Page 58 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

“Seraphina isn’t wrong,” West said. “You have improved a lot.”

I flushed with pride. For all his kindness, West was stingy with compliments.

“I have a great teacher,” I said, inclining my head slightly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Seraphina gazing at West adoringly. West pretended not to notice, but the points of his ears reddened as he looked away shyly.

I barely held in my smile.

For two people who were insistent that they were only good friends and the past was firmly behind them, they sure didn’t act like it.

Both of them tensed, and from the way their eyes glossed over, I could tell they were listening to something through the pack link.

The pack link was like a door to a stream of consciousness that linked every member of a pack.

In the past, it’d been a valid means of communication, but in the current age, that skill had died out. Now, only certain individuals in a pack had enough authority to issue commands via the link.

I would have that connection if Alexander and I had?—

No, Eleanor. Don’t think about him.

Seraphina’s gaze cleared and she looked at me with worry in her eyes.

“A war assembly has been called.”

Dylan stood on the elevated platform, a severe expression on his face. Micah was at his side cradling her baby bump, with a superior expression on her face that’d become permanent since she’d revealed her pregnancy. The rest of the war council stood solidly behind them.

“Our troops hold steadfast against the Bloodfrost Pack, and our victory is on the horizon,” Dylan announced, his gaze unflinchingly hard.

The entire Nightshade Pack stood at rapt attention as he spoke, so quiet I could hear the sound of my breathing, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing.

Our victory had been “on the horizon” for months, but the Bloodfrost Pack was anything but weakened.

Ever since Dylan had revealed the Bloodfrost Pack was behind my attempted kidnapping and several other attacks on the pack, the war had commenced and everything had gone straight to hell.

“I know your mates, siblings, parents, and children fighting on the battlefield are missed, but we must remain steady as the support system they rely on.”

Micah shifted at Dylan’s words, facing the entirety of the pack head-on as she threaded her fingers through his. The alpha and luna of the Nightshade Pack were the depiction of strength and resilience in this trying time.

I almost rolled my eyes.

“Together,” Dylan said firmly, “we will bring an end to the war that has spanned centuries and claimed so many of our loved ones.”

Seraphina and West were silent, but the pack members around me began to cheer, if a little unenthusiastically. The war had been hard on everyone, and despite Dylan’s reassurances, there was no end in sight.

Dylan’s gaze found mine despite the fact that I was in the middle of a crowd. The look in his eyes reminded me of the last conversation we’d had, now over two months ago.

And how he’d begged me to choose him over Alexander.

I looked away, unwilling to think about that day, because that would mean thinking about the days that followed it.

The days whenhewas all I could think about…until he left. And even then, he was still all I could think about.

In the days following my heat, even with the pain gone, my fever broken, and my sanity restored, I’d missed Alexander so thoroughly that I couldn’t eat or sleep, much less speak to anyone. Apparently, that was an uncommon side effect of the heat remaining unconsummated, exacerbated by the absence of my mate.

By the time I recovered, Micah’s pregnancy had been announced.

The heir to the Nightshade Pack had been conceived.

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