My jaw dropped.
Alexander was doing this for…me?
My temper flared to life. He was at it again.
He was back to his hot-and-cold act, where he messed with my head and made me hope for things that could never exist.
And even though I knew better than to believe him, I had to admit that his acting was good. So good I wanted to strangle him.
Micah’s jaw dropped, her complexion going several shades paler.
Dylan froze. His gaze found mine for a moment before shifting back to Alexander.
“What did you just say?” Dylan asked, his voice calm. Too calm.
Alexander’s lips parted, but a loud shriek cut him off.
Micah fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious, with her hand on her belly.
Dylan turned away from us and rushed to the side of his collapsed mate.
My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my skull.
Scratch what I said earlier. Micah was the superior actor here.
Dylan seemed oblivious as he easily lifted her into his arms and headed toward the door, presumably to get Micah medical help.
Before he reached the door, he stopped at Alexander’s side, his gaze meeting his brother’s.
“I don’t care what your justifications are. If you aren’t with the retaliation force in thirty minutes, you leave me no choice but to brand you a traitor and order your execution.”
His hazel eyes met mine for a second before he turned away, leaving Alexander and me alone in his receiving room.
The door was barely closed when I rounded on Alexander.
“What are you doing?” I could barely recognize my voice. It was hard as granite.
Alexander’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Your safety?—”
“Stop. Just stop.” I raised a hand, tossing him a glare. “It’s just us here, so you don’t need to pretend to care anymore.”
Something shifted in Alexander’s face.
“Eleanor—” he began, but I didn’t let him finish.
“We aren’t real mates, so we don’t have any obligation to each other,” I said, throwing his words from the day before back athim. “Don’t you dare use me as an excuse to get out of fighting a war you started.”
That had to be what he was doing, wasn’t it?
He was using me as a reason to instigate a power play with his brother. Maybe that’s why he’d marked me in the first place.
I was so done with this.
I turned away from Alexander and reached for the doorknob.
Alexander’s warm hand encircled my wrist, tugging me to a stop. Then he was behind me, so close that I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.