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.

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

the words die

Clashing

to tread carefully, to find the right moment to express

voice cuts through

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

is steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet is that Renard is going to try to come back,

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 those who cling

The men, proud and stubborn, struggle

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

IT

Clashing

equality.

remain rogue, unsworn to

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 as they step forward

mate behind to join a new pack? It goes against every

several of their mates separated and under guard, for the safety

can only imagine the strength it takes, the courage to break free from the constraints of the past.

sighs, frustration evident as he runs his hands through his hair.

speaks. “Ava

Clayton: Clashing Alphas

haven’t been able to talk to her in days.”

before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly

mine.

his breath, his words barely audible. “I want to kill you every time I see you.” He meets my gaze, eyes flashing with barely restrained

The air between us is charged,

asks, his

lie, not about this. “I tried to mark her,” I admit, my voice barely above

reaction is instantaneous. He lunges at me, a snarl ripping from his throat as his wolf takes over. I barely have time/to brace myself before he collides.

the surface forcing a shift a

Clashing Alphas

as we tumble across the ground in a tangle of