend to us? You’ve kept her hidden from the family for this long. Don’t you at least owe us some barbecue?”

The moment he saw Ivan, Xander’s expression eased.

He slipped an arm around the girl beside him, his fingers brushing gently through her hair as he looked at her with unmistakable tenderness.

“I was planning to introduce Pallavi to all of you once things between us were more settled.”

“But lately I’ve realized something. My mate can only be her, no one else. I swear before the Moon Goddess that I’ll stay loyal to her forever and forge an unbreakable mate bond with her.”

My breathing turned ragged the instant I heard that.

Was the man standing in front of me really Xander?

This morning, he had still been lying beside me, his fingers laced through mine, whispering, “If you don’t get up, I’ll kiss you awake.”

My pillow still carried the scent of his wolf.

How had he become someone else’s boyfriend in less than a day?

Then another text popped up on my phone.

Xander: [Don’t blow our cover. I’ll explain later.]