Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

ELEANOR

W e walked in complete silence.

It wasn’t the companionable kind.

Alexander was the last thing on my mind, even though he was so close that his scent messed with my senses. So close that I could hear his heartbeat, which remained steady despite the fact that everything was going to hell.

Or so I assumed.

No one knew for sure what was going on.

Dylan had returned hours ago with significantly fewer wolves than he’d left with, and the war bells hadn’t stopped ringing since then.

Then the summons had come for Alexander and me.

I hadn’t exchanged one word with him in the twenty-four hours since our argument.

There was nothing left to say.

When we entered the receiving room, Dylan was seated next to Micah on the elevated dais in the center of the room.

Micah leaned against Dylan, her hand cradling her belly, with a small smile on her face that did nothing to mask the bitterness in her gaze that promised me retribution for surviving her last attempt to kill me.

Dylan’s features, on the other hand, were as severe as if he’d aged in the few days he’d been away.

His hollow gaze met mine before flicking to his brother. His expression hardened.

“The treaty is void,” Dylan announced, his expression unchanging.

Even though I’d already had my suspicions, Dylan’s words stole the air right out of my lungs.

Alexander went still next to me.

“That’s impossible,” he said evenly. “We had an ironclad agreement with the Bloodfrost Pack.”

That set off Dylan.

Dylan got to his feet slowly, anger sparking in his dark gaze.

“ You had an ironclad agreement with them. You also ordered the withdrawal of our forces from a war we’d already won.”

He moved toward Alexander, every step dripping with dominance and predatory intention.

“Now half of our diplomatic team is dead, and the Bloodfrost Pack has breached the northern border.”

His gaze narrowed, his tone sharp with suspicion as he stopped right in front of Alexander. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was a plot to sabotage my rule as alpha of the Nightshade Pack.”

Alexander’s expression didn’t change, but I saw his hands form fists at his side. When he spoke again, his voice trembled with an emotion I couldn’t decipher.

“Everything I’ve done, I did for the sake of this pack.”

For a moment the two brothers stood with their gazes locked, the tension in the room so thick a knife could’ve sliced clean through it.

Dylan smiled, but it held no humor.

“Good. Because you’ll be leading the retaliation force on the frontlines,” he informed Alexander, a note of finality to his words. “Get ready. You leave within half an hour.”

My knees buckled, but I couldn’t understand why.

With all that had happened and all he’d said, I shouldn’t have cared that Alexander was leaving to put his life in danger once more.

And I didn’t.

I. Didn’t. Care.

Dylan was almost halfway back to his seat when Alexander spoke.

“I will not be returning to the battlefield,” he said casually, like those words hadn’t just disintegrated what was left of the serenity in the room.

My heart raced in my chest.

Did Alexander have no sense of self-preservation? Was he trying to give Dylan an opportunity to frame him for the failed treaty?

Dylan turned to face Alexander, his expression darkening.

“It’s not a request,” he snapped. “It’s a command from your alpha.”

Alexander didn’t hesitate, his ocean blue eyes resolute and unyielding

“I refuse to leave my mate defenseless so that your luna can make another attempt on her life.”

My jaw dropped.

Alexander was doing this for… me ?

My temper flared to life. He was at it again.

He was back to his hot-and-cold act, where he messed with my head and made me hope for things that could never exist.

And even though I knew better than to believe him, I had to admit that his acting was good. So good I wanted to strangle him.

Micah’s jaw dropped, her complexion going several shades paler.

Dylan froze. His gaze found mine for a moment before shifting back to Alexander.

“What did you just say?” Dylan asked, his voice calm. Too calm.

Alexander’s lips parted, but a loud shriek cut him off.

Micah fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious, with her hand on her belly.

Dylan turned away from us and rushed to the side of his collapsed mate.

My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my skull.

Scratch what I said earlier. Micah was the superior actor here.

Dylan seemed oblivious as he easily lifted her into his arms and headed toward the door, presumably to get Micah medical help.

Before he reached the door, he stopped at Alexander’s side, his gaze meeting his brother’s.

“I don’t care what your justifications are. If you aren’t with the retaliation force in thirty minutes, you leave me no choice but to brand you a traitor and order your execution.”

His hazel eyes met mine for a second before he turned away, leaving Alexander and me alone in his receiving room.

The door was barely closed when I rounded on Alexander.

“What are you doing?” I could barely recognize my voice. It was hard as granite.

Alexander’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Your safety?—”

“Stop. Just stop.” I raised a hand, tossing him a glare. “It’s just us here, so you don’t need to pretend to care anymore.”

