Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Chapter 51

Hardin’s POV

“Welcome back captain.” The team chorused as I stepped into the changing room and I grinned, finally able to rest and know that I was not under any pressure to keep the position any longer, especially because it involved trying not to show my intense dislike for Lorenzo.

As I passed by him on the way to my locker, he smiled and I ignored him.

“Congratulations on becoming captain of the team, again. Well deserved.” He said in a calm voice that would have been believable from anybody else except him because not up to twenty four hours ago, he was still running against me for this very same position.

It baffled me how composed he looked and I wondered why he had even run against me in the first place?

Was it to piss me off because he had done an excellent job at it. I couldn’t think of any reason why he did and suddenly dropped out. I bet Jasmine would know about why but she didn’t look like she did yesterday.

Anyways, it didn’t matter anymore. I was captain again and no matter how much I wanted to punch Lorenzo in the face anytime I saw his face, I would save all of that for when we were not on school grounds.

“Thank you for your contribution to the team. It was fun running against you even though there was really never any competition, was there?” I answered and the smile on his face dimmed for a second before it came back in full force. Fake. So fake. I wondered how Jasmine and the rest of the school population did not see past his good boy act.

Then again, as long as he did the act far away from me and Jasmine, I didn’t care.

As for Jasmine, I’d be damned if I let whatever Lorenzo thought was between them flourish. He didn’t know that but if he thought that by stepping down for me, he was going to find my favour in that area, then he was in for a surprise.

“If you say so, Hardin. See you at practice.” He answered and as he headed out of the locker room, Alex and Sandro walked over to where I was standing.

“What did he want?” Alex asked and I shrugged.

“To congratulate me.”

“Well, then, that’s not suspicious at all, is it?” Sandro said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, showing that just like me, he didn’t believe that something was not up with Lorenzo.

“Whatever he’s up to, we will find out in due time.” I answered, picking up my helmet as we headed for the field.

Whatever Lorenzo was up to, I would find out and I would be ready for him.

The one person that I was not ready for, however was my father because his text was waiting for me after I finished practice to see him when I got home.

Even though I knew why he wanted to see me, it didn’t make my legs feel any lighter as I dragged my feet to his office when I got home, wasting enough time in the shower and still being unable to avoid the inevitable topic that was apparently not just bothering him but the pack elders and was very important to the future of the pack.

Finding my mate. . .

When I entered his office, Camila was leaning against the table beside him, the two of them looking at something on the laptop.

“You’re here. Welcome” Camila said when she raised her head and saw that it was me that had entered, her smile wide and warm in a way that I was still not used to. Perhaps it was because I was still unsure if she was for real and because I felt bad that liking her would be betraying my mother.

“Hello Hardin” My father said coolly, turning to look up at his wife with a smile. Camila leaned down and kissed him gently.

“I’ll leave you two to discuss. Shall I send snacks up?”

“Yes, my darling. You may.” My father answered with an affectionate smile that made me feel like I shouldn’t even be here. I wanted to hate him for moving on. But he had loved my mum with every fibre of his being, had not looked at another woman when she was alive so as much as I was angry, I could not help but feel envious that he had been given a second chance at love. Especially because I was yet to even find my mate and given my behaviour, I was not sure that the gods would bother to pair anyone with someone as insufferable as I was.

Patting my shoulder affectionately as she walked past me towards the door, she closed the door gently behind her and the room was silent for what felt like hours instead of minutes before my father spoke.

“You know why I called you here, Hardin.”

“Yes and I’ve not found her yet, father. What do you want me to do? Go around sniffing the entire female population across town to find her?”

It was possible, given that I had already slept with at least half the town and was sure that neither of those people were my mate. I would know.NôvelDrama.Org is the owner.

Finding your mate was a very instant thing, everyone had said. And even though people could marry for love and not just the mating bond alone, like my father’s marriage with Camila, there was nothing that could compare to mating with your mate. Mating with the other half of your soul, as chosen by the goddess.

Perhaps something was wrong with me.

My father had found my mother when he was sixteen and I was going on nineteen in a couple of months with no mate in sight.

There was also the issue that I didn’t even think I wanted to find my mate. I watched my father after my mother died. I didn’t think I could deal with that kind of loss. I would destroy the world in rage.

That was why I was not even looking forward to finding her, whoever she was. I’d take my chances marrying anyone else that I wouldn’t lose my head over.

“Perhaps that is what we should do. But rather than go searching, we will bring the search closer to you. I will speak to the elders to see if we can host a ball, bringing all the young eligible maidens from far and near. Surely, your mate will be closer than you think.”

I nodded, because that was the only way he would let me leave his office as fast as I could and fortunately, he dismissed me to continue his other tasks.

Entering my room, I walked towards the balcony only to see my aunt coming out of the woods, wearing a cloak.

Now this would have been an innocuous sign if I hadn’t already seen her in that same cloak, in a clandestine meeting with someone.

And her behaviour these days was so suspicious, I couldn’t continue to look away. I wanted answers from her. She had also been awfully quiet about Camila and Jasmine when they were the reason she had flown in from across the ocean in the first place.

Wearing my shirt that I had already removed, I went to wait in front of her room door, feigning ignorance of her whereabouts when she arrived in front of the door and was startled by my presence.

“Hardin! It feels like it’s been ages since I saw you.” She said, her voice laced with panic.

“I feel the same way. Where did you go?” I asked, making my voice sound as non-threatening as possible.

Her eyes narrowed at me before she smiled again.

“Why don’t you come in?” She answered, completely evading my question and opening the door to her room, leaving it ajar as she entered.

I walked in after her and watched as she removed the cloak and sat on the bed. The only whiff of scent that I had gotten that wasn’t hers was laced with too much perfume for me to be able to hold on to it. But it meant that she had been out there with someone, maybe the same person from that night that I saw her in the woods.

“Is there something you need from me, nephew? Is that why you’re asking me about where I’m coming from like I’m a child?”

“If you were not doing anything remotely suspicious, you wouldn’t be so defensive about an innocent question, would you, aunt?”

Her face paled immediately in shock but she quickly covered it up with a yawn.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re going on about, Hardin. If you have anything that you’re accusing me of, come back with proof, alright, sweetheart?” She replied and when she started taking off her clothes, I turned around and left the room.

Maybe I was wrong.

But if there was one thing that had never failed me before, it was my intuition and I knew that she was hiding something. And I was going to find out what it was whether she liked it or not.