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 of hope. Maybe, just maybe, there’s still a chance

breath, preparing to voice my request, but the words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture is rigid,

Clashing Alphas

isn’t the time. I need to tread carefully, to find the right

next move?” Lucas’s voice cuts through my reverie, his gaze piercing.

try to shove thoughts of Ava to the back of my mind, focusing on the task at hand. “We’ve been over

steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet

wolves back.”

been a tumultuous process, to say the least. While many have embraced the change, seeking a fresh start and a more stable future, there are

proud and stubborn, struggle to let go

resistance to this new reality. Men were superior in the Blackwood pack. That is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of the surrounding

IT

Clayton: Clashing Alphas

equality.

men remain rogue, unsworn to

They surprise me. In a society where a female’s loyalty is expected to lie with her mate above all else, these she–wolves are breaking the mold. They gather their cubs close, eyes bright with determination

shifter communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a

separated and under guard, for the safety

for themselves and their young. I can

he runs his hands through his hair. The silence

he speaks. “Ava

Clashing

been able to talk to her in

chest, a flicker of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt

mine.

I see you.” He meets my gaze, eyes flashing with barely restrained anger. “But I don’t want to upset Ava.”

The air between

not bonded?” Lucas asks, his

about this. “I tried to mark her,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. “But it didn’t take.”

his wolf takes over. I barely have time/to brace myself before he

to the

Clayton Clashing

across the ground in