My Alpha Hockey Stepbrother

005

Ronan's POV

I walked toward the mating grounds of my pack, the rhythmic drumbeats echoing through the air, each thud sending a jolt of anger through me. My eyes scanned the crowd, full of faces that I regarded with nothing but disdain.

I had fought vehemently against this remarriage, my protests falling on deaf ears. My father refused to listen, clinging to his excuses about the pack needing a Luna.

I hadn’t even been given the chance to argue further before he threatened to disinherit me from all my rights as his son if I refused to comply. And so, in the end, I had no choice but to accept this remarriage.

Bile clawed its way up my throat, not just at the ceremony itself, but the fact that I had shared a drunken one-night stand with one of the charity cases from the academy I had graduated from only weeks ago.

Humiliation burned me from the inside out. I couldn’t speak to anyone about it, not my friends because I feared their judgment and mockery behind my back.

It was already bad enough that my friends had tried to calm me down before the ceremony, knowing that I had forced myself to attend simply to avoid losing my privileges as his son. Now, knowing that I had slept with someone as her, and worse, that she was my fated mate, I knew exactly how they would mock me if given the chance.

“Do you, Alpha…,” the elder began, asking the questions that would seal my father and his gold digging wife as mates. My chest tightened, and in my mind, I desperately hoped that one of them would hesitate, second-guess this union or for their wolves not to accept each other.

I had heard much about the woman he was marrying. I knew enough to call her what she was, a gold digger, after my father’s wealth and his position. If not that, then why didn't she remarry any other man from the pack before?.

I wouldn’t allow her to worm her way into my father’s life or become his Luna. Not her or her daughter. Not anyone who would try to step into my mother’s place.

My mother had sacrificed everything for my father before her death. And now, after all these years, why would he suddenly think of remarrying? Why, when I was already an adult, did he feel the need to take on another Luna instead of waiting for me to take one myself and ease his burdens as Alpha?

The crowd erupted into cheers and I snapped out of my reverie. I hadn’t noticed them. I hadn’t noticed when both my father and his new wife had exchanged their vows.

His mark shone brightly on her neck, a permanent sign of their bond. She was his mate. And in that moment, it became painfully clear that there was no stopping them.

“The Alpha finally has a Luna by his side! The pack will benefit from this remarriage!” someone shouted from behind me. I forced myself to swallow the hatred clawing up my chest, forcing it down as best I could on order not to pounce on her.

“I bet her daughter will be well-behaved like her. She looks so nice, so kind. Who knows, maybe the Alpha will even take her in as one of his heirs,” another whispered.

The words cut sharper than I expected. This had been the issue gnawing at me ever since I first heard the news of my father’s remarriage. And now, hearing the pack members whisper their approval, I realized how quickly they had already accepted it.

It made my blood boil.

They had no idea what I was feeling. No idea what I had sacrificed. No idea what it meant to see my mother’s place, her memory and life, slowly being replaced before my very eyes.

And worse, the thought that the woman and her daughter might quietly worm themselves into our home, into our family. It filled me with an anger I couldn’t yet control.

My fists clenched as did my jaw tightened.

It wouldn’t be a matter of time before the new Luna, like the gold-digging tramp she was, managed to make my father see her daughter as worthier than me for the Alpha-in-waiting position.

I had heard countless stories of things like this happening, but I never thought it would happen to me. Never thought I would be caught in a situation so humiliating and infuriating.

“Ronan, my son!” My father’s voice cut through the murmurs of the crowd as he strode toward me, the new Luna gliding beside him, his gold-digging wife, who I could think of nothing less than the schemer she clearly was.

Had she even been dating my father before my mother’s death? Had she been the reason my mother’s illness worsened, stealing precious time from her life? How long had she been waiting, plotting and dreaming of the moment she could claim the position of Luna? How…

“Ronan,” she called sweetly as they reached where I stood, stepping toward me, arms open as if to hug me. I turned away, refusing her embrace, pretending not to see her.

Instead, I met my father’s gaze, noting the scowl etched across his face. I could feel the silent screams beneath it, the unspoken orders demanding I behave but I didn’t.

“Ronan, meet your new stepmother. Your stepsister will be here shortly to join us, so…” My father’s words fell on deaf ears as I deliberately turned elsewhere, pretending not to acknowledge him.

My new stepmother, calm and composed as ever, placed a gentle hand on my father’s arm, attempting to soothe his irritation at my obvious defiance.

“Sophie…!!” she called suddenly, her voice sweet and melodic, and a young lady dressed in pristine white began to walk toward us.

I instinctively turned to walk away, but as she moved closer, my father’s hand shot out, gripping me firmly.

“I will not have you disrespect my Luna in such a manner, Ronan!” he snapped, the authority in his voice cutting like steel. “If not, you can kiss your allowances goodbye this month!” The threat made me freeze. I forced myself to comply outwardly, knowing the weight behind his words.

I would act as if I accepted them, if that was what he wanted, but beyond this public display, I would never, ever, acknowledge a stepsister in private.

When the young lady introduced as my stepsister finally turned, following her mother’s command, my blood ran cold.

“You?!” I almost shouted, the words catching in my throat as I struggled to process the shock. I swallowed the rest, noting the confusion flicker across my father’s face.

“You two know each other?” he asked, his tone sharp with curiosity and caution.

“Of course not!” I answered quickly, cutting her off before she could speak.

My eyes darted everywhere but at her. My mind refused to accept it. The lady I had slept with earlier, the one who had become my fated mate was standing there, now formally introduced as my stepsister.

The irony of it gnawed at my chest like fire.