Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 69

Chapter 69

KESTER.

I hadn't slept. Not even for a second

I almost lost it. But I didn't because it was Kasmine, after all. She's the one thing that keeps me tethered. My antidote.

If it were anyone else, I swear, I'd have taken their heads off by now. The maids would be scrubbing the blood off the marble floors already.

I had been lost in thoughts all the while she was sleeping on me. Her soft snores broke through the static in my mind, calming my racing heart.

It's always been this way for the past five years now. Her very existence is my calm.

She tames my demons, even without her knowing. Little wonder I kept taking her belongings and stacking them up in my room over the years.

But that fucking slap... Her hurtful words...

It broke something in me.

I felt it snap the moment her palm met my face.

For one breath-for one fucking second- I saw red. She had no idea how hard I fought it. How much it took to keep my hands at my sides when every instinct in me screamed to remind her who the fuck I was.

But I didn't. I couldn't.

Because if I did, I'd lose her. For good. And that? That would fucking destroy me.

So I let it burn. Let the rage curl under my skin. For her. Because she was the only thing that holds me together, and if I break, I don't know if I'll ever put myself back

Every so often, I ran my fingers through her hair, pressing light, absentminded strokes down the length of her back

She had cried herself to exhaustion. Shaken, broken, falling apart right in front of me. And yet, in the end, she had let me hold her. She had let herself fall asleep in my arms.

alone was enough to

collarbone, and each rise and fall of her

she wanted out. Even though she didn't have a choice here, I was beginning to enjoy the fact that she was learning to open up to me willingly and that one day, she'd wholeheartedly accept what I feel

had waited eagerly for her to wake up because my surprise still

if I have to break you to keep you with me, I will." I whispered to her while

my life, all revolved

her lips, her brows pinching slightly before her lashes fluttered open. For a moment, she just lay there, blinking

Chapter 69

to my absolute fucking relief-she smiled. A small, lazy thing. Barely there. But real. "I thought

love." I pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, letting my lips rest there for a heartbeat longer than

she peered up at me,

"So... where is it?"

the ghost of a smirk

to cheer up because my heart

etched across her beautiful face, she lifted her

the hem of my white shirt, and without a

Silence.

sharp, breathless sound, like the air had been stolen from her

speak or turn. I just let her take it all

fingers found me first. She

traced down

the massive wolf that sprawled across my entire

found herself nestled right in the center of the tattoo, among the swirling darkness of the

choked sound

felt the bed shift again, and then-her forehead pressed against my spine. Her body shook as

Tears

gut twisted painfully at

and cupped

eyes were drenched in tears, wide and disbelieving. Her lower lip trembled as she searched my face like she was trying

cheekbones, "How?" she whispered. "Why would you do