ALEXAKIS My eyelashes flicked open several times before I could finally concentrate my sight to adjust to the bright light that was penetrating my eyes. The light from the unknown source almost blinded me, and I had to close my eyes once more to keep from going blind. I couldn't help but feel that it had been a little too long since I last opened my eyes to see any form of sunlight.That thought jolted my memory awake, and I was reminded of the awful incident that happened the last time I had gone into the forest just to obey the urge of my body to shift. I rose from the bed rapidly and winced as I felt my lower back give way. I laid down back on the bed, aware that I was going to collapse either way even if I didn't do so myself. Along with my anger rose the urge to murder someone. And the someone I wanted to murder was no more than that evil sister of Claire. How dare they try to hurt an innocent animal? Forget the fact that the animal was me. Didn't they have any compassion for
CLAIRE"Janet, could you pass me that knife, please?" I asked Janet. She did as I requested and handed the knife to me."If that food isn't as delicious as you hyped it, you are in soup." She warned me.I laughed at the way she said the words. Even though she was trying to sound like she just threatened me, the playfulness in her voice gave away her true intention."Don't worry about a thing. Leave it all to chef Claire," I told her warmly.It has been two weeks since I have been living with Janet. If there was anything I was glad about, it would be about meeting Janet at the time when I did. The friendship between us had blossomed even though we had barely been living together for no more than two weeks.She did her best to make sure that I was always happy when I first arrived at her place and she noticed that I was always sad or even crying every day when I thought no one was looking. She would come to where I lay in a small corner and consoled me until I fell asleep and was oblivi
ALEXAKIS I couldn't believe that it had been more than three weeks since I came to live in this place that was slowly beginning to feel like hell.True, the people there nurtured me back to life, but none of them were ready to answer the questions that weighed on my mind. All they did was give me food, water, medicine, and care. They also made sure that I got enough rest. But the attention was not there.Luna Lisa, as I have learned she was called, had refused to listen to me or even talk to me. I understood that she might be very angry with me at the moment, seeing as her husband died because of me. I later got to learn about this from one of the nurses that came for a visit. And they had carried out his rites, or was it supposed to be later in the day? I couldn't remember.All I knew of at the moment was the fact that the place was beginning to feel like hell. How else could I explain the fact that everyone treated me like a plague? Like I was responsible for all the miseries they
CLAIRE"Hey, Claire."I looked up to see Raphael smiling at me, and I smiled back at him. He came to where I was sitting on the floor, trying to watch some course videos, and sat down with me."What are you doing?" He whispered to me. Wordlessly, I pointed to the screen and showed him the video I was watching. "Looks interesting. Mind if I listen in?"I gave him one of the earpieces I was using, and we both began to watch the videos together in silence. Things had been like that between the both of us since the last time I got short-listed for the secretary job. My interview was just a week to go, but I was already preparing for it. The video Raphael and I were currently watching dealt with how to be a proper secretary. I didn't want the opportunity to slip from me because of a mistake on my part.We finished watching the video and I got up from where I sat. Somehow, I lost my balance and was on my way to the floor. Raphael caught me halfway and prevented the fall. I quickly scramble
ALEXAKISThe moment I successfully made my way out of the pack, I raced for the nearest route that I saw. I didn't want them to catch up with me. And by them, I meant Luna Lisa, and Kieran. A part of my mind kept telling me that they would bundle me back to their place, and I couldn't afford that right now.The urgency I felt, the urge to get to my girl, was growing stronger and stronger in me. I didn't know why, but something about just thinking of her kept tugging at me to hurry. Like she was in some kind of danger that I couldn't fathom. I didn't understand it anyway. That was... the pull that I felt toward her. True, it had always been there, but never as strong as this one was. It was almost as if she was in some kind of pain that got me in the pain also. Almost like my feeling mirrored hers perfectly. Perhaps it was responsible for the pain that I kept feeling... pains that I thought came from my injury... injuries that had stopped hurting so much for about a week now.I ignore
ALEXAKIS "Claire!" I shouted once again and rushed into the cave. Claire was there, down on the cold floor, shivering and clattering her teeth together. My heart flew out of my chest, and I couldn't help but blame myself for coming late to her rescue. When I had begun to feel the tug, I should have just told the people who saved me, Luna Lisa and Kieran, that I wanted to leave. If I had done that, I might have prevented all these that happened to my girl.But first, I needed to pause with the guilt feeling I was having. I needed to make sure the woman was okay first. And if she was, I needed to take her to a healer as soon as possible. I rushed over to where she was and began to tap her gently. She refused to move her head even to a tiny degree. I didn't know when a single tear dropped down my eye to my cheek. There was no way I would lose this girl when I couldn't even imagine my life without her."Claire!" I screamed. "Claire, please wake up. Please look at me," I beseeched her.
