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 he doesn’t have

to voice my request, but the words die on my

Clashing Alphas

the right moment to express my desire to see Ava without

what’s our next move?” Lucas’s voice cuts through my reverie, his gaze

Ava to the back of my mind, focusing

the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our

wolves back.”

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

along gender lines. The men, proud and stubborn, struggle

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

IT

Clashing Alphas

equality.

unsworn to any alpha.

she–wolves are breaking the mold. They gather their cubs close, eyes bright with determination

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

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

forge a new path for themselves and their young. I can only imagine

his

out of nowhere he speaks.

Clayton: Clashing

able to talk to

can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its heels. I shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t want

mine.

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

respond. The

bonded?” Lucas asks, his voice low and deadly.

answer could be the spark that ignites the powder keg. But I can’t lie, not about this. “I tried to mark her,” I admit, my voice barely above

ripping from his throat as his wolf takes over. I barely have time/to brace myself

own wolf surges to the surface

Clayton Clashing

tumble across the ground in a