CLAIR

I followed him to his office after making sure Aaron would stay and wait for me outside. I threw the gum discreetly into the waste bin along the way. It didn’t escape my eyes that Jake scowled at the sight of me chewing gum. Not that I care. It’s just that it’s better to throw it away, and maybe he would stop scowling and be more welcoming.

Jake’s scent enveloped me as soon as I stepped into his office. It’s calming but doesn’t stop me from being annoyed with his silence.

I was at least expecting him to be a little enthusiastic upon seeing me back. I set myself up for failure. The boy, no, the man in front of me, was stoic as stone. No emotions at all. But I should have expected it from him, like what Aaron said, he changed. He was no longer the lovable Jake I adored as a kid.

"So... why am I here again?" I broke the silence that was killing me while I sat in front of him. My fingers reached for the pen laying down on the table and started twiddling with it.

It took him a few seconds before he started to speak. "Did you by any chance reject the pack five years ago when you left? Or maybe within the last few years?"

I felt his gaze on me. I lifted mine to look at him and just found myself getting lost in his eyes. I had forgotten how beautiful they were, but I was only twelve when I left. And although I already felt an admiration for him at that time, I never really took the time to appreciate his features. But the dark blue eyes that stared at me right now were nothing short of beautiful. They were hypnotizing, if I may say.

I heard him clear his throat before speaking again, which took me out of my trance. "Clair, did you hear me?"

I blinked twice and nodded my head a little too fast. My cheeks were burning with embarrassment. And I was sure I was already blushing. If he noticed, he didn't show any sign that he had.

"So you did denounce it?" He asked again, his brows furrowing.

"What? Denounce what? No. What were you asking again?" I stuttered as my cheeks continued to burn.

He shook his head before letting out a smile, which he took back after a split second and replaced with a serious look again.

"Did you do anything to cut off your connection with the pack? Reject me as your Alpha? Can you mindlink?"

"No. I don’t think so. Can I do that, reject you as my Alpha?"

He simply nodded and stared at me again. He looked relaxed now as he settled his back on his chair. "Good to know that you didn’t. Then we don’t need the formality of the ceremony to accept you back into my pack."

I nodded and tucked some of my hair behind my ear, still looking at him but avoiding his gaze. "Okay. Nice to know then."

I waited for him to say something more but he just continued to stare at me in silence.

His gaze made me uncomfortable. I could feel my body heating up just with his gaze, and if I stayed here longer, I felt like I would start to burn.

"Can you not stare at me? It’s rude." I broke the silence again.

He cocked his head without taking his attention away from me. His stoic expression was not changing. "Is it making you uncomfortable? You used to ask me to look at you all the time, whether you were dancing, singing, or simply wanting my attention. Now I am giving it to you and it seems rude?"

"Stop it, Jake. I’m not a kid anymore." I glared at him, trying to hide the embarrassment I felt from his statement.

He started to run his eyes from my face to my chest before looking into my eyes again. "I am very much aware of that."

I had no idea what was going through his head, but this conversation had gone horribly wrong.

I was pretty sure he was fully aware that I was gawking at him earlier, and he made it a point to embarrass me more. I stood up from where I was sitting, not able to stand his stare.

"Do you really need to bring me here just for one question? You could have saved your precious time if you just asked me there outside."

I was about to turn around when he asked something. "Why can’t I reach you through the mind link?"

I looked at him confused. "I don’t know. I don’t even know how it works." I replied.

"You should be able to do it once you turn fifteen." He leaned his arms on the table and entwined his fingers, still looking at me.

I rolled my eyes and slumped back in the chair. "I said I don’t know. In case you were not aware of where I’ve been for the last five years, let me inform you. I live with the humans. We don’t mind links. We talked with our mouths." I couldn’t stop the annoyance from rolling my tongue.

And he just stared at me. Not once did his gaze move away from mine.

"Maybe if you tell me how to do it then I can practice. But you know what, it doesn’t matter, I won’t be needing it. In a few days, I’ll be out of here."

He raised his eyebrows, confused by my response.

"Explain." His tone suddenly changed from passive to angry. I felt his Alpha aura rolling over me that I couldn’t find my voice to speak again.

"Explain." His tone softened, and I straightened up in my seat and tried to answer confidently.

"I mean, I don’t need it when I return to live with the humans."

"You’re not staying?" His voice came out so low that if I wasn’t looking at his face void of emotions, I would think that my answer made him sad.

I nodded. "Yup, not staying. I’m only here to shift, and Aaron convinced me that I needed assistance to do so. So here I am."

Silence.

"Uhm, anything more you need to know, Alpha?" I asked, breaking the silence once more.

Silence.

I raised an eyebrow and waited for more. After what felt like an eternity, I slapped my hands on my thighs in frustration and stood up. "Okay, I’m done. Thank you for the warm welcome, Alpha!"

