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Oh shit. I wasn’t about to let that out. I had decided to keep that inside until I have processed it all for myself. But now it seems like Mason knows everything anyway. The choice has been taken from me. All I can do now is see what it means for us in this moment.
“I am, yes,” I reply quietly. My fingers automatically reach for the necklace that I now start playing with. “It isn’t something that I asked for, but it was handed to me.”
He nods at the necklace, almost as if he understands more than he should. “Right, and because of that, you should be dead. Your whole pack should be dead. Your pack isn’t supposed to be here anymore, and now you’ve stepped up…”
“Whoa, wait.” I rise to my feet, a sense of defensiveness overcoming me. “I just told you that I didn’t step up. The role was given to me. There’s nothing I could do.”
“You could refuse, or you could leave…”
I throw my hands in the air in frustration. “You do understand that this is because ofyou, right? You’re the one who put me in this position.” He stares at me, wide eyed. “You think I don’t know that you’re the one who slaughtered my pack?”
“But you’re still here,” he scoffs, giving me a stark reminder that I really shouldn’t be here. I’ve been foolish and selfish, begging for a distraction fromhimwhen he’s the person who fucked it all up. “You keep coming back so you must understand that what I did was to survive, to keep things in line. Chicago ismycity and I intend to keep it that way. Your pack proved problematic for me, so they had to go… or the main members had to go, then the rest of you were supposed to leave or join my pack…”
“Join you?” Now it’s my turn to be irritated. “You thought that we would want to join you? After you tried to destroy us? No way, we’re stronger than that. Much more powerful.”
Now I’m actually glad that I’m the one who took the alpha position, because I know I can stand up to this man. I’m not going to let him bully me into anything. I jut my chin out and let him see that I’m standing tall, refusing to back down.
“You aren’t powerful, Clara,” he replies dismissively, throwing his hand in the air as if I didn’t speak at all. “You aren’t that strong and in control. Youneeda pack like this. Since you’re the alpha, and I don’t want you to die, you should just merge with us.”
I roll my eyes. “I can not believe you just said that to me.”
“It’s the wise thing to do. And it means we can also be together more…”
“I’m not interested in talking about us at all. You can put that thought out of your mind, Mason.” I rest my hands on my hips as anger surges through me. “I can’t believe this.”
“This is survival, Clara. Especially in a city as dangerous as Chicago. We all do what we need to survive. I’m sure you’ve done the same as well, that’s why your pack has lived such a nomadic life, right? To keep living.” He shrugs in a blasé manner. “But you don’t have to live that way anymore, you can be here with us.”
“How do you think my pack will take that, hmm?” I snap filled with rage. “How do you think they will like it if I go back and tell them that we’re joining the people who killed our men?”
They will kill me, all of them. There’s just no way, surely, he sees that. This is so dumb.
“You are the alpha. You just tell them what needs to happen. Didn’t Brian do that?”
I snort with rage. “I don’t care about Brian. I never did care about him; he was a narcissist and a coward all at once. I’m not worried about him being gone. I’m just worried about how my pack is going to survive moving forward, and that isn’t with you.”
“You’re being stubborn.” Now it’s Mason’s turn to sit at the edge of the bed, and I look over at him. That doesn’t make me feel as powerful as I should. “You’re actually putting your pack at risk here. I think that’s something you need to understand. Being an alpha is all about making those tough decisions. You don’t always like the outcome of it, but you do what you need to. You make sure your people are safe.”
Fuck this guy. I can’t believe he’s saying this to me, this is disgusting. Mason’s behavior is absolutely ridiculous. Has he been surrounded by yes men his whole life who don’t dare to shut his shitty ideas down? I’m starting to think so, or he wouldn’t act like he’s king of the world, certainly king of Chicago city anyway.
“I don’t need this,” I yell at him. “I don’t need to be here with you. This is stupid. I only came here to distract myself from all the problems in my life, but now you’ve become one of them. Actually, you’re the only one. You want us gone? Then maybe we’ll go.”
I really don’t know if I want to leave. I don’t know if I want to carry on with our nomadic lifestyle. It hasn’t suited me for a long time, but Mason doesn’t need to know that. I want him to back off and keep as far away from me as humanly possible. I sure as hell won’t be coming to this house again, and we’llneverjoin his pack.
I need to get back, so I can join Daniella once more and have her tell me what an idiot I am. I need to hear those words, so I never go near that man again. Fuck Mason. All of them actually. I don’t want to see any of them again because they are all involved with this. Cain, Adam, the handsome friend that Mason was standing with before… they are all as bad as one another. Playing the big men, the testosterone fueled idiots, who think they run the world.
“You can’t go,” Mason demands as he stands in the way of the door, blocking my exit. “You know you can’t leave. You’re my mate, Clara. I have claimed you.”
“But you also want me dead? Are you for real? Do you hear yourself?”
I try to push passed him, but he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to his chest. I hate the way I can hear his heart pounding because it’s been such a familiar and soothing sound. But now it’s another reminder that I can’t stay here. I can’t be near him.
“Mason, you need to stop this.” I press my hands to his chest and try to shove him away because I don’t want him anywhere near me. But of course he’s built like a brick house, so I can’t get rid of him however hard I try. Is this what my future will be like because of him? “I can’t be with a murderer. I can’t be with the man who wiped out my pack, and who also needs me dead as well. You have to understand this.”
But he isn’t even listening to me. It’s like he doesn’t even care that I have an opinion of my own. “You’re mine, Clara. You have to remember this. I don’t claim just anyone. I know that you’re my mate, and you need to start realizing it, too.”
I shake my head. Irritatingly tears start to prick behind my eyes. I don’t want this asshole to see me crying, to know that he’s had such a terrible effect on me. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. But since he won’t let me go, there isn’t much I can do.
“Let go,” I groan as I try to yank my wrists away, but he only tightens his grip.
