Page 16 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

I ’m sprinting through dense forest, branches whipping my face, lungs burning. The baby clutched against my chest, tiny and warm and so fragile. Its scent mingles with pine needles and my own fear-sweat.

The raven flies ahead. My salvation. My only hope.

My bare feet bleed on sharp stones, but I must keep following. Goddess, help me.

There . . . wooden steps appear between ancient trees. The raven lands, black eyes glinting with impossible knowledge. A gap beneath the third step, dark and hollow.

Behind me, a howl cuts through the wind. He’s coming.

My heart hammers against my ribs. The baby whimpers, sensing my terror.

“Shhh, my love,” I whisper, tears streaming. “Live for me.”

I shove the tiny bundle into the gap, memorizing that perfect face one last time. My hands shake as I arrange leaves, concealing my treasure.

I run.

Away from the steps. Away from my heart.

He needs to follow me. Only me.

The howl comes again, closer. Massive paws thudding against earth that seems to tremble in submission.

I look back.

Glowing red eyes. An enormous blood-red wolf, saliva dripping between fangs longer than my fingers.

My foot catches on something. I fall.

He pounces. A scream escapes my lips. Everything goes black.

I don’t know why I’m here. Habit, maybe? The dean calls an assembly, and we all gather obediently because it’s what we’ve always done. But this time . . . this time, I shouldn’t have come. I knew that the moment Aydan, and I stepped out of my dorm room and saw the mess we’d left in the halls and the lobby.

My memories of last night are fragmented, like still frames flashing before my eyes. Awful things that some other Scarlet wolf did that couldn’t have been me. It just seems like some terrible dream that’s blended into my reality. I’d lost complete control in an instant, and I don’t even know why or how it happened.

On the other hand, the vision I had was as vivid as ever.

I woke up in my bed wearing my nightshirt, half of the things in my room destroyed. Aydan was asleep naked on the couch, bruised and beaten. I only have fragments of memories of what he had to do to stop my rampage. And now the full scope of what’s happened is laid out before me in the faces of the students. As soon as I walk in, eyes turned to me and the din of conversation dies down. Goddess help me, could they be more obvious?

Aydan holds my hand and squeezes it for reassurance. “Let’s sit down,” he says, motioning for one of the chairs in the back.

Assemblies in Shatterstone aren’t often. Most of the time, this is where they throw parties and dinners . . . where last night’s dinner was being held. Everything that was here last night has been moved out, however. The elegant tables and chairs and decorations . . . but not the photos. They’re all still up, including the one of Aydan’s father. It gives me chills just looking at it.

Or maybe the chill is coming from everyone else. Some of them aren’t even hiding the fact that they’re whispering about me.

Dean Fowler is on stage with a good number of the faculty, including Chad. I look around the room for a sign of Yarra’s purple hair, hoping to see one friendly face in the crowd. It takes me a moment, but I spot her sitting up front. I wish I could sit next to her.

“Thank you all for coming this morning,” Dean Fowler says. “I want to discuss the events of last night with you all in an effort to reassure you that Moonhelm has always prided itself on keeping the students and faculty safe at all costs. As you all are already aware, during the chaos of last night’s events I am sorry to report that several Moonhelm students sustained minor injuries and that several more are missing. I can assure you that this travesty is currently being fully investigated by myself and the faculty. I have assigned the head of security to this case.” He nods to his left at Officer Tightass, who looks even tighter than usual. He nods his head, his mouth pinched in a stern pucker.

“And Professor Robertson will be available to counsel any students who may need it. In the meantime, I want to remind everyone that the woods just outside of campus are still very much off-limits to all students until further notice.”

He’s answered by a rumbling in the room. I can’t make out what the discourse is, but I imagine it has to do with this being the second year in a row that something terrible has happened there.

“Also, in an extra measure of safety, I’m instituting a curfew while the investigation is underway,” Dean Fowler continues. “All members of the student body are to stay within their dorms after eight p.m. No exceptions.”

The rumbling grows louder. Someone shouts out, “This is bullshit!”

“I realize that this is inconvenient,” he says, speaking a little louder, “but for the safety of the students—”

“We don’t need to be locked up in our dorms now that the Scarlets are all gone . . . most of them anyway.” The student who’s shouting is near the front, but he makes sure to shoot me a death glare as he speaks. And, of course, he’s met with a swell of agreement all around us. “My roommate is in the infirmary because one of those psychos attacked her before going off into those woods. I say we burn them down and be done with them once and for all!”

“That is completely uncalled for,” the dean replies. “And I won’t have that kind of talk. The Scarlet Wolves are wolves, just like any of us, and they deserve our compassion. We have no proof that any of this is their doing—”

“Compassion?” A female student stands up. She’s only a few rows in front of us. “Last night, every Scarlet in this place went crazy and nearly killed half the student body! And now, you’re trying to tell us that we need to have compassion for them? When we know what they are and always have been?!”

