CLAIMED BY MY ALPHA STEPBROTHER.

ChapterTwo.

ELARA’S POV.

“Mom, please. Please listen to me. I can’t live with Cassian. I don’t want to.”

My voice cracked, but it didn’t slow her down one bit. She stood in the middle of my room, cool, focused, and annoyingly cheerful waving instructions at the maids like we weren’t talking about the slow destruction of my sanity.

“Fold those sweaters properly, please. And don’t forget the charger bag.”

“Mom!” I tried again.

Nothing. She was in her own world. The kind where this whole thing was perfectly reasonable. Meanwhile, I was pretty sure I was about to pass out from stress.

I had begged the school, I had emailed, called, walked into offices, and pleaded. I even filled out extra forms I didn’t understand, hoping one of them would save me. But it didn’t matter.

Cassian Blackwood always gets what he wants.

And this time, what he wanted was me placed at Blackwood Innovations, his company… three hours away from home. The school called it “an excellent professional opportunity.” Yeah, right!

My parents called it “convenient.” Apparently, it “only made sense” for me to stay at his house during the internship since I only had to return to campus on Fridays.

So, there it was. Sunday to Thursday. Under the same roof as him. The same man who killed someone right in front of me. And then acted like it was… nothing.

It had been nearly two weeks, and we’d never spoken about it. I couldn't even say the words out loud. They lodged in my throat like broken glass.

I still woke up sometimes thinking I could smell iron and soil. But sure. Let’s go live with him. What could go wrong?

My stomach twisted as another thought hit me… Jonah. We had been talking secretly for months quietly and carefully because Cassian liked knowing everything I did. Everyone I spoke to, every call and every text.

I had already smuggled my second phone into my purse the one he didn’t know about. But now? Living with him? He’d breathe down my neck. He’d feel the shift in the air if I so much as thought about another guy.

“What happens when he finds out?” I muttered under my breath. My pulse spiked. I didn’t even want to imagine.

“Mom?” I said quietly.

She finally turned toward me… her green eyes soft and warm, the same shade as mine. The same eyes I used to believe could fix anything.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she said in this bright, gentle voice. “Don’t worry so much. You’ll visit us every weekend. Before you know it, these three months will fly by. You’ll be back in my arms again.”

She opened her arms like she expected me to run into them. I just stared at her.

This wasn’t about her missing me. This was about me not wanting to live with a man who had slowly become a stranger. A stranger who had too much control, too many secrets and too much… darkness.

But she didn't see it. She never did. And when I tried explaining, she always said the same line:

“He’s just protective.” Protective, my ass.

By Friday afternoon, my fate was sealed. My bags were zipped. The car was ready. And despite begging to leave on Sunday, my parents insisted I go today so I’d have “time to settle in.” The universe had a dark sense of humor.

By the time I arrived at Cassian’s house, my nerves were frayed into thin, shaky threads.

I’d only been here twice before. Cassian usually came home to us instead. The golden boy, the Alpha, the CEO, the brilliant, accomplished, and responsible one.

Everyone loved him. They didn’t know him.

The house itself was massive, with guards spaced out quietly around the grounds. Inside, it was sleek and modern the kind of luxury you didn’t show off. You just… breathed it in.

He never kept live-in staff. Just cleaners during the day and assistants when needed. And then the house returned to stillness at night.

Now it was me, empty hallways and the echo of a memory I couldn’t get rid of.

I swallowed and climbed the stairs, dragging my suitcase behind me until I reached the guest room he’d texted me about.

“Use the one next to mine.”

Yeah. Of course. Because I wasn’t anxious enough. The room was beautiful, calm, soft, expensive

I tried to breathe. I texted Jonah first thing.

“I’m here.”

He replied immediately.

“I wish you didn’t have to stay there.”

My chest tightened.

“Me too. But we’ll still see each other Friday.”

We promised each other we wouldn't disappear not physically, not emotionally. Once a week would keep us steady.

And maybe… if Cassian stayed busy enough… we could steal more. He wasn’t always home. He couldn’t be.

Eventually I drifted asleep. When I woke up, my stomach growled so loud I laughed weakly at myself. I showered, slipped into some comfy shorts and a black crop top, then padded down the hallway toward the kitchen.

It was after six. Which meant Cassian was due home any minute.

I really didn’t want to run into him today. Or tomorrow. Or this century. Maybe just a quick hello from behind my door when he passed the hallway. That felt safe, distant, and acceptable.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “Just eat fast.”

I cracked eggs, whisked, toasted bread. I moved quickly almost frantically like the food might judge me for taking too long.

I had just finished plating my omelette and reached into the fridge for juice when the kitchen door swung open.

And there he was. Cassian. Tall, broad-shouldered, green eyes the same piercing shade I used to feel protected by. My breath caught. The glass slipped from my hand and shattered against the floor.

We froze. For a second, we just stared at each other like strangers who had accidentally walked into the same dream. Except this wasn’t a dream. This was my life.

My heart hammered painfully. My throat tightened. Every fear I’d swallowed over the past two weeks rushed back at once.

How did it get like this? How did I go from laughing at his dumb jokes… to being terrified to breathe near him? He looked almost the same. But I didn’t know him anymore.

“Hi… Cassian,” I managed, voice barely above a whisper.

CASSIAN’S POV

I swear to God, I tried. I really did. I told myself not to manipulate the placement list. Not to pull strings. Not to make calls. I tried to let fate play its role. But fate has never protected Elara the way I do.

So yes, I stepped in.

And I knew she’d be upset. I knew she’d glare, avoid me and build little walls out of stubborn silence. But I’d rather have her angry and safe than smiling somewhere I couldn’t reach her.

People think control is cruel. They don’t understand. It’s love. And sometimes love demands hard choices even ugly ones. Some much uglier than others.

I walked inside expecting to find her sprawled on the couch scrolling through her phone, TV remote nowhere near the TV, a half-finished drink sweating on the coffee table. But the living room was spotless. Which meant she’d been hiding upstairs avoiding me.

My jaw tightened not in anger. In something else. Something that sounded like the quiet snap of a thread inside my chest.

Then I smelled warm eggs, butter and toast. She always cooked when she was anxious.

My footsteps led me to the kitchen before I even realized I’d changed direction. I pushed the door open and there she was.

Bare legs, soft skin, black crop top hugging her frame. Wide green eyes going impossibly wider when she saw me.

The glass slipped and her breath hitched. And something inside me… something dark and patient stretched awake.

For three years I’ve fought this. For three years I’ve bitten my tongue, looked away, stayed quiet and played the big brother role.

She stood there like temptation made real and she didn’t even know it. Didn’t know what fire she walked around with so carelessly. Didn’t know how many times I had to talk myself down from wanting more than I should. More than I was allowed to want.

“Careful,” I said softly. My voice sounded tighter than I intended. “Step away from the glass.”

She blinked, nodded and obeyed like she always did when fear trembled under her ribs. That fear stung. But I caused it, didn’t I?

I didn’t move. If I went any closer, I wasn’t sure which version of myself would be standing there when I stopped.

The Alpha. The CEO. The boy who watched her grow up. Or the man who has wanted her since the day the world decided she wasn’t a child anymore.

“Elara,” I said. Her name settled heavy in the room. She swallowed.

“Hi… Cassian.” Her voice was gentle.

Something inside me clenched tight, and I curled my hand into a fist just to feel the physical bite of restraint.

I couldn’t lose control… Not with her. She still thought I was her brother. But I stopped seeing her as my sister years ago.

And that truth? That craving? That obsession? It lived in me like a shadow I could never shake. And now she was here. Under my roof. Close enough to touch. For three long months.