Something shifted in Alexander’s face.

“Eleanor—” he began, but I didn’t let him finish.

“We aren’t real mates, so we don’t have any obligation to each other,” I said, throwing his words from the day before back at him. “Don’t you dare use me as an excuse to get out of fighting a war you started.”

That had to be what he was doing, wasn’t it?

He was using me as a reason to instigate a power play with his brother. Maybe that’s why he’d marked me in the first place.

I was so done with this.

I turned away from Alexander and reached for the doorknob.

Alexander’s warm hand encircled my wrist, tugging me to a stop. Then he was behind me, so close that I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.

“If you truly want me to leave, I will.” Alexander’s voice was low and gravelly as he spoke, each syllable thick with emotion.

Was he really asking me that?

Tears stung my eyes and my lower lip trembled.

Just when I thought he couldn’t get any crueler, that he couldn’t stoop any lower to manipulate me, Alexander showed me how wrong I was.

Prying his hand off my wrist, I turned to face him one last time. My so-called mate.

“I want you to leave,” I told him, my gaze never leaving those icy blue eyes. I needed him to see I meant every word I said.

“I never want to see you again, Alexander. If you survive this war, I want our bond severed. I want to be free of you.”

I hope you don’t survive this war, so I don’t have to see you again.

I can’t do this anymore.

I can’t let you keep hurting me.

All words I left unspoken, but it felt like Alexander heard them anyway.

He nodded once. Then, faster than I could’ve anticipated, he tugged me into his arms, embraced me, and dropped a kiss on my forehead.

I froze, and Alexander hesitated like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn’t. He stepped away from me before I regained enough presence of mind to push him away.

Then he was gone.

The moment the door slammed shut behind him, my knees gave way and I crumpled to the ground, tremors wracking my entire body.

By the time I got home, Alexander was already gone.

What would I have done if I’d met him in our room?

Nothing. I would’ve done nothing.

So why did it hurt so much to know he was gone?

Something slipped down my face, and it wasn’t until I touched my cheeks that I recognized what it was.

Tears.

I was crying.

The worst part? I didn’t even know why I was crying.

The next couple of days were…I didn’t know how they were.

My mind was a maze of pain, confusion, and emotions I didn’t dare unpack.

The war wasn’t going in our favor, or so I heard from the rumors going around. Only Dylan received updates from the battlefield, and he didn’t share any news with the pack.

Not that I cared.

Lily was waiting when I returned from my daily run.

“Miss Seraphina came by to see you again today—” she said, but I didn’t let her finish.

“Thank you, Lily,” I said, reaching for the water on the dining table.

Lily got to it first, pouring me a glass.

“Eleanor, if I may,” she started, her voice as tense as the expression on her face. “I think she’s just worried about you. We all are, with the alpha gone.”

Was my volatile state of mind so obvious?

I’d been avoiding Seraphina and, by extension West, since Alexander left. I was unable to face her, probably because I’d failed to trust her brother like I’d promised her I would.

I met Lily’s worried gaze with a small but grateful smile.

“You may give me advice whenever you like. I appreciate your honesty. I think I just need some time to?—”

The pack warriors walked into my home as if they owned it.

“Eleanor Hawthorne, you have been summoned by the alpha,” the one at the forefront announced, and alarm bells went off in my head.

Admittedly, I didn’t recognize any of them as wolves under Micah’s employ, but I’d played this game too many times before.

“What for?” I asked.

The pack warrior didn’t even blink.

“Your presence is requested immediately.”

Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t think a “request” usually came with half a dozen warriors.

However, short of attacking what could genuinely be an escort detail from Dylan, I didn’t have any other option.

I stepped forward, and Lily reached out to give my hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

Swallowing hard, I nodded my gratitude to her before following my escort.

We came to a stop in front of Dylan’s receiving room, and just like the last time I was there with Alexander, Dylan and Micah were waiting.

However, unlike the last time, neither of them was seated. Instead, they stood opposite each other, exchanging dirty looks.

It looked like they’d been in the middle of an argument before I walked in.

Micah stared at me, her eyes wide with surprise before she turned back to Dylan.

“Honey.” Her voice was sickly sweet, a strained smile on her face. “We’re having a private conversation. What is she doing here?”

But Dylan wasn’t even looking at her. His gaze was focused on me in a way that made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Eleanor needs to be here for this,” he said finally, as his gaze shifted back to his mate. “Our bond will be broken and our mating annulled.”

Wait… what ?

Had I heard that correctly? Did Dylan just?—

“What?” Micah’s tone echoed the disbelief I felt.

