Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

KESTER.

Again… Who said men don’t cry?

Because, fuck. I was doing all I could to hold back the tears. This was unreal. This was a dream… And I didn’t want to wake up from it.

Reading my vows to Mine made me more emotional than I thought I was capable of. And seeing her cry that way? It ripped me open. Never knew I could be a romantic. But, hell, Kasmine brought all

that out of me.

She looked even more perfect than I thought in that wedding dress. I knew it’d be perfect on her, but nothing prepared me for the kind of perfection standing before me.

She looked so fucking perfect today.

Ain’t I a lucky bastard?

The priest turned to her.

“Kasmine, do you wish to share your vows?”

She took a slow breath, her fingers tightening in mine.

“Kester…” She said my name, and I swear something inside me twisted. My name had never sounded so delicate. “If you had asked me years ago if I could ever stand here… I would have said no. Not because you didn’t deserve it, but because I was too scared. Scared of you.”

Her voice wavered, but she kept going. “I almost let that fear rob me of the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I almost let my doubts and people’s opinions take you away from me. But I didn’t. And I will thank the moon every single day for the rest of my life that I didn’t.”

I swallowed hard as I felt my chest tightening.

She squeezed my hands. “You’ve loyed me when I didn’t deserve it. You’ve fought for me when I wasn’t even fighting for myself. You held me when I was too stubborn to admit I needed it. And even ked at me when I was convinced I would only break your heart… You never let go of mine. You’v

like I was your world… even when I was trying to run from you. And now-” her voice cracked “-now I want to spend the rest of my life giving you that same love back. I will love you the way you’ve always deserved to be loved. Without fear. Without hesitation. Without holding a single thing back.”

My throat burned.

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Chapter 409

Back

I promise to be your wife. Your Luna. Your lover. Your friend. Your safe place, every role you ever want me to play. I promise to be the hands that hold you when you’re tired of holding the world up. I promise to be your mother when

Stop. Stop. Fuck

her words. Her words were sinking

of

without feeling wanted, without feeling like you are enough. I will fight for you like you’ve fought for me. I will protect you, love you, feed every part of you–your heart, your soul, your

loving man to ever live. And I will make sure they know that their mother adored him… from the first moment she truly saw him, to her

now. My vision blurred, and my jaw locked, because if I didn’t hold it together, I was going

dropped to a whisper that still somehow hit me like a damn

Kester Hamilton. Always. And I will spend the rest of

doubt it again.”

My knees almost buckled.

give a fuck that people were watching. I didn’t care about the priest, either. I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to hers because I needed her close. I needed her scent in my head,

me, Mine,” I murmured, my voice

tears, and I broke. One tear slipped free, then another. And when she reached up to brush them away with her trembling fingers, I caught her wrist and kissed the inside of

the ruin, worth the humiliation of my tears, worth the ache in my chest, worth every fight

–

priest was still speaking, but my focus was locked on her on the way her lips trembled from her sobs, the way her eyes shimmered with love so deep I could drown

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Chapter 409

that was

name again so

Fuck procession. Fuck the priest and his

her cheeks, my thumbs catching the tears as they fell. Her gasp was small and

her harder, until I felt her melt into me, and until she was breathing me in like she needed me to

behind us, the priest cleared his throat awkwardly, but I

erupted

I finally pulled back, I

“Well… I suppose you may now kiss the

in laughter and applause again, but I didn’t take