Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67: He’ll Be There

Riley’s POV

I think the world actually went silent.

The wind disappeared. The trees disappeared. Even my own breathing seemed to vanish.

It took me almost a minute to find my tongue again:

“…What?”

“You need to stop,” she said, more urgently this time. “Riley, listen to me. This has gone far enough. You want to prove your strength? Fine. But this is as fat as you can get. Let Ezra win the game as he should be!”

I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “What the hell mom…I thought you called because you were worried!”

“Well, yeah I’m worried. But I know you are protected by school’s security so nothing can really happen to you, can it? Now focus. Are you good with dropping out from the game?”

My grip tightened on the communicator so hard my hand started to ache. “NO! God, mom, I can’t believe you seriously ask me to withdraw. Do you know how hard I worked for this?”

“Oh don’t be silly, Riley. It’s just a stupid little game. It comes to nothing what I set off to accomplish-

I felt anger burn in me like hot lava. “What you set off to accomplish? Then what about me mom? Have you thought about me for one second? Ever since I got here, you’ve asked me to put your needs before mine. But I’m done with your selfishness now!”

“Selfish?” she raised her voice, furious. “I’m doing this for both of us! What good does it do to you to antagonize Soren? He wants Ezra to win, and so does the rest of the kingdom. Stop standing in his way.”

I let out a sneer. “If Ezra’s so damn good, he can defeat me himself. I don’t need to let him win.”

She inhaled deeply. “You seriously think you can win over him? He’s a Lycan. With royal blood! He can crush you with his bare hand. Don’t think too highly of yourself, Riley. I’m saying this for your own good.”

And that cut deeper than everything.

All the hard work, all the danger I had been through, all the risk I had to take…And she thought they were all nothing. “You are unbelievable, mom. Not even Ezra thinks he can defeat me that easily. You are the only one who doesn’t trust me at all.”

She was pissed. “Because you are my daughter and I know you well enough. You always take on more than you can chew. So what’s it gonna be? Are you going to withdraw-”

“No.” I cut her off. “You don’t get to ask me to fold now just because I survived longer than you expected. If the King is mad at you because of this, well, it’s your own problem.”

There was a long, cold silence on the other end.

“So you are leaving your mother hanging out to dry.” She said icily eventually.

“I think it’s the fair treatment considering what you’ve done to me.”

She cursed, and her voice became a little hysterical. “You can’t win! You hear me? The King and I are sending Ezra a massive supply package through the air. Weapons, provisions, gear-everything. Your chances are already slim without that supply package. What do you think now?”

Of course.

King Soren would hand his golden son whatever he needed and still expect everyone else to clap like it was noble.

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Heat rushed through my chest so fast I thought I might choke on it.

“I won’t give up,” I said to her “And you think the Hunting Season is a childish little game? Well get this. Someone put a silver nail in my shoes just to stop me from participating. They lied and lured me into a trap to get me killed. I almost lost my life in this game. Everyone’s taking me as a target because I’m the daughter of the woman who had an affair with the King, and this game is my only chance to change that. You still want me to quit?”

I was hoping that after saying all this, she would show me at least a little sympathy and concern.

Yet no.

All she said was, “You have until midnight to consider. Don’t let me down, Riley.”

I let out a cold laugh and hung up without hesitation.

I stood there for another few seconds after the line went dead, staring at my own reflection in the black screen.

When I turned back, Silas and Odin were watching me.

I walked back to the fire and shoved the communicator into my pocket. “King Soren sent Ezra a giant supply drop.”

Odin swore immediately.

Silas’s expression went flat in that dangerous way his face did when he was really angry. “That’s cheating.”

“Yeah.” I sat down and stared into the flames. “And my mother called to tell me I should quit, because she doesn’t want the King angry at her if I beat his son.”

The words sounded uglier out loud.

“That’s fucked up,” Silas said dryly. “So? You’re not going to the mama’s girl and just quit, are you?”

I lifted my head.

“Of course not,” I said. “I’m going to win. We are going to beat the King’s son in front of the whole world and let them see who’s the real fighter.”

The boys froze. A few seconds later, they burst out laughing together.

“Well, that’s the Riley I know!” Silas clapped his hands. “What do you say, Odin? Are you with us?”

“Of course,” Odin looked at me. And there was a familiar soft gleam in his eyes. “I’ve always had faith in this tea and in Riley.” “Good. Then we need a plan,” Silas said. “Got anything in mind, Riley?”

(

I looked out beyond the safe point, toward the upper mountain where moonlight spilled over the stone paths in long silver streaks.

“The Mooncrown Stalker.”

That killed the tiny bit of warmth left in the air.

Odin rubbed a hand over his face. “You mean the giant murder-cat nobody sane hunts on purpose?”

I nodded.

Silas gave a low whistle and leaned back against the rock. “Well. That would definitely count as risking everything.

The Mooncrown Stalker was worth a great deal of points.

I had done the math. If we could hunt them and gather the points, it would end this game immediately and put us in the first place.

Chapter 53 me! Be There

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“It loves chasing moonlight,” I said slowly, thinking it through while I spoke. “It hates fire. It only crosses the high stone paths unless something wounds it badly enough to break its rhythm. And when it gets disturbed, it circles back to the same territory every time.”

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