Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 80

Chapter 80

KASMINE.

The sheets tangled beneath us as we lay in each other's arms. Thanks to the air conditioner in the room, my body temperature was beginning to regulate. I was feverishly hot after Kester ruined me.

His palm moved lazily up and down my back as I lay on his chest, my fingers absentmindedly tracing over the ridges of his muscles.

"I hope I wasn't too hard on you, baby?" He asked in a gruff voice, and his question was almost laughable. Kester was anything but gentle. And he knew that.

"It's nothing I couldn't handle," I replied, and his chest heaved with a deep sigh before he kissed my forehead.

"I'm sorry, love. You'll get used to it."

And that was supposed to make me feel better? That's funny.

No matter how many times we fucked, I'd never get used to it. Kester was insatiable. Greedy. A man who didn't just fuck—he devoured. He destroyed. He owned. And the worst part? I let him. I wanted him to.

I hadn't even gotten my wolf yet. So, sometimes, when he fucked me, and his wolf slipped out and shared partial control, it usually sent me to the brink of death and back before he realized and shut him out. I wasn't built to handle the force of him when he lost control, and he knew it.

But soon, I'll get my wolf. And then, I'd finally know what it meant to be taken by a man who didn't have to hold back.

I didn't know if I should fear that day... or crave it.

I'll get my mate as soon as I get my wolf, hopefully. But even at that, I'd let Kester fuck me one last time before I finally bear my mate's mark, just to know how it feels to be taken by an 'unhinged' Kester.

I cleared my throat, contemplating if I should ask him why he reacted the way he did earlier, but I didn't know if it was a good idea.

"Say it," I heard him say, and I paused.

"Say what?" I asked, pretending I didn't know what he meant.

"What's on your mind. Say it."

He always seemed to know me better than I even know myself. He knew when I had something to say, when I was sad, hiding something, lying... He knew me too well.

"Why did you shed a tear earlier? I mean... Did something happen?" My voice was cautious, too careful not to start up a conversation that might not be appreciated by him.

He was quiet for a while, still rubbing my back softly. It felt like I had pushed him somewhere deep, somewhere he didn't like to go.

And I felt like if I said another word or pressed him even a little harder, he'd shut me out completely.

So, for a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer me. But then, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"I don't cry, Kasmine," he said matter-of-factly.

I lifted my head slightly to look at him and found that his eyes were fixed on me, watching me intently.

Chapter 80

"You did," I murmured, my fingers brushing lightly over his jaw. "I saw it."

He exhaled sharply through his nose, his grip tightening on my waist for half a second before relaxing again.

"I don't cry," he repeated. "Not for pain. Not for loss. Not for anything." His thumb swept over my hip slowly and absentmindedly. "But tonight..." He looked away and paused.

continue because it felt like even breathing the wrong way might make him

throat bobbed with a slow swallow, and then-finally he turned his head to meet my gaze

before," he said barely above a

brows furrowed slightly.

as if the

dragged his fingers down my spine.

something strange in my chest.

before,"

"I know. But it just seems to get better... The things

ran

was looking at me was raw. Open. Vulnerable in a way that

belongings in my

got the perfect chance to ask you about it"

11

me peace when everything is in chaos... You make me..." He sighed, "You're my life, Mine... And the thought of a world without you in it?" His jaw tightened. I won't even entertain it." His eyes held mine, burning with something I wasn't

didn't know what to

did you say when a man like Kester admitted that, for the first time in his

the sunset? I heard it's a beautiful view from here," He asked,

I stilled.

His mum?

was a sensitive topic. His mother was a ghost in the family-never spoken of, never acknowledged. No stories, no fond memories, just silence. All we knew was

mentioning her was a miracle, and I didn't even know how to

mum?" My voice barely came out. I was

to love the Maldives. She always came here to-" he hesitated, then let out

Chapter 80

quiet,' she used to say. I never knew what that meant until..." He paused suddenly, and I felt his breathing

She died?" I asked hesitantly, lifting my

His chest tightened beneath my palm. And when I lifted my gaze to his face, his eyes were no longer warm-they were burning

it about his mother that always

stays dead to me. Even in my memories." His voice was eerily calm, but it only made him more terrifying. The kind of calm that comes before a storm. "She has no place in my heart. My only regret

into fists at his

that chilling calm, but the energy around him was choking. I could feel the raw violence underneath his stillness, the quiet

to pull him back before

hand on his chest. I rubbed slow circles over his skin, trying to ground him, trying to stop the way his

Kester right now. I couldn't let him slide

that sunset

***

orange and violet, the reflection rippling across the endless blue. I snapped a few pictures, something I rarely did, and for the first

My fingers hovered over my phone as I stood by the railing at the back of the house, gazing down where the water lapped lazily against the veranda, almost

size, his hands resting on the rails, thereby trapping me between the

Heat...

through my thin dress, sinking

now and then, he trailed kisses on my hair, my ears,

I was worried. By the time it would be time for

to find a man who would worship and ruin me at the same time the way Kester

had set the standard too high for any other

Including Jake...

wouldn't even yell at me even if I were to spit on him in public. He was too sweet, and I feared his

Chapter 80

I arrived. I

space that was almost not even there between Kester's chest and my back. He was looking down at me