He’s My Alpha by Cassandra M (Jake & Clair)
Chapter 52
Clair
I woke up with a pounding headache and the sun’s rays on my face.
It must be late in the morning if the sun was up already. I squinted my eyes and turned to my side to avoid the sun, wanting to have a little more time to myself.
It took a while before I remembered what happened yesterday morning. Everything came rushing forward, and I felt a familiar pang of pain across my chest. I knew I needed to get up and get out of this misery.
My eyes moved to the clock, which was flashing at 8:15 AM. Damn! I’d slept for almost 24 hours. No wonder I was so hungry.
I hurriedly rose to my feet and headed for the bathroom, only to halt in front of the mirror when I saw my face and my puffy eyes. I cried myself to sleep again.
It’s weird how I felt the heaviness inside me, but at the same time, I felt empty.
I rejected Jake. Or almost did, if he hadn’t stopped me.
Did I really want to do it? I don’t know.
I let out a loud sigh before stripping off my clothes and stepping under the shower. I was already late for today’s training, so I might as well just enjoy the water and go straight to the daycare. Besides, after what happened yesterday, the training ground was the last place I wanted to be.
Once I was done with my shower and my morning routine, I put on my black jeans and black shirt. Nothing spelled broken-hearted than black.
I slipped on my sneakers before heading down to the kitchen and hoped there was something left for me to eat because I was dead starving.
“Dad! You’re still here?” I asked as I walked inside the dining room, a little surprised to find my father sitting at the dining table with the morning paper in his hand, sipping coffee as if he wasn’t in a hurry for work. “Are you still on leave today? Thought it was just for yesterday?”
I tried to act nonchalantly, not wanting to open the discussion from yesterday’s event. And I thought I was really getting good at this, hiding my pain.
“Yes, I’m on leave the whole week. Someone from the pack needed help with something, and I’m happy to oblige.” He smiled at me and put his attention back on the paper. “Dig in. I made breakfast, you must be hungry.”
My stomach suddenly growled, acknowledging his words. He snapped his eyes back at me and shook his head, a wide grin on his face. “Guess I’m right.”
My cheeks turned bright red as I slipped into a chair, my eyes widening at the food in front of me. ” Wow! Big breakfast!”
My mouth watered at the sight of omelets, bacon, and waffles. And then a pang of pain came – omelet and bacon. I remembered him again.
I forked and placed some on my plate as Dad stood up to grab the coffee, pouring some into my cup. “Anything you want to say, sweetheart?” He asked, calmly, too calmly.
I tilted my head to look at him with a mouthful of the omelet in my mouth, shaking my head. “
Noooing. Vad shudisay?” I said between chewing my food.
“Manners, Clair. Wait until your mouth is empty.” He chuckled.
I playfully rolled my eyes at him and continued to eat, hoping he wouldn’t ask anything anymore. I ate in silence, and just as I was about to finish my meal, a knock came from the front door.
“Come in!” Dad called out, and the door opened.
His scent came in like a tidal wave. It hit me all at once that I sat frozen in my place. I swallowed the invisible lump in my throat and did my best to control my heartbeat, but any wolf could hear how loud it was beating.
His scent became more potent as footsteps approached us.
“Good morning,” Jake said in a low voice.
His voice wrapped around me and it calmed my wild beating heart. I closed my eyes and restrained myself from turning around, despite Rain’s pleading to see our mate.
How could she forgive him so easily?
“Alpha, have a seat.” Dad rose up from his seat and motioned for him to take the chair beside me. “Eat something, I made more than Clair and I can eat.”
As Jake took the seat beside me, the back of his hand brushed lightly against my arm as he slid his way to the chair.
“Is it a good time now, David? I can come back later. ” He said coldly, and from the way, I saw it on my peripherals, he was looking straight at Dad and did not even bother to throw a glance at me.
Prick!
I moved my chair backward, eliciting a loud screech on the floor as I stood up from my seat. “I’m done. Thanks for breakfast, Dad. I’ll see you later.”
Dad just nodded and Jake didn’t even move a muscle, which infuriated me more. I walked to my father, kissed his cheek, and turned back to walk away from the dining room.
I caught a glimpse of him for a second when I turned around, and the nerve of this man! He didn’t even move, flinch, or acknowledge that he saw me. His eyes were focused on the window behind Dad, in front of him.
I slammed the door on my way out and made my way to the daycare center, pissed off.
And nothing got better after that.
I saw two girls, probably around 16 or 17, looking at me. Thanks to my werewolf hearing, I heard them murmuring about what happened on the ground yesterday. I wanted to ignore it, but my mood got the best of me.
