CLAIRE The sun rose high proudly in the sky, the lumination of its light blazing through everyone, leaving them with a warm feeling. Maybe a little bit hot than the required warmth since the coffee shop seemed to be empty because everyone was already feeling hot from the sun and didn't want some coffee or whatnot.Mrs. Annie was sitting on one of the chairs assigned to the customers. Isabella was busy chatting away on her phone, ignoring everyone like they never existed. I stood by the counter, wiping the table even though it was not really dirty. I had to keep my hands busy or I would be forced to think about all the crises that seemed to be going on with that man currently. And by that man, I meant Alex.Even though he didn't say anything to me yet, I somehow got wind of all the troubles that were going on between him and his brother. I understood both of them. Even though it was hard to admit also, I knew where they were both coming from. One of them had always wanted to belong. N
ALEXAKIS As I grabbed Claire's hand and led her out of the place, I aimed to find a place where we could be seated and spend some quality time together. I might have let us move over to her room, but I knew that servants still trooped in and out of the place now and then. What I wanted was total calmness for both of us. I decided to move us into the woods where we can just sit on a tree branch or a clearing and chat away to make me forget the pressure back at the house with the way Luna Lisa and Nathaniel had gone all out with each other."Alpha Alex." A young girl of no more than ten years old greeted me. I was taken aback by the way it seemed that people had chosen to attach the Alpha title to my name even when nothing has been finalized yet. Perhaps it was not just the council members who had made up their minds to instate me as the Alpha. Perhaps the pack members had decided in their hearts who they wanted. I knew how sad it would have been for Nathaniel if he were to hear how t
CLAIRE Once again, it was another dull day at work. Few customers only strode in to get coffee from us. The rest ordered some other things, but the turnouts were still very low compared to how business usually bloomed before. By the time it was 4 in the evening, Mrs. Annie was already asking us to start cleaning up so we could close early. I was wiping the cups clean when she came over to me. She stared at me for about a minute but didn't say anything, and I was forced to ask her what she wanted."What is it?" I asked her. My nervousness was that she was going to sack me because the business was dull, and she figured she didn't need many helping hands. I became worried instantly, knowing that if she turned me away, it would be hard for me to get any other job around the pack."How are things proceeding at home? You know, the tension about the whole Alpha thing?" Mrs. Annie asked me.I released the breath I was holding. I couldn't believe that all she wanted was gossip. But I wasn't w
CLAIRE I knew that I should decline his kiss for the sake of my own sanity, but I couldn't. Instead of me rejecting the kiss, I shamelessly opened up to him, letting him engulf me in the euphoria of his love and affection. I couldn't deny it anymore, no matter how hard I tried. I was in love with the man, and there was nothing I could do to halt the emotions."Open up some more to me, baby." He whispered to me in a low seducing tone. His tongue pushed even deeper into my mouth, and I gladly let him in. His body moved up my own some more, causing friction that left the space between my thighs getting pooled. I moaned softly, not knowing what to do. My hands went around his neck, and I spread my legs out for him to give him enough space to get enough of his body where I needed him the most. He stopped kissing me, and his mouth trailed kisses on my face, down to my neck. When he got to a spot where my vein was, he lingered there and continued to suckle me, his teeth grazing at that sp
ALEXAKIS The moment I opened the door the next morning, I met Luna Lisa pacing about the living room. I thought she was still bothered about Nathaniel, so I tried to make my way to my room as quietly as I could. She spotted me and rushed to where I was. She slapped me on my arm, and I winced from the pain."Where have you been all night? Do you even know how worried I was about you?" She said to me.My shock was visible for all to see. The woman was worried about me? "I..." I gulped hard, not knowing what else to say to her. She held my hands and placed them on her cheeks. "I know Nathaniel is giving you a hard time, but can you please just continue to hang on? Please?" She asked me.My heart melted, and I moved closer to her. Before I could talk myself out of it, I enveloped her in a hug. She cried as she wrapped her hands around me. I patted her back softly, then stepped away from her."Don't worry about me. I'm fine," I said to her. She nodded at me, and I gave her a small smil
CLAIRE It was the weekend -the time of the week to not have anything tangible to do. The cafe was closed throughout the day since we barely had customers during the week. This made Annie decide to close the door for the weekend. From the moment I woke up that morning, I did all that I could. I cleaned my room, made my bed, read a book, and literally everything else that I could think of doing. Still, it wasn't so long until I began to feel bored. Not wanting to disturb Alex over such a childish thing, I decided to stroll around. After almost an hour, there wasn't anywhere to stroll to again, leaving me no choice but to go and see Alex despite not wanting to disturb him.As I walked down to the corridor that led to his room, pictures that were hung around the place caught my interest, and I spent about ten minutes admiring them. I saw one that belonged to the family. It has Luna Lisa and her husband and Nathaniel. Even Kieran was in the picture. The boys were still young, and they al
ALEXAKIS "Thank you for the breakfast," I said to Luna Lisa the moment I was done eating. I got up from where I sat and wanted to leave, not wanting to be anywhere around Nathaniel for the time being, but Luna Lisa's voice stopped me."If it is okay with you, Alex, can I have a word?" She asked me.A word? With me? I looked at her and she nodded her head."Sure," I answered her. But I wasn't sure if I should have said yes or no. If Nathaniel was to come in and see us together, he might start another of his tyrant acts. At the point where I was, I was not sure that I would be able to just quietly endure the whole thing."Come, let's go to the garden." She said to me. She got up from her seat and led the way to the place. I followed her at a slow pace, apprehensive about what she was going to talk about. Was she going to ask me to leave the pack because my stay was making Nathaniel uncomfortable? Or was she finally going to ask me to leave the position of the Alpha for the other man?
EVIEI sat on the couch in the living room, my hands on my system, typing away. I had been trying to search for the wolfman ever since I broke up with Scott. I needed to steal that man from Claire so that I would be happy once again. The plight I was going through at home just kept going from worse to worse, and I was already on my threshold. I needed something or someone to fill me with happiness. And right at the moment, the wolfman was my obsession, and I felt that he was the only one who could do the job. The only thing was, I couldn't find him on any of the social media handles no matter how hard I searched or even the keywords I used.I was so lost in what I was doing that I didn't realize that my mother was seated beside me until she bumped me gently on my arm with her elbow. I looked up and saw her looking at me with a smile."What are you busy with?' She asked me, the smile still on her face."Nothing," I said to her and closed the laptop immediately. I got up from where I sa
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