Chapter 3

CLAUDE

THE COOL AIR against my warm skin was a blissful invitation. I tucked my hands into the pocket of my jeans as I walked down a silent path. I noticed a stone chair in front of me and quickly made my way towards it.

From a distance, a couple was approaching my way. He had his nose pressed into the woman’s neck, scent-marking her. I frowned watching them and my heart clenched for what I knew I couldn’t have. My phone dinged, and I had half expected a message from my father, but was surprised when it was from an unknown number.

“Dear Tate Frank, your application has been well received and we are glad to let you know that you have been selected to join the Luxemar Yatch as a pet. Click the button below to confirm and the time and location for your pickup will be shown. Link expires in fourty eight hours.”

I blinked in confusion, reread the message, and looked at the button to see that the timer was counting down.

Clearly, the message wasn’t meant for me since my name wasn’t Tate. My thumb hovered over the green button, curious to see what it would reveal, but the sound of something crashing made me give up. I locked my phone and stood up to see that a man had tripped over a trash can. I shook my head and glanced back at the direction I came from and prayed to God that she was no longer in my room. To my luck, when I did get there, she was no longer in my room, save for the lingering smell of her heat.

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I laid on my bed and slowly began to drift to sleep, but with a lingering thought at the back of my mind about the weird message I received.

At the first light of the sun, I was already on the road back to the Rising Sun pack, and after five hours of driving, I was seated in front of my father briefing him about the meeting with the Green Tree pack.

The sun was already setting when I entered my room and I took off the black button down shirt I was wearing and undid the button of my grey slacks. My phone dinged and I turned to take it from where I placed it on the bed. It was a notification reminding me that I only had twenty thee more hours before the invitation expires.

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I stared at the button and I mean I really stared at it. It was like I could hear... As crazy as it may sound, it was like I could hear the whispering into my ears to check what was behind its green walls.

"Oh, fuck it," I muttered and quickly pressed it before I could back out.

"Congratulations! You have been accepted and marked as a human pet," I read and frowned at the word "Pet" again. [This is the information below.]

I scrolled down, reading the information about who this Tate Frank was. When I got to his picture, I had to take a double look because he looked like me. His blonde hair was almost the same shade as mine. His eyes were the only difference between us, and that I was two years older than from the information I was looking at I went back to read the notification. My eyes lingered on two words: Human Pet.

I ran my hand through my hair as the realization hit me. This message was supposed to be for this human Tate. Somehow, and unintended, it got to me and we looked so much alike.

I scoffed at the scam. This was probably a plot to get to my father, just like before—just like five years ago. I closed my eyes as memories of that day began to flood in.

I was on patrol with a few scouts and I had heard something. I could have told them... told the three other scouts with me, but for some reason, I decided to go alone, to prove that I could do things without the drug my father had been giving me for the past nine years... No, I hadn't taken them for the past two weeks and Instead, I trained my body in the gym that I would be a strong beta without it.

As soon as the others were out of sight, I went behind the bushes. I heard a twig and before I could turn, a fist collided with the side of my head...

The last thing I heard was, "Boss, we have him," and everything went black.

I dropped my phone and pressed my hands at the back of my neck trying to get the memory out of my head. He was dead. Alan was. I picked up the... and gritted my teeth. "It can't be him," I mumbled to myself. "And I swear to the gods, if it was..."

I typed in the location where I would be picked up. Address confirmed. It showed, and I moved my eyes from the phone to the wall opposite me where my full-length mirror hung. I stared at my reflection, my eyes bloodshot.

"I will kill him."