Page 6 of Claimed By the Alpha

“Can you please look at me?” I hated how my voice sounded, but with him shielding his emotions from me, I didn’t know what to think, and my mind was pushing me in the wrong direction.

Slowly, too slow for my liking, his eyes met mine again, the blue hue storming through his gaze, and I gently cupped his cheek. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How late?” he asked, and my heart clenched in pain at the tone of his voice.

Biting my bottom lip nervously, trying to blink the forming tears away, I did the math. “I never got… After Liam pulled the…ehm…” I couldn’t say it, I didn’t want my mind to wander there. Maybe it was because of all the stress I had been under, but there was only one way of knowing.

“Your scent would have changed if you were pregnant,” he mumbled more to himself than me.

He remained silent until we met the others, anger flowing off him in waves, and I quickly wiped away the stray tear that flowed down my cheek.

No one said anything, but the tension around us made it harder to breathe. I needed a moment alone to think. I wanted to be angry at him for shutting me out. Maybe he was scared because of what happened to his first mate, but I just needed him to talk to me.

My legs moved on their own, and before I realized it, I was wandering through the forest alone. Isaac had opened the bond enough for me to feel him and for him to know if something was wrong. However, I wanted him to run after me, and tell me it was okay.

The silence around me changed, it became too quiet, and I realized I wasn’t alone with my thoughts anymore.

No, someone was watching me from the shadows, and without looking, I already knew who.

“For someone who wanted me gone, you can’t seem to stay away.” My words almost echoed in the silence and the man from before came out of hiding.

Chapter three

Monroe?

Isaac

Ihadtotellher, I had to let her in and explain what haunted my dreams. I didn’t even know why I kept it hidden. I made myself believe it wasn’t the time to talk about these matters, burying myself in what the moon goddess had said to me.

But I was pushing her away, shielding myself. All to protect her.

That wasn’t the life I wanted, and I hated that I was like this.

“I can talk to her,”Logan whispered, watching me.

“You chickened out about the mate thing.”

He groaned with a narrowed gaze.“We hurt her.”

My fingers raked through my hair in frustration, remembering how her face fell, and how she walked away from me.“I know.”

I didn’t want her to be pregnant; I didn’t want to lose her. The idea of Liam being the father gave me some relief but also made me nauseous.

I would love it like my own, knowing the child was hers. But I knew how she would feel. She doesn’t want anything that ties her to him, and I couldn’t blame her.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around it all. How he could kill her entire family and then pretend to be a mate to her. Maybe he was lying to himself. Because he did try, to some extent.

I should hate him with everything I got, and I did. The bastard killed me. And still, something nagged me. Something I missed.

It didn’t matter, though. The next time I see him, I will rip him to pieces while Joanne watches. Showing her everything I had to offer. The darkest parts of my soul, the part I always kept hidden.

Even from my first mate.

I showed her almost everything, but I stopped when I saw the fear in her eyes, and I quickly pushed it back, the thing that simmered inside me.

Not knowing where my limits lay. Maybe I would never find out, but the icy layer around my heart had melted because of Joanne, and I knew I would. I would find my full potential.

Release what hides in the shadows.

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