Stephen was shocked by lan’s question. As he reached out and touched the corner of his lips, he felt blood there.
In response to lan’s question, he turned his head toward him and asked, “What do you mean, lan?”
Ian grabbed his collar in anger. Stephen cast a glance in the direction of his maids, who appeared to be in utter disbelief at Ian’s actions. Stephen gave them a signal to leave them alone. They bowed their heads and left from there.
The focus of Stephen’s attention shifted to lan’s eyes. They turned red. He did not know what had happened to Ian so suddenly. He was fine when he saw him in the restaurant
“Who gave you the audacity to think about that girl? Didn’t tell you to stay away?”
“Have you lost your mind?” Stephen asked him.
Stephen’s words did nothing but infuriate Ian. He pulled Stephen by his collar and warned him
“Cancel this marriage.”
All of their friends showed up at the house at that time, only to discover that they were fighting with each other.
Every single one of them hurried over to them and made an effort to separate them from one another.
“What happened to you both? Why are you fighting again?” Paul asked them.
Ian was dragged away from Stephen by Ronald, who grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
“Ian, what exactly is the matter with you?”
Ian turned his head to Ronald and said,
“Ask him. How can he ever consider marrying that girl?”
When he asked that question, everyone was taken aback. Stephen cast a glance in Ronald’s direction.
Ronald scoffed at Ian. “Why do you care if he marries that girl?”
Ian gave him a stern look. “Were you aware of this happening?”
Before Ronald could reply, Stephen spoke out,
“It is I who will warn you about her from now on. Stay away from Ava.”
Ian’s anger grew to the point where he rushed to him while yelling,
“You want to be with that shameless girl?”
This time, Stephen punched him before he could charge at him. 1
“Don’t talk about her like that again. She is under my protection, and she will always be. I will not let anyone go, no matter who tries to harm her.”
The punch was something Ian could not take in his mind. He growled at Stephen so loudly that everyone’s kn quivered to submit to his wolf.
Stephen’s fists tightened as he tried to control his anger. “I will be your Gamma, but I can’t support you in hurting an innocent girl.”
“Innocent girl, you said?”
1/3
+25 BONUS
42
Cyrus stopped Ian from approaching Stephen again. However, Ian did not close his mouth.
Anger was goofing up inside him. There was something that was turning him against Stephen, despite the fact that Stephen was his friend.
He glared at Stephen and said sarcastically,
“Yeah, she is innocent. That’s why she lied to everyone about her mate. She is after my gamma now.”
“Ian, you are such a crazy man!” Stephen said to him.
Ronald was listening to everything. Taking a look at Ian, he inquired,
“Why should it concern you if she pursues anyone? Don’t forget that she is not your mate anymore. You yourself rejected her.”
Ian reflected on how he had rejected Ava. He turned away from Ronald and tried to contain his rage.
“Accept that you care,” Ronald muttered while shaking his head.
“No, I don’t.” Ian retorted back.
Ronald gave him a nod and turned to Stephen, who was observing Ian.
“You got his answer. He believes he does not care. Then you can do whatever you want to do with her.”
Ian clenched his jaw and strode to Stephen.
“So what if I rejected her? Until I give her permission, she can’t marry anyone.‘
་་
2
Stephen glared at him and replied,
“She will.”
“She can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I said that.”
“Who are you to her?”
“His future Alpha.”
“That does not matter anymore.”
“Yes, it does.”
“She doesn’t care.”
“She does.”
“Why do you care about her?”
“I don’t kno-”
Ian paused in the middle of his sentence when he suddenly became aware that without even realizing it, he had just admitted that he cared about Ava.
He took a step back from Stephen. 1
2/3
42
F
+25 BONUS
His friends started to laugh while looking at him.
He thought they were making fun of him.
“Do whatever you want. I don’t care,” fan said, turning around to the staircase to leave.
He was about to step onto the stairs when Stephen stopped him from behind.
“lan”
He did not turn to him but only stopped to listen to him.
“You are misunderstanding everything
Hearing him, Ian turned around and frowned at him.
“What do you mean?”
“That night, when Ava and her mother visited your house, your mother made a marriage proposal. But it was not about me and Ava.”
Ian raised an eyebrow. “What? Then about whom?”
Stephen took a deep breath and replied,
“It’s about Ava’s mother and my dad.”
The frown that had been in between Ian’s brows vanished in a second.
Ronald laughed at Ian and said,
“We knew about it, but we didn’t tell you. I knew you cared about her, so I thought, Why not make you realize it?”
Ian felt relaxed that Ava was not marrying Stephen. However, he glared at his friends.
“It’s not funny.”
Stephen shook his head. “But what you did to my sister was really wrong.”
“Sister?”
“Yeah. She is going to be my sister. From now on, be careful with her. She will be a gamma’s daughter and a gamma’s sister. So don’t mess up with her again.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
Though he pretended to be unaffected, he was actually very relieved. He was feeling heavy all the time.
“Ian, you hurt her again at the party. I did not expect that from you,” Stephen reminded Ian about the night. Right at that moment, Ian realized what he had done.
He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and muttered,
“Fuck! I said so many things to her when it was not even her fault.”
3/3
43
