CHAPTER 2

CLAIRE FISCHER

I TOOK A few steps away from the cabin to regain my composure. After the wave of dizziness and nausea washed off, it was replaced with blind rage. Gritting my teeth, I walked back to the cabin just as I heard Logan moan loudly, I watched his back arch tightly as he came inside her. He hung his head and suckled on her neck, she still moved rhythmically underneath him.

“Logan!” I could not stop the pain that seared through my heart the more I stood there.

He turned sharply. His eyes widened in shock when he saw me.

“Fiona…” I said in a small cracking voice. This was my best friend. My confidante. The only person who did not treat me with indifference or even pure hate. I told her everything that was going on in my life, I was looking forward to telling her about how Alpha Olsson had hit on me. She even knew about my anticipation to get married to Logan, and she seemed genuinely happy for me… How could I have known that she was a slithering snake, fucking my fiancé behind my back? 

“Fiona…” I repeated, not knowing what else to say. She scrambled out of the bed, dragging a thin sheet over her breasts in fake modesty.

“Claire,” she gasped. “I was not expecting to see you.” She smoothened her shabby hair with her hand.

“Of course you were not!” I snapped. “While I buried my father… you were busy… fucking my fiancé!”

“It is not like that…” she said. “This was…” her voice trailed off.

I looked at Logan. He was standing to the side, all naked. His cock was semi-erect and throbbing with blood like he could not wait for me to leave so he could continue what they were doing. “And you!” I snapped. I could feel more tears coming up to my eyes, but I was determined not to let them feel even as my eyes stung painfully. “You were supposed to be with me at the funeral!”

He scoffed. “When I could be doing something else I enjoy? I don’t think so.”

“How could you?” I cried. “We are going to be mated soon…”

He chuckled. “You are deluded, my dear Claire.” He looked at me. “I could never get mated to you. I never loved you… just the alpha title that came with you. That was what I was after, and now, I will get it and marry who I truly love.” He pulled Fiona closer, smacked her butt, and gave her a very deep kiss. Tongue and all.

I closed my eyes and turned my head away, but I knew that image was forever engrained in my head and would haunt me.

“I want you to get out now,” he approached me, gripping my upper arm tightly and jacking me out of the cabin. “Fiona and I have some unfinished business.” He tossed me to the floor. “And when I become the alpha, wolf-less mutts like you are going to be in their place…” He slapped me before slamming the door. A few seconds later, the moans resumed.

Dazed like it was all a dream, I gathered myself from the floor. My body and mind were numb as I made my way back to the pack house. A place I had been told twice now since my father’s death that would not be my home for much longer.

My mother was still in the kitchen, sipping her cup of coffee. She looked up at me as I walked in. Her eyes brightened and a smirk appeared on her face as she took in my disheveled look. “You are back, I see.” She said sarcastically.

Choosing to ignore her, I went to my room and collapsed on my bed. I felt the world crashing around me, and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest. I grasped my chest and tried to slow my breaths but it was too late as darkness enveloped me and my room tilted.

I SLOWLY CAME awake and found myself lying on the floor at an awkward angle. I rubbed my eyes and felt a nasty bump where I had hit my head. Sucking in a breath to stifle the pain, I looked at my bedside clock and noted that I had been out for almost 4 hours.

The last rites! I gasped and hurried up, but I slowed down, leaning on the doorframe as a strong wave of dizziness overcame me.

When I got to the pack hall, it was already in full.

“Oh goddess,” I muttered under my breath as I walked in. “I missed it.” I saw that the alpha chair was still left empty. But Logan and my mother sat just beside it. Our eyes met and Logan flashed me a wide grin. I saw Fiona standing behind him. She did not meet my eye.

I pushed through the crowd until I got to the front. Swallowing the lump that immediately formed in my throat, I took a glass of wine and raised it. “To my father. One of the best alphas this pack has ever seen and the only one of his kind.”

“Hear, hear!” The pack cheered and drank to my toast.

I gave a triumphant look to Logan. The pack was behind me and they supported me.

My mother stood up and I had a deep sinking feeling. “To the future alpha,” she gave another toast and the pack cheered again and drank. When they quietened down, she said, “An alpha, who would be strong enough, to lead us with his strong Luna.”

Heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

“My… daughter here,” she stepped down and placed a hand on my shoulder, but there was nothing warm about the gesture. “… is a wolfless mutt. And what use is a wolfless person to us?”

I watched in despair as their faces turned in disgust towards me.

“But that is not a bother to me, or to any of us because the wolfless mutt is not my only child.” My mother said. “I have another daughter. One that is blessed with a very strong wolf spirit.”

That was an even bigger shock to me. I had a sister? I had spent my entire life believing that I was an only child.

“Fiona, come forward,” my mother said.

I felt my knees go weak, and I grasped onto a pillar.

“This is my daughter,” she took Fiona's hand and smiled warmly. “And she will rule with Logan as Alpha.” The pack cheered again in support as I was swallowed with forlorn hopelessness.