Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 35 Clayton: Overcome (II)

CLAYTON

I tear at the hands restraining me, snarling with a fury that nearly chokes me. The scent of my mate—my omega—still clings to my skin, an intoxicating perfume that drives me to the brink of madness.

"Let me go!" I roar, thrashing against the iron grip of my beta and the guards I'd assigned to Ava's room—all mated, all safe from her heat. They hold fast, dragging me further from the room where she lies. Further from the sweet siren song of her scent.

"Alpha, you must control yourself," Rowan grits out, his voice strained with the effort of containing my rage. But control is a distant memory, shattered the moment I caught her scent. The moment I knew she was mine.

"She needs me," I growl, the words tearing from my throat like shards of glass. Every fiber of my being screams to go to her, to claim what is mine by right. To sink my teeth into the soft curve of her neck and mark her as my own. To fuck her, to breed her, to claim her so no one else can. So my scent is all over her. So she's mine.

All mine.

But they don't understand. They can't feel the primal pull, the all-consuming need that sets my blood on fire. She's my mate, the other half of my soul. And they dare to keep me from her?

I lunge forward, a savage roar building in my chest. But more hands grasp at me, holding me back. I can hear their voices, a distant buzz drowned out by the pounding of my own heart.

"Alpha, please. You're not in your right mind."

means." Rowan grunts. "Fuck, you might have to hold me back, too. I can smell her. Shit.

We can't deal with the both of

wolf thinks she's my fucking mate. This fucking omega heat

up! Hey, you—hit me. Hit me once so

to fuck her.

with a grunted, "Shit, it's not working. I'm going to

All that

for me. The sight sends a bolt

the fucking door!" I hear someone yell, and then the door

her name a prayer and a curse on my

and further from her intoxicating presence. The scent of her heat fades, replaced by the sterile tang of the hospital

and thrash, my body a whirlwind of raw, animalistic fury as I fight against the restraints holding me back. The hands grappling at my arms, my shoulders, are

I snarl, my wolf raging just beneath the surface, clawing to be set

red haze of need clouding my mind. "You

finish. With a feral growl, I wrench myself free from his grasp, sending him staggering back. The guards clutch at me, their grips like iron shackles, but I shake them off with a strength born of

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