Page 14 of Rejected by My Stepbrother Alpha (Billionaire Shifter Club #1)

T he Corner Office

Ivy

*Seven years later*

“Goodbye, sweetheart,” I said and kissed my son on his cherubic cheek. “I hope you have the best day.” I squeezed him tight, wanting to prolong the moment before I had to let go.

“Mom,” Adrian grumbled. “Everyone is looking.” His bright green eyes glanced around the brightly-colored daycare.

I began to pull away from our embrace, but surprisingly, Adrian tightened his little arms around me.

“Okay, wait, maybe just a few more seconds, Mom,” he whispered so that none of his friends would be able to hear him.

My sweet boy.

The back of my eyes pricked, and I inhaled his sweet scent. He still smelled the same as the day he was born.

“Matteo's here!” Adrian said a second later and shot out of my arms.

Well, that was a nice moment while it lasted.

My son ran over to Matteo, his cousin, and the two began to talk a mile a minute. They were as close as brothers .

My half-brother—Matteo’s father—Damian Blackwood, walked up to me carrying Matteo’s lunchbox.

“The whole car ride here, all Matteo would talk about was how much he was going to miss Adrian next week,” Damian said by way of greeting me.

“I can’t believe Matteo is going to start first grade soon,” I said as I watched the boys head to their favorite toys to play with—the toy cars complete with a long racing track.

“Feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with Adrian and Sage, and you were betting on whether Matteo would say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ first.” Sage was Damian's wife. “Now, look at Matteo talking Adrian’s ear off.”

My brother smiled at the memory as he handed Matteo’s lunchbox to one of the child care assistants.

In a way, my nephew Matteo was the reason I found out that I had a half-brother.

Seven years ago, when I left the BloodMoon Pack with nothing but a suitcase and the knowledge that I needed a fresh start for my unborn child, I traveled to the ColdCrest Pack with the money I'd been saving up since I was a kid.

Briefly, I'd considered going back to my old pack to live with Maeve, but I wanted to keep my pregnancy a secret.

My old pack was too close to BloodMoon's territory.

The ColdCrest Pack was the furthest away I could get from Asher in the Ambervale Kingdom.

Halfway through the plane ride to the ColdCrest Pack, I realized I'd forgotten the silver necklace that my grandma gave to me.

When I arrived, I had enough money left over to rent a studio apartment, and I got a job as a secretary at a law firm.

Two months later, when I was walking to work, an out-of-control stroller rolled by me on the sidewalk.

My heart fell to the ground when I heard a baby crying inside it.

I ran after the stroller and just managed to grab the handle right before it rolled out onto the busy road.

Right after I grabbed the stroller, an older man came running up and breathlessly thanked me for saving his grandson, Matteo, whom he was babysitting.

We figured out the brake on the stroller broke right when the man was putting him into it.

The man wanted to thank me for saving his grandson and offered to buy me lunch.

We got to talking and noticed that we not only shared physical characteristics— like the same deep sky blue eyes and the exact large, oval-shaped birthmark on our left forearms, but we also had the same dry sense of humor and identical laughs that came from deep within our stomachs.

There was also just this feeling I had when it came to the man.

I couldn't explain it besides that we were connected in some way.

When I revealed that my mother's name was Evelyn, this led to a DNA test, and I discovered that the man was my biological father, who was named Mason Blackwood.

My father confided in me that he spent one night with my mom and then she left when she found out that he came from a poor family.

He hadn't heard from Evelyn since that night, and he hadn't even known that he had a daughter.

At that point, I shouldn't have been surprised by my mother's greed, but her selfishness still managed to shock me.

But the joke was on my mother for leaving my father.

After she left, unknowingly pregnant with me, my father worked tirelessly in the business world, and he started his own billion-dollar tech company called Blackwood Inc.

After we first met, my father had taken me under his wing, helped me enroll in college, and introduced me to my half-brother, Damian.

During this time, my new family supported me as I gave birth to Adrian.

Since then, I’d grown close with my father, Damian, Sage, and Matteo. They accepted my son and me into their family without hesitation.

Who knew that leaving the only home I'd ever known and completely starting over was how I would find my real family? And a place that I really felt like I belonged in.

“We should go,” Damian said as he looked down at his watch. “The meeting starts at nine.”

I nodded and allowed myself one last look at my son. My heart skipped a beat when a lock of brown hair fell onto his forehead, and he pushed it away.

He looked so much like his father when he did that.

Over the past month, Adrian had begun to ask me who his father was.

I'd managed to evade his questions for now by saying I'd tell him when he was older.

But the more my son grew, the more I knew that he would become more curious.

I was terrified that he was going to start resenting me if I didn't have an answer for him soon.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts as Damian and I left the daycare center. I needed to switch gears now. Damian and I walked through the sleek downstairs lobby and passed by my favorite security guard—Mr. Daniels.

