Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

It was time to help him bend in the right direction.

I stepped closer to him and sat beside him. He looked painfully handsome in just his briefs. He was shirtless, and I couldn't help but trail my gaze over his tattooed skin.

God, no man should look this good. It felt too wrong... Too unfair. Like a sin wrapped in skin.

"Baby? You need something?" He asked, abandoning whatever he was doing on his phone to give me his full attention.

His gaze rested on me and... Those eyes... So innocent yet dangerous.. They pinned me in place.

I swallowed, "Yes, Kes. I want us to talk..." I said softly.

I didn't miss the flicker of discomfort that shadowed his features and the subtle frown tugging at his brows.

"Oh, no, baby," he muttered with a sharp sigh, dragging a hand over his face, "Let's enjoy a moment of peace between us. Let's just... shut the fucking world out for once. I get scared of having conversations with you recently."

He turned to face me fully, and I saw the panic and tension all over him. His entire body was taut like a wire pulled to breaking point, I have apologized for everything and anything I've done to you that you didn't like. And I am ready to do whatever it takes to show you that I... I want this. I want us."

No.

No, no. He was steering this in the wrong direction.

This wasn't about us. Not in the way he thought.

"No, Kes... That's..." He didn't let me finish.

"Look, baby, even if you don't love me yet, that's okay. I swear it's okay. The love I have for you is enough for both of us. We can

start there, can't we?"

He was spiraling. Again.

His voice cracked with desperation as he reached out for my hands with his trembling ones. His eyes darkened, the edges of his control fraying at the seams. His brows were drawn tight, and I saw the pain spreading across every inch of him.

He looked like a little boy - frightened and forgotten - begging to be loved,

And it hurt me so much.noveldrama

"Just give me this chance," he whispered, "Say yes to me, love. The Moon Goddess was wise to give me you. She knew you're my life. She knew I'd die if She ever dare to pair with someone else. Les just-"

"Kester! I called firmly, and he stopped talking, "That's not what this is about. I wanted us to talk about something else. Not about the whole chaos going on in our world."

He blinked, confused, caught somewhere between dread and hope.

His eyes searched mine, almost childlike, and for a heartbeat, he looked like he didn't know where he was, who he was, or if this moment was safe. He blinked again, confusion swimming behind the storm in his gaze.

I took his hands, steadying me despite the tremor beneath my skin

"Kester," I said gently, "I need you to promise me

His jaw clenched. "Anything."

omething."

"I want you to promise to tell me the truth about ask you."

His brows knitted together as if that alone frightened him. But still, he nodded, "1 I'll tell you the truth."

swear.

I inhaled slowly before letting the first question

"Did you ever finish therapy?"

80

He looked away.

And there it was-that flinch. That flinch he always had whenever something real threatened the version of himself he tried to hold together.

"No," he said quietly, in a brittle voice. "I didn't."

"Why?"

"I didn't go there by choice," he muttered, dragging a hand down his face again, slower this time, like it was taking effort to hold back something buried too deep. "Karina set me up. She made my father put me there."