My lover's brother is my fated mate

"We don't have long"Adrian said,his hands found my waist."They're going to start calling names any minute."

"I know" I tried to keep it level. My back was pressed against the rough cedar of the tool shed, and I could feel the pack drums through the soles of my shoes"I just want to see you,before it starts."

He let out a sharp ragged breath "Elena." He said my name like it pissed him off that I needed this, and worse that he couldn't walk away"Look at me."

I did.

"Nothing changes," his voice dropped low. "You hear me? I don't give a damn what the Moon pulls tonight. If she gives your hand to someone else, I'm walking right up that place and telling the whole pack you're mine. If she gives you to me, great, If she gives you to anyone else, I'm making a scene. A big one."

"You won't." I said in a hurry. "You always say that. You don't know what it looks like from the outside, watching someone get handed off like livestock"

"Neither do you."

"I know that, Adrian, I just" I stopped. "I'm terrified, Is that okay? Can I just be with you for two seconds before going in there?"

He didn't argue. He brought me forward until our foreheads knocked together, I could hear him breathing .

"Okay," he muttered against my skin. " Elena, I just want you to know nothing can come in between us. I'm shaking inside my boots too,I just don't know how to say it"

"Then don't say anything,just stay here."

He laughed and kissed me before I could argue back, It wasn't polite,a rough one like it was our last.. Our teeth clipped together, clumsy and hard, and he made a rough sound in the back of his throat, his hand fisting into the fabric at the small of my back. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him down, and for three seconds the drums didn't exist, just the taste of him .

We broke apart gasping.

"After," he muttered against my temple, his thumb digging into my hip bone. "We stop hiding after tonight,promise me."

"After," I whispered back.

Then the woods went dead silent. Not quiet,dead.

Do not let them see your eyes beneath the moon.

My whole body went stiff. My nails dug straight through his shirt into his shoulder blades.

"Elena?" He held me instantly, he quickly looked at me. "Hey What is it,you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Someone talked." My voice was barely air. "Right there in the brush, It said, it told me not to let them see my eyes."

He spun around, shoving me behind him, scanning the tree line with narrowed eyes. "I didn't hear a damn thing." His tone was steady, but I felt the tremor in his fingers. "Probably some idiot initiates trying to pull a prank before the circle forms,you know how they get."

"That wasn't an initiate."

He looked back at me, hesitating for a second like he wanted to brush it off, then pressed a quick kiss to the corner of my mouth.

"Then we keep our heads down. We get through the damn ritual, we stick to our plan, and I'm not letting some voice in the dark ruin it. Okay?"

I nodded, even though I didn't feel satisfied

We split up the way we always did,him first, me waiting thirty seconds behind a stack of racks so no one saw us walking out of the same corner of the yard.

By the time I slipped into the main clearing, the pitch torches were roaring and the drum rhythm had shifted into that heavy, dragging that makes your teeth ache. I didn't bother looking at the elders on the dais. I scanned the crowd until I found Adrian standing with his brother near the front, Lucian standing a shoulder taller than him in his formal black wool coat, entirely expressionless.

Then the Elder called out my surname, loud and flat over the racket, and my chest went hollow.

The crowd behind me surged, shoving me out from the shadows and into the open sky. The instant the moonlight caught my skin, nausea hit me raw and fast a heavy, pulling weight low in my gut that made my knees go weak. I hauled a fistful of my skirt up so hard,digging my nails into the fabric just to feel something sharp and ordinary.

I looked up at the dais and caught Lucian's eye.

He wasn't smiling. But his expression cracked, just for a second, like he was looking at someone he hadn't expected to see. The pale gray of his irises seemed to bleed out into the dark.

And then it hit,not a spark, but a shove right in the chest, pulling me forward before my brain could argue.

I sucked in a sharp breath, loud enough that the girl standing beside me looked at me with a side eye .

The worst part was that it didn't feel wrong. It felt like walking into a warm room after freezing for hours.

Past Lucian's shoulder, my eyes found Adrian.

He wasn't looking at the moon. He was staring straight at me, his face completely drained of color,the look of a man who already knew what the verdict was before the Alpha even opened his mouth.

"Lucian Vale."

Alpha said,it was loud enough everyone stayed on their knees. I could feel them looking at me, waiting for me to smile or step forward like the other pairs had done.

I didn't move.

I looked at Adrian,he looked angry. When he caught me staring he turned away fast and kept his eyes on the ground.

Lucian hadn't moved either. He just stood there like he wished he was somewhere else.

The Alpha cleared his throat.

"The Moon has spoken," he said. "As it has been for generations. Let it be known that no wolf will go against their fated mates, as it has been a tradition of the kingdom for years and going against it brings consequences, deadly ones. The bond is sacred,the bond is law. Anyone who attempts to reject or interfere will answer to the Council."

People made quiet sounds around me,somewhat like mumuors.I stood there with my hands in my fists, waiting for someone to say it was wrong and declare Adrian my fated mate but no one did.

I stepped down from the platform,my legs didn't feel steady.

I looked for Adrian again. He was in the same spot, but he wouldn't look at me. His shoulders were stiff,he looked wrecked.

Lucian still hadn't come closer. He stood a few feet away, eyes somewhere past me. He didn't look happy at all.

Then the bond tightened hard.

It hurt. A sudden sharp pain in the middle of my chest that kept getting worse. I pressed my hand there, trying to catch my breath, but it only got tighter.