ALEXAKIS I was lost in thought as I strode through the garden around the home of Luna Lisa. I felt like I would lose my brain and my sense of reasoning if I remained still at the house. It has been more than three days already since I first brought Claire in in a half-dead manner. The healer and her helpers had done everything in their power to stabilize her and made sure that she didn't slip out of consciousness. For a full day after that urgent treatment, we couldn't tell if the woman was going to live or die. Hell, she didn't even twitch or move a muscle one single bit. At a point, her body had begun to spam, and I was so sure that I was going to lose her at that instant. The healer, whose name I didn't bother to ask, had done everything again to stabilize Claire's condition. And all through those times, I had done nothing but yell at the nurses who I felt were too slow in getting whatever the healer told them she needed at that moment.Do not blame me. Blame that part of me that
CLAIRE.I drifted in and out of sleep for about thirty minutes before my eyes finally opened and remained that way. Or might have remained that way if the bright light above me didn't feel like I was going to be blinded if I continued to keep my eyes open. I closed my eyes and raised my hand to cover my face to prevent further assault.When I was sure that I could withstand the light, I opened my eyes again. I looked up to see that the bright light was from a fancy bulb in the room.A room? My brain picked on that little fact, and I kept wondering how I managed to get into a room. The last thing I remembered was racing back to the cave when I lost all hope completely. Then, I crawled myself in together to get some rest, mainly because I was hungry and tired. So, how was I in a room?I turned my eyes around, trying to see if I would recognize the room that I was in. From the blue color of the room to the table and chair set neatly in a corner to a dressing table and the larger-than-lif
Epilogue. Claire's POV A full year had passed since Alex proposed to me, and I gladly accepted to be his woman. Today, we were taking the final step and getting married.My hand went to my neck where the mating mark was. After I accepted his proposal, he carried me to our room and gave me the mark after a hot, intense sex session. He had wanted the wedding to be carried out two weeks after his proposal, but I told him I wanted to wait. I wanted the pack to accept me as a human. To gain that approval, I learned how to fight with swords and how to shoot arrows, to show them that even if I was a human, I would always be there to fight by their sides if the need ever came. Then, I went ahead to start my own restaurant at the pack.At first, I barely got any customer as they were all weary of me. But little by little, people began to troop in. Now, I had two other branches out in the human world. This helped to show the people that if we ever had the need for cash - which was very unlik
Claire's POV A week passed after the ordeal we had in defeating the man who tried to claim the lives of so many people. I sighed, praying to the God in heaven that Scott's soul would find relief wherever he was now. He deserved that much for all the trouble he went through in his life."What are you doing, Claire? Wheel me well." Luna Lisa complained, drawing me back to the present."Sorry," I apologized. I moved the wheelchair a little bit faster than the pace I was keeping before. We were on our way out of the mansion to get some fresh air in the garden. Luna Lisa had to use the wheelchair as her legs were still healing. The doctor had, however, assured us that she would be fine and it was taking long to heal because it was a demon's bite."Claire." I heard someone call my name and I turned back, only to see Evie standing behind me, her suitcase already packed and with her."Are you going to somewhere?" I asked her. After the incident, we had gotten somehow closer as we had to comf
ALEXAKIS As soon as Kieran told me through the mind-link that my mate and her sister were safely back in the pack, I felt relief wash over me. I turned to look at Scott, her ex-boyfriend, all the anger in my heart targeted at him.He had endangered the life of the woman I loved, and I was going to make sure that he paid for it. No matter what anyone said about it, I was going to make sure that he paid heavily for his action.It was with that anger that I gave him an uppercut on his chin. While he bent over at the shock, I gave him a jab at his side, making sure I went all in to ensure I broke almost all his rib bones, if not all."You..." The man growled at me. He stood upright and gave me an evil smile. I knew he was up to something and that helped me stay alert. He began to morph into something hideous in front of me. Within seconds, there was no longer a man where Scott should have been. Instead, there was a tall dark beast, with two horns on his forehead, red eyes glowing brightl
