Chapter 5

CLAIR

"Thank you, Alpha." I turned around and grabbed the door handle again.

I stopped for a moment when I felt my neck burn. I know he’s watching me. I contemplated if I should look back, but decided against it and turned the knob to open the door. I hurriedly exited his office, and as soon as I closed the door, a loud smashed sound of glass against the wall was heard.

I stood frozen in shock for a couple of seconds before I was able to compose myself and walk away completely from his office, shaking my head in disbelief.

'What a prick!' I told myself.

'I heard you, princess. You forgot to turn off the mind link.' I stopped on my track and felt the hair at the back of my neck stand up when I heard his voice in my mind. And did he just chuckle?

'Shit! How can I turn this off?'I asked myself but I was well aware that he heard that too.

'Find it out yourself.'

'F**k!'

'Your mouth, princess.'

'F**k! F**k! F**k! Can you still hear me?' I closed my eyes and my hands rolled into fists.

'Yes.'

'Aarrgh!!! Help me! Or cut it off!' I snapped at him through mindlink.

'It’s actually fascinating to hear your thoughts, so why should I?' He replied, and I could imagine him smirking, which irritated me more.

'It’s not funny, Jake! I swear you’ll be annoyed the whole night if you don’t cut it off!'

'Really? What thoughts will you share with me tonight then?' He seemed to enjoy this.

'Have you got nothing else to do Alpha? You should keep yourself busy with work rather than annoy your pack members!' I spat out angrily as I stomped my way outside the pack house towards Aaron’s car.

"Hey, you’re back, finally!" Aaron greeted me. "Everything turned out well?"

"Yeah. All is good. Can we go home now?" I asked him, as I tried to hide the anger building up inside me.

'Liar. I thought you were a little pissed. Maybe share it with your brother as to why instead of lying.'

'F**k off.' I closed my eyes as soon as I sat down in the passenger seat beside Aaron.

'Yeah, I might as well do that, maybe in my room.' I blushed at his words and the picture my crazy mind put into my head. 

"Clair?" I flipped my eyes open to see my brother looking at me with a worried look on his face. "Did you hear me? Are you okay?"

"What?" I looked at him, trying not to think of Jake.

"I said put your belt on so we can drive home now."

"Ah okay," I replied as I stumbled to put on my seatbelt. "Aaron, how does mindlink work? How can you turn it off?"

"Just turn it off. Can you mindlink now?"

"No, not yet. Just curious." I answered too quickly as he started the car’s engine. I wondered why I didn’t just tell him that I could mindlink now.

'Lies. Lies again, princess.'

I was so annoyed that I snapped back at Aaron. I asked a little louder this time. "But how do you turn it off? Should I just say turn?"

"Calm down, Clairy. We can practice at home. No need to be so riled up! Okay?" He chuckled as he started to maneuver the wheel.

I closed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, and pressed my mind hard to cut off the mindlink.

'Still there?' I asked, hoping he would not reply.

'Always here.'

That was it! I was so pissed off that I unbuckled my belt and ordered Aaron to stop the car and jumped out of it before he could ask me anything. With large steps and my nose flaring, I walked towards the Alpha’s office and barged in without knocking.

"Cut it off, Jake! It’s not funny anymore!" My voice was full of desperation and anger.

"What? Maybe try to ask a little nicer and you won’t have to deal with this." He chuckled. If I was not pissed off, I would have appreciated it if he finally showed me a different emotion rather than the stoic face he had earlier.

"I’m running out of patience!" I huffed while folding my arms across my chest, still standing in front of his desk.

He glanced at me for a while before returning his attention to the papers in front of him. "And so I am little one. Leave Clair. I´m busy!"

I walked closer and rested my palms on his desk, glaring at him. "Don’t you get it? I don’t want you in my head!"

He continued to work on his papers and kept his answers short, which irritated me more. "It will get easier."

"What? Don’t you know how to keep a conversation going? How come you’re an Alpha? It feels like I’m talking to a robot! Oh, Goddess, you are one hell of a frustrating man!"

He looked up at me again, and I thought I saw a flash of hurt across his eyes before they turned passive again. "Go home. I already turned it off. Next time you show me disrespect in any form, I will not hesitate to punish you." He stated firmly before returning his attention to his work again.

I stood there in silence. I was pissed off earlier, but the hurt I saw in his eyes earlier pained me as well. Me and my big mouth!

"Uhm, Jake..." I stuttered, my voice caught in my throat.

"Hmmm.." He didn’t even bother to look at me.

"I’m sorry... It’s just that... I don’t know. You were..." I actually have no idea what I wanted to tell him when a knock came out of the door.

"Come in," He answered, and Aaron stepped in, confusion written on his face.

"Alpha, Clair. I was just wondering if everything is okay?" His gaze shifted from me to Jake. 

"Nothing big, man. I’m just confirming her training schedule starting tomorrow. You can take her home. I’ll see you both tomorrow." He answered him and dismissed us without even looking at us and just continued looking over the document in his hand.

"Yes, Alpha." Aaron motioned with his hand for me to follow him. "Clair, come now."

I took one last glance at Jake before turning around to follow Aaron. I would have wanted to apologize to him for raising my voice, but I didn’t know how to open my mindlink again, and even if I could, I didn’t want the risk of opening my mind to him and not being able to shut it down myself. So I just shrugged my shoulders and left with Aaron. If anything, he was the one who started teasing me, so I shouldn’t feel too guilty about it.