My Fiance is Sleeping With My Step Sister

Chapter 34

The room was quiet except for the crackle of the small fire Joey had lit in the bowl. Its glow flickered across the walls, shadows dancing like restless spirits. I sat cross-legged on the rug, trying to steady my breathing, but my hands trembled in my lap.

“Focus here,” Joey instructed, pointing to the flame. “Not on what they said, not on what you’re afraid of. Just this. Breathe with it.”

I nodded and tried, inhaling deeply as Devon stood behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder. His touch grounded me, like an anchor in stormy waters. Still, the whispers of the pack lingered in my head, louder than the fire before me.

“She doesn’t belong.”

“She’s a curse.”

“She’ll bring nothing but ruin.”

My chest tightened, the flame wavering as though it fed on my unease. Joey’s sharp clap snapped me out of it.

“Stay with me, Adriana. Don’t drift.”

I blinked and forced another breath, but before I could settle, sparks shot across my fingers, heat prickling at my skin. I yanked my hands back in panic.

“I can’t,” I said, voice cracking. “Every time I try, it just… slips. Like it wants to escape me.”

Devon crouched down in front of me, his eyes holding mine. “That’s why we’re here. To make sure when it slips, you’re the one guiding it. Not the other way around.”

His calmness made me want to believe, but the fear still gnawed at me. What if next time, it wasn’t sparks? What if it was fire strong enough to burn the whole room?

Joey reached for one of the stones she’d brought, pressing it into my palm. “Close your hand around this. Feel its weight. Every time the fire stirs, push it into the stone instead. Redirect it. Control isn’t about holding back it’s about choosing where the power goes.”

I swallowed hard and tried again, clutching the stone so tight my knuckles whitened. The sparks flickered, softer this time, curling around the stone before fading into nothing. My shoulders sagged with relief.

“You did it,” Joey said softly, a proud smile tugging at her lips.

“Barely,” I muttered.

But Devon shook his head. “Barely is still a start. You’re stronger than you think, Adriana. You just have to stop doubting yourself.”

His words warmed me in a way the fire never could, but deep down, the guilt still lingered. No matter what they said, no matter how much I trained, the pack would always remember that I nearly killed one of their own.

Later that night, after Joey left us, I sat by the window while Devon leaned against the wall nearby, arms crossed. The moonlight bathed the pack lands in silver, peaceful from afar, though I knew the whispers still festered like poison.

“They’ll never accept me,” I said quietly, not turning from the window. “Even if I control this power, they’ll still look at me like I don’t belong.”

Devon’s voice was firm. “Then they’ll answer to me. You’re my mate, Adriana. That makes you their Luna whether they accept it or not.”

His loyalty should have comforted me, but something about the hatred I’d seen in their eyes gnawed at me. It hadn’t felt natural.

I turned to him. “Doesn’t it strike you as strange? How quickly they turned on me? How deep their hatred runs? It’s like they’re not just suspicious it’s like they’re… cursed.”

Devon’s brows furrowed, his jaw tightening. He didn’t answer right away, but I could tell the thought unsettled him too.

“You think it’s witchcraft,” he finally said.

I hesitated before nodding. “I don’t know what else it could be. It’s as if something or someone is feeding their doubts, pushing them to hate me more than they should.”

Devon pushed off the wall and came to stand beside me, his gaze fixed on the moonlit woods. “If that’s true, it means whoever’s behind it wants to drive a wedge between me and my pack. They know I’ll always choose you.”

The weight of his words sank heavy in my chest. He would choose me, even if it cost him his people. The thought was both comforting and terrifying.

“What if that’s exactly what they want?” I whispered. “What if this is all just a trap to make you lose everything?”

Devon turned, cupping my face in his hands, his voice steady but low. “Then we fight it. Together. They can whisper all they want. They can doubt, they can hate. But they won’t win. Not as long as I have you.”

My throat ached, but I nodded, leaning into his touch. For the first time since the fight, I let myself believe him, even if only for tonight.

Still, when I closed my eyes, the whispers of the pack lingered in the back of my mind sharp, venomous, and unnatural. And somewhere deep inside, I knew the true enemy wasn’t done with us yet.