“Clary…”
“…”
“Clary, you have to get up.”
Clarisse groggily opened her eyes, a familiar face coming into view. Declan’s face greeted her, but his expression was hard and stone-cold. Wait… was that a scar over his left eye? Clarisse groaned in exasperation – it was Lowell, the pack’s Beta and the Alpha’s fraternal twin brother.
Although they shared several similarities, to Clarisse’s groggy mind, Declan’s face had jumped out immediately instead of recognizing it wasn’t him in the first place. Lowell stood by, and Clarisse noted the dilapidated walls behind him. That didn’t seem like her room’s walls.
“Where am I?” she asked as her eyes darted from side to side.
“You ran into the abandoned manor inside the forest, Luna,” Lowell explained.
It was right there that Clarisse recalled what happened. As a hundred waves of emotions crashed on to her, she barely even remembered she ran until her legs collapsed on their own. Her eyes stung, and she noted she must have cried herself until she passed out.
Her eyes narrowed at Lowell and she asked, despite having a hunch on what his answer might be, “Why are you here?”
There was a slight hesitation in the Beta’s eyes, as if his controlled emotions had slipped up, “I have come to get you, as per Alpha’s orders.”
“Right,” Clarisse scoffed, “Of course you follow what he asks you to.”
Lowell was — for the better part of it — loyal to Declan. He had been on the run as an Alpha before, but decided to make way for his younger twin to lead the pack as he didn’t want to fight Declan. Noble to some, cowardly to several, that was who Lowell was to the pack.
Clarisse had reservations against him, as he had always been aloof around her. He was serious, and rarely even smiled. Not to mention how strict he was when he took over training the adolescents who were close to joining the ranks of fighters within the pack as if he had no room for relaxation.
“I am not coming back,” she spoke, her decision firm.
Lowell merely grunted, one obviously of disapproval, and responded, “You should already know that with the appearance of the Alpha’s Fated Mate, Luna slowly loses her power over the pack.”
The Beta didn’t explicitly say it, but Clarisse knew all too well what he meant – her words didn’t affect him and he was still taking her back even if she resisted.
Heaving a long sigh, Clarisse kicked her feet off the bed and noticed one thing in particular. The pillows and bed sheet were seemingly dusted down, a detail which Clarisse found quite peculiar. Everywhere she looked there was dust and cobwebs, but why was the bed relatively cleaner?
As the two of them stepped out of the room, Clarisse suddenly felt a cold sensation run up and down her spine, as if she was being stalked. She peeked over her shoulders, and Lowell followed her curious head turn. A raven-colored tail caught Clarisse’s eyes, but it quickly vanished just as suddenly it appeared.
‘What was that?’ she thought at the back of her mind, ‘It looked just like—'
“Come on now,” Lowell spoke with urgency, cutting off her train of thought, “We don’t have all day.”
“Yeah, I guess we don’t have all day, especially if you consider it's already nighttime,” she replied.
The Beta merely disregarded her snide remark. As they stepped out of the abandoned manor, Clarisse caught another glimpse of the same raven-colored tail that had whipped past them. This time around, she knew it belonged to that of a huge beast, as two golden orbs stared back at her as it landed on higher grounds.
“AWOOOOO!” the werewolf sang a lengthy howl.
Clarisse’s whole body turned rigid, but she didn’t feel scared or intimidated. Rather, her chest felt constricted as if her breath was taken away by its mere magnificence. Lowell, on the other hand, growled and was prepared to defend if it ever made a wrong move.
“Wait! Don’t be hasty,” Clarisse stopped him from shifting into his wolf-form. “We aren’t in our own territory to defend in the first place.”
Lowell stood back, but he was still wary of the huge werewolf that was curiously observing them. Its stance was firm, its head held high as if trying to convey that he was in-charge. There was something about him that felt regal, in a sense.
Clarisse almost forgot to breathe with the intensity of its gaze – was it staring straight at her? Why does it seem like she was being pulled by those golden eyes? She couldn’t put it into words, but somehow, his identity made her curious.
It took a while before the werewolf finally retreated into the darkness of the dense forest behind him. Lowell’s rigid face calmed down, yet he was still on high guard. There was no taking chances, especially when he was charged with taking Clarisse back to the Alpha.
“Let’s go,” he said, “It is not safe here anymore.”
***
Lowell and Clarisse arrived just in time before dinner was served. Declan saw from the window when his Beta and Chosen Mate approached the main gates, and he hurriedly went downstairs to meet them. He bumped into Shannon, and she bowed her head as her cheeks blushed.
“Alpha, it seems like you are happy that your Chosen Mate has come home,” she spoke with a soft voice.
“Yes,” Declan agreed, “But not as much as I am delighted that you, my Fated Mate, are here too.”
Shannon’s face turned bright red, and her hands rushed to cover them in embarrassment, “Sha-Shannon thinks this is too much to be true! I was nobody just yesterday.”
Declan could only chuckle at how cute she was, “You are somebody now. You are mine.”
Just as the Alpha finished speaking, the main door of the manor opened wide. Clarisse came in with Lowell beside her, guiding her in as if she was new to the place. Declan’s eyes darted towards Lowell’s hand clutching Clarisse’s wrist, and all of a sudden, rage blazed in his eyes.
“Lowell!” he barked, “Get your hands off of my Luna!”
Shannon yelped beside Declan, and saw how his canines started to lengthen. Was the Alpha jealous to the point he was about to transform to his wolf-form? The probability was high.
“Alpha,” Shannon jumped in before anything else could escalate, “Don’t be mad at your Beta. I believe he is only doing as you instructed him.”
Declan’s eyes were glued hot on Lowell’s hand hovering a distance from behind Clarisse’s shoulder. He didn’t care if Lowell did bring his Chosen Mate home, but there was no way that he was allowed to touch Clarisse.
Only he was allowed to. Clarisse was his Chosen Mate and his wife for four years. She was his alone.