Page 47 of Rejected By My Stepbrother Alpha
My mind automatically rejected the idea. No, it wasn’t possible. Ivy would have told me.
No, she wouldn’t have. Why the hell would she have told me? She didn’t owe me a thing.
But she had leaned in to kiss me the night she got injured…hadn’t she?
Or had that been wishful thinking on my part?
My vision swam as my anger rose. The strong urge to rip out Damian’s throat came over me, and I even took a step in their direction.
Stop.
I couldn’t do that to Ivy. I couldn’t hurt someone she might love. I couldn’t harm a father in front of his child.
My anger turned to agony as I watched the three of them walk into the hotel, all smiles and laughter.
It felt like I’d just watched my entire future crumble before my eyes. But how could I blame Ivy for moving on after I rejected her the way I did? She had told me she hadn’t spent the last seven years crying over me. Maybe this was what she meant.
My heart shattered into a million tiny pieces, and I was surprised that I could still stand up straight. Could someone live without a heart and soul? Because Ivy had just taken mine when she had walked through those doors.
I rubbed my chest, trying to breathe with seemingly no heartbeat. Had Ivy felt like this when I rejected her?
If so, I deserved to feel this pain.
Chapter 18
One by One
Ivy
“Are you ready to go in?”
I took a deep breath to prepare myself. Damian and I were standing outside of the location Anya had chosen for all of the tech companies to meet to present our ideas. My heart was slamming against my chest as I stared up at the luxury hotel where I had lost my virginity. In a cruel twist of fate, the Alpha king's representative had chosen for us to meet in the hotel where Asher and I had made love seven years ago.
My eyes trailed up the white stone building and stopped on the expansive windows on the top floor. Those seemingly innocent windows mocked me. Which one was the room Asher and I had stayed in? My hands began to shake as I remembered Asher's warm body pressed against mine and his hazel eyes staring at me like I was the most precious thing to him as he slid into my wet center.
It had been three days since the wolf attacked me. The morning after the attack, my father and brother went into the woods to look for the wolf, but they didn't find anything. My father didn't want Adrian orI to go anywhere alone for the time being, and he was looking into hiring extra guards.
Healer Emery had treated my wound, and although the injury still throbbed faintly on occasion, the scar was almost gone thanks to my rapid healing abilities as a shifter. Every time that Damian told me that Asher tried to get in contact with me, it was like a harsh blow to the stomach. Damian always assured me that he had gotten rid of “that asshole” since he knew that Asher had rejected me, but a small part of me wanted to talk to Asher whenever he called. I wanted his deep voice to float into my ear and make me shiver. I wanted to be the one to tell him I was all right after he had saved me.
But that was ridiculous. I'd already made the decision to stay away from Asher. He had the chance to build a life with me seven years ago, and he had cast me aside. He wasn't going to get another chance at a relationship with me, and he sure as hell didn't deserve to have a chance to have a relationship with his son. What if Asher cast him off, too?
“Ivinia? Are you nervous?” Damian asked since I hadn't answered his question yet.
I shook my head and tightened my grip on my briefcase.“Sorry, I spaced out there for a second. I'm not nervous at all, actually.” We walked through the large glass door. “Are you?”
“Not in the slightest,” my brother said with a grin. “We're prepared as we can be, and we’ve got a solid idea.”
My heels made sharp click-clacking sounds on the marbled lobby floor. “I couldn't agree more.”
Over the past few days, Damian and I had spent most of our time in video conferences with our team back home to develop a product idea that we believe will revolutionize safety in our kingdom.
The lobby was bursting with people, but a helpful sign by the front desk indicated that our meeting would be in Ballroom A. The same one that Asher's dad’s gala had been held in.
“Oh, great,” I muttered as Damian and I made our way down a carpeted hallway.
“What?” Damian asked curiously.
“Nothing.”
