My Stepbrother’s My Mate

Chapter 4

AUSTIN

I walked out of the pack house with Jayden following behind me.

My head was in a tailspin.

My stepsister was my mate.

But what got me more worked up was that she didn't acknowledge that we were mates; I mean, there was nothing to say she did.

Lou was quiet. He was excited when he saw her, but when she didn't recognize us, he felt heartbroken, as if his mate didn't know him.

I felt for him.

How the hell did she not recognize us as her mate? That question came flooding into my head every time her face came to my mind. There had to be some reason behind it, surely?

"Austin," Jayden called, pulling me from my thoughts. "You okay?"

I cleared my throat and nodded.

I was prepared to tell people about my mate when Sage knew.

"So," he said, making me look at him. "What do you think of her?"

I stared at him blankly.

"Who?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows, clearly not listening to whatever he said earlier.

Jayden frowned.

"Sage," he said, "Your stepsister."

I shrugged.

"She seems nice," was all I could come up with, but by far, I wanted to tell him that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

I felt Lou whimper in my head.

I knew he wanted to be with our mate, but we had to figure out this whole situation as to why she didn't acknowledge us.

I looked ahead and noticed the warriors had gathered for training.

I turned to face Jayden. "Get everything out for training," I said, "I will get the warriors to warm up."

Jayden nodded and ran off to get the equipment for training.

I called everyone into line and started shouting warm-up techniques to them.

I had to get my head off Sage for a few moments and concentrate on the training I had to do.

I glanced at the warriors who were before me and felt proud.

Our pack was well known for our fighting skills, the warriors here, before me, were something else. They were the elite I pulled together, people I sent out on missions and found out information on our enemies, but most importantly, they knew how to fight and to kill. No questions asked.

My father started the warriors when he was my age, and I have followed on like a family legacy. I felt proud of the men and women before me. I hand-chose them to lead our pack when I was ready to take over when I became Alpha.

I sighed as I looked over to the side and noticed we had a group of groupies watching us.

I frowned.

"You need to leave," I shouted, watching most women fan over some men while the women warriors rolled their eyes like it was a typical day. "You all have jobs," I shouted and took a step closer, making them know I wasn't messing about. "Now. Leave."

I watched as all the women left, and I went back to training the warriors.

Training latest for an hour, and I even worked out with them, as I needed to get my head out of the gutter, as it wandered to Sage every chance it could.

I sighed as I watched all the warriors leave.

Jayden walked over to me and helped me put everything back.

"Good workout," he said.

I nodded, but he stopped and looked at me.

"Austin," he said, "where's your head?"

I looked at him but didn't say anything.

"It felt like you weren't here," he said, his eyes boring into mine. "Your body was, but your mind seemed elsewhere."

I looked at him, but my eyes wandered to the pack house. They would be having the family meal now, getting to know Sage, which the mere thought made my heart beat faster.

I cleared my throat as I remembered I hadn't answered him.

"I'm okay," I said, but my eyes went to the pack house again, which made Jayden look over his shoulder and sigh.

"You know you got time to go to the meal," he said, which made Lou look up from his little nap.

I stared at him.

"You never know," he said, "You might like your sister."

That's far from what I feel right now.

I shook my thoughts away and stared at Jayden.

"Nah," I said, making it known that I didn't want to be there. I needed to wait until I found out more about her, or better yet, why she didn't know I was her mate.

"I can't go anyway," I said, "We have to go on patrol tonight. West border."

Jayden frowned.

"You know Shaun, and I can do that," he said, "if you want…" I growled, cutting him off.

I couldn't take it anymore; I needed him to stop talking.

"I don't want to know," I shouted a little too loudly.

Jayden looked at me with wide eyes.

"Come on," I said, "Let's go. Shaun will be waiting for us."

Jayden didn't say anything as we finished packing away the equipment. We walked away in silence, but I knew he was mind-linking someone, but I didn't care.

My mind raced back to Sage and the way she looked. Every inch of her screamed innocence, but something about her made me feel there was more to her than she let on.

Lou moved in my head, which made me look back at him.

"You okay?" I asked.

His blue eyes penetrated me like I was something he wanted to kill.

"What?" I asked with a frown.

"You don't like mate," he said, which made me sigh.

"I'm not saying I don't like her," I said, and damn, I liked her more than I care to admit. "It's the situation, Lou. Don't you think it's weird that I'm mated to my stepsister?"

Lou stared at me and let a low growl slip through.

"You overthink," he muttered and lowered himself in my head, his eyes still trained on me. "Mate would make us strong. We don't know why she didn't recognize us. But she is still our mate."

I stared at him.

I knew he was right.

"I know," I said. "All this is strange to me. I only discovered that my father's mate had a daughter and never bothered to tell us for seven years. Don't you find it strange, and not to mention she happens to be our mate on top of it?"

Lou stared at me, but I knew he was thinking exactly like I was.

I sighed.

"I'm not saying no to her," I said, making his stare harden at me. "I think we need to know the truth and find out more."

"We should be there like the beta suggested," he said.

I knew he was right; hell, even Jayden was right. But the thought of being in the same room as Sage made me want to bend her over and do the dirtiest things my mind could muster.

I felt Lou agreed, and his mood changed slightly.

I felt a hand on my arm as I looked back at my best friend, who looked concerned.

"What?" I asked with a frown.

"Talking to Lou," Jayden said.

I nodded.

"What does he think of sage?" he said. "I bet he is giving you grief for not being at that meal."

I frowned, which made Lou chuckle.

