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.

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

a breath, preparing to voice my request, but the words die on my

Clashing Alphas

to find the right moment to express my

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

to the back of my mind, focusing

Our best bet is that Renard is going to

wolves back.”

have embraced the change,

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

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 and

IT

Clashing

equality.

rogue, unsworn to any

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

be unthinkable in most shifter communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a

several of their mates separated and under guard, for

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

hands through his hair. The silence stretches between us,

nowhere he speaks. “Ava asked

Clashing Alphas

able to talk to

can quash it. Guilt

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

unsure how to respond. The air between us is

truly not bonded?” Lucas asks, his voice low and deadly.

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

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

own wolf surges to the surface forcing

Clashing Alphas

tearing from our throat as we tumble across the ground in a tangle of fur