CLAIRE FISCHER
LATER AT NIGHT, as I lay down on my bed, I decided that I was going to get married to Bruce, and I wanted to tell him so. I slid out of bed and sneaked down the stairs. Everyone was sleeping, so I did not meet anyone as I hurried to Bruce's cabin. I went around the house and knocked on his window as quietly as I could.
I heard him grunt and mutter something inaudible as he opened the window. “Claire?” he asked sleepily. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?” I asked.
“Yes, sure,” he rubbed his neck. “Let me just go and open the -” I climbed in the window. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to tell you, yes!” I said in excitement.
“Yes… to what?” He frowned.
“I know this is not a good time,” I said, keeping my breaths steady. “But yes. Yes, I will marry you.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “You do?”
I nodded. “I do.”
He grinned and stepped closer to me. “You do?” he asked, slipping his arms around me and pulling me closer.
“I do,” I nodded, giggling.
He kissed me softly and gently, leading me towards the bed. When my leg came in contact with the edge of the bed, I placed a hand on his chest, and he pulled away from the kiss and looked down at me. “We will take things slow,” he said. “Okay?”
I nodded.
He kissed me again and lowered me on the bed, but then he stopped and smiled. “We will be getting married,” he chuckled.
It sounded unreal to my ears. “Does Logan know?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It does not matter.” He turned and stared at me. “All that matters is you. But he, as well as the rest of the pack, would know as soon as possible.” He sighed. “Do you know why you have not seen me getting serious with any girl since we have known each other?”
I shook my head.
“It’s because I have not liked anyone the way I have feelings for you,” he said. “Even when you were with Logan, I was conflicted because I wanted you for myself, but I did not want Logan to break up and hurt you. I never want to hurt you, Claire.”
That sounded perfect. I grinned and straddled him, kissing him deeply as his hand roamed my body, and we made out all through the night.
WHEN I FINALLY woke up the following morning, I ran my hand across the bed, but it was empty. I smiled as I remembered the events of last night. I sat up, adjusting my nightgown before I stood up from the bed.
I went to his bathroom to wash my face. As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I remembered I would be getting married, and I smiled. I knew Bruce was going to treat me well. He was a very decent person, allowing me to go at my own pace. And he was handsome too. He was also the best warrior in the kingdom. It was not the same as being married to the future alpha, but I believed I would grow to love him.
A bright smile was plastered on my face as I left his cabin and went to the pack house. I headed to my room and passed by the alpha's office. It used to be my father's, but now it was Logan's, and his voice could be heard coming from within. I was going to pass by and ignore it, but I heard Bruce's voice too. My smile widened, and I put my ear to the door.
“What did she say?” Logan was asking.
I heard Bruce scoff. “What did you expect?”
“So you are getting married,” Logan laughed. “The dumb bitch.”
My smile froze as my brain processed what I was hearing.
“You hurt her, Logan,” Bruce said in a low voice. I smiled again; he was defending me.
“She does not know what is in store,” Logan muttered. “I have already told all of the pack that you both are getting married.”
“Is it not too soon for that?” Bruce asked.
“But is it not too soon for her to spend the night in your bed?”
“I told you; we did not do anything,” Bruce replied.
“But I know you. Only your words can make her wet. I am sure she wanted it…” Logan said, laughing.
Slowly, Bruce joined in the laughter. “She straddled me all night.”
My smile faded away as they continued talking.
“I am only doing this for you, Logan,” Bruce was saying. “I have no feelings whatsoever for her.”
“I owe you one,” Logan replied.
I could not believe my ears. I could not believe that I had believed Bruce; he had been so convincing.
With my heart in my throat and tears brimming my eyes, I turned and ran out of the house. Their betrayal hurt me more than I could ever imagine. The morning sun scorched my head as I walked to the end of the border.
“I, Claire Fischer, cut every bond I have with this pack,” I said, surprised at the wave of pain that washed through my entire being, and I fell to the floor. If only I had a wolf spirit, shifting would have helped, but I didn’t. I writhed in pain, but I endured.
After a while, I crossed the boundary without knowing what awaited me on the other side except ravaging rogues and potential death.
