Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother novel Chapter 82

Jasmine

The moment those words had left my mouth, I wanted to cringe. Feeling stupid, I wrenched my hand away from his and ran as far as I could.

Acting as the best man there is in the world, did not feel enough to me, to make up for all Hardin had done.

My heart might have flustered a little after Hardin's words, but my vengeful conscience was not a very forgiving person. His words had moved me for a moment, but going back to our past and all that Hardin had put me through, I just couldn't find myself forgiving him so easily, especially over spoken words.

Was I supposed to just give in, and welcome him back? What if he decided to go against his words one day, I would be the one hurting and not him.

"But he's proven himself to you Jasmine, he's your mate" my wolf reminded me but I wasn't listening. Being my mate was not enough of an excuse to buy him forgiveness. Had I not been his mate, would he have felt sorry that he tortured and harassed me all these while? If for anything, Hardin had taught me that he didn't care about the fact that I had emotions when it came to maltreating me.

And as for proving himself, it wasn't enough! Yes, he might have gone into a dangerous race with Lorenzo for my sake, and even though it earned him a bit of my respect and admiration, it still wasn't enough.

"What about your baby? Don't you think it's going to be hard if your child grows up without a father? Reason being that his mother is just intentionally acting like an unforgiving person?" My wolf was once again trying to fight for Hardin. I understood that she was probably fighting to be with her mate, so I didn't really hold it against her. But as my wolf, I really expected her to be on my side more often. And the only excuse that I could make for her was that she was not there with me while I went through all the harassment from Hardin.

"Don't you think it's better for my child to grow up without a father than to have an abusive one?" I asked my wolf. She fell silent for a moment, probably due to her inability to bring up a good argument to counter my question.

"That's what I thought" I added after her silence. She probably couldn't argue anymore. No child would ever want to come into a world where they'd only suffer. With Hardin, that was looking like the case. Though he was making improvements in his character, I still couldn't bring myself to fully accept him that easily.

I flopped down on a root, exhausted.

'Speak of the devil' I thought to myself the moment I saw Hardin's figure approaching me. Without warning, he leaned down to my height and threw his arms around me in a warm embrace. Subconsciously, without me even realizing, I had withdrawn from the embrace and had spaced out from him. It was only after my reaction that I turned to see Hardin's stunned one.

"Is anything wrong Jasmine?" He inquired but I didn't answer, in fact I didn't want to talk to him at all at this time. "Tell me what's bothering you" He urged but I didn't yield.

"Can you leave me alone for the moment? I really need my privacy if you don't mind." I requested as calmly as I could. If he had stayed any second longer I might have said or done something that I would probably spend the entire week regretting.

"Fine, if you say so" He leaned away before walking away. I could tell he was disappointed, probably hurt, or that he was feeling both at the time but I honestly didn't care at this time. I was way too worried about our future together than of the current moment.

What would happen when our child or children discover that their father had once molested and harassed their mother? What would happen if Hardin didn't change for real and was just acting. He was too unpredictable and currently that trait wasn't working in his favor at the moment.

Now tired of the entire world, I picked up my bag and found my way home. If I was going to be doing all this mental work then I needed to do it in a safe zone, somewhere I probably wouldn't have to worry about unregulated outbursts.

I breathed a sigh of both frustration and relief before I took a step into the house. I was exhausted at the moment and all I wanted to do right now was rest, but that didn't look like it would be happening anytime soon.

Hardin had done quite enough. I could say without a doubt. But to me, enough did not look like it could convince me. Or maybe, I had probably developed the feeling of repulse towards him. Even times that I tried forcing myself to let go of everything, memories of his constant abuse came back, and messing with other girls and showing me pictures then did not help.

It only got me pissed and increased the anger that I felt in my heart, and I did not like that I had to constantly feel that way.

I knew he had done quite well. Definitely I won’t be ungrateful to say I didn’t appreciate him when he went extra miles just so my mother could stay healthy after the poison incident. And when he apologized to mom for every attitude that he had shown.

Or was it the other time that in front of the whole school, he announced that I was his mate and was sorry for treating me the way that he had? All of it was beautiful and something that I would admire on every normal day, if the questions did not linger in my head.

“If I was just Jasmine and not Hardin’s mate, will he have been sorry for all of the despicable things that he did to me?”

Upon arrival at the pack house, I met Hardin and his father engaged in a conversation I could tell was serious from the tension in the room.

And when Hardin noticed my presence, his face fell while Russo spoke up immediately.

“It’s good you are back, Jasmine. I was about asking the servants to go get you.”

My brows furrowed a bit, but I did not talk and decided to pay keen attention to what Russo wanted to say. Why was my presence needed that much at home?