Claimed by My Ex's Half-Brother-Chapter 106 How could this happen?

Ethan’s POV:

I sat in my hotel room, surrounded by empty bottles, the scent of liquor saturating the air around me. Since being denied entrance to Joseph Miller’s gathering and enduring Father’s subsequent verbal lashing, I’d been drowning myself in alcohol. Lawrence Sterling, Alpha of the Northstream Pack, had berated me for hours about the opportunity I’d squandered, demanding to know if I understood how many influential figures had attended the event.

His words had barely registered. All I could think about was Victoria.

I’d been drinking since yesterday, falling into a cycle of drinking until unconsciousness took me, then waking only to reach for another bottle. Sobriety meant facing my regrets, and I couldn’t bear that weight.

"How could this happen?" I mumbled, my voice slurred as I poured another glass with trembling hands. "It’s impossible... Victoria... Victoria..."

My wolf, Leon, whined pathetically inside me, equally distraught at losing our potential mate. The bond we could have formed with Victoria and her wolf would have been powerful, strengthening both our position in the pack and our bloodline. But I’d thrown it all away.

Victoria couldn’t possibly be the Lancaster heiress, the next Alpha of the Crescent Dawn Pack. It had to be a lie, a fabrication to make me suffer. She must have invented it to punish me, to make me regret my choice.

And it was working. Goddess above, it was working. I regretted everything now.

I fumbled for my phone, calling Victoria’s number for what must have been the hundredth time. As expected, the call didn’t connect. She had blocked me completely, severing our connection just as decisively as I had severed our relationship.

"Victoria," I groaned, clutching the bottle to my chest like it might somehow ease the hollow ache there. "Victoria, I love you so much. I’ve always been yours alone. Please don’t reject me."

Leon howled mournfully inside me, the wolf recognizing what my human side had been too stupid to see—Victoria had been our true mate all along.

"I was wrong," I continued, tears streaming down my face. "I never should have touched another female, never should have agreed to marry someone else. Just look at me one more time, please."

The alcohol burned my throat, but it couldn’t burn away the memories of her face, her scent, the way she used to look at me with such love and trust.

"Victoria, what will it take for you to forgive me? Don’t I deserve another chance? I love you so much. I was desperate, backed into a corner. If you had told me about your identity earlier, I would have married you in a heartbeat. I never would have looked twice at Scarlett."

My words echoed in the empty room, mocking me with their desperate tone. The reality of what I’d lost was crushing me. Victoria Lancaster—not just the woman I loved, but a female Alpha of one of the most powerful packs in the country. The perfect mate in every way. And I’d been too blind to see it.

A darkness crept into my thoughts, Leon’s desperate instincts merging with my own despair.

"Maybe I should just lock you away somewhere," I whispered, imagining scenarios where I could force her to stay with me. "Won’t you give me even the slightest chance? If not, perhaps we should both go to hell together. Then no one could ever separate us again. We’d be together for eternity—truly forever."

My eyes burned with a manic light, my wolf’s possessive instincts feeding into an obsession that was consuming us both.

The sound of the door opening barely registered until a familiar scent reached my nostrils. Not Victoria’s sweet fragrance, but something else—Mona, my assistant. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

She rushed to where I lay sprawled on the floor. "Mr. Sterling! Mr. Sterling!"

I looked up through bleary eyes, my vision swimming. In my intoxicated state, her features blurred and shifted. For one wild moment, I thought—I hoped—

I reached up, touching her face with clumsy fingers. "Victoria, you came back..."

"I knew it," I mumbled, my heart soaring with false hope. "I knew our separation was just a nightmare. You love me too much to leave me forever."

I cupped Mona’s face in my hands and pressed my lips against hers. But the moment our lips touched, something felt wrong. My wolf recoiled instantly, recognizing the deception my human brain had created. These weren’t Victoria’s eyes, this wasn’t her scent.

I shoved Mona away with enough force to send her stumbling. "No! You’re not my Victoria! Victoria’s eyes are beautiful, her features are perfect. Who are you? Get out! GET OUT!"

I began throwing bottles, smashing them against walls, my wolf’s rage taking over as I destroyed everything within reach. Mona fled the room, the door slamming behind her.

Alone again, I collapsed to my knees, claws extending from my fingertips as I fought to contain my partial shift. "Victoria, where are you? Where have you gone? Why can’t I find you anymore? I need to find you, I need to bring you back to me..."