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.

committed to him, that she hasn’t borne his mark, and that he

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

Clashing

right moment to express my desire to

what’s our next move?” Lucas’s voice cuts

Ava to the back of my mind, focusing

anything. Our best bet is that Renard

wolves back.”

the Blackwood pack into Westwood has 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

to fall along gender lines. The men, proud and stubborn, struggle to let go of their

pack. That is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of the surrounding large

IT

Clayton: Clashing

equality.

remain rogue, unsworn

she–wolves are breaking

communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a new pack? It goes against every tradition, every

and under guard,

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

hands through his hair. The silence stretches between us, heavy with unspoken tension.

speaks.

Clayton: Clashing

been able to talk to her in

in my chest, a flicker of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its heels. I shouldn’t

mine.

to kill you every time I see you.”

hard, unsure how to respond. The air between us

bonded?” Lucas asks,

my answer could be the spark that ignites the powder keg. But I can’t lie, not about this. “I tried to

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. with

surges to the surface forcing

Clayton Clashing Alphas

our throat as we tumble across the ground in a tangle of fur and fury.