Marked, but rejected by my Stepbrother.

Raine'sPOV. I stood in front of the mirror in my room and regarded my reflection with trembling hands. I kept straightening imaginary creases out of my dress. I still couldn't decide if my hair looked better up or down. In reality, there was nothing wrong with my appearance. I looked perfectly fine. My hair was shiny and bouncy, my dress clung to my petite curves, and my face was glowing. The reason I was so nervous was because I was turning 18. A big deal, I know. I should be excited, I know. Every girl in the world dreams of turning 18 and finally becoming a woman. The only difference, I wasn't just any normal girl. I was a werewolf, well sort of. My mother was a werewolf, my father was human. I was born without the gene. A half-breed as my darling stepfather liked to call me. My father died when I was ten. I loved my father very much. He was a kind and loving man. He was also a very successful business man and he taught me everything he knew. After his death my mother married the alpha of her werewolf pack. Samuel is a mean and arrogant man with a massive superiority complex. He hated me from the start. He always went on and on about me being a fraud and a weakling. Like I asked to be born without the gene. Like I wanted to be an outsider for the rest of my life. My mother loves Samuel, for reasons that are still foreign to me, but she raised me out of duty, not out of love. We were never close, and even though she never said it outloud, I knew that she saw me the same way that Samuel did. A weak half-breed. Five years after marrying Samuel my mother also died, leaving my father's entire empire to him, and me with nothing. Samuel allowed me to remain in his house, but he treated me like a piece of gum that stuck to the bottom of his shoe. He was constantly trying to get rid of me. He never let the opportunity to tell me just how useless he thought I was pass him by. He enjoyed having a go at me like it was his favorite hobby. He hated me, and I felt exactly the same way about him. He is a hateful man, and I couldn't wait to get away from him. As soon as I graduated high school I planned on leaving this place for college and I had absolutely no intention of ever returning again. There was nothing here for me anyway. I wanted to make a new life for myself somewhere else. Samuel might have my company and all the money that my father left me, but at least I still had the will to make something of myself and that was something that he could never take away from me. I took a deep breath as I looked myself up and down in the mirror still. I turned my body from side to side, pulled my dress down, hitched it up again, pulled it down again and then decided to leave it as it was. Fidgeting with it didn't do anything to help with my nerves anyway. Wolves, like me, were expected to find their mates when they turned 18. The worst part was that we had to go out in front of the entire pack and wait, hoping and praying that one of the other wolves actually mated to you. It was a horrible tradition, one that I have been dreading for as long as I could remember. Being a half-breed, I didn't even know if it would be possible for me to find a mate. Would I be able to mate to someone without having the werewolf gene? Would another wolf be able to mate to me? What if I stood there, in front of the entire pack, waiting for it to happen and it never did. I would be absolutely mortified. I would never be able to live down the shame. I had half a mind to just lock myself in my room for the rest of the night and wait for my birthday to be over, but Samuel would never allow that. He was probably hoping that I wouldn't find a mate and that I would be embarrassed in front of the entire pack. I sighed heavily as I resigned myself to my fate. There was no point in trying to postpone it any longer. Might as well just get it over with. I crossed over to my bedside table and picked up the framed photo of my father. I touched my fingers to his smiling face, thoughtfully. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I thought about him. I missed him terribly and wished, more than anything, that he was still here. I couldn't help but wonder how different my life might have been if he were still around. I wiped the tears away from my cheeks, thinking that the make-up I spent hours applying was probably ruined now, and put the picture down again. Whether I wanted to or not, it was time to go. I opened my bedroom door just as Travis was about to knock. Travis is my stepbrother, Samuels son from his first marriage. Travis is five years older than me. He's always been good to me, and he does what he can to defend me against Samuel and his constant onslaught of verbal abuse. Travis is next in line to be alpha and will probably take over the company, my father's company, from Samuel one day. I liked Travis very much. He would probably be the only thing that I would miss when I left this place. Travis hasn't found his mate yet either. It's something that we like to joke about when we're alone. That and the fact that Samuel is always trying to set him up with other wolves from the pack, hoping to force him to mate to one of them. Travis is very charming and he can be sweet when he wants to be, but he is also very arrogant. He enjoys playing with the wolves that his father sets him up with, but he never shows any real interest in them. He says that he wants to wait for his real mate, no matter how long it takes. I smiled up at him as he let his hand fall to his side again. He grinned at me, giving his handsome face a charming, boyish look. He ran his hand through his thick, curly black hair, a gesture that I had grown to adore over the years. It made him look sheepish and adorable, a description that he hated only because it made him blush a little. "Hey you. I thought you might like an escort?" Travis had a deep, husky voice. It was very sexy when he wanted it to be, but it could also be very intimidating if he needed it to be. He stared at me with piercing blue eyes as he waited for my reply. I smiled bashfully at him and felt my cheeks flush a little under his intense stare. "Sure." I winked at him and took a step towards him to accept the hand that he was holding out to me. Travis janked his hand away abruptly and stared at me with a strange expression on his face. He looked confused and bewildered at the same time. "What? What's wrong, Travis? Do I have something in my teeth? Is there something on my dress?" I checked myself nervously. Travis didn't answer me. He just kept staring at me. What was wrong? What was he thinking? Why wasn't he saying anything? "Travis! What the hell man?" His eyes grew dangerously dark as he stepped into my room and closed the door behind him. My stomach lurched dangerously. I had no idea what was happening. Travis placed both his hands on my waist and pulled me up against his torso. His body was warm and hard against mine. I didn't even try to resist him. Something strange was happening to my insides. It felt like my senses were on fire all of a sudden. I felt a little dizzy and a strange heat was stirring in the pit of my stomach. My mouth went completely and utterly dry. My heart was pounding away in my chest and I swear that I could feel the blood rushing through my veins. I gulped as Travis stared deeply into my eyes. He pulled me even closer and put his face to mine. He was breathing rapidly. "Mate." He growled softly against my mouth and pulled me in for the most passionate kiss of my life.