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.

borne his mark, and that he doesn’t have hers, gives me a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, there’s still a chance for us.

request, but the words die on my tongue.

Clashing Alphas

the time. I need to tread carefully, to find the right moment

Lucas’s voice cuts through my reverie, his

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

times, Lucas.” My voice is steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet

wolves back.”

of the Blackwood pack into Westwood has been a tumultuous process, to say the least. While many have embraced the change, seeking

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

were superior in the Blackwood pack. That is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of the surrounding large packs, where male and

IT

Clashing Alphas

equality.

men remain rogue, unsworn

with her mate above all else, these she–wolves are

communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join

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

themselves and their young. I can only imagine the strength it takes, the courage to break free

his hair. The silence stretches between

speaks. “Ava asked for space.

Clashing

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

a flicker of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its heels. I shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t want

mine.

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

The air between us

not bonded?” Lucas asks, his voice

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 a whisper. “But it didn’t take.”

is instantaneous. He lunges at me, a snarl ripping from his throat as his wolf takes over. I barely have

the surface forcing a

Clayton Clashing

as we tumble across the ground in a tangle of fur