Claimed By My Alpha Stepbrother.

16

AZRIEL

"I don't..." I repeated, clenching my jaw. "Remember."

The woman—Dr. Voss, as her badge indicated—tilted her head, clearly skeptical of my words. But it didn't matter whether she believed me or not. I wasn’t going to give them anything.

"Mr. Zephyrion," her pen tapped steadily on the table, "Bogotá resulted in eighteen casualties. Eighteen. And you were the only survivor. We need to understand what really happened."

"And I told you, I don’t remember," I shot back. "How can I tell you something I can't even recall?"

"Mr. Zephyrion," she insisted, stepping closer, "we have reason to believe you lost control and killed your teammates. You should come clean so we can resolve this together."

My hands balled into fists. The only reason she was still talking was because I couldn’t afford to lose control here. "It seems I've come for an investigation," I hissed. "Do you think I killed my teammates?"

"What we believe," my father's voice interrupted, "is that you lost control of the beast and went wild. Losing your senses enough to attack your team is serious business. We need to understand what led to this so we can develop countermeasures." He approached me, bending slightly to meet my gaze. "Having a power that can't be controlled is a death sentence."

"Then you should never have created it," I retorted sharply. "I never asked to become a monster. This is all on you." My breath came in quick bursts as I lunged at him, restrained by the straps. The beast within me stirred, prompting me to force myself to stay calm.

Dad nodded slowly and looked away. "If you truly don’t remember," he began, "then we'll have to sift through your memories ourselves."

"What are you...?" The realization hit me almost instantly. "No." I screamed, a low growl escaping from deep within me. "You are not probing into my mind. You don’t have the right to do that! I'll never allow it."

"You don't get a choice in this matter," he replied, gesturing to two men at the back who moved forward with long syringes in hand. I knew exactly what they intended to do, and there was no way I'd just sit there and accept it. To hell with being in control.

"Get your hand off me," I snarled when one of them tried to hold me in place.

He didn't budge.

"I said get the f**k off me!" I roared, breaking free from the restraints. Did they really think a few straps could hold me down?

I immediately grabbed the guy who touched me by the neck and flung him across the room. The other one scurried away to a corner, trembling terribly.

"Don't you ever think of peeking in my head again." I pointed at my dad. Unlike the others, he wasn't fazed, probably because this wasn't our first redo.

"Azriel!" he snapped.

"If you dare..." I snarled back at him. "I don't mind covering this place in red. Might help give these sickening white walls some color."

I stormed out of the building, tensed and angry. I needed a run.

***

I zoomed through the woods until my lungs burned. It was the only way to silence the noise in my head. Not that it was working these days.

They wanted to look into head. I almost laughed at the thought of it. As if I had anything there. My memory was a blur. The only thing I remembered was giving the command to attack. Then everything had gone out of hand—it had gotten too much for me to process—and I'd blacked out. I knew the beast probably took control, but I was sure it wasn't the perpetrator. The horror I saw when I came back to my senses had nothing to do with a beast's claws or fangs.

The memories only made my head ache, and the run wasn't even working.

Fuck it. Let's just hope Seraphina wasn't home.

***

After a long run, I found my way home. Good enough, Seraphina wasn't home but Celeste was.

"Azriel?" Celeste's voice drifted from the living room, followed by the soft click of her knitting needles. She gasped when she saw me. "Oh, honey. What happened to your clothes?"

"Went for a run," I replied, hoping my voice sounded light and normal. "Got a little... enthusiastic."

She frowned. "Well, hurry up and change before you catch a cold. There's lasagna in the oven if you're hungry."

"Thanks," I replied. My senses sharpened as I took in her faint familiar scent. The beast paced in my head. I paused at her door before walking on to my room.

Three cold showers and tons of ice down my throat later, I walked into the laundry, loading my clothes into the washing machine. I shook my head when I noticed Seraphina's clothes piled up in the dryer. She really procrastinated a lot. I'd heard Celeste scream at her to sort it out days ago.

I couldn't help reaching out. Her scent clung to them.

My fingers brushed soft silk and lace, and I pulled it out, revealing pink panties filled with her scent. I dropped them immediately, my heart racing.

'What the hell are you doing, Azriel? Let's just get out of here.'

But I couldn't move.

Just once. Just one sniff to calm me down.

I reached out to it again and brought it closer to my face, inhaling deeply. It reminded me of my head between her legs, taking in her raw, potent scent, my mouth—

"Azriel?"

I snapped back to reality.

Seraphina stood in the doorway, her bag still slung over her shoulder. Her eyes dropped to my hand, and I immediately stuffed it into my pocket.

She stepped forward, frowning. "What are you holding?"

"Nothing." My voice came out wrecked, my brain short-circuiting. "Just—found something in the dryer. Thought it was mine."

She blinked, her head crooking. "In the dryer? But everything there is..."

"I was mistaken." I brushed past her. "We'll soon be having dinner. You should change."

I slammed my forehead against the wooden door the moment I made it to my room. That was close. The beast continued pacing in my head, and I snapped. "Get the f**k down."

God. I almost humiliated myself.

Dinner after was torture. Seraphina looked normal, so she probably hadn't noticed a thing.

Celeste made small talk around the table, even managing to draw me in once in a while. She was such a sweet person. Such a pity she was married to a monster like my father. I could only imagine how devastated her beautiful soul would be if she saw the real face behind the mask.

Seraphina was talking about an onsite school project, sighing deeply as she pushed her food around her plate. "None of us know where we'll be posted. Everyone's on edge. I'm already working on the write-up with my group, but each of us still has to report on-site findings."

My eyes perked up immediately. Onsite? With a group?

"Who are you going with?" I asked, my mind already picturing a certain scrawny-looking boy.

She looked up at me and almost snubbed me. Then she glanced at her mom across the table and smiled tightly. "Each person will be assigned different locations, so I'll probably be going alone. Why? Want to come along?"

No f*****g way. Being alone with her? Not possible.

"Won't it be dangerous?" Celeste asked immediately. "You guys are too young to venture into the world alone."

"But that's exactly the point," Seraphina replied, leaning forward. "Everyone's freaking out about getting somewhere 'safe,' somewhere boring. But if I want my thesis to stand out, I need something unique. Something with teeth." She grinned, reckless and beautiful. "Honestly? A dangerous location would be better. Imagine the access, the stories, the data. Professors remember the students who go to the hard places."

"They'll probably just remember a reckless student who threw away her life," I said, earning a scowl.

"And why is that any of your concern?" she retorted. "It's not like I'm covering a story about World War II. What's your issue?"

"Hey, kids," Celeste intervened gently. "Let's not turn this into an argument." She turned to Seraphina. "We're just concerned about you, sweetheart."

"Your mom's correct, Seraphina. Your brother is just worried about you." He spoke from the bottom of the staircase, surprising all of us. None of us had heard him come down, and we didn't expect him to join us for dinner since he said he would be working late and would eat in his office. What was he doing here? He looked directly at me. "You're worried too, Azriel, right?"

I didn't respond.