Tangled

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

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35 Clayton: Overcome (II)

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.”

“She’s in heat, Clayton. You know what that means.” Rowan grunts. “Fuck, you might have to hold me back, too. I can smell her. Shit. I need her.”

Beta! We can’t deal with the

Wake up!”

fucking mate. This fucking omega heat is bullshit. Fuck. Fuck! This is killing me. Clayton! Wake the fuck

follows his words, along with a

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it’s not working. I’m going to need to be

restrained.”

their words are meaningless. All that matters is her. My

glazed with need. Need for me. The sight sends a bolt of pure, primal desire shooting through me, and I renew my

vengeance.

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

rasp, her name a prayer and a

“Ava!”

myself being dragged back, further and further from her intoxicating presence. The scent of

me back. The hands grappling at my arms, my shoulders, are nothing more than infuriating obstacles keeping me from what

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damn you!” I

surface, clawing to be set free. To claim its mate. My mate.

voice cuts through the red haze of need clouding my mind. “You have to

feral growl, I wrench myself free from his grasp, sending him staggering back. The guards clutch at me, their grips like iron shackles, but

have to

wolf howls inside me, a savage, possessive thing that demands

it anymore. I don’t

charge forward, barreling through the feeble attempts to restrain me. The door to her room is so close now, just a few strides

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intoxicating.

by some cosmic twist of fate, the door swings open. There she is, framed in the