I stopped in my tracks and glared at them. “Is there anything you want to say or ask?” I snapped, which in turn made them hurriedly walk away from me, embarra*s*sed and scared at being caught.
Jake
I remained seated as Clair slammed the door after her, my hands coiled into fists, wanting to hit something to let go of all my built-up emotions. I wasn’t expecting that she was still home when
David told me to come over. He wanted us to talk here instead of in my office.
I had no idea what he was playing at, but I wasn’t ready to face Clair just yet after what happened yesterday.
“Why?” I asked David, my eyes catching his.
“I want to make certain that the bond has not yet been broken. Otherwise, we are just wasting our time if she was able to reject you.” He said in a low tone.
“It’s still there.” I hung my head low and let go of the breath I had been holding for a while now. “Did you find anything?”
He shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “Nothing yet. The two journals I have were not finished. I a*s*sumed after the Luna’s death that nobody bothered to document what happened on those occasions. I will go over the others in my hand.” He stopped talking and stood up, his back now facing me while he looked out the window.
“Do you really think it’s necessary to find out? You said you ’ re going to claim her either way.11
“I do. But I wanted to be ready before, and I wanted her to be ready as well. This is not just me and the pack we’re talking about. I’ll be putting her in danger as well.” My voice came out cold.
He didn’t say anything, and we just stayed there in silence until I broke it.
“Are you really okay with me having her, David?” I asked him in a determined voice.
“She was fated for you. As I was fated to her mother. I only had Camilla for 15 years, which is too short, but I would not trade it for anything else. It was better than not having her at all.” His voice cracked at the last part.
“That’s what I feared. You have 15 years, but I have the possibility of having her just for a year or two. I would do anything… for those 15 years.” I leaned my elbows on the table and buried my face in my hands.
“We need to tell her now.”
“No. She doesn’t need to know yet. Not when I can’ t promise her anything yet.”
“I respect your decision, Alpha, but this is my daughter we are talking about. I can’t let her go on thinking that you want nothing to do with her.” His voice was slightly raised. “You know how she can be reckless and make stupid decisions when she’s hurt. The last thing we all want is for her to run away.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. My Beta watches over her.”
“How about her pains? Did you see the hurt in her eyes when you didn’t even bother to glance at her today? You didn’t! Because you didn’t even look at her!” His accusations hit me.
But I did what I needed to do.
“I don’t want to give her the opportunity to reject me,” I answered coldly.
Clair
The day went by slowly. It was agonizingly slow when you didn’t know what you would be doing next.
“I didn’t know there would come a time I would miss your presence. I was just gone for a few days, and it seemed many things happened.” A voice from behind snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to see Beta Gavin walking after me. I rolled my eyes at him as I continued to walk forward.
“I didn’t know I was that important to be missed,” I said rather coldly.
“What have you been up to?” He asked as he doubled his steps and was now walking beside me.
I shrugged my shoulders before responding. “
Nothing. Just trying to survive. Do you need anything?” “Am I being dismissed?” His voice sounded sad.
“If I say yes, will you go?” I stopped walking and faced him, annoyance brewing in my face. “Look Beta, if you have something to say, say it. Let’s not waste any time here.”
“I heard what happened in the forest. You almost rejected the Alpha.” He said it like he was accusing me of doing a terrible thing.
“Yes. And I would have done it if he hadn’t stopped me.”
“Why? I told you, you just need to give…”
I cut him off before he could say more. “You told me, what?” My voice raised up a bit. “You told me to give him time! To wait for him! How about me? What about me? What do I do while he f*uc*king marvels at the time that he has in his hand? While he thinks over if he wanted me or not?”
I glared at him, my nose flaring in anger.
“Let him use me when he sees fit? Be his side chick? Flirt with me! Touch me! Kiss me whenever he wants! F*uc*k me when he needs a release! That’s all he wants me for!”
I pointed my finger at his chest, my eyes burning with anger as I continued to glare at him. Rain
whimpered in my head, but I shoved her off to the back of my mind. She hated that I was angry with Jake. “Stop defending Jake. He’s not worth it. Your Alpha is an a*s*shole! I don’t deserve that guy! Do you know why? Because he’s too f*uc*king selfish to reject me even if he knew he was breaking me!” I pushed him with my hands before running home.
I knew the words I told him about Jake rang true, but at the end of it all, I was the stupid one – because even if I knew he was just luring me into his false promises, I kept coming back to him.