Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted novel Chapter 100

100 Clayton: Clashing Alphas

CLAYTON 

Lucas’s voice booms through the room, frustration palpable in every syllable. The scouts cower under his scrutiny, and I can’t blame them. The Blackwood

leaders have proven more elusive than any of us anticipated.

I should be focused on the task at hand, strategizing our next move, but my mind drifts to Ava. Is she healing well? Has she found any measure of peace. after the trauma she’s endured?

Even though the mating bond didn’t take, my wolf and I feel bonded toward her. It’s one–sided and fragile, -but it consumes my thoughts. I long to see her, to offer comfort and support. But Lucas guards any

information about her whereabouts with a

possessiveness that borders on obsession.

I don’t blame him, but after a week of knowing nothing, the frustration is getting to me.

As the meeting concludes, Lucas and I make our way back to the alpha’s house. The promise of paperwork

100 Clayton: Clashing Alphas

and hacked computer files looms ahead, a necessary evil in our quest for answers. Yet, even as I try to

center my thoughts on the investigation, Ava’s face flickers through my mind.

I glance at Lucas, wondering how to broach the subject of contacting her. His jaw is set, eyes hard with determination. I know he sees me as a threat, a rival for Ava’s affections. And perhaps I am. Everything I feel toward her is undeniable, something I’ve never felt toward a woman before. It’s like a whisper of fate that I

can’t ignore.

And yet I’m not the one she’s fated for.

I don’t want to come between them, not if Ava has truly chosen Lucas. I respect her choices, her

autonomy.

Still, the fact that she hasn’t fully committed to him, that she hasn’t borne his mark, and that he doesn’t have hers, gives me a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, there’s still a chance for us.

I take a breath, preparing to voice my request, but the words die on my tongue. Lucas’s posture is rigid, his eyes fixed ahead.

100 Clayton Clashing Alphas

Now isn’t the time. I need to tread carefully, to find the right moment to express my desire to see Ava without igniting Lucas’s ire.

“So, what’s our next move?” Lucas’s voice cuts through my reverie, his gaze piercing.

I try to shove thoughts of Ava to the back of my mind, focusing on the task at hand. “We’ve been over this a

thousand times, Lucas.” My voice is steady despite the turmoil within. “We don’t know anything. Our best bet is that Renard is going to try to come back, to take his

wolves back.”

The integration of the Blackwood pack into Westwood has been a tumultuous process, to say the least. While many have embraced the change, seeking a fresh start and a more stable future, there are those who cling to their old loyalties.

Interestingly, the division seems to fall along gender lines. The men, proud and stubborn, struggle to let go of their ties to Renard Blackwood. I can sense their

unease, their resistance to this new reality. Men were superior in the Blackwood pack. That is not true of Westwood, Aspen, or any of the surrounding large packs, where male and female live with relative

IT

100 Clayton: Clashing Alphas 

equality.

The men remain rogue, unsworn to any alpha.

But the women? They surprise me. In a society where a female’s loyalty is expected to lie with her mate above all else, these she–wolves are breaking the mold. They gather their cubs close, eyes bright with determination as they step forward to pledge their allegiance to the Westwood pack.

It’s a sight that would be unthinkable in most shifter communities. A female, leaving her mate behind to join a new pack? It goes against every tradition, every deeply ingrained expectation.

We’ve had to keep several of their mates separated and under guard, for the safety of their own families.

And yet, here they are, ready to forge a new path for themselves and their young. I can only imagine the strength it takes, the courage to break free from the constraints of the past.