Bound to My Step-brother

Chapter Six

Lila's POV

We stood side by side in the courtyard, staring through iron bars at the thing that had nearly burned me alive. Even caged, even chained, it still moved with that same slow, patient malice, hollow eyes fixed on nothing and everything at once.

"Thank you," I said quietly, not quite looking at him. "For coming for me. For all of this."

"You don't have to thank me." Ryker's voice was steady, but something underneath it felt tight, like he was bracing for a blow he already knew was coming.

"There's a cost, isn't there." I could feel it before he said it, that same instinct that had warned me about the fire before I'd seen the flames.

He exhaled slowly. "Draven wants us to proclaim our bond publicly. Tomorrow night, under the full moon, in front of the pack's elders. That was his price for lending the magic that caught this thing."

The words landed like a slap. "You agreed to that?"

"I didn't have a choice, Lila. I wasn't going to let you die while I weighed my options."

"You could have found another way." My voice rose, sharper than I meant it. "Do you understand what you've done? Our parents don't want this. Victor's spent this entire time trying to break us apart, and now you're handing him the exact thing he fears, staged in front of the one audience that could ruin him completely. It's not just reckless, Ryker. It's cruel. To them. To all of us."

"I know." He didn't defend himself, didn't offer some smooth excuse the way I expected. "I know what it costs him. I know what it costs us. I stopped thinking about any of that the second I felt you dying through the bond. There wasn't room in my head for anything except getting to you in time."

Something in his voice, raw and unguarded, softened the anger sitting in my chest, even as the fear underneath it grew.

"Tomorrow's the full moon," he said. "We'll do it. We'll apologize to Victor after, however he takes it. I'm not letting Draven back out of catching that thing, and I'm not risking your life over pride."

I studied the cage again, the ruined creature slumped inside it, and a colder thought crept in. "Why would Draven demand something like that? A public declaration, timed perfectly to humiliate our families in front of the entire pack. It feels deliberate. Like he wants our reputation ruined, not just our bond declared.

Ryker's jaw tightened, eyes fixed on the bars. "That's exactly what I think it is."

***

Ryker's POV

The hall was carved from old stone, chandeliers throwing gold light over rows of elders seated like judges awaiting a verdict. I walked in beside Lila, her hand cold in mine, and felt every eye in the room land on us at once.

Victor sat near the front, composed, almost pleased, clearly believing tonight would end with us standing before this council and rejecting each other exactly as he'd demanded. I didn't correct the assumption. There was no version of tonight that ended well for him regardless.

The moon rose full and heavy through the tall windows, and Draven stepped forward, robes sweeping the marble floor, ice blue eyes fixed on us both with an intensity that unsettled me more than I let show.

"Declare it," he said, voice carrying easily through the silent hall. "Before this council, before the moon. Speak the bond into being, or reject it here and now."

Something in his urgency struck me wrong. He wasn't simply presiding. He was hungry for it, desperate in a way no elder overseeing tradition should be.

I glanced at Lila, then at Victor's face, the pleased composure already cracking as understanding dawned.

My father's expression shifted from smug to horror, and for one terrible second I thought the strain of it might actually kill him where he sat.

~We shouldn't have come. This was a mistake.~

But Lila’s life had been the price of refusing, and there was no walking back now.

"I claim her," I said, voice steady despite everything screaming inside me. "Lila Monroe is my mate, bonded and true, before this council and this moon."

The words had barely left my mouth when a silver arrow split the air above our heads.

It struck one of the elders square in the chest, and chaos exploded through the hall in an instant. Screams tore through the crowd as more arrows rained down from the windows, silver heads glinting under moonlight, elders scattering from their seats, robes flying, the whole gathering collapsing into panic within seconds.

"Lila!" I grabbed her hand, hauling her toward the nearest exit, shielding her body with mine as arrows whistled past.

Pain exploded through my shoulder, silver burning straight through muscle, and I staggered, vision swimming, strength draining out of me faster than I could fight it.

"Ryker!" Her scream was the last clear thing I heard before hands seized her, wrenching her out of my grip.

I fought to stay upright, silver poison spreading through my veins like fire. I watched, helpless, as a wolf hunter threw her over his shoulder like nothing more than cargo and disappeared into the smoke and chaos of the hall.

"Lila!" My voice came out broken, useless, my legs buckling beneath me as the last of my strength gave out.

The hunters were already gone.