Page 35 of Doubly Claimed

Hell to the no. Ginger’s eyes narrowed, but she turned when Misha opened his mouth and roared in fury.

Uh oh. Ginger’s eyes went back and forth between the young Bear who’d issued the challenge first, and the female who was currently Shifting to Bear form. She could not believe this. Finally, she had found her happiness only to have it taken from her so quickly.

“Wait a second—”

“Ha! Weak human, you forfeit then?”

“No, I—”

“My sister will kill you—”

Snarls, insults, and roars filled the air, and Ginger could hardly breathe.

“QUIET!” she yelled, using her best teacher voice.

“I need to speak to my mates.” She turned her brown eyes on Misha, who was more Bear than man at the moment, and Ross, who’d been engaged in a screaming match with some other male.

“Does he forfeit?”

“Who will be Alpha?”

“Quiet!” roared Misha. “You will give us a moment to explain to our mate, then I will announce how we will proceed.”

Voices bombarded her brain, but she didn’t give a fuck about any of them. The only thing that mattered was her mates. If Misha had to leave the Island, leave the Clan and his position to keep her safe, she could never allow that. She would have to meet this challenge, but how?

Ross led the way to one of the smaller rooms inside the Clan House. She felt the Omega’s worry and anger wash over her, and Misha’s own fury seemed to double.

“Explain.” Ginger sniffed, turning her head to meet Clarice’s eyes, and Misha growled.

“Don’t you dare growl at her. Let her talk.” She narrowed her eyes at her super grumpy mates.

“Sorry, love,” Ross said.

“I know. I know you both want to protect me, but this is my Clan now too, and I will honor our traditions.”

“I can’t believe my own cousin would try such a thing,” Misha interrupted. “I was stupid to discredit Bruce’s outrage when we left for Moongate Island to find our mate, but I never expected this,” her Alpha raged, and it only added to Ginger’s confusion.

“Don’t worry, love, we would never allow you to be hurt,” Ross attempted to smooth things over. “We will leave the Clan. It is the only way—”

“Stop it. Now. Both of you. Please, let Clarice talk. I need answers.” She laid her hand on each of her male’s chests, attempting to soothe their angry beasts.

Her Alpha closed his eyes and tried to breathe, but his heart was pounding furiously as was Ross’. The sound of Amy in her Bear form roaring and chuffing, met her ears, but she pushed it out of her mind.

“As the Alpha fem, you can be challenged,” Clarice began, stopping when one of her mates growled.

“Quit it,” Ginger said, and nodded for the female to continue.

“Challenges for position are common among Shifters. Usually no one would ever dare issue one to either of your mates, but some of the younger Clan members see humans as a weakness” She winced.

“So, she wants my position. And no one thinks it is gross that she is Misha’s cousin,” she said, mentioning the big ick factor aloud.

“Used to be quite a common factor in matings like it was with marriages among humans, actually,” Clarice said, but Ginger could tell she thought it was gross too.

Thank fuck. She didn’t want to have to fire the woman already.

“I never believed anything like this would ever happen in the Clan,” Ross exhaled.

“I will order them to stand down,” growled Misha.

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