I faced his desk and bowed sarcastically before turning on my heel. I was already by the door when I heard him speak up.

"Open your mindlink."

I stopped in my tracks. My hand grasped the door handle but did not turn it.

"No," I replied, not looking back. "I don’t know how."

"Clear your mind and think that you want to communicate with me."

My heart fluttered with the thought of communicating with him through a mind link. A smile curved on my lips, but I stopped myself from turning around so as not to show him how the idea affected me. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on communicating with him, but nothing snapped into my mind.

I let out a sigh and my shoulders slumped, "It’s not working..."

'Clair?' My ears perked up and I felt my skin shiver from the tone he used.

Why did it sound so sexy?

"Yes, Alpha?" I stayed rooted in place because the idea of looking at him right now would surely make my knees buckle, and I didn’t want to fall on my ass in his presence.

'Turn around. Training tomorrow at six in the morning. Don’t be late.'

"What?!" I gasped and let go of the door handle to turn around and face him. "I don’t need to train. I’m not aiming to be a warrior."

'Try talking to me with your mind.'

My jaws dropped open when the realization hit me that he did not open his mouth to speak with me. In the blink of an eye, I forgot about the training and a wide smile made its way onto my lips.

'Hey! It’s me, Clair!' I answered enthusiastically, and my body jerked up in excitement as my mind linked with the Alpha.

And then I saw it. A smile crept across his face, but it was gone before I could confirm that it was an actual smile. Instead, he looked down at his hands.

'I know it’s you, Clair. So tomorrow at six in the morning? You need to train. Your human body might not handle your shifting well if you don’t train. You only have four days from tomorrow until the full moon. You can’t be weak. Some don’t make it out alive if they are too weak.'

My eyes grew bigger with the thought of dying in the middle of shifting. The thought eventually scared me, and I nodded in agreement. 'Okay. Six then.'

I waited for anything he wanted to say more and hoped he would look at me again. But there was just silence.

"Umm Alpha, can I go now?"

He nodded without throwing me a glance.

I huffed in frustration. "Thank you, Alpha."

CLAIR

"Thank you, Alpha." I turned around and grabbed the door handle again.

I stopped for a moment when I felt my neck burn. I know he’s watching me. I contemplated if I should look back, but decided against it and turned the knob to open the door. I hurriedly exited his office, and as soon as I closed the door, a loud smashed sound of glass against the wall was heard.

I stood frozen in shock for a couple of seconds before I was able to compose myself and walk away completely from his office, shaking my head in disbelief.

'What a prick!' I told myself.

'I heard you, princess. You forgot to turn off the mind link.' I stopped on my track and felt the hair at the back of my neck stand up when I heard his voice in my mind. And did he just chuckle?

'Shit! How can I turn this off?'I asked myself but I was well aware that he heard that too.

'Find it out yourself.'

'F**k!'

'Your mouth, princess.'

'F**k! F**k! F**k! Can you still hear me?' I closed my eyes and my hands rolled into fists.

'Yes.'

'Aarrgh!!! Help me! Or cut it off!' I snapped at him through mindlink.

'It’s actually fascinating to hear your thoughts, so why should I?' He replied, and I could imagine him smirking, which irritated me more.

'It’s not funny, Jake! I swear you’ll be annoyed the whole night if you don’t cut it off!'

'Really? What thoughts will you share with me tonight then?' He seemed to enjoy this.

'Have you got nothing else to do Alpha? You should keep yourself busy with work rather than annoy your pack members!' I spat out angrily as I stomped my way outside the pack house towards Aaron’s car.

"Hey, you’re back, finally!" Aaron greeted me. "Everything turned out well?"

"Yeah. All is good. Can we go home now?" I asked him, as I tried to hide the anger building up inside me.

'Liar. I thought you were a little pissed. Maybe share it with your brother as to why instead of lying.'

'F**k off.' I closed my eyes as soon as I sat down in the passenger seat beside Aaron.

'Yeah, I might as well do that, maybe in my room.' I blushed at his words and the picture my crazy mind put into my head.

"Clair?" I flipped my eyes open to see my brother looking at me with a worried look on his face. "Did you hear me? Are you okay?"

"What?" I looked at him, trying not to think of Jake.

"I said put your belt on so we can drive home now."

"Ah okay," I replied as I stumbled to put on my seatbelt. "Aaron, how does mindlink work? How can you turn it off?"

"Just turn it off. Can you mindlink now?"

"No, not yet. Just curious." I answered too quickly as he started the car’s engine. I wondered why I didn’t just tell him that I could mindlink now.

'Lies. Lies again, princess.'

I was so annoyed that I snapped back at Aaron. I asked a little louder this time. "But how do you turn it off? Should I just say turn?"

