Page 64 of Claimed By My Fiancé's Brother

My initial plan had been to slip out during the treaty celebration. I’d failed to anticipate Anastasia seeking me out since we hadn’t spoken much over the last two months, apart from fights and strategy meetings.

Anastasia placed her hand over mine, then took a step closer, her eyes molten gray pools full of indecipherable emotions.

“A messenger could take it. We have a lot to catch up on.” Anastasia’s voice dipped into a breathy caress.

There had been times when I’d taken her up on similar offers.

Manytimes.

That had been when I’d been desperate to feel something, anything, to drown out the inevitability of my future…the future that awaited all firstborn sons of the Hawthorne family.

But not anymore. Not since that day…

The image of fiery forest-green eyes that’d haunted my every thought since the first day we’d met resurfaced in my mind.

I freed my hand from Anastasia’s grasp and lifted the bag to my shoulder.

Anastasia’s eyes flashed from her fallen hand to my face before going wide with shock.

“You’re going back for Eleanor.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but her words reverberated through the air between us.

Eleanor.

The sound of her name from Anastasia’s lips shattered the barrier I’d labored to build in my mind these past two months.

My mind took me back to the night I’d left the pack.

The front lines have fallen.

Dylan’s words had come through the pack link.

For him to have contacted me directly rather than send an in-between, I knew the situation was dire, yet I couldn’t make myself leave Eleanor.

As if she could sense my thoughts, Eleanor sighed and nestled closer to me. Most of her body was sprawled above mine, in the position she’d slept in for most of the last three nights.

Her fever had broken two hours ago.

I should have already been en route to the battlefield to fulfil my side of my agreement with Father. In exchange for giving up the alpha position, I’d promised to be the Nightshade Pack’s first line of defense.

But I hesitated.

I reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, so I could look at her one more time before I left.

My hand formed a fist before it reached her, anger flooding my veins.

Anger at myself.

Was three days truly all it had taken to erode my resolve?

How pathetic.

I left without a backward glance.

The battles had taken longer than I’d anticipated, especially since the Nightshade Pack had ceded ground in my absence.

The Bloodfrost Pack was more than prepared for us. If we’d been another pack, or if the Nightshade Pack wasn’t headed by the Hawthornes, they might have won.

And the entire time, I was distracted by the letters.

---