Oh, he's giving me grief, but not for what you think.

"Actually, he wasn't," I said, which made Lou growl at me. I ignored him and looked at my friends. "He wanted to know, but he knows as the soon-to-be Alpha, I have to be prepared for anything."

Jayden stared at me.

Somehow he knew I was lying, but he never spoke.

We continued to walk and met Shaun at the clearing.

"So, you already met the stepsister," he said with a grin. "What does she like?"

I groaned.

"Enough about Sage," I said. "I'm going to take a run around the borderline to make sure there's no one around, and when I get back, you both don't bring Sage up again. Got it?"

Shaun and Jayden stared at me like I had lost my mind, and frankly, I think I had.

I didn't say anything else and took off running. I heard Jayden mumble something, but I couldn't listen to what he said as I was too far away from them.

I ran around and spotted nothing untoward that could threaten the pack.

I walked back to the boys. They were perched on the side, staring out.

I walked over and sighed.

"Sorry," I mumbled, which made them both look at me. "I want to get to know Sage, but at the same time, I need to concentrate on becoming the next Alpha. Sage will have to wait until I find time, but I will make more effort."

Jayden sighed while Shaun frowned.

"You know, you could have been there," he said.

I nodded.

All for entirely other reasons, though I didn't want to be there, and I couldn't tell them, not yet. I needed to wrap my head around it.

I could feel a mind link come through, but I knew it was my father.

I ignored it.

I looked at the guys.

"I will make more of an effort tomorrow," I said, trying to figure out if I would. It would be nice to see her again, and hoping I won't be an ass about it.

"Highly doubt it," Lou grunted.

I frowned.

My wolf and his sarcastic comments.

The rest of the evening flew by, and there were no issues. Jayden, Shaun, and I changed the subject to other stuff.

I didn't want to keep talking about Sage, but my mind always went to her. She looked stunning.

When the time came for the shift change, I was happy to leave. As much as I love being with my friends, I needed my own space.

I told them I would see them in the morning for training.

I walked away, and a mind link came through. I knew it was from my father. I had ignored his mind links all night, which wasn't my intention, but I knew he wanted me to be at the meal.

I sighed and answered him.

"AUSTIN," he bellowed, which made me groan.

"What?" I gritted out. "You don't have to shout."

"Oh yeah, I do," he said, "You have been ignoring my mind links. Where the hell were you?"

"I had patrol tonight," I muttered, "I needed to be out there, you know it. I never miss patrol."

My father was silent for a few moments but released a sigh.

"Fine," he said.

"What's up?" I asked, not wanting to be an ass.

My father stayed silent for a few moments but spoke.

"It turns out Sage isn't twenty-one yet," he said, making me stop dead in my tracks and making Lou's ears move.

She's not twenty-one?

"What do you mean she's not twenty-one?" I asked. "I thought Susan said she was."

My father sighed.

"It seems my mate forgot when her daughter's birthday was," he said, feeling anger slip through the link.

Anger filled my veins.

How the hell does a mother forget her only daughter's birthday?

"You serious?" I said, trying not to let my anger slip through.

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "We will be celebrating her birthday this Saturday evening, even though her birthday is on Sunday."

I didn't say anything.

My head was exploding with the possibilities of seeing her and getting to know her for the next few days.

"Austin," he said, "I know I told you to search for your mate. I was going to suggest you leave for the weekend and come back for the week, but since Sage is here and it's her birthday, I'm making the exception."

I knew I had to tell him about Sage being my mate, but I needed her to know first.

It would be between me and Sage, no one else.

"Sure," I said, feeling Lou get angry again for not telling my father we had already found our mate.

I sighed.

"I will speak to you in the morning," I said, "I need some sleep."

My father said goodnight and closed the mind link.

I stared at the pack house and sighed.

I needed sleep.

I walked right through the house and headed up to the third floor. I walked past my brother's room but stopped as the most intoxicating scent filled my nose.

Sage's scent was up here, but how?

I looked at the opposite door and sniffed.

Lou stood up and whined.

I walked toward the door and stopped, placing my hand on the doorknob, but I never opened it.

I wanted to see her.

I used my werewolf hearing to hear her, but I got nothing.

I stared at her door, not knowing what to do.

After a few moments, I dropped my hand from the doorknob, turned, and walked toward my room.

My head was full of Sage.

Lou growled.

"Go to mate," he muttered.

I wanted to.

"Not yet," I said, looking at him. "When she knows who we are."

Lou stared, but I continued talking.

"At least we now know why she didn't recognize us," I said.

Lou c****d his head to the side.

"What mama wolf doesn't know her daughter's birthday?" he said with annoyance.

I felt the same.

There was more to Susan than she let on, and I wanted to find out more.

Lou agreed.

"At least we can look after mate," he said, "We can make sure she is safe, and when her birthday comes, she will know us."

I didn't say anything.

One thing at a time.

I didn't care that we were stepsiblings, we didn't grow up together, but people would talk.

I needed to know what Sage thinks, but we must wait three days until she does.

I sighed,

I turned my head and looked at her bedroom door.

All I want to do is go there.

I had to shake the thoughts away, and I turned back to my room and opened the door.

I walked in, closing the door behind me. I leaned on it for support as her scent was strong. It set my entire body on fire, and I had to have a lot of self-control not to go into her room.

I knew I needed to have a cold shower and pray to the moon goddess that I could sleep. I was not too fond of the fact I couldn't be with Sage, but we had time.

I pushed off the door and headed into the shower.