Falling For My Alpha Stepsister (GL)

The heavy silence of the library pressed against my ears as I sat at the reading table, the open pages of my book blurring into a soft white haze.

A slow breath seeped past my lips, carrying the faint, familiar scent of paper and binding. My chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but my mind was nowhere near the words printed in front of me.

Months ago, if anyone had suggested I would end up under Angel Morningstar, I would have felt the sudden flare of disgust tightening my throat. An Alpha like her? The devil herself. The idea was absolute bullshit.

Yet here I was.

My fingers twitched against the grain of the desk, my skin humming with a quiet, persistent itch that only her touch could settle.

I let my body sink back into the chair, the cool wood pressing through my shirt as a sudden wave of heat pooled low in my gut. I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, drawing in another deep, shaky breath, already picturing the exact way the mansion would feel when I walked through the door later.

She would be waiting.

We weren’t official. We hadn’t put a label on anything, but the word girlfriend kept settling on the tip of my tongue anyway.

I kept it locked inside my head, rolling it around like a secret.

Angel could be insufferable. She knew exactly how to press every one of my buttons until my hands balled into fists, but the moment she sensed she had pushed too far, the edge melted away. She pampered me. She wrapped me in that sweet, smothering warmth until I forgot why I was angry in the first place.

Oh my sweet, annoying Angel.

I glanced down at the book in my hands, forcing my eyes to trace a line of text, but the letters just floated there.

My head was completely filled with her.

More specifically, with her Dragon Ball.

A small, genuine smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as my pulse gave a nervous flutter. I had spent weeks apologizing to that little thing after I kicked her. It wasn’t her fault. The blame belonged to her owner, the bully who had spent just as much time apologizing to me, trying to make up for the way she used to act.

It still amazed me how easily I could use my own body to pull a leash on an Alpha. The realization sat heavy and hot in my chest. It was an addiction now, sharp and demanding. I couldn’t go a single day without it.

I used to hear the Omegas she brought home screaming through her bedroom walls, and I used to curl up in disgust. Now I understood. They weren’t just screaming. They were getting blessed by the devil.

Thud.

The sharp sound shattered my concentration, the vibration traveling through the floor. My eyes snapped open, my body reacting before my brain fully caught up. I pushed off the table, I hurried toward the source of the noise.

Around the corner of the fiction section, Katie was standing between two tall rows of shelves, a massive stack of thick, hardbound volumes balanced precariously against her chest.

A few scattered copies lay face down on the floor at her feet.

”Katie,” I said, my voice dropping into a stern, immediate reprimand as I dropped to one knee. My fingers brushed the smooth covers, scooping the fallen books into my arms. ”You need to stop carrying heavy things like this.”

I stood up, adjusting the weight in my hands, my eyes narrowing as I took in the slight flush on her cheeks. ”You are pregnant now. You have to be careful.”

Katie just let out a soft laugh, shifting the rest of the load to rest against her hip. She barely looked out of breath. ”I know, I know. But I love doing my job. Besides, being pregnant isn’t a big deal. I’m still completely in shape.”

”Yeah, for now,” I muttered, sliding two of the books into an open slot on the eye-level shelf. ”In a few months, you’re going to be fat, tired, and complaining every time you have to stand up.”

”Aww, don’t worry about me.” Katie waved a dismissive hand, a bright, stubborn grin spreading across her face. ”I’m not going to get fat. I’m keeping my body shape intact. Carlos and Sabrina are going to help me with exercises anyway.” She leaned in slightly, her eyes glittering with excitement. ”Today we did a different kind of yoga in bed. Those two always seem to amaze me. I love them so much.”

I paused, a spine of a textbook halfway onto a top shelf, and shot her a look. ”Yeah... I still can’t believe you actually went through with what you said you’d do. I really thought you were just joking.”

I turned back to the cart, picking up the next stack, sorting them by their color-coded category tags. Katie stepped in beside me, her hands moving alongside mine, sliding paperbacks into their designated slots.

”Me neither, honestly,” she admitted, her voice turning soft, almost dreamy. ”They’re just so cute and lovely. I looked at them and realized I just wanted to have a carbon copy of both of them.”

She bumped her shoulder lightly against mine, her tone ramping up in speed as the ideas bubbled out of her. ”You know what would make this whole thing completely amazing? If you joined us. Me, you, and Abigail, all pregnant at the same time. Our babies would be the exact same age, growing up together, being best friends. Who knows? We might even end up being in-laws.”

My hands froze against the shelf. I turned my head, staring at her with wide eyes, cutting off her stream of words before she could spiral any further. ”Okay, you are moving way too fast. Slow down right there, lady.”

My mind flashed back to a conversation this morning, remembering the distinct, low rumble of Angel’s voice warning Katie to keep her mouth shut and stop trying to convince me to get pregnant.

”Look, Katie,” I said, letting out a long, even breath to steady the sudden tight feeling in my ribs. ”It’s nice that you’re going to be a mom soon. Really, it is. But I don’t want to be one. I like my life the way it is right now.”

Katie tilted her head, her eyebrows drawing together in a quick, curious frown. ”Is it because of Angel? Because she doesn’t want kids?”

”It’s her, and it’s me,” I answered cleanly, my hands moving back to the books, slotting them in one by one. ”We haven’t even become an official item yet. But honestly, even if we were, I still wouldn’t want one.”

”Why wouldn’t you want one?” Katie asked, her tone softening into that gentle, pleading pitch people always used when they tried to sell you on the idea. ”Babies are so cute and soft. And when they giggle, you just look down and you can’t even help but smile at this little thing you made.”

”I know they’re cute,” I said, my voice flat as I pushed the last heavy book into place. ”I know everything you just mentioned sounds wonderful. But having a baby sounds real easy in theory. Raising one is a whole different story.”

A cold, heavy knot settled in the center of my chest, pulling my thoughts backward into memories I preferred to keep buried.

Where I come from, the atmosphere was never soft. I grew up listening to the bitter bite in my mother’s voice every time she talked about how she chose the wrong person.

I lived through what that meant. I had a father who didn’t want me, returned me like I was nothing to him, and a mother who raised me like it was a mandatory sentence she was being forced to serve.

She didn’t raise a child. She raised an investment, waiting for the return on her time and money.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief second, clearing the ghost of my childhood house from my mind.

Angel was fun. She was wild, dangerous, addictive, and she filled up every empty space in my life right now.

But having a family with someone like Angel? Building a real home with an Alpha who lived on the edge of a blade? I couldn’t see a future in that.

I didn’t even want to have a baby.