Claire's POV After waiting for what felt like an eternity, even thinking that the man I was waiting for would no longer come, I was shocked when I saw him finally make an appearance. The tears that stopped flowing before came again, afresh. My heart wrenched within me, and I struggled to breathe well. Why? Why would he come here? Why did he risk his life like that?Our eyes met, and the man smiled at me. I shook my head at him as he started walking to where I was. When he got to me, he sighed."I am here now." He consoled me. It was clear that he thought I was crying because I was happy I saw him. I shook my head at him to show him that he was wrong about his insinuation. Still, he didn't get what I was trying to say."Alex, you need to run!" I finally let out amid my tears. I looked left and right to see if Scott and his men had gotten a whiff about Alex's appearance and were now on their way in here. When I didn't see them rushed in, I sighed, a little bit relieved about that. "L
Claire's POV "Scott, I am begging you," I pleaded again. I didn't care how pathetic my voice was. All I knew was that there was no way I was going to let the man kill Alex just because of a mistake that my father made."Why do you think–" his phone rang, cutting him off. "Really? Good." He said. Then, he cut off the phone. The kind of look he gave me made me cold all of a sudden."What is it?" I asked, feeling scared already."Guess who is coming over soon?" His voice held the malicious excitement he felt. "Alex! He is going to come here soon, and I will have so much fun killing him." He let out.My eyes widened in shock, and my breath became hitched."Do you want to know how he is going to die soon?"I shook my head to stop him. He ignored me and continued anyway."I plan to corner him and hit him when he least expected it." He said with a small evil laughter."You..." My voice trailed off as I realized that the man was gone already, leaving me alone."All of you, leave the building
Claire's POV It felt like forever since I got trapped in this basement where the light was never in and made it hard to tell when it was either night or day. The horror of not knowing how long it had been since I was in this hellhole made my heartbeat pound even faster. There was also the awareness that I no longer have a father to reach out to. Even though the bridge between us was rough, my heart sank now that I was aware that it had been burned forever. What made it worse? Knowing that the man and I were not on good terms before he died. How was I supposed to live on now knowing that my father hated me?I wanted to get angry with Evie over the death of my only family and how she played a part in it, but she lost Becky also, and I knew how much hurt she was going through for that. Besides, she was my family also no matter how hard we fought with each other."Claire, we need to escape." She said to me frantically again. I shook my head at her since the bandage was still covering m
Claire's POV Scott!" There was no doubt in my heart that I was relieved to see a familiar face even if it was that of the jerk who cheated on me with my sister.After I left the car and went in, I was surprised to see the door open. I thought it was so because they - Father, Becky, and Evie - were all home. I stepped inside, but it was empty. I went to Father's study but he was not there. After I searched all the places that I could, I swallowed my nervousness and went to Becky's room to see if she was there, but then she was not in the room either. A quick visit to Evie's room revealed the same ordeal.The house felt bizarre at that point, and I had a bad feeling flushed over me. I ran out of the house to see if I would see them, but nothing of such happened. I was about to move to the woodshed to see if they were there taking care of the games they hunted the night before when I saw Scott standing in front of me."Scott!" I called again. Even though the man and I never exchanged wo
ALEXAKIS I wasn't sure what exactly was making my heart feel like it had been shattered into two. Was it how Claire left me after I thought that she was going to stop and think about the love between us? Or was it because the house now seemed empty without her?I wanted her close to me - that was a fact. If I hadn't stepped into the position of the Alpha already, I would have damned every other thing and asked her to leave with me to a faraway place where we would be happy together, without anyone judging us.But I was already one, and she felt out of place.I knew it was necessary for her to take the break as she truly needed it, but I was against her going over to her parent's house. Still, that was the only safe place I knew would work for now. That didn't make my worry lessen any bit, though.Apart from her family treating her like trash, I was worried that Nathaniel might make a move for her now that she was no longer under my protection."We are here, Alpha."I looked up and sa
Claire's POV After contemplating my decision for a while, I finally came to a conclusion. It would be better for me to leave Alex and the pack, even if it was only for a while. Maybe when I would return, the animosity these people had toward me would be gone."Alex, can I have a word with you?" I asked. We were seated in the living room. He was busy with some files while I had my laptop in front of me, but I couldn't concentrate on anything I was learning on the screen. The man looked up from his work and gave me a gentle smile."I'm all ears, love." He said, the smile still plastered across his face."I want to leave," I let out quickly. I was afraid that if I hesitated, I would never be able to say it to him. I winced as he dropped the files in his hand on the floor and rushed over to where I was, holding my hands."Why? What is it?" He asked in a very gentle tone. "I just... I need a break," I told him."I know. I've been feeling the way you keep pulling away from me recently. I