Page 1 of Rejected by My Stepbrother Alpha (Billionaire Shifter Club #1)

A Forbidden Feeling

Ivy

Asher walked into my bedroom without bothering to knock and stood in front of my bed. His shirt was off, and a white towel was wrapped around his waist. Had he come from his shower straight into my room? Droplets of water were sliding down the hard lines of his shoulders, arms, and toned stomach.

My mouth became dry as I studied his bare chest and broad shoulders.

Greedily, I gazed at his naked torso. His body was perfect.

But his devastatingly handsome face was even better.

From his thick brown hair to his wide hazel eyes and strong jawline, he didn’t have one flaw.

Even the small scar over his right eyebrow was sexy.

Looking at him felt wrong…but so right.

“Ivy,” he said in that addictive, deep voice. “I can’t take this…longing anymore. These stolen glances filled with enough heat to set this place on fire are driving me crazy.” He paused, let out a deep sigh, and pushed his shaggy brown hair away from his eyes.

My breath caught in my throat. It seemed like he was truly looking at me. Really seeing me for the first time.

Asher strode over to my bed like he couldn’t stand the distance between us. He sat down beside me, close enough that our knees were touching. An electric current passed between us at the contact, and I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning out loud.

My eyes shot down to the towel around his waist. Asher wasn’t bothering to hold it in place. The cotton fabric was slipping, showcasing the deep V indentation on his lower stomach that led to his…

My eyes went wide, and I looked up at him.

“See something you like?” Asher asked and smirked.

I nodded, unable to form actual words.

He cupped my cheeks and drew my face toward his.

His warm hands on my skin made my head spin, and my hands began to shake.

Our lips were only an inch apart.

“Why don’t we take a risk, Ivy?” he whispered, his eyes on my lips. “We don’t have to be good all the time, do we?”

“No, we don’t have to be good…”

We leaned in, finally acting on our forbidden feelings…

Suddenly, someone knocked on my hotel room door, interrupting my daydream. In reality, I was sitting on my bed, and I was completely alone. My cheeks heated, and I tried to slow my breathing. I couldn't face anyone right now.

What if it was him?

I stared at my door until someone knocked again.

“Ivy! It's me! Can you please open up? I feel awkward just standing out in the hallway.” My best friend Maeve's voice came from the other side of the door.

“Sorry!” I called and rushed to open the door.

A huge grin bloomed across my face when I saw my best friend. We texted almost every day, but this was the first time I had seen her in person in over a year. Maeve and I threw our arms around each other.

When she pulled away, she looked at me questioningly.

“What took you so long to open the door?” Maeve asked.

I blushed, pulled her into my room, and shut the door.

“Uh, I was brushing my hair,” I lied.

Maeve grinned slyly .

“Sure you were,” she teased like she knew exactly what I’d been doing.

I wasn't embarrassed because I'd been daydreaming about a guy. I assumed every girl my age did that. It was who I was fantasizing about that made me self-conscious.

Asher Callahan—the man in my fantasy—was my stepbrother.

“It's so good to see you,” I said. “Thank you for driving all the way here just to help me get ready.”

“Of course, girl. I've missed you. Home just isn't the same without you.” Maeve squeezed my hand and put her bag down on one of the extra chairs.

Maeve and I had been inseparable since kindergarten. That was until a year ago when my mom met Asher's dad—Russell Callahan—and they had a whirlwind romance. Russell and my mom married after only six weeks of knowing each other.

“Let's get started!” Maeve said and excitedly clapped her hands together.

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I grinned as I sat down in front of the vanity mirror.

“I think we should do your hair first,” she said. “Where's your brush?”

“Hm, probably still in my bag. I haven't unpacked it yet.”

Maeve smirked and put her hands on her hips.

“Wasn’t the reason you took so long to open the door because you were brushing your hair?” she reminded me.

I ducked my head in embarrassment.

Once I located my brush, Maeve began to put my hair up into a complicated-looking updo.

“So, tell me about what's been going on with you,” she said. “When we talk on the phone, you never say anything about what’s going on in your life.”

My heart began to beat rapidly, and I shifted in my seat. Asher’s handsome face floated into my head, but I forced the image out of my mind.

