Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother novel Chapter 71

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Chapter 71: Undress Myself

Riley’s POV

My mother stared at me for a long moment. Then she did something that made my bloed run colder than any mountain wind

She laughed, pity and mockery.

“Oh, Riley.” She shook her head and pressed one manicured hand to her chest. “You’re so dramatic.”

“Dramatic?” I couldn’t help but raised my voice. “You just gave away my win on the phone. And you are keeping me locked in here like a prisoner. And I’m dramatic?!”

She stepped past me into the bedroom, completely unbothered by my anger. Her silk robe whispered against the floor. She didn’t even look back to see if I was following.

“You got lucky in that game,” she said, pouring herself a glass of water from the crystal decanter on try nightstand. “I know your real ability, Riley. I’ve known it your whole life. You’re not championship material.”

“But I’ve proven you wrong. I won! It’s you who are stealing it away from me!”

“Not stealing. I’m correcting things,” she said. “Like I said, you got lucky. Or you must have help from your friends. A boy, maybe? You’d never win a huge competition like this on your own. So don’t even think about collecting that price because it’s not yours anyway.”

The words hit me like a physical blow.

I stood in the bathroom doorway, gripping the frame so hard my knuckles went white.

“You don’t care about what happen. You just want to put me down. That’s it.”

“God, Riley. You are always like this-twisting my good intentions. It’s really not easy being your mother. When will you see that I’m doing this for your own good?”

Something inside me shattered.

When I came to this pack at the start of this semester, I still had hope in my heart. I thought-and grandma agreed with me on this-that this might be a chance to patch things up with my mother. I never gave her the chance she deserved and it’s not fair

for her.

But now, I had realized something.

My mother would always be this selfish, cold and manipulative. And she would never change. She wouldn’t stop until she made everyone around her crazy.

Then she set the glass down and turned to face me. Obviously, she wasn’t done with her lecture yet.

“You’re a girl, Riley. In our world, girls don’t over shine. They support. They stand behind their men. They smile and nod and look pretty.” She gestured vaguely at my face, at the dried blood still crusted under my nose. “Not whatever this is.”

“You don’t get to define who I am

11

“You are my daughter. So of course I do,” Her voice hardened. “Here’s what you are going to do in the future: You’re going to stay quietly in this castle. And you’re going to do what’s expected of you.”

My hands started shaking again. “What’s expected of me?”

She smiled. “I’ve arranged a marriage for you and Soren approves of that. Your fiancé is a very decent young man from a very powerful family. He will arrive at the Full Moon Pack soon. I hope you like him.”

The room tilted. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“You your what?!”

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“Don’t look so shocked. You’te eighteen. It’s tine.” She smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. “After you graduate next year, you’ll marry him. He solidify our power here. This is how alliances are made Riley. Surely you’re not that naive.” “I can’t just marry a strange man! He’s not even my mate

She clicked her tongue impatiently. “Not everyone finds their mates. Soren and I aren’t mates and we turned out just fine.”

I couldn’t take her nonsense anymore.

So I lunged for the door.

She didn’t try to stop me. The next second, two soldiers stepped through the doorway before I could reach it. They were massive men in black tactical gear. One of them put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back.

“No,” I snarled, trying to shove past him. “You can’t-”

“I can.” My mother walked past me toward the hallway. “I’m the queen. And I have given order to these two men here to stay with you tonight. Make sure you rest. And make sure you don’t do anything… foolish.”

She paused at the door and looked back at me. Her eyes were cold. Empty.

“Goodnight, Riley.”

Then she was gone.

The soldiers closed the door. One of them stood near the window. The other positioned himself by my bedroom door.

I stood in the middle of my bedroom, breathing hard, my fists clenched at my sides.

This was unbelievable. I wanted to scream and smash things. I turned sharply and strode to the bathroom and one guy immediately took a step forward.

They followed me everywhere.

I moved to the bed, and the window soldier tracked me with his eyes. I went to the dresser, and the bathroom soldier shifted his weight. When I sat down on the edge of the mattress, they both just stood there.

“Some privacy, please?” I snapped at them.

But they kept a poker face. “Sorry, Lady Riley. The queen has asked us to remain with you at all times.”

Fuck.

They wanted to play this time? Very well then.

I let out a cold laugh and reached for the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head. I had only a lace bra underneath.

The window soldier’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing…stop this!”

I ignored him and reached for the clasp of my pants. My fingers moved slowly, deliberately.

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