Claimed By My Stepbrother novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Ethan POV

I tried to steady myself, gripping the edge of the tub, but my knees buckled like they couldn’t take the strain anymore. Slowly, I slid down, lowering myself into the porcelain basin, the hot water from the shower still beating down on my back.

Still hard. Still wanting.

My chest heaved, and I cursed under my breath. It felt like everything inside me was unravelling at once, leaving me exposed in ways I didn’t know were possible.

Her face was still in my head. Those eyes, so hauntingly familiar, and that pull- God, that pull. It was more than physical. It wasn’t just desire; it was something primal, something I couldn’t fight even if I wanted to.

And I didn’t want to.

But that didn’t stop the panic from clawing at me. I wasn’t ready for this- for her. Not like this. My fingers raked through my wet hair as I leaned my head back against the cold edge of the tub, the contrast to the scalding water doing nothing to calm the storm inside me.

“She’s mine,” I whispered to the empty room, the words tasting like a confession. Mine.”

But what the hell was I supposed to do with that?

My beast stirred, clearly not satisfied.

It wasn’t gentle, not a slow waking- it was a force, raw and insistent, clawing at the walls of my control. My wolf

wanted her. Needed her.

Every part of me did.

I sat up, running a hand through my hair, the memory of her scent lingering at the edges of my mind. It was

maddening how easily it overpowered my senses, how it lingered like an addiction I couldn’t shake. She wasn’t even here, and yet her presence was everywhere- in the way my chest ached, in the burning need that twisted low in my stomach, in the restless energy that made sitting still impossible.

“Fuck,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck as I stood.

The wolf pushed harder, growling in frustration. It wanted to see her. Smell her. Touch her. And if I was being honest with myself, I wanted it too. Hell, I craved it just as much.

My wolf didn’t understand boundaries or reason. It didn’t care that being near her would only make things worse, that it would tear apart the fragile balance I was barely holding onto. No, it was selfish, primal. And right now, it was winning.

The longer I stayed away, the more I felt like I was unraveling. Losing myself.

Losing my mind.

I paced the bathroom, my movements jerky and agitated, the walls feeling too close, too constricting. Everything about this was wrong. I had spent my entire life resisting bonds, fighting against the idea that I could ever belong to

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Chapter 24

someone. And yet here I was, completely consumed by her.

And my father would kill me if he ever found out.

Werewolves didn’t bond with humans. It was unheard of, a taboo so deeply ingrained in our pack’s laws that it might as well have been written in stone. To him, mating with a human wasn’t just forbidden- it was a betrayal of everything we

stood for.

And I wasn’t against the idea.

But. I didn’t want to be bound with a werewolf either.

That was why I left.

Even as the heir to the pack, the only son of the alpha, I walked away. My father begged, ordered, threatened me to stay, but I refused. The idea of being bound to someone, of losing my freedom to a mate, was a curse I wanted no part of.

Or so I thought.

Now, I wasn’t so sure.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as the wolf’s growls grew louder in my mind. It wasn’t just a bond anymore- it was a need, a hunger that wouldn’t be ignored. Being away from her felt like a slow death, a constant ache that nothing could soothe.

And it wasn’t just physical.

It was her laugh, soft and fleeting, that echoed in my head at the worst times. It was the way her eyes lit up when she was happy, like she didn’t even realize how breathtaking she was. It was her scent, warm and sweet, that lingered long

after she was gone.

God, I was losing my mind.

I slammed my fist against the wall, the dull pain grounding me for a brief moment. But it didn’t last. The wolf snarled, pacing in my mind, its impatience bleeding into my own.

I couldn’t keep doing this.

The pull was too strong, and I was too weak to fight it anymore. I needed to see her, even if it was just for a second, Even if it destroyed me.

The thought made my stomach twist with guilt and shame. What the hell was wrong with me? I had spent my whole life running from this, rejecting everything it meant to be a mate. And now, here I was, falling ap

My father’s words echoed in my head, sharp and cutting like they always were.

ecause of a human.

“You’re weak,” he had said the day I left. “Running from your responsibilities because you’re too afraid to face them. You’ll never survive out there without your pack. Without me.”

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