CLAIRE I tapped the counter impatiently, post in my head while I waited for the coffee I was brewing to be done.Much as I didn't want to admit it, it was getting harder and harder to keep the thoughts of Alex out of my head. I couldn't help but think about us and how far we had progressed from the first time when we had just met each other. And these days? These days, we were moving from the friendship lane to that of something else. God in heaven, it felt like I was going to go mad if I didn't tell anyone about what was going on in my heart."Earth's to Claire!" Mrs. Annie said to me, startling the shit out of me. I jolted and sighed as I heard the machine ringing furiously. I slammed it shut and looked at the woman in front of me with an apologetic smile. "Where were you so lost?" She asked me. She didn't wait for an answer though. She picked up the coffee and made her way to the customer who ordered it.When she was done serving the man, she came back to me. I bit my lower lips a
NATHANIEL/SCOTT I was in the Morning Dew Pack now. It was easy and fun how everyone had bowed to me, thinking that I was the second son of their dead leader. I nearly laughed at how gullible the people were. But I couldn't blame them for their stupidity completely, I was someone to be loved after all. But that was beside the point. The point was that I had been making sure that ever since I came to the plan. I began my plan to make sure everything that I was planning fell into place. And thank Lucifer because I found the easy way to do that. I gave a wicked smile as I moved to a group of people who were standing together, gossiping so early in the morning. The moment they all saw me, they bowed their head in respect. I smiled at them and even held a hand over the shoulders of one of the men that were close to me."How is it going?" I asked them. They all shivered in my presence, and I smiled. I slapped another man across the chest in a playful mood. "Relax, everyone. I'm not going t
ALEXAKIS For everyone else, as the darkness covered the face of the day, they were either dozing off or even snoring loudly on their beds. But that wasn't the case for me. All I was doing was turning and tossing in bed like a lunatic. The reason why sleep was so far away from my eyes was not something I could comprehend, but sleep was. After a few more tossing and turning with no effective result, I got up from the bed and decided that I was going to make warm milk for myself to enable me to fall asleep.I was in the kitchen making the milk when I saw the shadow of a figure behind me. I turned around very fast to see who it could be. I relaxed my taunt nerves when I saw that it was none other than my mother."Why are you still awake?" I asked her."I was sleeping. You woke me up when you walked past my room. I was worried about you, so I came to check on you." She yawned very loudly and covered her mouth with the back of her hand."Please go back to bed," I urged her. She nodded at m
CLAIRE I shot up from my bed as soon as my alarm hit. It was morning already, and I needed to prepare for work and get there as early as possible. I yawned tiredly from not getting enough sleep through the night. After Alex agreed that I should go and see my father, we talked for over two hours after that. Not exactly talked, we just held hands and stayed like that for the most part. I had a feeling that if we didn't get caught by one of the servants, we might have never even tried to disengage from each other. Oh, the embarrassment I made as I raced to my room.I dressed up as fast and efficiently as I could. I made my way to the café to tell the woman that I wouldn't be able to stay for work that day. I felt bad that I was always leaving work. If she was a bad person, she might think that I was taking advantage of her, especially with this free day thing I was about to ask her off. Still, my spirit was drawing back home and I needed to make sure that everyone was okay."Good mornin
ALEXAKIS I watched as Luna Lisa came over to where I sat on the couch. When she got to me, she sat down beside me and let out a sigh. I could tell that she was troubled by something or someone, I just didn't know which it was. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but I managed to refrain myself. Knowing the woman, I was sure that she would say her mind when she was ready to say what was going on in her mind. She clarified things to me only a few seconds later."Do you know that Nathaniel hasn't returned home after all this while?" She asked me.How could I not notice that? I noticed as she did that the man refused to return home after he stormed out one morning. I was surprised because neither Luna Lisa nor I had any form of argument with him. I did find out that he had a meeting with the Elders -meetings that obviously didn't go as he planned. Maybe that was why he refused to return home. Because he was embarrassed that he had allowed himself to be caught in that kind of
ALEXAKIS I drew closer to the woman and shook my head, not even knowing where to start with my lamentations. I wondered if it was even right to always dump all my worries on her. But I couldn't help it each time I saw her. My worries were always lessened one way or the other. Even if I chose not to talk, the comfort I always got from her was more than enough to take me through what I needed to deal with better about the whole issue that was bothering me in the first place.It was more like she was my personal therapist -someone who comforted me when it looked like all hope was lost. I could be feeling like the worst shit on earth, and yet when I see her, I feel this calmness within me."Come. Let's get inside," I told her. I held her hands, and we both walked to my room. When we got in and were seated, I told her everything the Elders had said, how harsh some of them had sounded, and how they had made me look like I would be a failure forever if I didn't measure up to my brother's st
CLAIRE That morning, as I left the café to go over and let Alex know that I was going to see my family, I met Luna Lisa by the door. With the way she stood there, I could tell that she was waiting for someone. "Luna Lisa," I said as a form of greeting to her. I tried to bypass her, but she refused to move from where she stood like a soldier to grant me access to the house. My heart beat loudly in my chest as I couldn't comprehend what was going on in the woman's head. I couldn't help but feel that the woman at the café, Mrs. Annie, must have called her to report to her that I was rude. If that was the case, I knew that she would omit the way she had grilled me about Luna Lisa's children which led to my outburst in the first place. So no, I was going to be the villain in whatever kind of story she created for the Luna to see. My heart thudded in my chest as I couldn't decipher if the woman would listen to what I had to say or if she would listen to what one of her own had said."I'v
CLAIRE As we drove away from the Morning Dew Pack, my heart couldn't stop thudding. I didn't know what to think or even how to think about it. One thing I do know was that I was sceptical about this visit that I was going on. I didn't think I would be able to recover from it if my father turned me out once I got there under the influence that no one wanted me, therefore my presence was not needed. If my father didn't say anything, I think I would be able to hold on to my sanity and reject whatever it was that the other two might say about my sudden appearance.Becky and Evie.I didn't miss them a single bit, and I was not even apologetic about the whole thing. I was even sure that the two of them would make me regret that I even bothered to check on them, but they were not my business. As long as my father appreciated me and the effort I took for his sake, I would gladly overlook everything mother and daughter did to spike me up.Before two hours was up, we got to the land that belon
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