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

words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture is

Clashing Alphas

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

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

of my mind, focusing on the task at hand. “We’ve been

Our

wolves back.”

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

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

is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of

IT

Clashing

equality.

remain rogue, unsworn to

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

her mate

separated and under guard, for the

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

his hair. The

of nowhere he speaks. “Ava asked

Clashing Alphas

able to talk to her in

quash it. Guilt follows swiftly on its heels. I shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t want

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 restrained anger. “But I don’t

The air between us is charged,

truly not bonded?” Lucas asks, his

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.

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 me mid–shift, all fury and feral

the surface

Clashing Alphas

across the ground in a tangle of fur and fury.