The noise is getting louder as people start shouting, and suddenly . . . suddenly, I feel like I’m in the middle of a battlefield. Dean Fowler is trying to quiet them down, but it isn’t working. Chad stands up and takes the podium, nudging the dean out of the way.

“That’s enough,” he says, his deep Alpha voice booming off the walls. “Believe it or not, but whether Scarlet Wolves were at fault for what happened last night is completely irrelevant. Until we get to the bottom of what happened, we are all in danger. Whatever your feelings are about the Scarlets, they are still our brethren. They are still wolves. And I’m certain that if this situation were reversed, none of you would want to be abandoned in those woods, and that is why we must ask for unity and compassion for everyone. Even the Scarlets.”

He’s managed to quiet them down, but I can still feel their anger. I love Dean Fowler and Chad for trying to foster compassion in a mob of angry wolves, but . . . but can I really blame them for their rage?

My hands start to sweat, and my eyes are burning.

I get up. I can’t stay here. I just can’t. I rush out of the hall.

By the time I’m back in my room, I’m in tears. Sobs erupt from my chest in large gulps of air. Now that I’m here, I don’t know what to do. I start pacing as I sob, the deepest pain from all the rejection and otherness I’ve ever experienced shaking me so hard that I can barely breathe.

The door opens behind me, and Aydan stands there. I want him to leave. I don’t want him to see me like this. I want him to . . .

I can’t talk. The words just won’t come. I see him, and the rest of me just dissolves. I cry even harder. He steps over the threshold and takes me in his arms, holding me close as I bury my face in his chest.

“Did you hear them?” I manage to say. “What did we do, Aydan? What did I do?”

“Don’t listen to them,” he says softly. “They’re just upset right now.”

“They hate us,” I weep. “They hate me , and they’re right to.” I look up at him. His face is so kind. Those emerald and sapphire eyes search mine to try to comfort me. I don’t deserve his comfort. I push him away. “I hurt you. No, I tried to kill you. I am one hundred percent the monster they think I am.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing,” he says. “Saffron, you couldn’t have stopped yourself. Something made you do it. It’s not your fault.”

Goddess help me, he’s trying. I don’t really even understand why. Doesn’t he know what I am? What I’ve always been? “You don’t get it,” I say. “There’s something wrong with me, Aydan. There’s always been something wrong with me. That’s why this is happening to me and the other Scarlets. We’re the scourge of all wolves. Everything they say about us is true—we’re monsters!”

“Stop it!” he growls. “Listen to me, Saffron. You’re not a monster.”

“Aydan—”

“You’re an incredible wolf. You are powerful and beautiful . . . and funny and completely unserious about everything. You’re loyal and intelligent, and I love the strange way your mind and your heart work together. In fact, you’ve been the only thing in this entire school that makes me smile.”

His words pierce through my sorrow long enough for me to pity him. He’s got to be out of his mind to feel anything for me. “Don’t say that, Aydan,” I say in a hoarse whisper. “You don’t mean it.”

“Yes, I do,” he says. He closes the gap between us and wipes my tears away. His touch soothes me like nothing else could. “Saffron, don’t you know that I could never love a monster? That’s why I know that you’re not one.”

He kisses me, and it’s like cool water in a desert. A wash of calm so warm and encompassing comes over me and pulses over my skin. I lean into him, wrapping my arms around his neck as his breath mixes with mine. His hands wrap around my waist, fingers pressing against the small of my back.

The kiss evolves with passion, and I’m biting him gently. Soft moans brush against my lips in response. My hands slide down to his shirt—a polo that he grabbed from his room sometime before we went to the assembly. I pull at the hem, reaching under to touch the ridges of his abs. He stops kissing me long enough to pull it off and over his head.

I unbutton my shirt. As I toss it away, he grabs me around my waist and lifts me up, carrying me to my bed as I cradle his head between my breasts. He lies me down, and I wiggle out of my sweatpants, kicking them away.

Lying on the bed in my bra and panties, he pauses and takes me in, his eyes moving over my skin like his hands. “You’re so beautiful.”

I sit up and kiss his lips, then his chin and his neck and down to his chest. His hands move to my back, undoing the hooks of my bra with a simple twist of his fingers. It falls loose on my shoulders, and I slide it off. He leans me down on the bed, his hands already hooked into my panties.

We’ve had sex twice before, and while both times were unique in their own ways, they were just sex. We were simply two people following our primal urges. This time is so much different from before. His lips press against my skin and down to the hollow of my collarbone. His mouth and tongue explore my body with deliberate tenderness, tracing a slow path down the center of my chest, lingering to circle each nipple until they harden beneath his touch.

He continues his journey downward, leaving a trail of warm kisses across my stomach and pausing to dip his tongue into my navel. Every caress feels different from before—more meaningful, more connected—as if he’s memorizing each curve and reaction of my body.

And my body is reacting, growing warm with my arousal. This time, the cool of his touch is sustaining me, steadying me even as he dives between my legs. His tongue explores me, rounding my clit in gentle circles while I run my fingers through his golden tresses.

“Oh, Aydan,” I whisper.

