Page 109 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

It wasn’t rational, but it was true. I could only guess how much pain it would cause me in the long run, but that didn’t change how I felt.

I didn’t know when I’d started harboring these feelings for him, or what it said about me that I could feel this way about someone who hurt me at every turn, but I could no sooner change my heart than I could stop the sun from rising.

“I have feelings for him,” I affirmed. “I hope you find someone who loves you for all that you are.”

With that, I headed toward the door.

My hand was on the doorknob when Dylan spoke, his words laced with venom.

“He’s manipulating you. He doesn’t love you.”

A lance of pain tore through my heart. I already knew Alexander didn’t love me, but my feelings weren’t led by logic. If I was being honest, I wasn’t sure if these intense feelings I had for him could be called love yet.

I’d never been in love before, so I had no baseline to compare this against.

I turned the doorknob, but before I could open the door, Dylan’s next words yanked the rug out from under me.

“Alexander has less than two months left to live,” he said.

I froze before spinning to face him.

“What did you just say?” I demanded.

If this was a joke, it wasn’t even remotely funny. But there was no humor in Dylan’s hazel eyes—just plain, cold truth.

“My brother is dying,” he repeated, his gaze dark and brooding. “You might have noticed the signs—the migraines in the middle of celebrations, his frequent exits from the pack for his failing treatments, and, of course, his penchant for secrets.”

Alexander was dying? How? He was the strongest person I knew.

My mind chose that moment to remind me of the medication Anastasia had dropped off at our house.

The medication I’d been confused about because Alexander wasn’t ill. But now…

Forgive me. I need you to be happy forever and I…I can’t give you forever.

Alexander’s words from the last night we’d been together echoed in my head.

A rough gasp escaped my lips and I stumbled over nothing, my knees wobbling.

“He’s dying,” I rasped.

How had I missed it?

How could I have failed to realize what was right in front of me?

“Don’t feel too bad for him,” Dylan said, interrupting my train of thought. “You see, my brother has found a way to cheat death…you.”

“What?” I frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Dylan shook his head, like I was the one being silly.

“Let me tell you a little story, Eleanor. A family secret, if you will. One my brother has ensured stayed hidden from you.”

A chill suddenly raced down my spine, and some instinct deep inside me warned that I didn’t want to hear this, but I couldn’t stay in the dark anymore.

Dylan continued.

“You see, generations ago, before the Hawthorne family led the Nightshade Pack, they were just an ambitious family who wanted to climb in ranks in a very small pack, the Rising Star Pack.”

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