Claimed by my Tyrannical Stepbrothers

Hardin

Dionne

When I turned around from the telephone, I stumbled on Hardin who had probably been watching me and listening to my conversation with mom.

"You're an absolute sweetheart!" He called with excitement as he came to hug me. He was pleased that I had lied to mom about my relationship with them.

I tried pushing him away, but he just kept invading my personal space.

"How do we reward you now?" He asked when he finally let me go. I wanted to tell him that I did not want any stupid reward from them and that I had not told mom what I told her for their sake. It was all for my own sake and for mom's. I didn't want her to worry that anything could be wrong, but Aspen was standing right by him and he said,

"Let's kiss her as her reward, that's something any girl would die to get from us," he said.

The idea appeared great to Hardin, and he came close to me. This time I used all my strength to push him away, which only resulted in him taking a few steps backwards.

"Don't be an i***t. I don't want to kiss you...gross," I said as I struggled to keep him and his pouted lips away from me. He stepped back and said to Aspen,

"Looks like she is not going to take that," he said, his eyes staring right into my soul and his lips curling into a smirk.

"We'll think of something else then," Aspen said, and they left me alone in the hall.

I stood by the telephone booth for the next few minutes, wondering why I had been given such serious punishment for missing class. I had to do intense cleaning.

We were to go home together later that day, the quadruplets and I, and I wondered if they would make the driver wait for me to do my cleaning first before joining them on the ride home, or if they would go without me, and I'd have to find my way back home.

I was still wondering who it would be when I overheard Hardin's voice in the next hall. He was talking with the class teacher who had given me the punishment.

"We're going to manage the pack one day, and we want to start leading by example by first taking Dionne's punishment as a way of treating her well because she is still a newcomer," I heard him explain to the teacher and from how she sounded, she was pleased with the boys, and she commended them, but I knew why they were doing this.

They took care of the punishment eventually, and we all got into the car that had been sent to pick us up by Alpha Marcus .

I was not very comfortable with them in the car, especially because I was sitting next to Hardin and Aspen while Lucian and Peyton sat at the back.

They said a lot about the school, and they said they were glad that I had joined them. A big fat lie.

They were only trying to impress the driver and the guard that we were all doing great together just in case they may get asked about anything that concerned us. I knew their trick and I did not humor them by agreeing with anything they said. I was quite throughout the ride back home.

Dinner was set, and we all sat to have dinner with my mom, Sydney, sitting next to her husband, Marcus, Alpha of the primordial pack.

"How's school been?" Alpha Marcus asked like I had expected him to. He was interested in everything that concerned school because, at school, I was in the same class as the boys, and we were expected to be working together as step-siblings.

"School's been great," we all responded in unison and he nodded.

"How are you blending in, Dionne? Have the boys been helping you settle in?" Alpha Marcus asked, suddenly looking at me. I swallowed my meal and then nodded.

"They have been very supportive, sir. They have really helped me," I said, and he smiled, impressed.

"I'm proud of you boys, he said, looking from one of the boys to the other, and they nodded bashfully, with smirks on their faces. When mom turned to me, I smiled too.

" I'm just worried that you boys are yet to find your mates. It is time you all found your mates. You will be twenty by the end of the year and I can not just simply keep hoping you find your mates," Alpha Marcus said, his brows suddenly creasing with worry.

"They'll find their mates in due time. Don't worry about it. They're still young," mom consoled.

He took a deep breath and then reclined on his seat.

But he did not sit for a minute when he suddenly remembered something.

"Dionne's eighteenth birthday is in a week!"

The realization was both exciting and startling for me.

"I really hope she finds her own mate too," Alpha Marcus said. Mom nodded.

"I'm sure she will, and then she will be with her fated mate. I'd be so happy," mom said. Her eyes were on me, and she had a tender smile on her face that made me uncomfortable.

But I smiled. I didn't know how long the talk about getting mated went on around me before I finally left the table after obtaining permission.

I ran into my room once I had been able to walk out of their sights. I didn't want to have that conversation anymore, but I also had to prepare a dress so that when mom came, I'd show her that I had prepared a dress for the party, and she would be pleased even if I didn't want to attend any party.

The thought of getting mated to someone was scary, and I wondered what would happen to me if I ended up with someone who was as abusive as my father had been, or someone who would only be with me because we were mates and not because he was in love with me.

The whole idea of mating was totally repugnant to me and I wished anyone would understand how much torture I was going through merely thinking about this.

I walked to the bed and stood watching it, not sure about what to do, when a knock sounded on the door and I turned around, only realizing then that I had not locked the door behind me.

The door came open, and I saw Lucian's head pop in.