Tangled

100 Clayton: Clashing Alphas

CLAYTON

Lucas’s voice booms through the room, frustration palpable in every syllable. The scouts cower under his scrutiny, and I can’t blame them. The Blackwood

leaders have proven more elusive than any of us anticipated.

I should be focused on the task at hand, strategizing our next move, but my mind drifts to Ava. Is she healing well? Has she found any measure of peace. after the trauma she’s endured?

Even though the mating bond didn’t take, my wolf and I feel bonded toward her. It’s one–sided and fragile, -but it consumes my thoughts. I long to see her, to offer comfort and support. But Lucas guards any

information about her whereabouts with a

possessiveness that borders on obsession.

I don’t blame him, but after a week of knowing nothing, the frustration is getting to me.

As the meeting concludes, Lucas and I make our way back to the alpha’s house. The promise of paperwork

100 Clayton: Clashing Alphas

and hacked computer files looms ahead, a necessary evil in our quest for answers. Yet, even as I try to

center my thoughts on the investigation, Ava’s face flickers through my mind.

I glance at Lucas, wondering how to broach the subject of contacting her. His jaw is set, eyes hard with determination. I know he sees me as a threat, a rival for Ava’s affections. And perhaps I am. Everything I feel toward her is undeniable, something I’ve never felt toward a woman before. It’s like a whisper of fate that I

can’t ignore.

And yet I’m not the one she’s fated for.

I don’t want to come between them, not if Ava has truly chosen Lucas. I respect her choices, her

autonomy.

that she hasn’t fully committed to him, that she hasn’t borne his mark, and that he doesn’t have hers, gives me a glimmer

preparing to voice my request, but the words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture is rigid, his eyes fixed ahead.

Clayton Clashing Alphas

isn’t the time. I need to tread carefully, to find the right moment to express my desire to

next move?” Lucas’s voice cuts through

try to shove thoughts of Ava to the back of my mind, focusing on the task at hand.

My voice is steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet is that Renard is going

wolves back.”

to say the least. While many have embraced the change, seeking a fresh start and a more stable future, there are those who cling to their old loyalties.

to fall along gender lines. The men, proud and stubborn, struggle to let go of their ties to Renard Blackwood. I can

to this new reality. Men were superior in the Blackwood pack. That is not true

IT

Clayton: Clashing Alphas

equality.

remain rogue, unsworn to

are breaking the

most shifter communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a new pack? It goes

and under guard, for the safety of their

they are, ready to forge a new path for themselves and their young. I can only imagine the strength it takes, the courage to break free from the constraints of the past.

his hands through his hair. The silence stretches

speaks. “Ava asked

Clashing Alphas

to talk to her in

my chest, a flicker of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its heels.

mine.

kill you every time I see you.” He meets my gaze,

swallow hard, unsure how to respond. The air between us is

Lucas asks, his

the powder keg. But I can’t lie, not about this. “I tried

a snarl ripping from his throat as his wolf takes over.

surges to the surface

Clashing Alphas

tumble across the ground