Desired By My Alpha Stepfather

Reject me

Vince's POV

I drew in a deep breath, counting,

Three.

Two.

One.

I gave the door a light push.

The bathroom door creaked open. My heart hammered against my ribs, pounding in my ears, the stench of roaches lingering in the air.

"Kai." I growled with my jaw clenched.

The bathroom door was completely sound proof, so I couldn't hear the raucous that had been occuring outside.

"Nina," I rasped.

Her voice, when she spoke, was a ragged rasp. "Get out! Now!"

I flinched, but I rooted my feet to the ground. Her eyes. They spoke so much of anger, and fear.

But the fear wasn't just for herself. It was for me. Kai. He'd been here. And I, shirtless and hiding in her bathroom, had been helpless to intervene.

"Nina," I pleaded, stepping closer. "Let me see you. I need to know you're alright."

"No! Get out!" she spat, her voice chilling me to the bone.

My mind raced. The pieces clicked into place. The empty jar on the floor, the stench of the roaches, the sheer terror in her eyes, the voice I had heard in the bathroom. Kai had hurt her. He'd forced her to do something unspeakable.

"Nina, it's okay," I lied, my voice soft. "I'm here now. Just let me see you."

She shook her head, her dark hair whipping around her face. "No. He can't find out you're here."

Kai. My stomach clenched. I knew the truth. If Kai found out I was here, with Nina, the consequences would be dire. But the look in her eyes held me rooted to the spot.

"Nina," I said, my voice soft, "He won't find out. I promise. Just let me see you. Please."

Finally, with a defeated sigh, she stepped aside.

Her face was streaked with tears and grime, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. A sheen of sweat glistened on her skin, and her breathing was shallow and erratic. The sight of her, so utterly broken, made me vibrate with anger.

"What did he do?" I asked, trying to contain my fury.

She choked back a sob, her gaze dropping to the floor. "He... he made me..." she trailed off, the words catching in her throat.

I didn't need her to finish. The empty jar on the floor, the roaches in the floor, and her eyes painted a picture more horrifying than any words could describe.

Kai, the arrogant, entitled bastard. He thought he could control everything, everyone. But he'd underestimated me, underestimated the damn bond I had with Nina. Let's just say it was oblivious to it.

"He won't get away with this," I vowed. "I won't let him."

Nina's head snapped up, her eyes widening in surprise. "Don't," she whispered. Please, don't do anything. It will only make things worse. He'll know you were here, if you confront him."

I knew she was right. But the thought of her, subjected to such unimaginable cruelty made me erupt.

"I have to do something," I said, my voice tight. "I can't just stand by and do nothing."

She reached out, her hand trembling as it brushed against mine. "Please, just go. Now."

I took a step forward, "You can't make me leave, Nina."

"No?" she said, her voice firm despite the tremor running through it.

She threw her hands up in surrender.

"Fine! You won't leave." She paused and then continued. "But would you at least, rid me of this pain? Rid me of this torment." She blurted out.

I furrowed my brows.

"Reject me. Reject me as your mate. Let this mate bond be broken."

My jaw clenched. It was like she'd slapped me across the face with the sheer audacity of the request. Rejecting my mate bond? After all these years of waiting. It was unheard of. My wolf howled in protest within me.

"Nina," I started, my voice hoarse with disbelief, "you can't possibly be asking me..."

"I am," she interrupted, her chin held high. "If you won't leave on your own terms, then give me this one shred of dignity. Let me move on with my life."

My gaze swept over her, taking in all of her. My wolf whined. This wasn't just about the bond, was it? This was about her fear.

This entire situation was humorous.

I, Alpha Vincent, was standing half-naked in her bathroom, being asked to sever the very thing that connected us, all while facing the very real possibility of Sarah barging in and finding her daughter with her very own shirtless husband.

I was threatened to burst out in laughter, but I held it in, knowing this was no laughing matter.

Nina's plea echoed in my head But the words "reject you" wouldn't cross my lips.

"Nina," I said, my voice a low growl, my alpha nature asserting itself. "You are mine. No amount of fear or disgust can change that."

Her eyes widened, and her lips quivered. "You can't take me against my will," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"I wouldn't dream of it," I countered. "But the bond stays. It's not a choice you get to make."

I stalked closer, the sweat clinging to my heated skin. My prescence demanding submission. Nina flinched, but her chin remained stubbornly held high.

"You may not like it," I continued, my voice a low rumble, "but this is the reality. You are my mate, and I am yours. We are bound, and that bond will not be broken by your fleeting fear."

A flash of something akin to anger sparked in her eyes. "You call this fleeting? You have no idea what I went through!"

"And I intend to," I said, my voice firm but not cruel.

My gut clenched. Her words were a punch to the solar plexus. I hadn't even begun to fathom extent of her trauma, the terror she must have lived through at Kai's hands.

"Nina," I started, "tell me. What happened?"

She took a shuddering breath, her eyes welling up with tears that she fiercely blinked back. "When Kai... when he was forcing those things down my throat," she began, her voice trembling, "I would have screamed. I would have called for help. But you were right there, and I couldn't risk him finding you."

The image of her, trapped in that nightmare, unable to fight back for fear of my safety, clawed at my insides.