“Good morning,” Mr. Daniels said to us and bowed his head respectfully.

“Good morning, Mr. Daniels,” Damian and I said.

He allowed us to pass by his desk without showing ID.

Last year, my father retired from the company, and he appointed Damian as the new CEO.

After years of working my way up, I had earned the role of vice president.

Our father stayed on as a consultant to the company.

It had been my idea to include a daycare center in our building which would be free for all our employees.

As Damian and I stepped onto the elevator, I mentally prepared myself for a busy work day.

The elevator was glass, and I studied my shoulder-length auburn hair, tucking a piece behind my ear.

Right after I moved to the ColdCrest Pack, I got my waist-length hair cut to right below my chin.

As my brother and I rode the elevator to the top floor, I smoothed my tailored black skirt and fixed the collar of my white blouse.

“I’ll meet you in the conference room in five minutes,” Damian said as we stepped out of the elevator.

“Make it four,” I joked.

My brother rolled his eyes. “You're a real comedian, Ivinia.”

After I met my father, I changed my name to Ivinia Blackwood. I probably wouldn’t even respond to the name Ivy anymore.

I nodded and said good morning to everyone I passed on the walk to my corner office. My assistant—Daryl—handed me my morning coffee.

“Good morning, Ms. Blackwood,” he said and looked down at the tablet in his hands. “Your meeting with the Alpha king's representative starts in ten minutes.” Daryl followed me into my office as he consulted his tablet.

“Thank you,” I said and took a sip of my black coffee. “The representative's name is Anya, correct?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Daryl said. “Are you ready to go over the rest of your schedule for the day?”

I nodded and set down my red briefcase on my chair.

After we went over my schedule and all the updates he had for me, Daryl left my office.

Once the door was shut behind him, I allowed myself a moment to appreciate the view from my large glass window.

The city was bustling with cars and people, and the sun was shining.

Its warmth was pleasant on my face. I shut my eyes and started the work day like I always did: mentally listing everything I was grateful for.

My son.

My newfound family.

My job.

And finding where I belong in this world.

An image of Asher’s handsome face flashed into my mind, but I forcefully pushed it away.

I grabbed my coffee cup and my laptop. I was ready for another day of kicking ass and taking names in the corporate world.

The meeting was held in our largest conference room. Damian was sitting at the head of the glass table, and I was on his right. There were a few of the members from the board and our two senior executives that were attending the meeting.

Everyone was eager as we waited for the meeting to begin. The Alpha king’s representative had only told us that she had a potential job for our company when she requested a meeting with us.

“Good morning, everyone,” the representative of the Alpha king said from the projector that was mounted to the wall.

“Good morning, Anya,” I greeted her.

Damian shot me a quick, grateful look. One of the main reasons that my brother and I made such a good business team was that I was better at the small details that came with running a company, such as managing client relationships and ensuring we hit every deadline.

Damian was better at the big picture ideas, like developing the latest technology and creative problem-solving.

“Thank you for taking time out of your schedules and meeting with me,” Anya said.

“I want to get right to the point as I know you are all very busy.” She leaned forward to consult her notes, and a piece of her blond hair fell in front of her face.

“The Alpha king would like to invite you, Ivinia, and you, Damian, to compete to work on a potential project for him.”

The room was silent for a moment as we all processed what she had just revealed.

My mind spun at the possibility that working on a project for the Alpha king would bring Blackwood Inc.

It could make us one of the biggest tech companies in all of Ambervale Kingdom.

Two women from the board glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows.

I leaned forward in my seat, and I noticed Damian did as well.

“The project involves developing a technology that the Royal Guard will utilize to protect our kingdom,” Anya informed us. “I want to be transparent with you two. We are considering other tech companies, and the team with the best idea will receive the project with our full financial backing.”

Holy shit.

That would be huge. With the kind of money that the Alpha king had, it would create tons of new positions at our company. Gaining this account might even help with the large unemployment problem in the ColdCrest Pack. My heart beat with excitement.

“You two would need to travel to the BloodMoon Pack because all the meetings pertaining to the project will take place there in the city of Sun Fire,” Anya told Damian and me.

My stomach dropped, and I froze.

“Finally, the Alpha king would like you to consider working on this project with another tech company that you have previously teamed up with in the past,” Anya said and glanced down at the paper in front of her. “He would like for both of your companies to create one prototype together.”

The back of my neck prickled, and time seemed to slow down.

No…

“Which company is that?” Damian asked.

I already knew what Anya was going to say before she even opened her mouth.

“BloodMoon Enterprises.”

Cold shock hit me like a speeding train.

That was my late stepfather’s company—the one that I was certain Asher was the CEO of now.

Was I going to have to come face-to-face with the man who rejected me…the father of my son?

The son that he didn’t know existed.