Claimed by My Stepbrothers

THE MAGIC

LEILA'S POV

"Go to hell."

The words came out before I could stop them.

Dane's expression didn't change. "Brave. I like that. But bravery without power is just stupidity."

He raised his hand again.

Magic slammed into me.

Not the barrier this time. Something worse. Something that wrapped around my mind like

chains, trying to force submission.

Alpha command mixed with compulsion magic.

I screamed, falling to my knees.

"Stop!" Maddox shifted and charged. He hit the barrier and bounced off, but kept trying. Again

and again, throwing himself at the invisible wall. "Let her go!"

"She needs to learn her place," Dane said calmly, pouring more power into me. "You can fight

me, little hybrid. Or you can submit now and spare yourself the pain."

My wolf roared inside my head. "NEVER."

Power exploded from my body, not just wolf, not just magic. Something else. Something that

made Dane's compulsion shatter like glass.

The clearing filled with silver-white light.

When it faded, I stood in the center of a circle of scorched earth. My hands glowed with magic I

didn't know how to control. My eyes, I could feel them burning with power.

Dane stared at me. For the first time, he looked surprised. "Impossible. You shouldn't be able to

break an Alpha compulsion. Not without training."

"Maybe I don't need training," I gasped. My body was shaking from the power drain, but I stayed

upright. "Maybe I just need you to get the hell away from me."

Dane's surprise turned to hunger. "Magnificent. Your father never told me you'd be this strong.

This perfect." He took another step forward. "You're everything I've been searching for."

"She's not interested." Ronan moved to stand beside me, placing himself between me and

Dane. "Leave. Now. Before this becomes a war between our packs."

"A war?" Dane laughed. "You'd lose. Shadowpine is twice the size of Blackwood territory. We

have better fighters, better resources, better everything."

"But we have her." Maddox stood on my other side now, still bleeding from throwing himself at

the barrier. "And that's worth more than all your resources combined."

Something shifted in Dane's expression. Cold calculation. "You're right. She is worth everything.

Which is why I'm willing to make a deal."

"No deals," I said.

"Hear me out." Dane's silver eyes locked on mine. "You come with me willingly. Spend two

weeks at Shadowpine territory. Let me show you what you could become with proper training. If

at the end of those two weeks, you still want your pathetic forbidden bond, I'll let you go. No

fight. No war."

"Absolutely not," Ronan said.

"Why not?" Dane smiled. "Unless you're afraid she'll realize what she's missing. Afraid that

given a real choice, she'll choose the Alpha who can actually claim her legally over the three

brothers who'll get her killed."

The words hit harder than any physical blow.

Because he was right. The triad bond was illegal. Forbidden. Every day I stayed with the

brothers, I put them in danger.

"Leila, don't listen to him…" Alec started.

"Two weeks," I said quietly. "And you promise to leave them alone? No attacks on Blackwood

territory?"

"Leila, no!" Maddox grabbed my arm. "You can't trust him."

"I give you my Alpha's oath," Dane said, placing his hand over his heart. "Two weeks of your

time in exchange for guaranteed safety for the Blackwood Pack. No attacks. No challenges. No

threats."

I looked at the three brothers. At Ronan's ice-blue eyes filled with barely controlled rage. At

Maddox's desperate grip on my arm. At Alec's analytical mind clearly trying to find another

solution.

They couldn't claim me without dying. The Council would execute all four of us.

But if I went with Dane, at least they'd be safe.

"I'll go," I said.

"NO!" Maddox's claws extended. "I won't let you…"

"It's my choice." I pulled away from him, even though it felt like tearing out my own heart. The

incomplete bonds screamed in protest. "Two weeks. That's all."

"You're making a mistake," Ronan said coldly, but I could see the pain in his eyes. "He'll never

let you leave."

"Then you'll come get me." I forced myself to meet his gaze. "Won't you?"

Something flickered across his face. A promise. "Yes."

"How touching." Dane gestured, and the barrier dissolved. He held out his hand to me. "Come,

Leila. Your training begins now."

I took one step toward him.

Maddox shifted and lunged.

Not at Dane. At me.

His wolf tackled me to the ground. Before I could react, his teeth sank into my shoulder, not

deep enough to seriously hurt, but deep enough to mark.

To claim.

Power exploded between us.

The mate bond snapped into place with devastating force. I felt Maddox inside my head, his

emotions, his absolute certainty that I belonged to him. His wolf's triumphant roar.

The mark on my shoulder burned, glowing with otherworldly light.

"You fool!" Dane's voice cut through the clearing like a whip. "You just signed your own death

warrant!"

Maddox shifted back to human, covering my body with his. "I don't care. She's mine. Let the

Council come."

The bond pulsed between us, hot, intense, demanding. But incomplete. I could feel Ronan and

Alec at the edges, the bonds trying to connect but not fully formed.

"Interesting." Dane studied us with clinical fascination. "A partial triad bond. That will kill her, you

know. Slowly. Painfully. Without all three marks, her body will tear itself apart trying to complete

the connection."

"Then they'll mark me too," I gasped, still reeling from the bond's intensity.

"Will they?" Dane's eyes found Ronan. "Will you throw away your Alpha inheritance for a girl you

barely know? Will you condemn your brothers to execution alongside you?"

Ronan's jaw clenched. He didn't answer.

"I thought not." Dane smiled coldly. "How about a new deal? Leila comes with me. I help her

survive the incomplete bond. And in exchange, I don't report your brother's illegal marking to the

Council."

"Go to hell," Maddox snarled.

"Such language." Dane's expression hardened. "Fine. Then I'll invoke my right as a visiting

Alpha to call for an immediate Council investigation into illegal bond formation. They'll be here

within the hour. All four of you will be arrested. Executed by dawn."

My blood turned to ice.