She let out a humorless scoff. "If I had called out, mom would have arrived. And her wolf nose is like a bloodhound. If she caught a whiff of you in her bathroom, I'd be exposed. How do you think I'd explain her husband hiding out here?"

"This is all because of this mate bond," she finished. "It's a curse, not a blessing."

My wolf snarled within me, rejecting the very notion.

"The bond stays, it's your choice to live with it." I declared, my tone icy.

"You call this a choice?" she roared. "I would have rejected you myself, just to escape this nightmare! But I can't. I'm just an Omega, and you're an alpha. The power isn't in my hands!"

Her frustration was out there in the open.

"Reject me!" she screamed, her voice cracking with the force of her emotions. "Reject me, Vince! I'm begging you. I'm just your stepdaughter, one of many women you could have. Let me go! There are plenty of submissive Omegas out there who wouldn't mind having a strong Alpha by their side. Find one of them, claim her as your mate, and leave me be!"

"Nina," I said, my voice softening, the alpha dominance tempered by a possessive tenderness. "It's not happening. The earlier you accept that, the better.

"Accept it?" she scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "How can I accept this when the very foundation of this bond is built on fear? You're my stepfather, and yet here I am, hiding in my own bathroom, terrified of my own mother finding you here. How is that supposed to be the basis of a healthy relationship?"

I looked into Nina's eyes, seeing the frustration and desperation in them. She was begging me to let her go, to release her from this bond that neither of us asked for. But I couldn't.

"I can't," I said, my voice sharp and unyielding. "I can't reject you as my mate, Nina."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "But why? Why can't you just let me go?"

The truth was, I wished I could. I wished I could sever this connection that bound us together, that made her suffer because of me. But it wasn't that simple.

The words cut through me like a knife.

"I'm sorry, Nina," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "But I can't let you go. Not now, not ever."

"Vince," she began, her voice tinged with frustration, "you can't just expect me to accept this. It's... it's not right."

I felt a pang of guilt gnawing at my insides, like a beast with hunger devouring my soul. "I know, Nina," I admitted, the words tasting bitter on my tongue, "but what choice do we have? Fate has thrown us together, and who are we to defy its will?"

She shook her head, her hair cascading around her shoulders like a waterfall of silk. "Vince," she protested, "this isn't some fairy tale where everything magically falls into place. Real life is messy, complicated... and this," she gestured between us, "this is beyond messed up."

I hung my head. "I know, Nina," I murmured, my voice barely more than a whisper, "but can't you see? I've spent years wandering in the pack, searching for something I couldn't name. And now that I've found it, I can't just let it slip through my fingers like grains of sand."

She looked at me. "Vince," she sighed, her voice softening with a tenderness that tugged at my heartstrings, "Whatever you think you've found. You're wrong about it. This is too difficult. Too complicated."

I reached out, my hand trembling and gently brushed a lock of hair away from her face.

"Nina," I began, my voice steady despite the tempest raging within her, "I've faced loss before. Loss that cuts deeper than any blade, leaving wounds that refuse to heal."

"Nina, I've lost before. Lost in ways that have left scars on my soul, wounds that time has failed to fully mend."

Her brow furrowed, though I could see the reluctance in every line of her face.

I drew in a breath, steeling myself for what was to come. "I had a mate," I confessed, "a love that consumed me, a fire that burned brighter than any star in the night sky."

"She was taken from me," I murmured, the pain of that loss still raw after all these years, "ripped away by death, before I could even begin to imagine life without her."

Her eyes narrowed. "And what does that have to do with me?" she snapped, her words like shards of glass cutting through.

I pressed on, knowing that the truth would sting like salt in an open wound. "It has everything to do with you, Nina," I admitted, "because you are my second chance. My chance at redemption, at finding the love that was torn from me before I had a chance to say goodbye."

Her anger flared. "I never asked for this, Vince!" she spat, "I never wanted to be your mate, to be tied to you in any way!"

I felt a pang of guilt gnawing at my insides, knowing that my desires had caused her nothing but pain. "I know, Nina," I murmured, "but fate is what tied us together. I didn't do this by will."

She shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "Fate can go to hell for all I care," she snapped, her frustration boiling over like a pot left unattended on the stove, "I won't be turd to this!"

I reached out, my hand trembling, but she pulled away, her eyes flashing with anger. "Don't touch me, Vince," she warned, her voice a low growl, "I won't be manipulated into something I don't want."

Nina's eyes.

"Get out," she spat out in anger, "get out of my room, out of my life, out of my sight."

I felt a pang of hurt at her words, but I refused to let it show, steeling myself against the pain that threatened to consume me whole. "Nina, please," I began, but she cut me off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Don't 'please' me," she snapped, her tone icy and unyielding, "I want nothing to do with you. You're nothing to me but a reminder of the pain and suffering this stupid mate bond has caused me."

"Nina, I know this is difficult," I tried to reason, but she shook her head, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Don't pretend like you understand," she seethed, "you don't know anything about what I'm going through."

I took a step forward, reaching out to her with trembling hands, but she recoiled as if my touch burned like hot coals. "Nina, please," I pleaded, but she shook her head. She was unyielding.

"You're my stepfather, Vince," she spat, the name escaping her lips like poison, "and that's all you'll ever be to me. I won't let you cause me any more pain because of some stupid bond that neither of us asked for."

"Get out!" She insisted, pointing to the door, her gaze avoiding mine.