Page 23 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Micah laughed, but it was a sharp sound that held no humor. “Poor little Eleanor born into themisfortuneof being the daughter of the alpha. Poor Eleanor who suffered under her father’s merciless taunts and beatings. Poor Eleanor who was ostracized from the pack because she couldn’t fit in.”

Her brown eyes were full of so much resentment that I was speechless, but Micah still wasn’t done.

“Poor Eleanor, arranged to get mated to the most eligible wolf on the fucking continent! But no, why couldn’t she have a love match, or even find her true mate?” Her words rang with sarcasm.

“Micah,” I said, reeling in disbelief.

At that moment, I realized she hated me.

Micah shook her head, another unhinged laugh escaping her.

“I guess it never occurred to you that some of us had it much worse than you could ever imagine.” Her voice was barely above a whisper now, but her words hit me just the same.

I knew Micah had a tough upbringing. She’d had to fend for herself after her father’s death. Whenever I tried to get her to talk about it, she always clammed up or changed the topic, so eventually, I’d stopped prying into what I’d assumed was a sensitive subject.

I should’ve tried harder to get her to open up. Maybe then things wouldn’t have come to this.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my eyes burning with unshed tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice.”

Micah paused, but then her face contorted into a mask of bitterness.

“You aren’t sorry yet, but you will be,” she ground out.

She leaned in, making sure I didn’t miss a word.

“I seduced Dylan before you met him because I knew he’d be your mate. Now I’ll have everything that was meant to be yours,” Micah taunted, her words dripping with venom.

“Alexander might’ve taken pity on you and mated with you, but you’ll come to loathe him for that decision. I will become the luna of the Nightshade Pack in your place, and I’ll make your life here a living hell.”

With that, she pulled away from me, but I caught her arm again.

Lifting my gaze to meet hers, I spoke.

“You might not have seen me as a friend, but to me, you were one.”

Regardless of how this turned out, I wanted her to know that.

“You should learn how to treat your betters, Eleanor,” Micah snapped, pulling her arm out of my grasp with a look of disgust on her face. “Touch me again, and you might lose that hand.”

Without a backward glance, she walked away. This time, I didn’t stop her.

I just stood there, barely keeping myself from curling into a ball and sobbing, but some tears still found their way out.

Was there something I could’ve done differently to prevent this, or had our friendship just been a farce from the start?

I scented him before I heard that aggravating voice, now full of dark amusement.

“So you only mouth off to me? Interesting,” Alexander said, stepping out of the shadows behind me.

Hastily wiping at my tears, I began to walk as fast as I could toward Alexander’s residence. But to my annoyance, Alexander kept up with me easily, walking at my side like we were taking a leisurely stroll.

“Has anyone told you eavesdropping isn’t an admirable trait?” I fumed. I refused to look at him, but I could still feel the tingling sensation of Alexander staring at me.

“Why did you let her talk down to you?” he asked conversationally, completely ignoring my question.

So he’d overheard most of our conversation. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Alexander hearing all of that.

I ground to a halt, spinning to face him.

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