My vision started going blurry.

I tried to take another step out then my knee gave out.

Someone shouted my name, I think it was Adrian but it already sounded far away. The last thing I saw was something that didn't belong to the clearing.

Three wolves standing under a blood-red moon. One of them turned its head toward me,Its eyes were silver.

Then everything went dark.

I woke up to the smell of clean sheets and herbs.

My head felt heavy. For a second I didn't know where I was,then I saw the wooden ceiling of the infirmary and the soft light coming through the shutters.

Someone was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

Lucian.

He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. When he noticed I was awake he sat up.

"You're awake," he said. His voice was low.

I tried to push myself up but the pain in my chest made me stop.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You collapsed after the announcement." He glanced at me, then away. "The healers said the bond hit you harder than most,they're not sure why."

I swallowed. "Adrian?"

"He's outside. They wouldn't let him in yet."

We were both quiet for a few seconds.

Lucian rubbed the back of his neck.

"Elena," he said. "About the bond. I meant what I said earlier, It doesn't have to control either of us. We can figure this out without letting it take over everything."

I watched him. He looked tired like he just wanted a break from all this.

"I know you don't want this," I said.

He didn't deny it.

Before he could say anything else I noticed something on the side of his neck. A mark, It looked like a bite.

Lucian saw where I was looking. He pulled his collar up quickly, covering it.

"I'll let them know you're awake," he said. Then he stood and left without waiting for an answer.

I stared at the closed door.

My chest still hurt, but it wasn't only from the bond.

Somewhere outside, Adrian was waiting.

And the image of those three wolves under the red moon was still stuck in my head.

The door opened again not long after Lucian left.

Adrian stepped in and closed it behind him. He didn't come straight to the bed. He stood there for a second like he wasn't sure what to do with his hands.

"They finally let me in," he said.

I pushed myself up a little against the pillows. My chest still ached but it was better now.

"I'm fine," I told him.

He let out a short breath and walked over. He sat on the edge of the chair Lucian had been using, elbows on his knees, looking at the floor more than at me.

"You're not fine. You passed out in front of the whole pack."

"I know,I tried to stay calm but the bond was just too harsh on me."

We were quiet for a moment. I could hear people moving in the hallway outside.

Adrian rubbed his face with both hands and then looked at me properly.

"We should leave," he said.

I blinked "What?"

"Leave the pack. Tonight or tomorrow,i can get us out without anyone noticing for a few hours. We go somewhere else,somewhere the Council and all this mate stuff can't reach us."

I stared at him. His voice was steady but his knee was bouncing.

"Adrian"

"I'm serious, Elena. You saw what happened,the way they all looked at you. The way my father talked about consequences. This isn't going to get easy along the way,It's going to get worse."

I shook my head "I can't just run,not just like that ."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't even understand what's happening yet." I kept my voice low "The bond, the way it felt, that thing I saw before I blacked out? I need to know what it all means,running won't fix any of it."

Adrian looked toward the window for a second, then back at me.

"So what then? We just stay and watch them try to push you and Lucian together?"

"We stay and we keep seeing each other," I said "Secretly,like before, nothing has to change between us unless we let it."

He didn't answer right away.

"You really won't leave?" he asked.

"Not yet,not like this."

He nodded once, slow. "Alright. Then let's do it your way for now."

He reached over and took my hand. We sat like that until a healer came in to check on me again and told him visiting hours were over.

By the next afternoon the rumors had already started.

I heard them while I was walking back from the infirmary to my family's house. Two older women were talking near the water pump and didn't bother lowering their voices when they saw me.

"trapped him with the bond, that's what she did."

"She must have done something,lucian has never looked at her twice before."

I kept walking and didn't look at them.

Later that evening Adrian found me behind the old storage sheds.

He looked tired.

"They're saying you forced the bond," he said without greeting "that you somehow trapped him."

"I know,they literally gossip me at my front ."

He leaned against the wall beside me, arms crossed.

"My brother's been acting strange too,very unusual.Disappearing for hours,not showing up to training. Last night I saw him leaving the eastern woods long after dark."

I stayed quiet.

Adrian glanced at me.

"I'm going to talk to him."

"Adrian"

"I need to. He's my brother,and if people are going to keep saying you did something to him, I want to hear it from his own mouth."

He left before I could say anything else.

I didn't see Adrian again until much later that night. He came to the side window of my house and tapped once. When I opened it he looked angry.

"What did he say?" I asked.

Adrian climbed in and sat on the edge of my bed.

"I found him near the training grounds,confronted him about the rumors. Asked him straight if he thought you did something to force the bond."

I waited.

Adrian let out a short, bitter laugh.

"He looked at me like I was crazy. Then he said, 'I don't want her.'"

The words sat between us.

"That's all?" I asked.

"That's all. He didn't explain,he just said it again. 'I don't want her, Adrian,make sure she knows that.'" Adrian dragged a hand through his hair "then he walked off."

I sat down beside him.

Neither of us spoke for a while.

Outside, the pack was quiet. Inside my room it felt heavier than before.

Adrian finally looked at me.

"He doesn't want you," he said. "Whatever the Moon did, he doesn't want it. So maybe,maybe we still have a chance to get through this without everything falling apart."

I nodded slowly.

But the bite mark I had seen on Lucian's neck earlier kept coming back to my mind.

And the way he had covered it so fast.