Page 13 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

Alexander tugged me behind him, protecting me from his brother, but he shouldn’t have bothered.

Dylan didn’t move toward us. Instead, he lunged toward the rapt audience and pulled Micah from her seat.

Then, keeping his gaze on me, he bit her, marking her as his mate.

CHAPTER 3

ELEANOR

I’d made a mistake.

Goosebumps broke out across my skin as the trance I’d been in from the moment Alexander marked me finally dissipated, and the realization that I was mated to Alexander Hawthorne hit me hard.

What…what just happened?

I came to a complete stop in the hallway—or at least I would have, if Alexander’s hand wasn’t on mine, pulling me along and forcing me to match his pace.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded.

Alexander kept walking without as much as a backward glance.

“Alexander?” I asked, trying to yank my hand out of his. I couldn’t, not without spraining my wrist.

I tried and failed to stop myself from moving, my feet tripping over themselves as Alexander continued to tug me along with seemingly no effort.

“You can’t just do something like that and then ignore me!” I growled, my annoyance growing.

But we were already in front of my room, where Elena was waiting, her face pinched with worry.

Alexander didn’t hesitate before pushing me into her arms, his words clipped and indifferent.

“Look after her until I return.”

Then those cold blue eyes shifted to me, a silent warning in them.

“Don’t even think about leaving.”

My lips parted in righteous indignation, but before I could protest, Alexander was gone.

I didn’t know if I spent hours or minutes sitting in that room with Elena, my thoughts spiraling out of control. The only information she had was that Alexander had ordered her to wait here for us before he’d marked me.

I needed to know exactly what was going on.

Why had Alexander marked me? Was the alliance still on? What was Father going to do about this new turn of events?Would he hurt Elena?

I stood up from the bed, and Elena straightened.

“Eleanor,” she said nervously. “Alexander might still be resolving the issue of your…unexpected mating with your father and Dylan. Maybe you should wait for him to come back.”

Elena had a point, but if I stayed in this room one moment longer, I would lose my damn mind.

“I can’t, Elena.” I shook my head. “I refuse to sit in this room while some men decide my future.”

Elena let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Fine, but please be careful,” she said, her kind eyes full of worry. “Especially with your father.”

My heart clenched. I didn’t want to think about what Father would do to me if Dylan decided to call off the alliance.

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