Page 74 of Rejected By My Stepbrother Alpha
He stared at me, his eyes brimming with concern and realization. “You were just as much a victim of your mother as my father and I were. I’m so sorry for ever thinking that you were anything like your mother,” Asher said, his voice full of sincerity.
My heart burned with emotion.
No one had ever put it like that before. But it was true. I never asked to be a pawn in my mother’s games. She had forced me to be until I refused to go along with her schemes.
My heart warmed, and for a split second, I forgot about everything else as Asher and I gazed at each other. He was still holding my hand, and his thumb gently rubbed my knuckles.
“Thank you. That’s…really nice to hear that,” I said, even closer to tears than before.
“I’ve told you everything I know,” Riggs said loudly, interrupting our moment. “Can you just let me go? I’ll leave Sun Fire, and I won’t enter your territory again.”
Asher snorted. “Hell no. I’m going to call my guards, and they are going to take you to my pack prison where you’re going to rot for the rest of your miserable life.”
Riggs face became red with rage and he struggled against his bindings. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s not fair!”
My hands trembled with anger. “Not fair?” I yelled, rushing across the room to get in his face. “You just admitted to attempted murder on an Alpha and you tried to kidnap my son twice! You’re lucky I don’t rip your beating heart out of your chest.”
A vindictive look crossed his face. “You know what’s funny? I notice that you always call the boy “your son”. But the woman who hired me referred to him as Alpha Asher’s heir.” He looked at me smugly, then at Asher.
It felt like I was falling down a deep, dark hole.
I turned and locked eyes with Asher.
He was frozen in place, his mouth hanging open in shock.
Chapter 28
Small Fragments
Asher
Ivy and I sat in silence as we waited for my guards to come to the hotel. The tension was thick as I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. Ivy tried her best to catch my eye. When my warriors arrived, I ordered most of them to guard the entrances of the hotel and scope the perimeter of the surrounding woods. I wasn't sure if Riggs had backup or if Evelyn had hired other lone wolves to try to kidnap Adrian.
My son.
Shock raced down my spine, and my brain short-circuited. No, that wasn't possible. He couldn't be my son.
I had two of my guards haul away an angry Riggs while Ivy checked on Adrian. Just thinking of his name made my stomach jolt. While Ivy was gone, I called down to the front desk and asked if someone could clean up the blood off the white carpet. Ivy came back just as the maids arrived, and we went into her adjoining room, shutting the door behind us.
Without a word, Ivy went out onto her balcony. I followed after, closing the glass door. For a while, we stood there in silence. The windwas strong this high up, and Ivy's auburn hair was whipping around her face. Her expression was unreadable as she stared at the city below. Night had fallen over Sun Fire. The streets were even more crowded now, and I watched the people of my city instead of looking at Ivy.
The only emotion I could feel right now, was surprise.
“Adrian is asleep,” Ivy murmured, her words almost lost with the wind and the noise from the city below.
“Good,” I said. My voice sounded robotic. I cleared my throat. “I'm glad he can sleep after…everything.”
Is it possible we could be discussing my son? My six-year-old son?
“He was asking for you before he finally drifted off,” Ivy said, still looking down instead of at me.
A new emotion inched its way into my heart: warmth.
I turned to Ivy, and when she met my eyes, my chest ached when I saw that tears were quietly falling down her face. My hand twitched. I wanted to reach out and wipe the tears from her cheek. I wanted to hug her soft, warm body close and tell her that everything was going to be all right.
But if what Riggs said was true—even though I couldn't see how it could be—then Ivy had kept this big secret from me for six years.
So, I wasn't sure if everything was going to be all right.
