Semua Bab CLAIMED BY MY STEPBROTHERS: Bab 21 - Bab 30

LEILA'S POVThe hours dragged by with excruciating slowness.I paced my room like a caged animal, ignoring the protest from my healing wounds. Selene had brought lunch an hour ago, but the food sat untouched on the tray. My stomach was too twisted with anxiety to eat.Something was happening. Something big.I could feel it through the incomplete bond, Dane's fury, his determination, the absolute conviction that radiated from him like heat from a forge.And beneath it all, that constant, maddening awareness of him. Of where he was. Of what he was feeling.The bond was getting stronger by the hour, wrapping around my heart like chains I couldn't break.I hated it. Craved it. Wanted to run from it and surrender to it in equal measure.A sharp knock interrupted my spiraling thoughts."Leila, it's Selene. May I come in?""Yes."She entered carrying fresh towels and what looked like a formal dress draped over her arm. Her expression was carefully neutral, but I could see the tension in her

LEILA'S POV "I can. And I am." I looked back at Magnus. "So you win. The hybrid is leaving. No corruption. No threat. You can go back to your pure bloodlines and your hatred and your fear of anything different."The silence that followed was deafening.Then Magnus smiled. "You see? Even she knows she doesn't belong here. The bond may be real, but it doesn't change fundamental incompatibility.""Actually," a new voice cut through the tension. "It changes everything."Selene stepped forward from where she'd been standing near the back of the hall. Her expression was fierce, her stance that of a wolf ready for battle."With respect, Elder Magnus, you're wrong. About hybrids. About Leila. About what she means to this pack." She climbed the steps to the platform, standing between Dane and Magnus. "I've spent the last three days with her. Watching her heal. Talking to her. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that she's stronger, braver, and more honorable than most wolves I know.""

LEILA'S POVThe cabin was small. Isolated. Exactly what my mother had promised when she'd pulled me from the chaos of that night and driven for hours into territories neither of us belonged in."It's just for a while," Diana had said, her hands shaking on the steering wheel. "Until things calm down. Until your stepfather can figure out how to protect you without..." She'd trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.Without the three of them.That's what she meant. Without Ronan, Maddox, and Alec.I stood on the porch now, watching the forest breathe in the early morning light. Three days. It had been three days since that night under the full moon, three days since my body had betrayed me so completely, three days since I'd felt their hands on my skin, their voices in my ear, their bond wrapping around my soul like chains I couldn't break.Three days of silence.The bond should have weakened by now. Distance was supposed to help. That's what Elder Tobias had said before we left, that

RONAN'S POVAlpha Garrett arrived at sunrise, his truck pulling up to the front of the Blackwood compound like an old friend making a casual visit. If anyone watching saw anything unusual, they gave no sign of it.He was a big man, solid muscle and quiet authority, with the kind of presence that made other alphas instinctively respect him. His second was with him, a lean female wolf named Iris with scarred knuckles and eyes that missed nothing.Father greeted him in the formal living room, the kind of space designed for pack meetings and political discussions. Maddox, Alec, and I watched from the doorway as the two Alphas shook hands."I appreciate you coming," Father said. His voice was carefully neutral, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. "I know this puts you in a difficult position.""Your sons came to me in good faith," Garrett replied, his voice a deep rumble. "And they asked me to help them find their mate. That's not a difficult position, Marcus. That's straightforw

RONAN'S POVWe didn't leave the cabin that night.Father had given us permission to do this carefully, to give Leila time and space to understand the bond, but there was an unspoken deadline. The separation had already weakened her significantly. We had maybe two days before her hybrid nature would begin deteriorating beyond what even physical contact could repair.Two days to convince her that the bond wasn't a trap or a betrayal, but a gift. An evolution. A becoming.Diana had retreated to the master bedroom, leaving the three of us with Leila in the small living room. She sat on one end of the couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching us like she was still trying to figure out if we were real.Maddox had taken up position on the floor in front of her, his back against the couch, within arm's reach but not crowding her. Alec occupied the armchair across from us, his hazel eyes calm and focused. And I stood by the window, trying to maintain some semblance of control, because if I sat dow