THE LONELINESS was the first thing that hit me after I had been running in the woods for almost a day. My feet hurt and I was sure blisters were forming already. As a human, I was not accustomed to being in the wild.I was sure I was out of my father's pack territory, but I could not be sure because I didn’t have a wolf spirit that bound me to the lands. Thinking of the past 18 hours and the multiple betrayals I was served still made my heart thud painfully.I swallowed in a pitiful attempt to dry my parched throat. It was a bad idea to leave without even carrying a water bottle. I sucked in this living in the wild alone. I looked at the sky and saw that the sun was going down. Soon, it would be dark, and I was hungry, thirsty, and tired, and I still didn’t know where I was going.I stopped walking to rest my legs and I heard the sound of a flowing river. Leaping in excitement, I immediately followed the sound until I came across a clear stream. I crouched in the shallow parts and scoo
ALEXANDER VON SINCLAIRALEXANDER PACED THE length of his office angrily. His body itched, and that reflected in his mood. In the far corner of his office and shrouded by slight darkness, his brother, Joram Von Sinclair, sat lounging lazily on a couch with a cup of whiskey in hand.Alexander cast a long look at Joram, then he scoffed and walked to the window, looking out at the dusk of the city’s skyline. His office was located on one of the tallest skyscrapers in the commercial district of town, so even though time was far gone, he could still see the last winks of the sunset.“You know that your pacing isn’t helping,” Joram said coolly from where he sat.Alexander looked at his brother, fighting the primal urge to throw him from the window. He scoffed and turned away before he gave in to his primal instinct.Joram stood up and walked towards Alex. “Whiskey takes the edge off,” he said, stretching out his hand.Alex gave a disgruntled look at the glass for a long second, then he colle
ALEXANDER VON SINCLAIRHE HAD NO idea why he was cutting through the woods. His beast seemed to be controlling him without actually controlling him. His eyes glowed amber in the stark darkness, and the night was silent, but he felt very comfortable. After all, as a Lycan, this was his natural habitat – in the wild, alone, and most likely hunting prey, which could be another animal… or a human.He suddenly burst through a thick shroud of thorny bushes and came upon a scene that made his blood boil with rage. A young woman was on the floor, surrounded by about 4 men; he could not count them as his eyes were blinded with bloodlust.He punched the man on top of the woman; his hand went through and gripped the man's still beating heart. He squeezed and pulled it out as the man slumped forward, falling heavily on the woman beneath him.“Werewolves,” he growled as the stench of the blood hit his nostrils.Then Alex swung around and caught the man closest to him by the neck, and with a small
CLAIRE FISCHER MY LEGS TREMBLED with fear as we marched along the small dirt path. The night was dark and the woods were even darker, but these strange people seemed to be one with the surroundings, like they had lived here all their lives. And maybe they had. Had I stumbled into the midst of a secret pack? I asked myself. I closed my eyes, trying to remember my geography classes, and wishing I had paid more attention as I tried to figure out where I was. There was not supposed to be a pack nearby… my foot caught on a shrub and I stumbled forward, unable to catch myself as I fell into the dirt. “Get up!” the man holding the end of my rope snarled. The group stopped moving as they looked back. “Get up!” the man tugged on the rope again. I tried to stand up, but I was weak. I had not eaten anything in almost two days. They parted as the man I took to be their leader approached me. His eyes glinted bright red in the darkness as he looked down at me. “What is going on?” he asked. His
ALEKANDER VON SINCLAIR“WHAT ARE YOU planning to do with her?” Joram asked Alex as he watched the guard drag the prisoner girl away.“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Alex replied.“she should be taken to the dungeon,” Joram argued as they walked to a hall beside the mansion. “not your chambers.”Alex scoffed. “I don’t expect you to be the one judging me, brother.”“I am not,” Joram sighed. “But a few hours ago, your Lucia called, and you just told me that you were not interested in that tonight,” he pushed and held the door open. “And after this meeting, you are going to -”Alex stopped abruptly and looked at Joram. “You are judging, brother.” He said coolly. “Do you want her for yourself?” he cocked his head. “Is that what this is all about? You want her, and you do not want to share.”Joram's face twisted in disgust. “Gross.” He rubbed his eyes. “I do not want to fuck your prisoner. She is yours to do as you wish.”There was a vague smile on Alex's face as he turned away. “W
ALEXANDER VON SINCLAIRALEX WAS BOILING as he stormed out of the Senate hall and walked down the street. The pack – no, the clan, was deathly silent. There was even no buzzing of night bugs or insects. As Alek went towards the pack mansion, he cooled down a bit, and he became a bit more logical. He knew he was overreacting, but his ego would not let him admit it to himself.He knew he did not have much right coming here like a bull in a china shop, smashing anything in his path as he took over the clan that he had left unattended to in over half a century.“I am beginning to sound like my brother,” he muttered as he pushed the door open. “I have been spending too much time with him.” He saw Nonna coming down the stairs slowly. He walked up to her and tried to help her down.“What have you done, child?” She asked, looking at his bloodied hand. “Don’t worry about it, Nonna.” He said, trying to wipe the blood with a pocket napkin.“It is Marshall, is it not?” she asked. “I knew that one’
