All Chapters of Four months with my Stepson and the Twin Alphas.: Chapter 31 - Chapter 39

I go back into the manor to look for them.The strangeness of this action feels like ice on my skin, because two days ago, if anyone had asked me what I would be doing at this moment, I'd have said I'd still be in my room, not doing anything and waiting to die from hunger or lack of sunlight.Yet here I am, looking for the same three people I consider the current punishment the world is dealing to me.Their scent fills the whole place….It’s almost like everywhere I step foot, there’s a slight fragrance that tells me Damien has been here, Alek has been there,Ryan has been… literally everywhere in this house.I find them in one of the relaxation rooms, and the moment I come in, all three of them snap their heads to me. It’s an eerie sight, but it becomes less eerie when I feel the mate bond pulsing. Damien and Alek must have sensed me, and Ryan… must have heard my footsteps.They’re reading books.They each have a book in hand, and the sight of it makes me feel something squirm in me

Layla’s pov.I am left alone and the moment I get to my room, I close the door and crumple right behind it - my heart pounding in my chest and my breath coming in decidedly short bursts.I don’t know why I feel like this. Or why this even affects me, yet I can't get the image of their faces out of my head, and I wonder if I'm not in over my head.Ryan and Damien seem to have made up, and if they have then I'm guessing he’s going to be helping them in… wooing me, or getting me to trust them. I suspect he’s doing that already, and I know Ryan.Ryan does not do anything that does not benefit him first, and this is a game we’re all playing - a sly game, and to succeed, I have to be as smart as they are. If not smarter.I go through all Breanne said to me earlier again and I recount the points in my head.Men do not like an easy woman, or sometimes they do, depending on the type of man, but to be on the safer side, be the difficult type.I tuck that away in my mind and move on to the next

Ryan’s pov. Layla is standing outside my door when I open it and I can see it in her eyes. She’s caught me.She caught me red-handed, And while I don't want to let her know if that affects me, I know it does.There’s a stilted kind of hurt in her green eyes, and then it seems she gathers herself rapidly, pulling on a brave face and giving me the kind of look that tells me she understands this game, she’s brought herself to understand it for a while now and she’s done all that for a reason. Her eyes tell me if I want to screw half the population of the help in the mansion, then I can. If I want to have more girlfriends that she can count on the fingers of her hand, then I can too. She’s not going to stop me. It’s not like we had an agreement that I wouldn't take my fun where I could find it.Somehow that makes the reality of all this even more depressing, because as much as I can, I’d like her to know it’s not like that. This was just a one-time thing, but before I can even formulate

Alek’s voice is an annoying presence when it enters my head,“Trouble in paradise?”But I ignore him. He sidles up closer to me, and this time he asks verbally, clearly seeing I don’t like how he speaks into my mind,“Trouble in paradise Layla?”Alek’s voice is a husky soft thing and I take it in, letting myself breathe a bit before shaking my head and responding to him calmly,“What paradise?”Alek chuckles and out of instinct, a smile lines my lips. I wipe that smile away immediately because it’s obvious I'm letting their joint effect influence me too much. The task in front of me is what I should focus on right now, and I do, trying to clear my head as I look at the stables.Ryan is gone like I asked.Damien is somewhere behind, and I don't know if he’s behind trying to talk to Ryan, or if he’s behind because he’s trying to figure out where he can get what we’ll need for hunting. Absentmindedly I ask,“Is Damien still…”I catch myself before I can complete the statement but Alek

38: Alek doesn’t ask me weird questions anymore and I feel thankful for that. There would have been a limit to my answers and once I passed that limit, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have snapped at him.Right now though, there’s something else on my mind, something more pressing.How do I…deal with all this?I know that sounds incredibly vague but it’s still what’s on my mind. Today is the first day of 120 days I need to be around Damien and Alek.Alek just said he and Damien came into the city to track down someone who’s been giving the pack trouble, and even though I have no idea who that might be, I want to assume that it will take up most of their time.This trial we’re having is for them to see if they can get me to come over to them, but for me, it’s a way to fulfill a simple formality. I don’t think Damien and Alek can ever change.Sure. I might have thought that yesterday, but today, I feel differently.The images of Damien I caught while in his wolf form as he hunted still flash p