My toes curl as my body starts to climb its way up to my climax. He looks up at me, slowing his progress down with gentle strokes of his tongue. Not yet. I can see it in his multicolored eyes.

I lean my head back, enjoying the feel of his tongue, trying to hold myself still for him. The heat is rising inside me, however. I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.

And then he stops, kissing my thighs as he pulls down his pants and kicks them off the bed. He moves between my legs and teasing my folds with the tip of his massive cock.

“Is this what you want, Saffron?”

“Yes . . . ” I whimper.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes, Alpha.” The words slip out.

His lips part in a sharp intake of breath, pupils dilating until the blue and green of his eyes are nearly swallowed by black. Something primal shifts in his expression—something possessive and hungry.

“Say it again,” he commands, his voice dropping an octave lower. “Tell me who I am.”

“My Alpha.” My cheeks flush crimson as the words taste both foreign and right on my tongue. I arch my back, pressing closer to where he teases me. “Please, Alpha.”

A growl rumbles deep in his chest, vibrating against my skin where our bodies touch. “That’s right,” he says with a predatory grin. “I am your Alpha.”

With one powerful thrust, he enters me completely, filling me and stretching me to the hilt. A moan escapes my lips as our bodies become one.

“You’re mine,” his voice rumbles against my ear, his breath hot against my neck. “My little Scarlet.”

I whimper as he withdraws almost completely before driving back into me. Each thrust is deliberate, controlled yet fierce. The way he moves—it’s like something’s been unleashed inside him, something wild.

Moans float up from inside me as I relish in every inch of him. I dig my nails into his back, encouraging him. As my body heats up again and the walls glow red around us, that old worry comes back to me. That fear that I could hurt him leaks back into my mind, and I catch sight of the wound on his shoulder . . . the injury that I gave him. I don’t want to hurt him again.

“Aydan,” I whisper. “If I get too hot . . .”

“I got you,” he whispers back.

“What if I lose control again?”

He kisses me deeply, a smile pressing against my mouth. “Then we’ll burn together.”

That makes me smile in spite of my fear. “I’m serious.”

He looks me in my eyes and caresses my face. “I’ve got you, my love,” he says again.

And I believe him. “My Alpha,” I breathe again, knowing exactly what it does to him.

His response is immediate. He pins my wrists above my head with one large hand, the other sliding beneath my lower back to angle me perfectly against him. He’s everywhere at once—filling me, surrounding me, consuming me. I want to surrender to him again. Lose myself in this moment. And Goddess help me, I do.

“No one else,” he pants against my neck, nipping at the sensitive skin where my pulse races. “No one else gets to have you like this.”

I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper. “Only you, Alpha.”

I feel his fangs press deeper against my skin, hovering at that sacred spot where a mating mark would forever bind us. My breath catches in my throat as electricity shoots through every nerve ending. My body trembles beneath him, anticipation making my heart pound wildly.

Aydan’s body stills suddenly. “Look at me,” he commands.

I obey, unable to tear my gaze away from his, meeting the intensity burning in those blue and green depths that steal my breath away. His pupils are blown wide with desire, his face flushed with need. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

“I’m going to make you mine, Saffron,” he growls. “Mine forever.”

Forever. The word reverberates through my entire being. The possessiveness in his voice is intoxicating. This isn’t just physical anymore—he’s going to stake his claim, marking me as his in the most ancient way wolves know. The thought sends a surge of desperate need through me, and I arch into him, my body meeting his thrust for thrust.

“Yes,” I whimper, tilting my head to expose more of my neck to him. My instincts are taking over, my wolf howling for completion. “Please claim me, Alpha.”

A low growl rumbles from deep within him as if those four little words were all the permission he needed to unleash the beast within him—literally and figuratively speaking. His hand tangles in my hair, pulling my head to the side to expose the crook of my neck. I feel his breath hot against my skin, then his canines sinking deep into me.

The sensation is both painful and exquisite at once—a wonderful cold burning that spreads through every nerve ending in my body until I can feel it even in my fingertips and toes curling around the sheets beneath us. It’s ice and fire together, pleasure so intense it borders on pain. The mark of his claim sends waves of ecstasy through me.

His thrusts become urgent and commanding, having branded me as his. I can feel his own release building, and I know that I’m close as well. We’re connected in a way that transcends the physical, and I can feel our energies merging, becoming one.

“Come for me, Saffron,” he demands. “Come for your Alpha.”

His words send me over the edge. I cry out, “Alpha!”, as my orgasm crashes over me. His body tenses as he follows me over the edge. His climax surges inside of me, flooding my core with powerful, liquid heat. Our bodies shake from the force of our connection.

He licks the wound on my neck, sealing it with his essence, making the mark permanent. I am his now, and he is mine.

As we come down from our high, Aydan pulls me close, his arms wrapping tightly around me. His heart beats against my ear, steady and strong.

“I love you,” he whispers. “My Luna . . . my love . . .”

My legs tangle in his as we kiss. “I love you,” I whisper back. “My Alpha . . .”

I know that I belong to him now, body and soul, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.