Page 42 of Rejected by My Stepbrother Alpha (Billionaire Shifter Club #1)

S tage Left

Ivy

“And now we wait,” I said in a shaking voice as Asher and I stepped into an empty clearing just outside his territory.

We scanned the quiet woods, shielding our eyes from the early afternoon sun. Asher's body was tense, and his nostrils flared as he searched our surroundings.

“Do you sense anyone?” I murmured, sniffed the air, and listened closely.

“No,” Asher whispered, her gaze roaming over the woods, looking like a lion about to attack. “I don’t smell or hear anyone.”

My stomach sank with dread. “What if this is all a distraction?” I asked. “What if my mom did this all to get you away from Sun Fire? What if Adrian is already…”

But I couldn’t even finish my sentence. My throat closed around the word, and I swallowed around it, wishing I’d never had that thought in the first place.

Asher whipped his head toward me, grabbing my hands. The warmth of his body managed to calm me slightly.

“Don’t think like that, baby,” he said fiercely, staring deep into my eyes. “Your mom won’t hurt Adrian. I think she wants something from us, and she’s going to use him,” a muscle ticced in his jaw, “ as a bargaining chip.” He snarled the last few words.

My shoulders relaxed slightly. As long as my mother didn’t hurt my son, I’d give her whatever she wanted.

Asher squeezed my hands. “Ivy, if your mom wants one of us to…sacrifice ourselves, you have to let it be me,” he said. “Adrian needs you. He loves you so much, and you’re such a good mom.”

I took a slight step back but held onto his hands. At this point, his steady grip was the only thing keeping me upright.

“No…Asher, stop,” I said as my skin tingled with fear. In the back of my mind, I thought I heard a twig snap, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from his. “Our son needs you, too. He loves you. You're such a great father. He can't lose you right after he just—”

But I never got to finish my sentence as something heavy hit the back of my head, and a blinding pain made my vision swim.

Shit!

Asher and I had become so wrapped up in each other that we hadn't been paying attention to our surroundings.

But this was part of the plan. We needed to be captured so that they would bring us to where our son was being held.

As a powerful Alpha, Asher had probably heard them coming, but stuck to the plan and chose not to fight.

That was hard to do when a powerful blow came from my right side and knocked me to the ground. Nausea and pain coursed through me, and I blindly reached for Asher, but someone kicked my head, and I flew through the air.

I lost consciousness before I hit the ground.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the horrible taste in my mouth. When I looked at my surroundings, my blood ran cold.

Asher was slumped over in the chair beside me, his hands and ankles tied to a chair with rope. He was unconscious, and my stomach stiffened when I saw that he had a black eye and his lip was bruised and bleeding. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that I was tied to a chair, too.

I tried to remember how we ended up like this, but my head was pounding so much that I couldn’t think straight.

My body wasn’t that much better off. It seemed like I took one hell of a beating.

Every inch of my body was aching with pain.

I couldn’t tell whether it was sweat or blood that was dripping down my face. I was probably better off not knowing.

Slowly, I looked around—wincing as my head throbbed from the motion—and took in the large room.

Asher and I were tied to one of the many chairs that faced a wooden stage.

It seemed like we were in a pack meeting hall, but I knew we weren’t in the BloodMoon or the ColdCrest pack’s territory. The scent here was unfamiliar.

Where was our son?

As I thought that, memories pulsed painfully into my mind. Waking up in the middle of the night to find out my mother had taken my son, seeing that awful video of him being kidnapped on the roof, getting that note, and losing consciousness after being attacked in the forest.

I could see from the large windows that it was dark outside. Asher and I had been taken in the forest early in the afternoon, so I knew that we had been unconscious for a couple of hours at least.

That meant that Adrian had been missing for nearly twenty-four hours.

Fear coursed through me, and my hands began to shake.

“Adrian!” I yelled, not caring who heard me. “Mommy’s here! Mommy’s here to save you!” I tried to fight against my bindings, tried to transform into my wolf, but my body was too groggy and weak.

My screaming did wake up Asher, though. He stirred and blinked a few times. Asher could only open one of his eyes because the other was too bruised.

