Chapter 2 Chapter Two

My whole body froze.

It felt like the air was too thick to breathe, so I stopped struggling. “Are you threatening me right now?” I whispered, my breath shaking with fear.

He pressed my body closer to his, leaning to my neck, his hot breath pricking my skin. I moved my face away from him, staring around the environment so as not to get caught by anyone.

This is the torment I've been secretly going through for years now.On a fateful night, I made the mistake of my life.After the death of my parents, who were burnt in a fire outbreak in our house in the pack, I was the only person who survived in our neighborhood. After my parents’ death, life became a living hell, until I was taken in by my aunt, who's an animal rearer.

Life had eased a little, until the night I went into the woods to collect dry leaves for the animals. I stumbled on a rogue wolf that lunged for me, but another wolf saved me. He turned out to be my mate: Sylvia. I didn’t know how my wolf was supposed to react, so I panicked and ran. When I got home, they told me I’d missed my mate forever.

Everything twisted after that. A while later I found the same wolf in the woods again, and this time I couldn’t escape. He marked me, and we accepted each other as mates, only it wasn’t Sylvia. It was Claus. My second mate.I was mated to two Alphas: one I had rejected, and the other I’d unknowingly accepted.

Sylvia was supposed to be my first mate, but I had run. When I moved into the pack as Luna, Sylvia never made a scene. He pretended nothing had happened, but he never stopped claiming me. He tried to tell Claus more than once, but I begged him to stop, I wanted peace between the brothers. Now I was trapped in the middle.

“I’m not threatening you. I’m claiming what’s mine. You are mine,” he whispered, his voice rough against my ear.

“Please…stop. I beg you. What if your brother sees us like this? I’ll be beheaded,” I said, trying to wrench free.

“I can’t… contain myself any longer. I don’t know if I can hold back. You are mine,” he ground out, jaw tight.This was getting out of hand. If anyone found out, there would be serious consequences.

I shoved him away and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Please. I don’t want us to get caught.” I refused to meet his eyes.

He cupped my jaw and his touch was cold. “I don’t care,” he said, voice icy, his aura humming with darkness.What I hated most was how much he looked like Claus. It hurt, more than it should. Sometimes I lost myself in the resemblance.

“Just get married,” I said, desperate. “You’re my mate’s brother.”

“ELLIE, DON’T PROVOKE ME,” he growled, his eyes darkening.

I needed to get back to Claus. I needed to leave, but how?I knew Sylvia wouldn’t let me off the hook. For years he had refused to mark a mate, yet he clung to me like a curse, obsessed, relentless.

I was lost in thought, my heart still pounding from our earlier clash, when I noticed his gaze dip, sharp, unyielding, to my stomach.My breath caught. I instantly shielded it with my palms, instinctive, protective. His eyes narrowed, golden-hazel and piercing, studying me like he could see beneath my skin.

“Why…” His voice was low, dangerous. “Why do you have two heartbeats? Are you… pregnant?”

The air drained from my lungs. My mind scrambled. How did he know? Sylvia wasn’t just dangerous, he was sharper, crueler, more calculating than Claus. Same face, same blood, but where Claus was warmth, Sylvia was ice. He was the wicked one. The war-bringer. The twin the Moon Goddess should have never breathed life into.

And now he knew.

“I… I…” My lips trembled, words collapsing before they left me.

My pulse raced, but his expression didn’t waver. He just kept staring into me, dissecting me, like he could peel me apart with nothing more than his eyes.I braced myself for his fury, for a strike of rage, for him to call me a liar or worse, but instead, his lips curved faintly.

“Congratulations,” he said, his voice strangely calm.

Then he turned and walked away, his shadow dissolving into the dim corridor.

Relief didn’t come. Instead, unease coiled in my stomach. His tone, that calmness, it wasn’t right. It felt like a mask. He was hurt. And if Sylvia was hurt, he would strike.

What if he told Claus?Mali, my wolf, whispered suddenly in my mind, sharp and urgent: “Someone’s watching.”I froze. My gaze darted around. There, a shadow slipped behind an alcove. I lurched forward, heart pounding, but the figure was gone. Vanished.Panic surged.

Who had seen us? Sylvia’s hand on me? His eyes locked with mine?Was it Claus? No… he wouldn’t just stand and watch.But still, the doubt chilled me to the bone.