My Alpha Stepbrother is My Bully (Nevaeh) novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Eli

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The following morning, I’m sitting in the kitchen with the devil’s headache. I didn’t sleep well after what the moon goddess revealed. I stared up at the ceiling like someone whose soul had left their body. And now I’m sitting here by the table and stinking like a bonfire since I didn’t bother to shower after the pack meeting.

Life is wonderful, isn’t it?

I lift my beloved black coffee cup to my lips, smelling it before chugging it down like a champ. Drenching myself in caffeine is one of the few solaces I have left these days. The bitter liquid scalds my throat, but I welcome the pain. It’s a reminder that the cancer hasn’t come to collect me yet, even if some days I wish Death would knock on my door.

Suddenly I hear a whistle and lift my head to find a shirtless and tattooed Cam waltz into the kitchen. “Woah,” he says with a faint smirk on his lips. “You look terrible.”

I breathe a laugh. “So do you.”

My words are a half-truth. Cam looks amazing-anyone with his body would look amazing, but I can’t argue that he looks worse than usual. There are dark rings underneath his pretty emerald eyes, and while the bastard is trying to act all tough, I have realized he is a marshmallow on the inside. I would know since I heard him crying himself to sleep last night-the poor bastard.

With that in mind, I grimace. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean…” I laugh awkwardly. “You do look terrible, but you have every right to look like a mess after yesterday’s revelation.”

Cam pauses in his steps and regards me with shocked eyes. I offer him a smile in return, but that seems to be the wrong move. His face immediately grows cold.

He opens the fridge with a snort. “It sucks that my mate is ill, but her condition doesn’t make us friends, Eli. This isn’t something we’re going to be bonding about. You’re still my enemy.”

His enemy? Geez, who knew my little stepbrother was so dramatic? I don’t even understand why he hates me so much, but eh, doesn’t everyone?

I don’t even bother to argue with the bloodthirsty idiot and instead spend my time forcefully peeling my eyes off his ridiculously hot body. Cam, however, notices me staring at his butt and raises an eyebrow.

“You into younger men now, Eli?”

What a cocky prick. I mean, he isn’t wrong, but who calls someone out like that?

I roll my eyes. “Whatever makes you sleep at night, dude…”

Cam grabs a protein shake from the fridge and slams the door shut, his jaw clenched tightly. “Don’t call me dude. I’m your future Alpha, in case you’ve forgotten.” He turns to face me, his green eyes flashing with irritation.

I scoff, meeting his glare head-on. “How could I forget? You love reminding me every chance you get, oh

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Chapter 106

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mighty Alpha.” My tone drips with sarcasm.

Cam’s nostrils flare as he takes a step closer, towering over me. I hate to admit it, but little bro here is actually looking scary with his tattoos and muscles.

His perfect lips turn into a frozen. “Watch it, Eli. I won’t tolerate disrespect, especially not from you.”

“Disrespect?” I laugh humorlessly, standing up to face him. When I realize my head doesn’t even reach his pectoral muscles, I climb up on the chair I was just sitting on. Cam’s lips twitch, and that gives me the final push to raise my voice at him. “Listen here, you jerk, you’ve been nothing but disrespectful to me since I got back. Give me a good reason why, and maybe I start respecting you.”

“Because you don’t belong here!” Cam snarls, slamming his protein shake down on the counter. I jump in return, my eyes going wide when he steps closer so that we are eye-to-eye with me standing on the chair. “You left the pack, left our family. And now you just waltz back in like nothing’s changed?”

It takes balls to not flinch at his tone and climb down from the chair. He is up in my face! It’s fucking scary, yet, despite the fact I’m close to shitting in my pants, I yell back. “I didn’t have a choice!”

Cam narrows his eyes, his dark eyebrows hinting at the seething wolf inside. “What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?”

“Really?” I release a bitter laugh. “You think I want to live in the same city as my golden brother and constantly be reminded of how little I matter to the family?”

“What do you mean? Your mother loves you.”

I laugh at that, my lips actually forming a smile. “My mother loves me? Oh, come on, Cam. You know as good as me that you’re my mother’s favorite child even though she isn’t your biological mother.”

