My Enemy Claimed Me

Bree’s POV

“She is my mate.”

For a moment, I thought I had imagined those words.

I stared at Alpha Lucien, waiting for him to laugh, to reveal that this was some cruel joke, or to tell everyone that he had simply lost his mind.

But he did none of those things.

He stood before me with his shoulders squared, staring at everyone as though he dared them to challenge him.

The entire hall had fallen silent then Crown Prince Adrian burst out laughing.

“Your mate?” he repeated, looking at his twin brother with disbelief. “You cannot be serious.”

Lucien didn't even glance at him.

That was something I had noticed about the two brothers over the years. Adrian could do almost anything and get away with it.

Their parents adored him, praised him, and treated him as though the moon and stars had been created for his pleasure.

Lucien, despite being his identical twin, had always stood in his shadow. Perhaps that explained why the brothers could barely tolerate each other.

But it didn't explain why Lucien was suddenly claiming me.

I had known him since I was seventeen, when I first came to live in the royal mansion. He had never been kind to me. Whenever we crossed paths, he wore that familiar expression of irritation, as though my mere presence offended him.

Sometimes, I had wondered whether he hated me because Adrian loved me.

Now, Adrian had rejected me in front of the entire kingdom, and Lucien was claiming I belonged to him.

It made no sense.

“Are you out of your mind?” Adrian demanded.

Lucien finally turned toward his brother.

“Why? Is there a problem?” He asked.

“Of course there's a problem! You cannot simply claim my rejected mate!” Adrian’s yelled.

“Your rejected mate?” Lucien raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. I thought you just announced to everyone that you wanted nothing to do with her.”

Adrian's expression darkened.

“That doesn't mean you can have her!” He replied.

A humorless smile touched Lucien's lips.

“Why not? Afraid I might enjoy something you no longer want?” He mocked.

The crowd erupted into whispers.

I was on the ground between the two brothers, struggling to understand how my life had taken such an absurd turn.

Minutes ago, I had been Adrian's bride, then he had rejected me, given my mate mark to my sister, and announced that she was carrying his child.

Now his twin brother was claiming me.

I wanted to wake up from this terrible nightmare.

Lucien suddenly turned toward me.

“Come here.”

I stared at him as he held up his hand to me so I could stand up. I took it and stood close to him.

Before I could say anything, he bent slightly and whispered into my ear.

“Listen carefully, Bree. I'm faking all of this” he said.

My eyes widened.

“What?” I whispered back.

“I'm doing this because I hate my obnoxious twin brother, and nothing would irritate him more than watching me take the woman he just threw away” he explained.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“You cannot be serious” I muttered.

“Unfortunately, I am. Now, stop looking like you're about to faint and play along” he warned.

He slipped one arm around my waist and brought me closer to him.

My knees were still weak from the rejection, and I hated that I needed his support. But his grip was surprisingly steady.

“Just go with everything,” he murmured. “I'll explain later.”

Explain later? What exactly was there to explain?

I had no idea what game Lucien was playing, but I understood one thing perfectly.

He didn't want me because he loved me, he wanted to get under his brother's skin and apparently, I was the perfect weapon.

“The truth is, Adrian, you've been so busy congratulating yourself that you never noticed what was happening under your own nose” Lucien said.

Adrian frowned.

“What are you talking about?” He asked.

Lucien tightened his arm around my waist.

“Bree and I have been having an affair for months” he said.

My mouth fell open.

What?

I whipped my head toward him, but he gave me the smallest warning squeeze.

Months? He had barely spoken three consecutive words to me in months!

“What kind of nonsense is this?” the Alpha King demanded.

Lucien looked remarkably unbothered.

“It's not nonsense, Father” he said.

“Are you claiming you've been having an affair with your brother's intended bride?” He asked.

Lucien nodded.

“That's exactly what I'm saying.”

A shocked murmur swept through the hall and the Luna Queen looked as though she might collapse.

Adrian, however, had gone completely still.

For the first time since he had rejected me, I saw something other than arrogance on his face.

He looked furious.

“You expect me to believe that?” he asked.

Lucien shrugged.

“Believe whatever you like. It doesn't change what happened” he said.

“You're lying!” Sandra yelled.

“Am I?”

Lucien leaned down and pressed a brief kiss against my forehead. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

What was he doing?

“I've wanted Bree for a long time,” he continued. “But I kept my distance because she was your mate. Now that you've made it clear you don't want her, I see no reason to keep pretending I don't.”

I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.

This man was inventing an entire romantic history for us in front of the royal family!

Adrian stepped forward.

“You expect me to believe that my own brother has been sleeping with my mate behind my back?”

“Ex-mate,” Lucien corrected. “You made that distinction yourself.”

“Enough!” the Alpha King thundered.

Everyone fell silent as his gaze shifted between his twin sons before settling on me.

“Bree.”

My stomach twisted.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Is what Lucien has told us true?” He asked.

Every eye in the hall turned toward me and I couldn't move.

My throat went dry then I looked at Lucien. He was watching me calmly, but beneath his composed expression, I caught a subtle warning in his eyes.

Go with everything.

That was what he had told me. But how could I possibly confirm a lie this enormous?

If I denied it, Lucien would be exposed as a liar in front of the entire royal family, and Adrian would have another reason to humiliate me.

If I agreed, I would be claiming to have betrayed the Crown Prince with his own twin brother, a man who had supposedly hated me for years.

I swallowed, my hands trembled, then I looked at the Alpha King, the Luna Queen, Adrian, and finally Sandra, who was watching me with undisguised suspicion.

I took a shaky breath.

“It's true.”