Page 11 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

“Of course. We’ll have a lifetime to discuss this,” he said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. Then he was gone.

I scrubbed at my cheek with the sleeve of my dress, fighting the urge to break something.

A lifetime together?

Oh, Goddess. I wasn’t strong enough to do this.

But I had no other choice.

So I let the guards escort me to the sacred patch of woods where most of our ceremonies were held in the Red Moon Pack.

And as I walked, I found myself thinking of Alexander. I could already imagine the smug look on his face when he realized my plans had failed epically, and I scowled.

Thankfully, I was fairly certain he wouldn’t be at this event, since he’d not attended any of the other ceremonies leading up to this one, even though he was here to represent his and Dylan’s father, Alpha Maximus.

I thought of Micah, my best friend, my partner in crime, my ride or die, who’d betrayed me so deeply, and my chest hurt.

I’d been avoiding thinking of her because I knew I’d be devastated once the fact that our friendship was over really hit me.

How could she do that to me? I hadn’t wanted to listen to Dylan’s side of the story, but I realized that I wanted to hear Micah’s.

Maybe I wanted her to lie to me and tell me Dylan had forced himself on her, even though I’d seen her be an active participant. I just wanted her to say anything at all that wouldn’t mean our whole friendship had been a lie.

Pathetic. I know.

We reached the clearing, which was teeming with pack members from Red Moon and Nightshade who were there to bear witness to my union with Dylan.

The entire clearing fell silent as I stood next to my groom.

As I suspected, Alexander was nowhere to be found, but Micah sat in the front row, wearing a shade of green that was similar to mine, a pleasant smile on her face as though last night hadn’t happened.

I looked away from her, refusing to let my emotions show under Father’s eagle-eyed gaze.

Our pack’s priest began the rites.

“There is no bond as sacred as that between a mated pair, and today we are gathered to witness one of…”

I couldn’t look at Dylan next to me. My mind was blank except for the thought that these might be my last moments of freedom. My chest tightened almost painfully, but I tried to push the growing feeling of being trapped from my mind.

“Step forward,” the pack’s priest commanded, his voice hoarse.

We stepped forward, and his milky gray eyes locked onto Dylan first.

“Dylan Hawthorne, under the gaze of the Moon Goddess and her people as witnesses, do you accept Eleanor Ashford, daughter of the alpha of the Red Moon Pack, as your mate and future luna?” he rasped.

Dylan didn’t hesitate before nodding.

“I do.”

It felt like the world was closing in around me. My breaths came too fast and my vision narrowed.

After the affirmations, we would mark each other and be bound to each other…forever.

Those milky gray eyes shifted to me.

“Eleanor Ashford, under the gaze of the Moon Goddess and her people as witnesses, do you accept Dylan Hawthorne, alpha heir and successor of the Nightshade Pack, as your mate?”

My throat closed up.

---