Cam stares at me for a moment. He seems unsure what to say, but eventually, he recovers. “That’s not true,” he argues, but his voice lacks any kind of conviction. “Your mother cares about you, Eli.”

I want to laugh at his words but miraculously hold it back. “No, she doesn’t. Not the way she cares about you. You’ve always been the perfect son, the future Alpha. And me? I’m just the troublesome stepsister, the black sheep of the family.”

Cam says nothing; he just blinks at me with brand-new eyes. Is he seeing me for the first time?

Snorting, I climb down from the chair. Cam suddenly feels like a giant, and I fight a shiver as I walk over to the dishwasher, speaking as I do. “I think the reason I was so mean to you growing up was because I was jealous of how much more my own mother loved you.”

I place my cup in the dishwasher, my back turned to Cam so he can’t see the war within me…or the tears on my cheek. I blink the rest of them back, the ones that haven’t left my eyes yet, refusing to let him see me cry.

When I turn back around, Cam is staring at me with an unreadable expression. The anger from moments ago seems to have drained out of him, replaced by something else. Confusion? Pity? I’m not sure.

He runs a hand through his dark hair, sighing heavily. “Eli, I… I had no idea you felt that way. I’m sorry.”

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Chapter 106

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I stare at Cam in disbelief, not quite trusting my ears. Did he just…apologize to me? My arrogant, alpha stepbrother actually said the words “I’m sorry”? I must be hallucinating from sleep deprivation.

“You’re…sorry?” I echo, my voice laced with skepticism. “For what exactly?”

Cam shifts uncomfortably, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else than having this conversation with me. “For assuming things about you. For not realizing how much you were hurting all these years.”

I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest. “Well, it’s not like you ever bothered to ask, did you? You were too busy being the golden child, basking in all the attention and praise.”

Cam flinches at my harsh tone but doesn’t argue. He looks down at his feet with his hand on the back of his neck, his broad shoulders slumping slightly.

“You’re right,” he admits quietly. “I was too self-absorbed to see what was really going on. I’m sorry, Eli.”

His apology catches me off guard. I expected more anger, more defensiveness. Not this sudden vulnerability. It throws me off balance, and I find myself at a loss for words.

I clear my throat awkwardly. “Yeah, well… it’s in the past now. No point dwelling on it.”

Cam lifts his gaze to meet mine. “But it’s not really in the past, is it? You’re still hurting, Eli. I can see that

now.”

I stiffen, not liking how easily he can read me. What if he really is my fated mate? No. Him reading me is because we grew up together. There’s no chance we are mates. Cam is just being annoying and even though I know he is trying to be a jerk, I grow defensive.

“You don’t know anything about me or what I’m going through. We haven’t spoken for years. So please, don’t pretend like you suddenly care about me just because you feel guilty. I don’t need your pity, Cam.”

Cam recoils slightly at my venomous tone but quickly recovers, his jaw tightening. “It’s not pity, Eli. Believe it or not, I do actually care about you. You’re my stepsister.”

I let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Oh, so now I’m your stepsister? What happened to me being your ‘enemy’ that you can’t stand? You can’t have it both ways, Cam.”

Cam drags a hand over his face, looking frustrated. “I know I’ve been an asshole to you, okay? I’m trying to apologize and make things right between us.”

“Well, you can’t, asshole!” I snap back. To be honest, I don’t even think I’m mad at Cam. I’m angry at my mother, and I’m taking it out on him.

“Woah, aren’t you even going to try-”

I don’t let Cam finish. I push past him, my shoulder bumping his muscular arm as I storm out of the kitchen.

Somewhere in the far back of my head, I realize that it’s sweet that Cam is trying, but another part of me is angry because of it. I mean, why is my stepbrother more willing to try and understand me than my own mother? That shit fucking hurts!

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Chapter 106

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Sobs wrack me, and suddenly, I’m running towards my basement apartment on unsteady legs. I don’t want Cam to hear me crying, but goddamn it, I’m loud, and who can blame me? The cancer diagnosis, dropping out of college, getting dumped and evicted, moving back home in disgrace…my life fucking sucks!

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