Claimed By My Mate's Brother

Episode Three:Bond In Secret

Nyx’s POV:

The wedding ceremony passed in a blur of ancient words and meaningless gestures. My hand trembled in Theo's sweaty grip as the pack elder droned on about duty and honor and eternal bonds. Every word felt like another nail in my coffin, another mockery of the true mate bond singing in my blood, demanding I turn around and meet those forest-green eyes burning holes into my back.

*Run,* Eva whimpered. *This is wrong. He's right there. Our mate is right there.*

But I couldn't run. Not with my mother's life hanging in the balance. Not with Elara's knowing smirk from the front row. Not with two hundred members of the Stormfang Pack watching my every move, expecting to see their future Luna pledge herself to their second son.

"With this ribbon, we bind your souls as one," the elder intoned, wrapping a silver cloth around our joined hands.

My stomach roiled. Beside me, Theo shifted impatiently, his thoughts probably already on the reception's open bar. He hadn't even noticed I wasn't Lydia, too busy stealing glances at a pretty redhead in the third row. The same couldn't be said for his brother.

I made the mistake of looking up, just once, and found Xander's gaze locked on me. The muscle in his jaw ticked as he clenched it, his hands fisted at his sides. Camilla, his supposed girlfriend, pressed against him like a cat marking its territory, but he seemed barely aware of her presence. The intensity in his eyes spoke of rage, of betrayal, of something else that made my knees weak and Eva howl in despair.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the elder declared. "May the Moon Goddess bless this union."

The Moon Goddess. I almost laughed. What kind of blessing was it to wake my wolf on my wedding day, only to reveal my mate was my husband's brother?

The reception hall buzzed with activity, pack members coming forward to offer congratulations I didn't deserve. I smiled until my cheeks ached, nodded until my neck was stiff, all while trying to ignore the electric awareness of Xander's presence across the room.

"My dear new daughter," a smooth voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned to find Eleanor Sterling, the Stormfang Pack's Luna, regarding me with sharp calculation in her eyes. "You look... lovely."

There was something in her pause that made my skin crawl. Did she know? Could she sense the deception?

"Thank you, Luna Sterling," I managed, trying to keep my voice steady.

She stepped closer, her perfectly manicured hand gripping my arm with deceptive gentleness. "I trust you understand what's expected of you now? The Stormfang Pack needs strong heirs. Pure-blooded heirs."

My blood turned to ice. Of course – they would expect children. Theo's children. The thought made me physically ill.

"I..." I started, but she was already walking away, talking with other guests, leaving me with the weight of her words and the light scent of the expensive perfume she wearing.

The air seems to grow thick with the hums of conversation and bloody expectations. The walls were also closing in on me as if its only goal was to suffocate me. I needed out. Now.

I slipped away from the reception, ignoring the curious glances, and fled to the mansion's extensive gardens. The night air filled my lungs like a long-awaited relief, crisp and sweet. Above, the stars danced and endlessly spun, dizzying and bright. I reached up, fingers slipping into my hair, and pulled the pins free. A cascade of dark waves tumbled over my shoulders, the weight of the day falling with them.

“You shouldn’t wear it like that.”

The voice sent a jolt through me. I spun around, pulse hammering in my throat.

Xander stepped from the shadows, his presence as familiar as it was unsettling. His tie was loosened, his hair wer ruffled like he’d been running his hands through it—a habit he is probably used to. He looked like something out of a dream. Or maybe a nightmare.

"It makes you look less like her," he continued, his voice rough. "Less like my brother's intended."

"I shouldn't be talking to you," I whispered, even as my traitorous feet refused to move away.

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "No, you shouldn't. Just like you shouldn't be wearing that wedding dress, or bearing my family's mark, or standing in my pack's territory under false pretenses."

I flinched. "You don't understand—"

"Then make me understand!" He closed the distance between us in two long strides, not quite touching but close enough that his scent – pine and smoke and something uniquely him – overwhelmed my senses.

"Explain to me why my mate just married my brother under another woman's name."

*Yes,* Eva urged. *Tell him. Let him help us.*

But before I could respond, could even begin to unravel the tangled web I'd woven myself into, a twig snapped nearby.

Xander's head jerked up, his nostrils flaring. "Someone's coming," he growled, stepping back. The loss of his proximity felt like physical pain.

"Xander, wait—" I reached for him, not sure what I was going to say, what I could possibly say to make any of this right.

His eyes met mine one last time, filled with an emotion that stole my breath. "This isn't over," he promised, then melted back into the shadows as easily as he'd appeared.

I stood by myself in the garden, my new wedding ring weighing heavily on my finger, while Eva howled her sadness and sorrow into the large emptiness between what was and what should have been. I heard Theo yelling my name in the distance, his voice getting louder.

My time was up. I had to go back, had to play my part, had to pretend I hadn't just found – and lost – everything I never knew I wanted.

But Xander's words echoed in my mind like a prophecy: "This isn't over."

And somehow, that felt more like a threat than a promise.