“Asher!” I yelled, beyond relieved that he was awake. “Are you all right?”

He nodded, and his good eye searched my body. His chest rumbled with anger when he noticed all of my injuries.

“Whoever did this to you will pay,” he growled. “Have you seen Adrian yet?”

”No, I woke up just a little bit before you,” I answered, continuing to tug on my bindings, but that just made the rope tighter around my wrists and ankles. “We seem to be alone, but I don’t think we will be for long.”

Asher closed his good eye and let out a deep breath. I realized that he was trying to focus to shift.

“I can’t transform,” he said and let out a frustrated growl. “Can you?”

I shook my head as fear shot through me. A single tear rolled down my cheek.

Asher noticed and caught my gaze. “Hey, we're going to save him. I promise,” he said.

“And we're both getting out of here alive,” I added, his words from earlier making my anxiety spike. He was planning to sacrifice himself if it came down to it. “Say it, Asher. Say we're both getting out of here alive.”

At this point, I was begging him.

He sighed. “Yes, we're both getting out of here alive.”

I didn't think he meant it, but just hearing him say those words was enough for me to hold onto for now.

Asher began to try to escape from his bindings, but his movements were slow and unsteady, like mine.

“I think those bastards drugged us,” I said. “Maybe with chloroform to make us pass out, and they could have given us a potion so we couldn’t shift.”

Asher nodded as he continued to struggle against the rope. “I think you’re right. I’ve never felt so weak.” His nostrils flared, and his eyes sparked with anger.

After five more minutes of trying to free ourselves, we took a break. My wrists and ankles were burning from the rope rubbing against my raw skin.

Asher looked around the empty meeting hall, a little crease developing between his eyebrows. “This place looks familiar.”

He was silent for a minute, and I stayed quiet, letting him think .

“I remember now,” he said, his eyebrows raising slightly with recognition. “I came here with my dad once when I was younger. He had a meeting with Alpha…”

Asher trailed off, and his face transformed with fury.

“That bastard!” he yelled and struggled against the rope again.

“Who? Who’s the—“

But cruel laughter cut me off. I looked to the stage, and Silas Shepherd walked from behind the red curtain. His eyes were filled with hatred as he stared at us, but he had a smug smile on his face.

“You’ve finally figured it out,” Silas taunted Asher. “You had no idea that you were willingly letting your enemy into your territory this whole time. You’re a fool!”

My mouth dropped open, and all I could do was stare at Silas as shock flowed through me. Our business rival kidnapped Adrian? Why? It made no sense.

“You’re the one who drugged me at my father’s gala seven years ago, didn’t you?” Asher snarled. “I remember seeing you there that night before I drank that champagne.”

“Yes, I did,” Silas said proudly. “I paid off the server at the gala to pour a drug into your drink that was supposed to lower your inhibitions, almost similar to alcohol, and make you forget what happened the next day. I was frustrated when you didn’t embarrass yourself at your father’s gala like I had planned. ” He shook his head in frustration.

The look in his cold eyes made my pulse quicken. I recognized that disdainful look in that dark gaze…

But from where?

Silas noticed my stare and a wicked grin blossomed across his face. “I almost had you that night behind the hotel, but Asher had to come and ruin it.”

“You’re the wolf who attacked me !” I said and gasped.

That was why I recognized his cold eyes! They were the same in his wolf form as his human form.

“Right again,” he mocked. “And I paid off that silly girl to drug your coffee before the meeting with Anya.”

Silas looked proud of himself as he stood before us, running a hand through his gray hair like he was fixing it for someone special.

My stomach rolled with disgust. I was sick of talking to this guy. I just wanted to know where my son was and if he was all right.

“Did you do all those awful things just because we’re business rivals and wanted to win the Alpha king account?” Asher asked. “If you did, you’re pathetic.”

Silas shot Asher a sharp look, but his expression changed to one of delight when he heard an odd sort of clacking sound behind the curtain. For some reason, goosebumps rose on my arms, and the hair on my neck stood up.

“The Alpha king account was only part of it,” Silas said. “But the much bigger part was because I’m in love.” He gestured to the red curtain.

And my mother stepped onto the stage, her red heels clacking on the wood.