Page 19 of Claiming Claire

CHAPTER 10

CLAIRE

Jace changed at the celebration. But only a bit. He accepted me as a part of his household, and I accepted his small olive branch and let him into our bed. After the night of the celebration, we hadn’t had sex, but he had made it a point to be around more, to have conversations with me, to inquire about my day.

It was all automatic, but it was better than being outright ignored. I noted Jace could be sweet if he chose to be, but mostly preferred to be gruff and stand outside the ring of everyone and watch. Determined to protect his mates from me, the threat. The inside enemy. The only child of the person he hated most in this world.

Laden told me the truth about his struggle and the regret from purchasing me at the auction, and I understood his fears. But I would stick with these men any day over siding with my father. My father was ruthless and controlling, at times he could even be abusive. But these men, my mates, were kind and caring. They wanted my happiness over theirs, and they trusted me with freedom outside of their walls that I never once experienced in my life living with my father’s pack.

I watched each of my boys leave for work today, no one wanting to leave my side, all obsessed with burying their noses in my skin. I knew my time was close, I could feel my wolf’s restlessness as she paced back and forth, whining for attention, but I thought I had a few more days. Now? Now, as I shifted uncomfortably as I stood at the stove, trying to ease the discomfort I was feeling, I knew I had misjudged.

Inhale. Exhale. I reminded myself, knowing it would do little to ease my discomfort, but it might calm my pounding heart a bit.

This wasn’t my first time being in heat. In my father’s pack, it wasn’t something mentioned. In fact, I was confined to my room during the duration as I thrashed with pain and the feeling of dissatisfaction. It was lonely, hard, torture.

But, this won’t be as bad as the past. I took air into my lungs, letting it out slowly. Knowing this time, that fact was true. My men would take care of me, well, at least most of them. They would drown out the pain with pleasure, forcing my body to accept it all. They would know what I needed, their wolves driven on pure instinct to protect me from the pain.

I heard a car door slam and a slow smile curled my lips. They came, without me having to call. Not like I would have called, to begin with, I would have waited out my day for them, hoping their work didn’t keep them late. But they came to me, knowingly, as if they sensed my inner turmoil.

I walked through the dining room, having to stop in the hallway by the front door to clutch the wall and bend at my waist, the sudden sharp pain almost too much to handle. When the wave passed, I stood, and opened the door, ready to welcome my mates.

I froze.

Terror at the expression on my father’s face built inside of me.

After almost two weeks of being mated, I assumed he wouldn’t come. Sure, I knew he knew my whereabouts. The moment Jace filed out our paperwork with the elders, all pack leaders statewide got the news. But he had remained quiet and I let my guard down, no longer afraid when I was surrounded by large men capable of protecting me. Only, they weren’t here right now, it was only me. And my father.

“I did not give you permission to leave my house.” His voice sent shivers up my spine, and I took a step back, then another, trying to put space between us.

He advanced forward with each step I took back until I was pinned against the wall. His body leaving no room for me to run. My throat was suddenly so dry, I could barely speak, “I-I . . .”

“You what, Claire?” He slammed his fist into the wall next to my head, shards of drywall scattered everywhere. “You ran away from home. You got mated. You betrayed your father. For what? For a fucking Stonewall. You betrayed your family for him, a piece of trash Stonewall. He’s a shame to his whole damn pack, can’t you see that by looking at him?”

Anger bubbled within me. Jace was stubborn and pig-headed, but he was a good man. No one had ever spoken unkind words about him, and he genuinely cared for his pack. I swallowed hard. “He’s a good man.”

“He’s a disgrace to his father’s name!”

I closed my eyes, gathering courage. “Kind of like I’m your disgrace.”

Fire flared in his eyes. “Look at you, you are a disgrace. I should have had a son; instead, I was cursed with you as my only child.”

Feeling bold, I blurted out, “It was a curse to have you as a father, too.”

The fire I saw in his eyes moments before turned into a full raging inferno. His fists, which had shattered the wall moments earlier, unfurled before they wrapped around my neck, holding me in place. “How cheeky and brave you have gotten with only a few weeks away. I think it’s time for you to come home now. Marry Sal, like I had promised. I’m sure the deal will be drastically less, but he will still take you.”

The pressure of his fingers on my throat had my hands pulling at his forearm. “No.”

He squeezed a little tighter. “You belong to me, and you think you can tell me no?”

“I’m not leaving my mates,” I gasped, the pressure making it hard to breathe, to think, to speak.

“You will do as I say because you belong to me!”

“No.”

“No?” He squeezed. “Then you belong to no one.”

My fingernails clawed and scratched into his skin, trying to loosen his grip, as my mind grew fuzzy, taking on a haze that made it nearly impossible for me to think. I tried to swallow, but the band around my throat made the action impossible. My eyes watered, and my vision started to blur, black dots floated in front of me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Accepting my fate.

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