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.

he doesn’t have hers, gives me a

my request, but the words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture is rigid, his

Clashing Alphas

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

cuts through my reverie, his

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

My voice is steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet is that Renard is

wolves back.”

have embraced the change, seeking a fresh start and a more stable future, there are those who

stubborn, struggle to let go of their ties to Renard Blackwood.

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

equality.

men remain rogue, unsworn to any alpha.

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

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

mates separated and under guard, for the safety of

for themselves and their young. I can only imagine the strength it takes,

runs his hands through his hair. The silence

of nowhere he speaks. “Ava asked

Clayton: Clashing

to talk

my chest, a flicker of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on

mine.

“I want to kill you every time I see you.” He meets my gaze, eyes flashing with barely restrained anger. “But I

how to respond. The air between

you truly not bonded?” Lucas asks,

I can’t lie, not about this. “I tried to

as his wolf takes over. I barely

surges to the surface forcing a shift

Clayton Clashing

across the ground in a tangle of fur