All Chapters of My Brother’s Fiancée is My Mate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

“That would be me.”Kaelen stepped into the light. He was clean, dressed plainly, but his eyes burned with venomous triumph. The decree of exile had been lifted the moment he was named in this ancient proceeding.“As the Alpha’s only living brother and former Beta,” Kaelen said, smiling a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “the role of protector of the Alpha’s bloodline, and his precious mate, falls to me. I have been granted custodianship. By law.”No. The word was a silent scream in my head. I looked at Silas. His face was ash, and for sure he was trapped. To defy the Council now was to shatter the pack, to make himself an oath-breaker to every ally. He looked at me, and in his eyes I saw the abyss. I saw the Alpha who had fought a battle for me, now losing the war to a generation's piece of paper.And I made a choice.I stepped forward, my voice surprisingly steady in the dead silence. “I will go.”“Elara, no—” Silas’s hand shot out, but I stepped away from his touch. The pain of t

He’s right, and I know he’s right. It’s usually the strategy I would use for anyone else. But this isn’t anyone else, it is Elara. I look north, through the glass, past the territories that I rule. Somewhere out there, in the deep pine and cold stone, is my mate.Darius’s hand comes down on my shoulder, a way he shows assurance. “We will get her back, Silas. But you must be the Alpha when we do, and not a ghost or beast, you must hold on.”I nod, because there is nothing else to do. I hold on to the pain, to the pull, to the silent scream in my blood. And I wait for something that doesn’t come.The something, when it comes, isn’t from the north. It comes from within my own walls, and it wears the face of the woman the law says is my Luna.The bond is a dull, persistent ache, a compass needle buried in my chest pointing to a frozen nowhere. I’m pouring over yet another fruitless border report when the scent hits me; jasmine and vanilla, overlaying something and someone intoxicating; E

The cold wasn’t just from the stones, but it was also from the bond. It sat in my chest like an ice, radiating a chill that made my fingers numb and my thoughts slow down. The initial, searing pain had subsided, leaving behind a deep, sick ache. But worse than the physical pain, there was total silence from the bond. The bond wasn’t just quiet; it was ashamed, it pulsed with a thick remorse that felt nothing like my Silas, but felt like a stranger.For hours, I just lay there, feeling the contamination of the bond, my mind replayed the sensations not with horror anymore, but with a cold, analytical clarity that was far more terrifying.I thought of the frantic heat, and not his usual controlled burn, I couldn’t forget her gasp, which was a sound of eager surprise, not struggling. All that just happened right now was a betrayal: it was not an accident.He had allowed someone close enough to touch him. He had let down a guard, which was the most sacred guard we possessed. The bond, our

The silence in my study was evident over a chaos I could no longer control. The bond was no longer a thread connecting me to Elara; it was a frozen filament, a fuse waiting for a spark. I stared at the northern window, my knuckles white on the sill, tasting the ash of my own failure with every breath.Darius entered without a word. His face, usually a mask of stoic competence, was pale. In his hands, he carried a sleek, black tablet. He set it on the desk before me as if it were a live bomb.“It came through a secured, untraceable channel. Addressed to you. From him.”My heart, a sluggish, pained thing in my chest, gave a single hard thud. I didn’t want to touch it. The cold radiating from the device felt like the chill from Elara’s end of the bond.“Don’t,” Darius warned, his voice low. “It’s a trap. It’s only a trap.”But I was already moving. My finger hovered over the screen, a single icon glowed: a red triangle. Play. Without thinking much pressed it.The screen resolved into a h

The focus was a blade I’d forged in the ashes of my own shame. It was the only thing holding me together. In the war room, with the Ghost Guard’s silent mobilization orders going out via coded pulses, the world had narrowed to coordinates, approaches, and the silent scream of the bond.Darius cleared his throat. The sound was too normal, a jarring note in the room humming with impending violence. He held a polished slate in his hands, the kind used for the Alpha’s formal schedule.“The trade delegation from the Silvermane Pack arrives at noon,” he said, his voice carefully neutral. “You are to dine with them and finalize the timber rights agreement. After that, the quarterly review with the homestead elders. This evening, the Council requested your presence to discuss border tax allocations.”He read them not as reminders, but as a test.I didn’t look up from the 3D terrain model we were building of the ridge valley. “Cancel it.”“Silas,” he said, a low warning in his tone. “The Silve