My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 145

Alex

At the Alpha’s mansion, I’m wriggling my thumbs in my lap while waiting for the verdict from the pack healer. My mom is in bad shape, and the weirdest thing is that I couldn’t feel her wolf when I brought her here. It’s like it’s disappeared, which gives me grief.

How did that happen?

I swallow thickly and stare down at my phone.

Tarryn is picking up pizza with Josie because we do need to eat something. I don’t have an appetite, though. All I can think about is my injured mom. It looked like she had been beaten for weeks. What the heck happened when I left?!

My head spins with so many questions I can barely breathe. I’m in a world of agony and jump in fright when a cold hand is placed on my shoulder. Looking up, I catch Lydia’s kind smile.

Seeing her and knowing she is helping my mom is still a shock.

Lydia is the former Luna of the pack and works with the pack healer. The heart of Chang’e that was previously in her body left her with weaker healing abilities that she recently has practiced how to use. It baffled me when she offered to heal my mom, especially since my mom apparently didn’t treat her nicely in the past.

“Your mother is stable,” Lydia says, and her smile falters. “But her wolf is very weak. We believe it’s due to all the drugs forced into her system. It’s trying to fight them, but a forced overdose takes a lot of strength for the wolf to fight against. If she had been a human, she would have died.”

I stare at the brunette, blinking as I process what she told me. A forced overdose? Does she mean my mom didn’t take these drugs willingly? What the heck! Did my dad force her to take them? Why!

“She really didn’t choose to take the drugs?” I ask, still not entirely sure if I got that right. My mom is an old alcoholic, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she had moved on to harder drugs after the death of my brothers.

Lydia’s face darkens. “No… when my husband looked inside her mind, he saw something troubling. I want to talk to you about it, but it might hit close to home, and I don’t know if—”

“I want to hear it,” I interrupt her in a calm voice and hand her a reassuring smile. “No matter how dark it is, I wish to know the truth about what happened. Please tell me, and don’t hold anything back.”

Lydia’s lips curve into a sad smile, but to my relief, she nods and sits beside me on the couch. I believe this used to be an old living room in the mansion, but it has turned into a lobby for the pack healer’s room.

“So…” Lydia’s nostrils flare as if she is bracing herself, and she even takes my hand in hers, squeezing them. “When Avery looked inside your mother’s mind, he saw your father yelling at her. It was harsh words about him not wanting them to be fated mates. He said, ‘if your wolf dies, so does the bond,’ Your mother didn’t stand a chance. She was overpowered and forcefully injected with drugs mixed with silver to weaken her wolf and the bond.”

I stare at Lydia with my mouth falling open. There is no secret that my dad was a bitter man growing up. He was convinced Lydia was his true love and that the moon goddess had made a mistake.

It was terrible listening to…

My parents would argue, and my dad always called my mom a horrible person. To be honest, she wasn’t the greatest mom around. She drank a lot of alcohol, and while drunk, she always cried about how terrible of a person she was.

That usually ended with my dad beating the crap out of her. And perhaps that got worse when my brothers died? My mom’s drinking and the self-hatred, and my dad later beating her because he couldn’t stand listening to her drunk whining?

Either way, it’s not right. I’m fighting a snarl, which worsens when Lydia opens her mouth again.

“When Avery entered your mom’s mind, he also saw your mom the day she thought all her sons died. She cried herself to sleep and stopped eating and drinking. We also saw her in person during the pack meetings, and although grieving, your mom was doing better. There was no alcohol in her system, and she greeted me regardless of our history. Then when she heard you were still alive, she wanted to come and see you, but… that is when your dad’s mistreatment truly began. He didn’t like seeing your mom with a glimmer of hope. He also didn’t like how she was doing better, and that’s when he shoved drugs into her system.”

My body turns tense. Even though Lydia has a history with my dad, I know her to be speaking the truth. Her eyes are truthful, and I clench my jaw, trying to repress the anger spreading like wildfire in my veins.

But it’s hard.

Being a fox demon is different from being a werewolf. It seems the first draw strength from my emotions, and right now, I can hear a low whisper inside my head, ‘We can kill him. We can make things right. Don’t you want justice for your mother?’

Fear wells up to the surface, and I clutch my hand over my chest, scared because that voice definitely wasn’t mine. Does the demon inside of me have one of its own?

“Alex… Alex… Alex, are you alright?”

I blink back to reality, and Lydia smiles.

“Are you still listening to me?” She asks. “I was telling you that we don’t know what to do with your father yet. Your mother is half-dead, so Avery thinks your father should be thrown into the dungeons. But that decision is for Misha to make—”

Wait.

They might not even lock up my dad for his crimes? But he almost killed my mom! What is this s**t?! How is this called justice? Why are they hesitating about what to do!

Deep laughter hits the walls inside my head. ‘If you want justice, you need to bring it yourself.’

For the first time, I agree with the voice, and before I know it, my vision turns black. It feels like the room is shrinking, but I know what is happening in reality—I’m shape-shifting. This time, however, I’m fuelled by rage with only one goal in mind.

My dad needs to die.