Forbidden Mate: My Brother's Obsession

Chapter Ten: A World She Didn't Know Existed

Lily stared at him, waiting for the punchline, for some sign that this was an elaborate, cruel joke, but Ethan's expression didn't waver. He looked at her the way someone looks when they're bracing for the worst reaction imaginable, steady, but tense, ready to catch her if she fell apart.

"A wolf," she repeated slowly. "Like an actual wolf. Fur, claws, howling at the moon."

"More or less."

"That's insane."

"I know how it sounds."

"No, Ethan, I don't think you do, because it sounds completely, certifiably insane." Her voice climbed, panic edging in beneath the disbelief. "People don't just turn into wolves. That's not a real thing that happens."

"You saw it happen. Last night, in the yard." His voice was quiet but firm, unwavering despite the way she was starting to spiral. "You saw their eyes. Their teeth. The way I moved. Tell me you can explain any of that some other way, and I'll drop this right now."

She opened her mouth to argue and found she couldn't. Because he was right. There was no other explanation, no rational alternative that fit what she'd witnessed with her own eyes, no matter how badly some stubborn part of her wanted to cling to disbelief instead.

"Okay," she said finally, voice shaking. "Okay. Let's say I believe you. Let's say werewolves are real, and you're one of them, and so is your cousin, and so were the men who attacked you last night. What does that have to do with me? Why do these elders want me at some meeting tonight?"

Ethan hesitated, and something about that hesitation made her stomach drop even further than it already had.

"There's a word," he said slowly, "in my world. It doesn't have a real equivalent in yours, not exactly, but it's the closest thing I can give you. Mate."

Lily's breath caught. "You said that. In the hallway, that first week. You called me that."

"I did." He held her gaze, steady despite the vulnerability bleeding into his voice. "It's not a casual word. It's not something wolves throw around, and it's definitely not something an Alpha says without meaning it completely. A mate is.... it's a bond. Fated. Unbreakable. The one person whose soul is tied to yours whether either of you wants it or not."

"And you think I'm yours." The words felt strange in her mouth, too large, too impossible to fully process.

"I don't think it," Ethan said quietly. "I know it. I've known it since the first moment I caught your scent, standing in my own foyer, watching my father introduce you as my new stepsister. Every instinct in me recognized you instantly, even before I understood what was happening."

Lily's mind reeled, trying to fit this new, impossible piece into the confusing puzzle of the last few weeks, the growling, the golden eyes, the way he'd pulled away and pushed her back in equal, dizzying measure. "That's why you kept pushing me away. And pulling me close. You've been fighting this the entire time."

"Yes."

"And the elders. They know about this.... this bond?"

"They suspect it. After last night, after the rogues, after Marcus witnessing what happened between us in the stairwell just now, they'll know for certain by the time we walk into that meeting tonight." His jaw tightened, something protective and furious flashing behind his eyes. "And that's the problem, Lily. My pack doesn't just accept mates without question. There are politics. Alliances. Expectations I was supposed to fulfill that have nothing to do with fate or bonds or any of this."

"What kind of expectations?"

Before he could answer, his phone buzzed sharply in his pocket, and the color drained from his face the same way it had the night before. He glanced at the screen, and whatever he read there made his entire body go rigid with tension.

"They've moved the meeting up," he said, voice tight. "They want us there in an hour. Both of us."

"Ethan, what expectations?" Lily pressed, refusing to let it go, some instinctive dread building in her chest with every second he avoided the question.

He looked at her, and for the first time, real fear flickered behind his eyes not for himself, she realized, but for her.

"There's already a mate chosen for me," he said quietly. "Has been for years. Arranged by the elders, sealed by two packs' alliance. Her name is Selena Vane, and tonight, in front of everyone, I'm supposed to formally accept her."