Page 4 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

“You fucking asshole,” I said with a voice that was shakier than I would have preferred…because he was right.

Father wouldn’t care that Dylan was cheating on me, as long as the alliance was secured.

That was all I was able to get out before Dylan’s fingers wrapped around my neck, choking me as his alpha aura pressed down on me from every side.

“Don’t use that tone with me, Eleanor,” Dylan threatened, his hazel eyes dark with rage.

I tore at his arm with my claws as I struggled to breathe.

“Get your hands off me,” I rasped.

Dylan wasn’t fazed. His hold on me tightened.

“Our bonding ceremony will be held tomorrow as planned, or your father’s precious alliance is off. Is that clear?”

I stared up at the man who an hour ago, I would’ve sworn I knew completely—a man I could’ve grown to love, but could barely recognize now. At that moment, I made my decision.

“Crystal clear,” I whispered with a strained voice.

He let go of me and I collapsed to the ground, sucking in a breath.

“I’ll see you at the altar tomorrow,” Dylan said dismissively, turning away from me to face Micah, who’d been quietly watching everything play out. She sat on the bed, only wearing a T-shirt.

Without missing a beat, Micah stood up and pressed her lips to Dylan’s, continuing right from where they’d stopped. And Micah…Micah kept her gaze on me as she kissed my fiancé.

I pushed myself off of the ground and walked out of the room, my entire body vibrating with pure, unadulterated rage.

Dylan’s ascension as alpha of the Nightshade Pack would occur in a week or two. He could only ascend to alpha with a mate—and if his mate, who he’d been engaged to for years, left him at the altar because of infidelity, no sane alpha family would give him their daughter as a mate.

So he was willing to threaten me into mating with him.

I wanted nothing more than to leave this pack, but after a lifetime under my father’s thumb, I refused to trade one dictator for another.

I couldn’t share my body and life with someone as two-faced, shameless, and despicable as Dylan.

If I couldn’t end this engagement, then I would make Dylan end it.

The staircase leading to the first floor was just around the corner…and there was only one room currently occupied on that floor.

My palms grew clammy and Lara was quiet, but my rage burned too hot for me to falter. I climbed the stairs and found myself in front of the room far too quickly.

Alexander Hawthorne’s room.

The room of the wolf who’d tried to kill me the first day we met—a fact I’d never told anyone, not even Micah.

I sucked in an unsteady breath before knocking on the door, not giving myself a chance to have second thoughts.

The door swung open.

Alexander Hawthorne towered over me shirtless, his toned abs on display above shorts that hung distractingly low. His ink-black hair was slightly tousled, as if he’d just climbed out of bed, but those icy blue eyes were vicious as ever as he gave me a once-over with that condescending glare that always graced his face whenever I was near him.

“Are you lost, little rabbit?”

The low timbre of his voice seemed to vibrate through me, and for a moment, I forgot why I was there.

Alexander Hawthorne was an apex predator, and despite my alpha blood, I felt like I was his prey.

Alexander lifted a quizzical eyebrow, and I realized I’d just spent the past few seconds staring at him.

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