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 doesn’t have hers, gives me a glimmer of hope. Maybe,

breath, preparing to voice my request, but the words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture

Clashing Alphas

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

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

to the back of my mind, focusing on the

know anything. Our best bet is that Renard

wolves back.”

process, to say the least. While many have embraced the change, seeking a fresh start and a more stable future, there are

stubborn, struggle to let

is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of the

IT

Clashing

equality.

rogue, unsworn to any alpha.

the women? They surprise me. In a society 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 bright with determination as they step forward to pledge their allegiance to the Westwood

that would be unthinkable in most shifter communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a new pack? It goes against every

keep several of their mates separated and under guard, for

their young. I can only imagine the strength it takes, the courage to

sighs, frustration evident as he runs his hands through his hair. The silence stretches between

out of nowhere he speaks. “Ava asked for

Clashing Alphas

talk to her

of hope igniting before I can quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its

mine.

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

respond. The

bonded?” Lucas asks, his voice low and

can’t lie, not about this. “I tried to mark her,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. “But it didn’t

wolf takes over.

the surface forcing a

Clayton Clashing

our throat as we tumble across the ground in