"Calm down, Clairy. We can practice at home. No need to be so riled up! Okay?" He chuckled as he started to maneuver the wheel.

I closed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, and pressed my mind hard to cut off the mindlink.

'Still there?' I asked, hoping he would not reply.

'Always here.'

That was it! I was so pissed off that I unbuckled my belt and ordered Aaron to stop the car and jumped out of it before he could ask me anything. With large steps and my nose flaring, I walked towards the Alpha’s office and barged in without knocking.

"Cut it off, Jake! It’s not funny anymore!" My voice was full of desperation and anger.

"What? Maybe try to ask a little nicer and you won’t have to deal with this." He chuckled. If I was not pissed off, I would have appreciated it if he finally showed me a different emotion rather than the stoic face he had earlier.

"I’m running out of patience!" I huffed while folding my arms across my chest, still standing in front of his desk.

He glanced at me for a while before returning his attention to the papers in front of him. "And so I am little one. Leave Clair. I´m busy!"

I walked closer and rested my palms on his desk, glaring at him. "Don’t you get it? I don’t want you in my head!"

He continued to work on his papers and kept his answers short, which irritated me more. "It will get easier."

"What? Don’t you know how to keep a conversation going? How come you’re an Alpha? It feels like I’m talking to a robot! Oh, Goddess, you are one hell of a frustrating man!"

He looked up at me again, and I thought I saw a flash of hurt across his eyes before they turned passive again. "Go home. I already turned it off. Next time you show me disrespect in any form, I will not hesitate to punish you." He stated firmly before returning his attention to his work again.

I stood there in silence. I was pissed off earlier, but the hurt I saw in his eyes earlier pained me as well. Me and my big mouth!

"Uhm, Jake..." I stuttered, my voice caught in my throat.

"Hmmm.." He didn’t even bother to look at me.

"I’m sorry... It’s just that... I don’t know. You were..." I actually have no idea what I wanted to tell him when a knock came out of the door.

"Come in," He answered, and Aaron stepped in, confusion written on his face.

"Alpha, Clair. I was just wondering if everything is okay?" His gaze shifted from me to Jake.

"Nothing big, man. I’m just confirming her training schedule starting tomorrow. You can take her home. I’ll see you both tomorrow." He answered him and dismissed us without even looking at us and just continued looking over the document in his hand.

"Yes, Alpha." Aaron motioned with his hand for me to follow him. "Clair, come now."

I took one last glance at Jake before turning around to follow Aaron. I would have wanted to apologize to him for raising my voice, but I didn’t know how to open my mindlink again, and even if I could, I didn’t want the risk of opening my mind to him and not being able to shut it down myself. So I just shrugged my shoulders and left with Aaron. If anything, he was the one who started teasing me, so I shouldn’t feel too guilty about it.

CLAIR

The last three days went by fast. After the awkward first meeting with Dad after many years, we all tried to move on and be a family.

It wasn’t easy, and I wanted to be a rebel and let him know how badly he treated me for sending me away. But I couldn’t. As much as I hated him for sending me away, I loved my father. And I longed for him just as much as I longed for Mom. I knew it would take time before all the wounds of being abandoned would heal. But I wanted to make us a family again, even just for a short time before I moved on and became an adult on my own.

So I was trying just as he was.

Dad was the manager of the town’s public library in nearby town. He’d been bringing home additional books for me to read since I arrived. He was aware of my love of books, but Aaron had taunted him that it appeared he just wanted me to be cooped up in the house with books and with no social life.

But, to be honest, I haven’t had time for myself or for all the books Dad has given me since I arrived.

I thought nobody remembered me or cared. However, everyone appeared really pleased to see me back, from the elderly to the parents whom mom and dad were close to, as well as those within my and Aaron’s age range. And I’ve been to everyone’s house for the past three days - I’ve been invited from breakfast to dinner, or simply a coffee break or something similar, which I’ve had to decline on some occasions because I wanted to spend time with my dad and Aaron.

Nonetheless, the attention made my heart soar, and I would have been completely satisfied if the Alpha himself had acknowledged my presence. However, I haven’t seen him since the day I returned home.

I knew he was busy because I didn’t get to see Aaron for the entire day most of the time, but he kept his promise to stay home with us, so I got to spend some time with him before going to bed.

And then the full moon is approaching. Tomorrow will be a full moon. And from the looks of it, I was the only one expected to shift. And this just added to my anxiety.

Jenny was in charge of the afternoon training, which was the one I attended today. I had less than 48 hours before the full moon and I was determined not to die. She laughed it off when I told her I was terrified of dying and that was why I was so motivated to train.

"Get a grip, Clair! You’re not going to die. It’s painful, but you’re not sick or too old to die from shifting." She chuckled as she slapped my ass while I warmed up and told me what to do next. "Go and run! Give me ten laps before we can start!"

