Page 31 of Claimed By the Wolf
Zipping up my hoodie, I rush out to join the others again as Brax and Nox face off.
“Stop,” I beg them.
“Wait for us outside,” my brother tells Connor again, and the enforcer huffs, spinning around to storm out of the house, slamming the door in his wake.
Brax stares at us in dismay. “I can’t believe this! Do you know what you’ve done?”
“You don’t need to worry?—”
Brax’s scoff cuts Nox off, and he looks accusingly at me. “You both lied to me.”
Shamed, I hang my head, fiddling with my fingers.
“We didn’t lie,” Nox counters sternly. “There was no need to say anything because Brynn is still going with Emeric.”
His words stun my brother, who gapes openly at us.
“What?” His stare rests on me. “You agreed to this?”
I avert my eyes. “Yes.”
“How?” Brax throws his hands up like he’s given up on us. “How is that going to work exactly?”
“You didn’t notice our bond,” I remind him quickly, moving toward him to place a placating hand on his arm.
Aghast, he stares at me again. “Holy shit! How long have you known? How many years has this been going on?” He turns, fixating his eyes on Nox. “And how can you just give her to someone else? What’s wrong with you?”
The disgust in his voice makes Nox wince.
“It just happened, and we tried to resist it…”
“Not hard enough,” my brother growls, his eyes flashing.
Nox turns away and ambles toward the window to look into the night pensively.
“We’ve talked about it, Brax. Everything is going to be fine.”
“There’s no way Emeric will take you now,” he snaps. “Your bond is too evident.”
I frown. “You never noticed it before.”
“That’s because the scent wasn’t noticeable before. But that was probably because you two hadn’t had sex yet!” Brax cuts me off, and his scowl deepens. “And you can be damned sure that Connor won’t keep this secret forever.” The betrayal he feels is evident as he shakes his head and takes a step back, his hands still raised. “I can’t look at you two right now. You’ve put us both in the worst possible position.” He points a finger at Nox. “You, especially. I told you this was a bad idea!”
“You think I don’t know that?” Nox raises his voice.
“Well, you'd better find a way to fix it!” Brax grumbles. “Because that party is tomorrow night, and Emeric is going to know you’re trying to give your mate to him. I don’t want to be around to see how that plays out. He’s going to think we’re sending her as a spy.”
He spins around to stomp out of the house, leaving Nox and me alone again.
My heart leaps into my throat as I wait for Nox to say something, anything at all. But he doesn’t, and he continues to stare out into the night silently.
“Nox?” I venture toward him, my hand extended.
“Don’t,” he tells me warningly.
I freeze in place. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t touch me. We went too far.”