CLAIRE FISCHERI DID NOT know who this Lucia was, but I was grateful for her arrival. She had just saved me from the unspeakable things Alec was going to do to me. My captor Alec slowly released me. I immediately picked up my clothes and pressed them to my body.Alek turned and looked at his brother. “How did she know we were back?” He asked in a hushed whisper.Joram shrugged. His eyes swept across the room and settled on me. I immediately lowered my gaze. Even though Joram looked a tad calmer and less intimidating than his brother, I knew that looks could be deceiving, and the last thing I wanted to do was to attract his attention.“We should talk,” Joram said in a strong voice to his brother, who walked away and grabbed a shirt from the bed, shrugging it on.“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Alex replied. He started to walk out, then he stopped, looked at me, and said, “We are not done.” A chill shiver ran down my spine.Joram looked at me for a few seconds, then he sighed and
ALEKSANDER VON SINCLAIRHE CURSED UNDER his breath as he shrugged on his shirt and walked out of the room. He wanted to say something to the prisoner girl, but he clenched his jaw and stalked out. He heard his brother following him closely.“Where is she?” he asked.“the grand foyer,” Joram said in a bland voice.Joram knew his brother had something to say, but he was keeping it in. When they were getting to the stairs, the silence became too heavy and profound for Alek, so he said, “Say it.” He stopped and turned, “That thing in your mind. Say it.”“What you are about to do to that girl -” Joram said.Alek scoffed and started to walk away, but Joram held his arm. “What you were about to do to that girl…” he repeated.“She is my prisoner,” Alek snarled. “And I will do whatever I want with her.” He tried to snatch his arm away, but he couldn’t.“What you should do… is to interrogate her so we know where she comes from,” Joram snapped. “Not… rip her clothes and try to force your way… Th
LOGAN MILLER HE WAS STUNNED beyond words. As he left Ruth's house, he heard her last sentence ringing in his head. She said she knew things. Was this one of those things? Knowing that he wanted to protect Claire and hide Bastian's body further away. But how had she known? Was it even possible to stay a step ahead of them? These questions flooded Logan's head. He could feel a migraine start as he walked through the woods. Well, the situation could still be salvaged, he muttered to himself. He could just try and avert it. If only he and Bruce and maybe a few other men knew, he could just shrug it off. He got to the strong stream and crossed it without any issues. They had gone out of the territory now. How had the men even found the body? What made them come this far in their search? It could not be that they followed a scent. He shook his head. Every scent was washed away by the current and air updraft of the stream. So what gave them the idea? As he came upon the scene,
BRUCE AND HIS man walked for almost half an hour without seeing anything. Bruce was starting to feel this plan slip through his fingers every minute they walked without finding the spot."That bitch could have been more specific," he snarled under his breath, flopping onto a rock. "We might start to head north now. We will walk at an angle, so we will meet with the others in the middle, then we will search the area together again."The man nodded and sat down. They were close to the stream. Bruce sighed and looked around. He was tired, and could not imagine the energy required to carry the rogue all the way out here, and then bury him, and go back without anyone seeing or noticing anything."Beta...""Yeah?" Bruce looked at his companion who was dipping a foot in the fast flowing stream."You know that if your plan works, Claire would be hurt too," He said.Bruce cocked his head and noted that his companion was the youngest out of the three. "Yes. I am aware of that." He replied."I t
BRUCE HURRIED AWAY from the pack. He crept behind a thick tree and watched as Logan went into Ruth's house. They had agreed to stalk Logan for as long as possible so he would not suspect where Bruce had gone.When Bruce was sure that Logan had gone in and was being occupied by Ruth, he continued his journey farther away into the woods, heading west. After almost half an hour was brisk walking, he came across the Tibet stream. It was a fast-flowing stream that was quite wide. As he looked at it and tested the current, he wondered how the Lycan had carried the body across.Using a stick, he tested how deep the water was, and luckily, it was not deep as it was only a couple of feet deep and would reach up to his knee, but even with the shallowness, the current of the water was able to sweep him off his feet."Beta?" Bruce turned to see 3 men of average build coming towards him. "Luna Ruth sent us, she told us to do as we were told without asking questions."Bruce nodded. "What we are go
