Page 32 of Rejected By My Stepbrother Alpha
My half-brother—Matteo’s father—Damian Blackwood, walked up to me carrying Matteo’s lunchbox.
“The whole car ride here, all Matteo would talk about was how much he was going to miss Adrian next week,” Damian said by way of greeting me.
“I can’t believe Matteo is going to start first grade soon,” I said as I watched the boys head to their favorite toys to play with—the toy cars complete with a long racing track. “Feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with Adrian and Sage, and you were betting on whether Matteo would say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ first.” Sage was Damian's wife. “Now, look at Matteo talking Adrian’s ear off.”
My brother smiled at the memory as he handed Matteo’s lunchbox to one of the child care assistants.
In a way, my nephew Matteo was the reason I found out that I had a half-brother. Seven years ago, when I left the BloodMoon Pack with nothing but a suitcase and the knowledge that I needed a fresh start for my unborn child, I traveled to the ColdCrest Pack with the money I'd been saving up since I was a kid. Briefly, I'd considered going back to my old pack to live with Maeve, but I wanted to keep my pregnancy a secret. My old pack was too close to BloodMoon's territory. The ColdCrest Pack was the furthest away I could get from Asher in the Ambervale Kingdom. Halfway through the plane ride to the ColdCrest Pack, I realized I'd forgotten the silver necklace that my grandma gave to me.
When I arrived, I had enough money left over to rent a studio apartment, and I got a job as a secretary at a law firm. Two months later, when I was walking to work, an out-of-control stroller rolled by me on the sidewalk. My heart fell to the ground when I heard a baby crying inside it. I ran after the stroller and just managed to grab the handle right before it rolled out onto the busy road.
Right after I grabbed the stroller, an older man came running up and breathlessly thanked me for saving his grandson, Matteo, whom he was babysitting. We figured out the brake on the stroller broke right when the man was putting him into it. The man wanted to thank me for saving his grandson and offered to buy me lunch. We got to talking and noticed that we not only shared physical characteristics—like the same deep sky blue eyes and the exact large, oval-shaped birthmark on our left forearms, but we also had the same dry sense of humor and identical laughs that came from deep within our stomachs. There was also just this feeling I had when it came to the man. I couldn't explain it besides that we were connected in some way.
When I revealed that my mother's name was Evelyn, this led to a DNA test, and I discovered that the man was my biological father, who was named Mason Blackwood. My father confided in me that he spent one night with my mom and then she left when she found out that he came from a poor family. He hadn't heard from Evelyn since that night, and he hadn't even known that he had a daughter.
At that point, I shouldn't have been surprised by my mother's greed, but her selfishness still managed to shock me.
But the joke was on my mother for leaving my father. After she left, unknowingly pregnant with me, my father worked tirelessly in the business world, and he started his own billion-dollar tech company called Blackwood Inc. After we first met, my father had taken me under his wing, helped me enroll in college, and introduced me to my half-brother, Damian. During this time, my new family supported me as I gave birth to Adrian.
Since then, I’d grown close with my father, Damian, Sage, and Matteo. They accepted my son and me into their family without hesitation.
Who knew that leaving the only home I'd ever known and completely starting over was how I would find my real family? And a place that I really felt like I belonged in.
“We should go,” Damian said as he looked down at his watch. “The meeting starts at nine.”
I nodded and allowed myself one last look at my son. My heart skipped a beat when a lock of brown hair fell onto his forehead, and he pushed it away.
He looked so much like his father when he did that.
Over the past month, Adrian had begun to ask me who his father was. I'd managed to evade his questions for now by saying I'd tell him when he was older. But the more my son grew, the more I knew thathe would become more curious. I was terrified that he was going to start resenting me if I didn't have an answer for him soon.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts as Damian and I left the daycare center. I needed to switch gears now. Damian and I walked through the sleek downstairs lobby and passed by my favorite security guard—Mr. Daniels.
“Good morning,” Mr. Daniels said to us and bowed his head respectfully.
“Good morning, Mr. Daniels,” Damian and I said.
He allowed us to pass by his desk without showing ID.
Last year, my father retired from the company, and he appointed Damian as the new CEO. After years of working my way up, I had earned the role of vice president. Our father stayed on as a consultant to the company. It had been my idea to include a daycare center in our building which would be free for all our employees.
As Damian and I stepped onto the elevator, I mentally prepared myself for a busy work day. The elevator was glass, and I studied my shoulder-length auburn hair, tucking a piece behind my ear. Right after I moved to the ColdCrest Pack, I got my waist-length hair cut to right below my chin. As my brother and I rode the elevator to the top floor, I smoothed my tailored black skirt and fixed the collar of my white blouse.
“I’ll meet you in the conference room in five minutes,” Damian said as we stepped out of the elevator.
“Make it four,” I joked.
My brother rolled his eyes. “You're a real comedian, Ivinia.”
After I met my father, I changed my name to Ivinia Blackwood. I probably wouldn’t even respond to the name Ivy anymore.
I nodded and said good morning to everyone I passed on the walk to my corner office. My assistant—Daryl—handed me my morning coffee.
“Good morning, Ms. Blackwood,” he said and looked down at the tablet in his hands. “Your meeting with the Alpha king's representative starts in ten minutes.” Daryl followed me into my office as he consultedhis tablet.
“Thank you,” I said and took a sip of my black coffee. “The representative's name is Anya, correct?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Daryl said. “Are you ready to go over the rest of your schedule for the day?”