I lifted my right hand to my temple in a salute before acknowledging her. "Yes, ma’am!"

I let out a hearty chuckle before spinning on my heel and dashing towards the tracking oval. I was glad that I met Jenny. She’s one of the few female warriors under the guidance of my brother.

She and her mother transferred to our pack three years after I left. She was 17 years old then. She’s now 19 years old and has proven to be one of the best warriors in the world.

Her motivation? My brother. She had been crushing on Aaron since she was 17 and did her best to join his squad. And my oblivious brother had no idea, or at least he pretended he didn't know.

Unfortunately, they weren’t fated mates either.

But it was nothing unusual. With the werewolf packs growing everywhere, you would be lucky to find your fated mate sooner. Most gave up hope of finding their fated mates and just moved on with their lives with their chosen mates. My parents were among those who were lucky enough to be fated.

Mom and Dad didn’t belong in the same pack. And none of them were ever a part of this pack in the first place. They have to move away from their respective packs because both of them were in relationships before meeting each other, and the other parties were not willing to give up the relationship. Talk about Mate dramas!

So they both ended up here because my mother was good friends with Jake’s mother and convinced them that this was a good place to raise a family. And the rest is history.

I was lost in my own thoughts as I made my seventh lap when I felt a presence beside me. I tilted my head to my right and saw Jake, running at the same speed as mine.

"Hey!" I felt the smile on my face reach up to my ears. I was surprised to see him and, at the same time, excited that he was here.

"Hey! How’s it going?" He responded without looking at me, maintaining the same poker face he had used at his office a few days before.

I came to a halt and put my hands on my hips, panting as I did. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at me. "Tired already?"

I shook my head and looked at him. "No! I was just wondering if you would stop and look at me or if you plan on talking to me without looking at all."

He shook his head and walked toward me, stopping just a few steps away from me. "I don’t get you at all. Last time, you said you didn’t want me to look at you. Now you want me to look at you. Make up your mind, princess. " He chuckled, showing me those deep dimples on his cheeks.

I had to stop myself from melting from his boyish smile. Was he really smiling?

"Are you for real? I said, don’t stare at me, and not - don’t look at me!" I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms over my chest, still panting from all the running. I was trying to mask my real emotions. His smile alone made me giddy, and it was getting harder to control my own smile from tugging at my lips.

He squinted his eyes as his smile grew fuller, reaching his eyes. He looked so sexy that I had to look away because looking at him was hurting my eyes. He was too perfect!

"Yeah, my bad! I just don’t know how to talk to you. I know I must’ve pissed you off big-time with that mindlink prank." He scratched his head, looking like a lost boy. A good-looking lost boy.

I tried to stop myself from smiling again as his words sent tingles to my core.

I swallowed and tried hard to put on a poker face. "Well, you did. It’s an asshole move, Jake." But I couldn’t hold my smile anymore, so I let it curve from my lips. "But it’s okay, you can always get away with things around here, you know, being the Alpha."

I placed my hands on my hips again and I let out a playful smile before I continued. "But you can say 'Welcome Home' and then maybe come and hug me?"

I didn’t know where I got the courage to say the last part. It just came out. It took an eternity for me while I waited for his response. A part of me wanted to regret what I had just said. Was I too aggressive?

"Yeah, that would be nice. Come here, princess. Give this old man a hug!" He chuckled as he motioned with his hand for me to come over, a wide grin across his face.

And like a little girl who wanted to have ice cream, I found myself flinging my arms around him. He lifted me in an instant before letting me back on my feet but not releasing me from his arms. He rested his chin at the top of my head for a moment before placing his lips on the crown of my head. "I’m glad you’re back, princess. I miss you!" He said softly.

I closed my eyes and scooted my head closer to his chest. I did not mind the sweat around his shirt. I was enjoying the moment while I drowned in his warmth and his masculine scent. "Me too, Jake!"

We stayed in that position for a while, squeezing each other’s bodies until the moment was broken by someone clearing his throat. Jake let go of the hug but did not take one arm away from my shoulders. Instead, he pulled me close to his side as we turned to face Aaron.

"This is a training ground if you’re not aware. And I would be pleased if my Alpha and my sister could respect that." He stated, his face emotionless, but I could see him attempting to mask his scowl.

"Chill, man! I’m just welcoming Clair back." He said in a happy tone as he squeezed my shoulder. "Go ahead and continue your run, princess. Or your brother may beat our asses up."

He winked at me before letting me go, and if Aaron wasn’t there, I would probably be beaming at Jake right now. But instead, I let out a sigh before rolling my eyes at Aaron and sprinting away from them, disappointed that my brother had just cut off my happy moment.