BRUCE KNEW THAT something was up, and to his dismay, It seemed like Logan was starting to catch up on everything that was going on behind him. It had come as a terrible surprise when Fiona found out that she was pregnant, and it was very obvious that he was responsible, not Logan.Their plan had been to just manipulate Logan and make him fuck Fiona without condoms or pulling out, so they could easily blame the pregnancy on him. But the plan did not work out perfectly and Logan did not bite. It was like he saw through their plan and refused to sleep with Fiona.Bruce was going to try and convince Fiona to try and abort the baby. It sounded bad, but it would be worse if Fiona suddenly gave birth and the child looked nothing like the alpha.He walked into the pack house. He knew Logan had been on a call with someone. He suspected that it was Claire, and there was something he was keeping secret.He peeked out the window to make sure he was not followed. Then he put the earpiece to his e
LOGAN MILLERLOGAN AND BRUCE walked out. By now, the news that Bastian was missing had gone around the pack. Some people were glad that the rogue responsible for attacks on them months ago was gone, while some were worried. They wondered how the veteran warrior like Bastian could just disappear, and how safe they were. Some of them shared the same views as Bruce and were already suspecting that it was the Lycan clan that visited that was responsible for the abduction."How are his people holding up?" Logan asked."As they should," Bruce answered. "They are worried, some are scared. They have recorded a large amount of deaths in the past few months. Their male population has been reduced to a very few.""Those are not our faults," Logan muttered. He wanted to say it was Ruth's fault for sending them against Claire, and the Lycans. In fact, everything that happened was Ruth's fault.First, she manipulated him into dumping Claire, and then making the whole pack share in her hatred for Cl
LOGAN MILLERLOGAN FINGERED THE card that Claire had given to him. He enjoyed the texture and read the address to himself. He knew the place, it was a secluded expanse of woods uphill. So that was where the Lycan and his clan were residing.The door to his office opened and he turned around to look at Bruce. "Any news?" He asked. They had been looking for Bastian for hours, but it seemed like the rogue just disappeared into thin air. Bruce shook his head and sat down on the couch. "Ruth is going nuts." He said, looking at Logan. "Is there something I should know that I don't?"Logan chuckled and shook his head. He was constantly amazed at how tricky and deceptive Bruce was turning out to be. If he didn't know better, he would think that Bruce was also ignorant of everything. But he knew better. He knew that Bruce knew about the affair between Ruth and Bastian."Earth to Logan..." Bruce snapped his fingers.Logan shook his head. "Sorry. What did you say?""I was only just wondering wh
CLAIRE VON SINCLAIRI HAD BEEN about to leave the table to go and speak with Joram about how he was feeling before Lucia showed up at the door. She looked at Alek briefly before looking at me and saying, "I have not had breakfast. Can I join the table?"I paused chewing, wondering if I had heard properly. I felt Alek stiffen beside me too. Lucia raised an eyebrow at me and I heard Alek's voice float into my head, telling me that it was my decision to make.What could go wrong? I asked myself. "Of course, Lucia," I said. "You can join us for breakfast."I could feel Aleks's disagreement. But he had said it was my decision, and I made it."Are you sure that is a good idea?" He asked me.I did not take my eyes away from her as Lucia came towards the table and took a seat close beside Alek.The nerve of the woman, I gritted inwardly while I kept my face emotionless."Thank you, Luna Claire," she said and I did not miss the mocking sarcasm laced in her words. "I know exactly what Alek is t
ALEKSANDER VON SINCLAIRHE WAS AT peace as he washed and dried his face. He took a wet napkin and went to Claire. He wiped her black where a dried streak of blood had come from where he bit her."Did you mark me?" She asked, chuckling."I think so," he replied. He opened a bandaid and covered the place."I thought you didn't believe in any of those things," she said. He chuffed. "I didn't believe in many things before I met you. Love, for one." He said, pressing a kiss to her head."You made me believe in love." He walked away to dispose of the napkin before she could respond.She softly touched the bandaid on her neck with her finger. "Why do you treat it like an injury?" She asked."Because that is what it is," he muttered, shrugging on a shirt. "And I do not want it to get infected."She laughed and ripped the bandaid off, making it bleed again. "I am not that fragile." She said. "I am a werewolf... even though my wolf is dormant.""I hear you," He smirked. "See? You're bleeding a
CLAIRE VON SINCLAIRTHERE WAS NO way I could remain angry after what just happened. Alek lay beside me, breathing deeply and heavily. I smiled, feeling the deep purring from him as my fingers explored the unfamiliar crevices in his body.He turned and looked at me. "Are you still pissed at me?" He asked.I chuffed and shook my head. "I am not happy with what you did, but I understand why you did it.""You do?" He asked, propping himself up on an elbow.I nodded. He did it to revenge for the danger I was put in. He did it to protect me. Just as Ryana had said, I wouldn't feel totally safe knowing that Bastian was still out there and able to hurt me again anytime. "I understand," I said, pulling him down for a kiss.He pushed into me, deepening the kiss. I could feel his heart, beating in rhythm with mine as we lay chest to chest. The length of his huge body was pressed against me. His hard cock was pressed against my thighs."Well, you respected my wishes and didn't harm my mother," I