My Jealous Alpha Stepbrother
Chapter 164

Michelle

I leap onto a fallen tree trunk, my eyes scanning the clearing for the mate that I’m currently fighting. We are dueling and Kit is hiding somewhere. My eyes narrow on a tree where I send a shot of ice, and when I hit Kit in the shoulder, his face lights up in an amused smile.

“Not bad,” He looks me up and down. “But you need to try harder than that if you wish to win, my little Alpha.”

I give him a nod, hands clenched into fists at my sides. Kit is a worthy opponent, but I suspect this isn’t even half of his strength since he is in human form. I don’t want him to transform though.

His demon form is scary… still, I might need him to transform for the sake of my training.

“I won’t go easy on you,” I tell him.

“I don’t expect as much, princess,” he shrugs, his tone light and teasing.

“Don’t call me princess!”

I lunge forward, but Kit moves out of the way faster than I anticipated. I end up rolling around on the ground, but I quickly recover and jump at him from a squatting position. He laughs in response and falls down on his back with me straddling him.

“Are you giving up?” I shout, panting from having had to use every ounce of strength in my entire body.

“No, not yet.”

Suddenly my feet are lifted off the ground, and I widen my eyes when I realize Kit is lifting me. He isn’t even in demon form, yet he is this strong? What the heck!I try to flee, but his hands grip my thighs. Have I lost?

My heart pounds in my chest as I try to twist and turn to break free, but then Kit easily hugs me and lifts me into the air with a grin on his face. I glare at him. How dare he? My arms are pinned to my sides and my legs are kicking freely in the air.

“Got ya!” he crows, grinning even more as I try to break free from his iron grip. “How’s it goin’?”

My jaw clenches at his fake accent. I’m the Alpha of my pack, and yet here I am, held captive by my own mate.

Still, I refuse to give up! I hook a leg around him and swing myself around to his back. Kit is too shocked to move, which works in my favor—an ice attack later and he is down on the ground. Now I’m the one with the upper hand.

I grab his wrist, locking them above his head as I say, “Ha-ha!” and look down into Kit’s amused face. “How about that?”

“Not bad,” Kit says, his voice a low rumble. “But be careful not to push too hard—I don’t want you to injure yourself. You’re acting like Tarzan.”

The laughter dies in my throat. I’ve seen far too many injuries this week—injuries that were caused by my own weakness. All those pack members died because I wasn’t a good Alpha.

Sudden tears prickle behind my eyelids and Kit must sense the shift in my mood for he breaks free and cups my face in his large, warm hands.

“What happened yesterday wasn’t your fault, Michelle,” he whispers and gives me a tiny smile. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

Even if his words are kind, I can’t bring myself to believe. If only I had been stronger my pack members would still be alive. My weakness caused their death.

“Transform,” I demand, my voice tight with inner conflicting emotion. “Transform into your demon form. I want to test my strength against something more powerful.”

Kit hesitates, his eyes never leaving mine. “A-are you sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“But—”

“Transform!”

He looks at me for a second longer, then, with a low sigh, he begins to shift while I’m still straddling him. His body grows in size and strength, his muscles rippling as his skin turns into a light purple. Horns sprout from his head and his claws sharpen into lethal points that dig into the ground.

When I meet his yellow eyes, my stomach clenches in fear. Kit is no longer the man I replace attractive—he is a demon, a creature of death and destruction. Looking at him makes memories of yesterday play on repeat inside my head. I hear screaming and I see the smirk of that demon stag.

I shudder, but then Kit speaks, his voice soft and gentle, almost sad as he gazes up at me.

“It’s still me, Michelle,” he whispers. “Don’t be afraid, not of me. Please. Not me. We are mates, right?”

I take a deep, steadying breath and force myself to relax. Kit is still himself, still the man I’ve fallen in love with. He just… looks very different.

His horns are long and sharp like spears, his face looks like it’s carved from stone. His eyes are intimidating and awe-inspiring. The yellow color is the same as before, but his face is more perfect when he is a demon, but it’s scarily perfect. There isn’t a mole in sight, and his lips are sculpted almost inhumanly.

That beauty, that inhuman perfect… It unsettles me.

My stomach is churning and I take a deep breath. Kit, however, looks perfectly calm. He carries a cold air around him, almost regal, which makes me pray that we won’t ever be each other’s enemies. I have a feeling not many people could stand in Kit’s way.

But he is my mate, which means I’m acting stupid.

“Sorry…” I curl my fingers over his thickly padded pectoral muscles, and my heart constricts. I don’t want to be scared of Kit, but demons just happen to be something I fear. Most of all I would like to move from his chest, but that would probably hurt him more. “I just…. need a moment.”

“Alright…” Kit folds his arms underneath his head, and studies me from below. I have no idea what is going on inside his head. But he looks thoughtful.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Well…” he hesitates. “I’m not sure if I should tell you.”

That certainly catches my interest. “Just tell me.”

“It takes a lot of trust to say it,” he gives me a sad smile and sighs. “But fine…” those intense eyes of his focus on mine for a brief second before he speaks. It’s enough for me to get lost in the depth of them. “There is a way for you to get stronger overnight.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Mhm, but… it’s forbidden.”

“Forbidden?”

“Yeah, because it would make me vulnerable, even more vulnerable since I already like you so much. I don’t think you realize the power you hold over me, Michelle.”

Does he really feel vulnerable with me? This shocks me, and I sit silently in place as Kit continues talking.

“But if it’s power you want we could form a contract. This is different from the mate bond. It gives you full power over me and I will grow in strength from being a contracted demon. And usually, demons want you to sell your soul to them in exchange but… for you, I would do it for free. You can’t tell anyone about it though,” he grimaces. “My dad would kill me if he knew I had done something which is forbidden, at least in our family since it makes us so vulnerable.”

I laugh nervously, not sure what to think of all of this. This is definitely unexpected and kind of scary…if it wasn’t Kit I was talking to right now I know I wouldn’t do this in a million years!

But then again, since it IS Kit and he’s offering this deal out of his own free will…maybe it isn’t such a bad idea after all?

I take a deep breath and look up at him. “Okay, let’s do it,” I say firmly.

“Alright, so here’s what you need to do,” he begins as he takes my hands in his own larger ones. The soft warmth radiating off of him makes my heart flutter involuntarily as I focus on what he is saying. “First you have to call upon my name three times, like an invocation, then make the pact by declaring your intention aloud.” He pauses here to gauge my reaction before continuing. “Last, you need to k**s me… when I’m like this… so… yeah.”

I pause. Kissing Kit isn’t something new, but kissing him when he is in his demon form? That’s uncharted territory. I’m slightly hesitant, but I know that if I want to be stronger, then this is the only way.

So, I call his name three times with my eyes closed, and I feel him turn tense underneath me. Then I lean forward, and without opening my eyes, I press my lips to his. Immediately, I can feel a pact forming between us. Different from the mate bond. This sort of hurts, and when I lean back, I notice a tattoo has formed on my arm. It looks like the skull of a devil dragon, and it’s glowing in purple.

“I’m basically your slave now,” Kit says in a breathless voice, and closes his eyes. Something is happening to him. His whole body is shaking. “But in return for selling my free will… at least you will have the power you need—this is my gift to you. Use it well.”

I stare down at him. The light purple on his skin becomes darker, and a mark identical to mine forms on his pectoral muscle. Veins form underneath his eyes, and his dark hair grows even longer to frame his face.

Wow. He looks… beautiful, but even if he is stunning to behold, the power oozing off Kit’s body can’t be mistaken and my eyes widen when a chain forms around his neck. Is this to symbolize the contract between us?