But Dylan was still speaking.

“The annulment will be done within the next three days, as soon as the military situation has been de-escalated.”

I paused, my mind snagging on a detail in his words.

The military situation would be de-escalated in just three days? The last conflict had spanned months, and that was when the Bloodfrost Pack didn’t have the upper hand like they did now after they’d broken the treaty.

How was it possible for the military situation to be resolved so quickly?

“Dylan, you can’t do this to me.”

The sound of Micah’s trembling voice drew me out of my thoughts.

Her eyes sparkled with tears that streaked down her face.

“We’re mated, and we have a child on the way,” Micah pleaded, clutching Dylan’s shirt. “Dylan, I love you.”

I’d never seen Dylan look as closed-off as he did when he pushed her hands off him, his voice snide and accusatory.

“You love me? Or do you love your position as luna and your vendetta against Eleanor?”

Micah froze, and then she blinked at Dylan in exaggerated confusion.

“What are you talking about?” she said, shifting just enough to point at me. “If anything, she has a vendetta against me ! She’s turning you against me so she can break our family!”

Her voice was so earnest that if I was a stranger, I would’ve believed her.

As if she’d just fully processed what she’d said, Micah rounded on me, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“You did this, didn’t you?” she hissed, steadily moving toward with me a crazed gleam in her eyes. “You want to steal my mate. You just can’t stand to see me happy!”

Micah launched herself at me, but Dylan moved between us, easily holding her back. Micah struggled against him, loud keening sounds escaping her when she found she couldn’t break out of Dylan’s hold.

“Guards!” Dylan called, and two of the pack warriors from earlier walked in.

Dylan tossed Micah into their arms.

Micah seemed too stunned by this sudden development to do anything but stare blankly at Dylan.

“Detain Micah,” Dylan instructed the warriors. “She’ll be kept in isolation until her execution. From this point on, she is no longer the luna of this pack.”

Execution ?

“Execution?” Micah echoed my thoughts, snapping out of her daze, her eyes wide as saucers and brimming with fear and the shock of her mate’s betrayal. “Dylan, what are you doing?”

I shifted on my feet, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

Micah had hurt me and betrayed our friendship. She’d also tried to kill me—more than once—but watching this felt…wrong.

I wasn’t sure why Dylan felt I needed to be there to watch him break things off with Micah, but it felt like I was watching something private that had nothing to do with me.

“Surely you didn’t think you could spearhead not just one, but two murder attempts without me finding out.” Dylan’s tone sharpened with accusation, and Micah paled further.

Dylan knew about everything she’d done.

Micah tried reaching for Dylan, but the two guards held her back.

“Dylan, this is a misunderstanding,” she begged. “A plot against our future. You need to hear me out.”

Dylan’s expression remained unchanged.

“I’ve been listening, and all I’ve heard are lies.”

Micah flinched at his words and then dropped her hands to her belly, more tears gathering in her eyes.

“Our baby,” she croaked, still cradling her belly. “You can’t kill our child because of a misunderstanding.”

Dylan took a step closer to Micah, the guards holding her watching impassively.

“That baby is the only reason you’re still alive.” The temperature in the room seemed to dip as Dylan spoke in the most ruthless tone I’d ever heard from him. “Once it is born, you will be executed.”

He inclined his head at the guards.

“Take her to the dungeons.”

Micah begged and sobbed as she was dragged out. For the next few seconds after the door shut behind them, I could still hear the echoes of her voice.

I looked at Dylan with his ink-black hair—so similar to his brother’s—and hazel eyes that looked at me expectantly. All I felt was deep-rooted exhaustion.

“Dylan,” I asked. “Why am I here?”

Dylan didn’t say anything at first.

He just closed the distance between us and embraced me.

I stood stiff, my confusion only growing.

Dylan pulled back from the hug, but he didn’t step away from me. Instead, he cupped my cheek with his cool hand.

“Because I’m sorry,” Dylan whispered, his voice so shaky that his words tumbled into each other. “Because I’m a stupid asshole who fumbled a good thing. I didn’t realize how much you meant to me until I lost you.”

His thumb stroked my cheek, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“Our mating was arranged. I never thought I’d fall for you. Never thought things would end the way they did,” he said.

I let out a breath.

Why was he bringing this up again? Regardless of how it had happened, our mating ceremony had fallen apart. Reminiscing about the past didn’t change anything.

“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked.

He didn’t hesitate.

“I want you back, Eleanor. I want to build a life with you.” Dylan’s hazel eyes settled on mine.

“Be my mate.”