After My Mate Took My Stepsister as His Luna

The neutral-ground training field was loud. It smelled of kicked-up dirt, stale sweat, and crushed pine needles. I stood near the edge of the bleachers, organizing a crate of water bottles.

My younger cousin, Ryder, jogged over from the sparring mats. He was grinning, his face flushed with exertion. He grabbed a water bottle from the crate and threw a heavy, sweaty arm around my shoulders.

"Good drill," Ryder panted. He was wearing his favorite faded navy-blue hoodie. It was a size too big on him, the cuffs frayed from years of use, but he refused to throw it away. He pulled me close in a quick, sideways hug. "Were you watching my footwork?"

"You're sloppy on your left side," I teased, leaning into his side.

Ryder laughed and ruffled my hair. It was easy with him. He was safe. He didn't play the political games the rest of my father's pack did.

Then, the air changed.

A heavy, suffocating pressure rolled across the open field. My inner wolf snapped to attention, her ears pinning back. I turned my head.

Across the dirt track, the Black Moon warriors were running combat drills. But their Alpha wasn't watching them. Lucas stood perfectly still by the tree line. His dark eyes were locked onto me. No, not just me. He was staring at Ryder's arm wrapped securely around my shoulders. He was staring at the faded navy-blue hoodie.

I didn't understand why his gaze looked so violent. I only knew that my heart was suddenly beating too fast against my ribs. Lucas's jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked rapidly in his cheek. He looked away a second later, turning back to his men, but the heavy, oppressive pressure in the air didn't fade.

Ten minutes later, I walked over to the corrugated metal equipment shed to grab more clean towels. It was quiet behind the bleachers. I opened the heavy metal door and stepped into the dim shade.

A large shadow blocked the sunlight.

Before I could turn around, a massive hand slammed the metal door shut. The loud bang echoed sharply in my ears.

A wall of dark cedar and woodsmoke hit me. My knees instantly went weak.

Lucas shoved me backward. My spine hit the cold metal wall hard. He stepped right into my space, trapping me. His Alpha aura exploded outward. It was so heavy, so dominant, that I heard a distant shout of surprise from the training field outside. Every wolf within fifty meters had probably just dropped their gaze to the dirt.

Lucas didn't care. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them against the metal above my head. His chest heaved against mine. He was so close I could feel the angry heat radiating off his skin.

His canines were half-extended. They grazed his bottom lip as he breathed.

"Who is he?" Lucas demanded.

His voice wasn't his usual cold, composed Alpha tone. It was a raw, guttural snarl that scraped against the quiet of the shed.

I stared up at him, my heart hammering violently against my ribs. "Lucas, let me go."

He didn't move an inch. He leaned his face down into the crook of my neck. He inhaled my wild jasmine scent like a starving man finally finding food. A violent shudder ripped through his massive frame.

"Who is the boy in the blue hoodie?" he growled against my skin. His voice actually cracked. "Tell me, Ariya."

This wasn't pack dominance. This was pure, unfiltered desperation. I looked up into his dark eyes. They were wild with a jealousy so deep it looked exactly like agony. He thought I had moved on. He thought I had found someone else.

My wolf whimpered. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck. I wanted to tell him there was no one else. There would never be anyone else.

I pressed my thumbnail hard into my own palm to stay grounded. I forced my voice to stay flat. "He's my cousin. Ryder is my cousin."

Lucas froze.

The murderous rage in his dark eyes flickered. His chest stopped heaving quite so hard. He looked down at my face, searching my eyes for a lie. He didn't find one.

But he didn't step back.

For five long, charged seconds, he stayed pinned against me. His grip on my wrists loosened, but his hands didn't drop away. His gaze slowly dropped to my lips. The glacial, hateful mask he had worn for the past three days was completely shattered. He just looked like a man who was bleeding out.

My breath hitched. The severed mate bond roared between us, a phantom limb begging to be reattached. The air in the shed was so thick with cedar and jasmine I could barely breathe.

Then, Lucas closed his eyes. He swallowed hard. He pulled his crushing aura back into himself, stepping away from me like he had just been burned. Without a single word, he turned around, pushed the metal door open, and walked away.

I slid down the metal wall until I hit the dirt floor. My hands were shaking so badly I had to press my thumb into my wrist to stop them.

A minute later, heavy footsteps crunched on the gravel outside. Ryder walked around the corner of the shed. He stopped and looked in the direction Lucas had gone. Then he looked down at me sitting in the dirt.

"So," Ryder said. He crossed his arms over his navy hoodie. "What the hell was that?"

I pushed myself up. I brushed the dust off my jeans and kept my eyes firmly on the ground. "Nothing. Just pack politics. Black Moon and Silverfang don't get along."

Ryder scoffed loudly. "Pack politics? Ariya, his aura nearly flattened half the field out there. I couldn't even breathe for a solid minute." He took a step closer. His voice dropped, losing its usual playful tone. "And he was looking at you like he wanted to eat you alive."

"Leave it alone, Ryder," I warned.

Ryder didn't back down. He was one of the few people in my father's territory who knew the real reason I left three years ago. He knew about Alpha Richard's death threat. He knew I broke my own heart to save Lucas's life.

"He hasn't moved on," Ryder said flatly. "Anyone with eyes can see that. And you're the worst liar I've ever met."

"I told you to stay out of it," I snapped. My voice was harsher than I meant it to be. "It's over. It has to be over."

Ryder stared at me. He saw right through my flat, emotionless armor. He sighed and pulled the hood of his faded navy sweatshirt over his head.

"Yeah, okay," Ryder muttered, turning around to walk back to the training field. "I'll think about it."

I watched him go. The scent of dark cedar and smoke still clung heavily to my clothes. The trap was perfectly set for my father, but as my wolf cried out for her mate in the dark, I was suddenly terrified that I was the one who was caught.