Page 210 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Hot, acidic bile stung the back of my throat. I imagined him sinking his teeth into my mother’s shoulder, and I clenched my fists, all while keeping the rest of my body and face as calm and placid as possible. All I really wanted to do was roll my eyes or puke. That reaction wouldn’t do me any favors.

Kyle was dangerous. The terrifying demeanor he gave off was from how delusional he was. He’d have been less scary if he wasn’t so bonkers. Sure, Mom was doing a good job acting, but could hetrulybelieve she wanted to be with him? Could he actually think I was on his side and wanted him as my stepdad? If a man could believe such crazy things, it meant he was capable of anything, even if that meant hurting people he needed. It was the reason why Dallas and Sydney were jumpy and worried.

Tension filled me. I was walking on a narrow tightrope. If I fell, then death awaited. I wasn’t yet sixteen, but evenIcould see that. Pushing aside my inner turmoil and disgust, I remembered Dallas’s words, and I played the part.

“I’d be honored to have you as my dad,” I said with my best embarrassed smile. “If you’d have me as your son.”

God, I’d have to brush my teeth three times to get the taste of that statement off my tongue.

“I thought you’d say that,” Kyle said, and led me to the office door and out into the hall.

“Well, yeah,” I went on, wanting to lay it on thick, “look at this place.” I gestured around at the mansion. “I’d love to live here, and I know Mom would, too.”

As we went up the stairs, he patted my shoulder again. “I’m going to give you and your mother the best life you could imagine.”

“That’s great,” I said, flinching as his fingers dug deeper into the skin of my shoulder.

Glancing up, I saw that he was looking at me intently, a look of madness in his eyes so great that my inner wolf gave a low, threatening growl that I just managed to stifle. Swallowing hard, I looked at the spot between his eyes, because the look he was giving me was too terrifying to look at directly.

“Things are going to get very intense soon, Ash,” Kyle said, and there was a weird tension in his voice, like live electric wires were running through him as he spoke. His eyes drilled into mine even harder. “I’ll need you to prove yourself to me, son. Afinal… how should I say it?” Kyle’s brow furrowed, then he said, “A final show of allegiance to your new father, shall we say.”

Forcing myself not to shiver, I grinned. “Anything.” I steeled myself to say the next word and tried to make it sound as natural as I could. “Dad.”

Kyle smiled even more broadly and nodded his head a few times as though he liked he liked the sound of it. “I’ll tell you the full plan later, but the gist of it is that you’ll need to kill Cole for me.”

The sentence slammed into me like a sledgehammer. Had it not been so shocking, I wouldn’t have been able to control myself. All I could do was stare back at him, the smile plastered on my face as I nodded faintly.

Finally finding my voice, I said, “Sounds like a plan, Dad.”

He patted me hard on the back, grinning like a madman. “Good boy. Go on into your room. You need some rest. I’ll let you know when dinner is.”

I stepped into my room and waited until I heard the lock click behind me before sprinting to the bathroom. Sliding on the tile on my knees, I barely managed to get my face into the toilet before I puked. My stomach heaved and cramped as the lunch I’d had earlier burst up out of my mouth, splattering into the water.

With Kyle gone and no one around to see my weakness, I allowed it all to come flooding out. Tears streamed from my eyes, burning my cheeks, punctuated by gags and vomiting until there was nothing left in my stomach. I was sobbing, terrified of what my life had turned into, when a cool, wet cloth touched my forehead.

Jerking away violently, I crashed backward, scrabbling on the tile, eyes wide with shock and surprise. Sydney knelt beside the toilet. She gave me a sympathetic smile and flushed the toilet.

“I thought you heard me come in,” she said.

I shook my head, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “No.”

“Sorry. You were making a lot of noise, though. I can see why you didn’t.” She beckoned me over with a wave. “Come here, kid.”

Kid. She was only five years older than me, yet it did seem like she was much older. The little I’d discovered about her life was more than enough for me to understand why someone so young would have such haunted eyes.

Throwing my pride aside, I crawled toward her and let the pretty young woman clean my face. The motherly way she helped me only made me miss Mom even more.

I looked into her eyes and asked the question I’d wanted to ask since she revealed herself to be on my side.

“Why are you here? If you hate Kyle, why are you pretending to help him?”

Her hand froze as she wiped my chin. She glanced behind her to see if my bedroom was still closed, then turned back.

“You’ve got a guard outside. We have to be quiet. I only got in here because I told him Kyle wanted you to start learning what I do. Wants you to be well-rounded.”

I nodded. “Okay. Sure.”

She helped me up, led me to the small desk in the bedroom, and opened her laptop to look convincing if anyone came in.

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