MARKED BY MY STEPBROTHER

Chapter Three

Arielle

The room smelled like old lavender and dust, the kind of scent that lingered in guest linens and unused wardrobes. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the polished wooden door that had just closed behind Kael.

My stepbrother.

I whispered it in my head again, just to see if it would feel less horrifying the second time.

It didn’t.

Everything about tonight had unspooled me. My mother’s engagement. The house. The man she was marrying. But nothing had shocked my body the way Kael did. Not just because he was the boy I’d been crushing on for months without realizing who he was. But because the second he looked at me tonight—really looked—I felt like I already knew him.

And worse… like my body already belonged to him.

I dug my nails into the comforter, trying to breathe. The silence in the room pressed against my chest, too loud and too close. I needed a distraction. Something to stop my thoughts from spiraling back to Kael’s voice. His eyes. The way his fingers curled when he said my name like it tasted bitter in his mouth.

A knock startled me.

I turned toward the door.

It creaked open slowly. My mother peeked in, smiling too brightly for the bombshell she’d just dropped.

“You settling in okay?” she asked softly.

I nodded, lying.

She stepped inside, her perfume wrapping around the room like a memory. “I know this was… sudden. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. About Nathan. About all of this.”

I pressed my lips together. “He seems… nice.”

“He is.” She walked over and sat beside me. “And Kael—he’s just quiet. Keeps to himself. It’ll take time, but I think you two will get along.”

I almost laughed.

We already did. In my head. In my daydreams. In every twisted corner where I imagined him without ever knowing his name.

Now, suddenly, we’re family?

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Totally.”

She didn’t press. Just squeezed my hand and stood. “We’ll figure this out, okay? One weekend at a time.”

She kissed my forehead and left. The door clicked softly behind her.

I exhaled.

And then I heard it—through the wall.

The sound of water.

Kael was in the shower.

The guest room shared a wall with the hallway bath. Thin walls. Older house. My thoughts spiraled faster than I could stop them.

I closed my eyes, cursing myself. He was off-limits. Completely. A walking red flag wrapped in sculpted muscle and silence. But even now, my heart thudded traitorously in my chest. Even now, my breath caught imagining the steam curling around his body, the water running down—

Stop it.

I shook the image from my head like I could outrun the pull. It wasn’t just a crush anymore. It was something physical. Chemical. Deep and terrifying. Like he’d carved a space into me and now refused to leave it empty.

I paced the room, restless. The walls felt too close, my skin too tight. I opened the window, let the cool night air bite at my cheeks, tried to remember who I was before today.

A girl with good grades. A quiet life. A very safe, very normal crush.

Now I was standing in a stranger’s house, in a stranger’s bed, aching for someone I could never have.

And he was just down the hall.

I didn’t sleep. Not really.

By morning, I was already dressed before anyone else stirred. The house was quiet—too quiet. I crept downstairs, heading toward the kitchen for water.

Halfway down the hall, I froze.

Kael.

He stood by the back door, shirtless, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to his skin. His chest rose and fell in steady rhythm, as if he’d just come from a run. His earbuds dangled loosely around his neck.

He saw me before I could duck away.

“Couldn’t sleep?” His voice was low, rough with sleep.

I nodded, my throat dry. “You run early.”

“Every day,” he said simply. His eyes didn’t leave mine.

The silence stretched. My skin prickled under his gaze, like he could see every unspoken thought unraveling inside me.

“Look,” he said finally. “About yesterday—”

“Don’t,” I interrupted, too fast.

He blinked.

I swallowed. “It’s fine. We don’t need to talk about it.”

But we did. Every fiber of my body screamed that we did.

He stepped closer. Just one step, but it set off something deep inside me. Not fear. Not even desire.

Recognition.

My pulse fluttered.

“You felt it too,” he said, almost a whisper. “Didn’t you?”

My lips parted, but I had no answer.

Because he was right.

I had felt it. From the first moment. Something ancient. Something primal. Something that had no right blooming between people who now shared a last name.

Kael looked like he was fighting himself. His hands clenched at his sides.

“This isn’t over,” he said, his voice raw. “You can pretend it didn’t happen. But something’s coming, and you know it.”

He stepped back, turned, and disappeared into the hallway, leaving me alone with a heart that didn’t know how to beat properly anymore.