“Uh, nothing’s really happened, honestly,” I said. “I’ve just been busy with my classes and work. ”

I took classes at the local community college and worked as a server at a sports bar to save up enough money to live on my own.

Oh yeah, and I can’t stop thinking about my stepbrother and what it would feel like to kiss him. Is that normal, Maeve? Do you think there’s something wrong with me?

I blushed, wondering what my friend would say if I actually said that out loud.

Her deft fingers arranged my long copper-colored hair into a braided crown that wrapped around the back of my head.

“I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it down last month for your birthday. How was it? How was shifting for the first time?” she asked.

We shifters first transformed into our wolves on the night of our twentieth birthday.

“My birthday was nothing special. And, um, my first shift wasn’t the best experience…I kind of freaked out. The magic and power flowing through me during the transformation honestly terrified me.”

Maeve's eyes were wide and she nodded for me to keep going.

“It seemed like I could destroy a whole city by myself,” I admitted. “I felt…afraid of myself, and I didn't know what my new form was capable of. What I was capable of.”

“Oh, Ivy. I'm so sorry you experienced that,” my friend said.

“It’s okay. I eventually calmed down…”

I wasn't telling her the whole story. The night of my twentieth birthday—the first time I shifted—was the night my infatuation with my stepbrother had begun. After I transformed into my wolf, I howled loudly. I was scared and alone in the woods behind our house.

Asher had been the one to find me. He was in his human form, and all he had said was my name. Him just saying my name was enough to calm me down. I was able to transform back into my human form, Asher had brought me clothes to wear, and then walked with me back into the house.

We never talked about that night again. But I never forgot about the calm feeling that Asher’s presence had made me experience. It seemed like I’d been chasing that same kind of tranquility ever since that night. I’d been unable to find it .

Maeve’s hand squeezing my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts.

“I'm sorry that I wasn’t there to help you through your first time shifting,” she said.

“Don't be sorry.” I caught her eye in the vanity mirror. “You're here now.”

We shared a grin, and she squeezed my shoulder once more, then got back to work finishing my hair.

“That looks so good,” I said when she secured the last bobby pin into place.

She smiled at my compliment.

“Turn away from the mirror before I start your makeup,” Maeve instructed. “I want you to see the final look when you put your dress on.”

After I spun around, she got started on my makeup.

“What about your new stepdad? Do you get along with him?” Maeve asked as she compared two foundations with my skin tone, trying to find the one that best matched my pale complexion.

“Russell is nice. He’s a really busy guy because he’s the Alpha of our pack and running a huge corporation, but when he talks to me, it seems like he actually cares to get to know me,” I said.

Russell seemed like a truly decent guy. That was why I didn’t know what he was doing with my mother.

“What about your stepbrother, Asher? Everyone knows that he's the most eligible bachelor in all of Ambervale Kingdom.” Maeve giggled. “He’s so cute. Honestly, Asher could be a contender for the hottest guy I’ve seen in all of our kingdom.”

Oh my Goddess.

I prayed to the Moon Goddess—she was the shifter deity—that she would take pity on me and kill me now.

“I mean, uh, obviously I don't see him that way,” I said, hoping that my high-pitched voice didn’t betray me. “He’s my stepbrother. And, besides, I barely know him. Right after my mom and Russell’s wedding, Asher moved out of the house to attend college in another kingdom.”

I believed that Asher moved away because of my mom and me.

Asher was going to take over his dad’s technology company, BloodMoon Enterprises, in the future.

It didn’t make sense for him to move to another kingdom in the middle of his college career.

Unless he had a reason to want to get away. Or two reasons.

“Girl, you're not actually related to him, and you guys didn't even grow up together. It's okay to admit that he's cute,” she said and winked.

Maeve—and most shifters my age—were pretty open about their sex lives. Not me. I'd always been shy about that sort of thing. My experience with romance was limited to a few awkward first dates and even more awkward kisses.

“I mean, um, he’s a little cute. I guess.” That was the understatement of the century. “He actually just moved back here a month ago, right before my birthday. He’s going to start at Sun Fire University this fall and help run his dad’s technology business.”

Sun Fire was the city that most of Asher's dad's pack—BloodMoon—resided in.

I didn't tell her about the disdain I could feel coming off of Asher whenever he looked at me the past few weeks. The loathing in his beautiful hazel eyes always made me shiver.