Refusing my Alpha mate

Arthur

Hearing all that made my heart flutter and at the same time, finally understanding who Clair was.

Clair was the good part I knew of her, Clair was kind, caring, loving, concerned, and Alpha.

Clair was the action, without knowing how to deal with emotion, but she was firm and determined.

All the confusion I saw in her, it was the silver, all the back and forth, it was her really struggling with all the manipulation she was going through, and she needed to know that.

"I love you." She said at the end, and I couldn't resist hearing that, I pulled her back into my hug and pressed her tightly against my body.

"I love you too," I said moving her body away and kissing her lips lightly.

But it was a quick kiss, we didn't have time, I needed to tell her. I pushed her away again and looked into her big blue eyes before saying.

"Clair, listen to me, you were being poisoned with silver, I had a vision in my nightmares of you with silver next to your mouth, and the tea I drank in your office burned me, because it had silver in it, and you probably didn't feel it because you were used to it and..." I started to speak and she took a step back, placing her hand in front of her mouth after retching and vomiting.

She pursed her lips and shook her head as I saw tears in her eyes.

"So it was silver in the tea? He manipulated me, Jackson manipulated me. He manipulated me to reject you, to not believe in love, and to defy you now that your father is dead." Clair said the words in the middle of babbling, but the last sentence made my stomach turn, I also almost felt like vomiting at the moment.

"What?" I shouted back, still not believing it. "How long has it been since you last had tea?" I asked worriedly, I needed to know if she was still under his influence.

"A few days ago, I lied that I had that cup today. When I returned to the Pack, Jackson wanted to talk and asked if I had the tea, I lied, and he tried to persuade me to reject you again, and challenge you. I tried to disguise, I said I would think about it, and I came straight here to see you, but your mother told me that you had gone looking for me and..." She told me, trying to take a breath with each sentence, trying to understand, along with me, the madness that was happening.

"I went to your Pack to warn you about this, I suspected the tea and..." I couldn't finish speaking. Suddenly several cars stopped a little in front of us, still in Clair's Pack, but Clair and I were on my territory, and to top it off, Jackson got out of the first car.

Behind him, several guards came down, but there was no sign of David, the guards lined up at the border, and I feared what was about to happen.

"You decide to come challenge him without me?" Jackson asked Clair, smiling, and turning his head to the side. "You said you would think about it first, but it was quicker than I imagined."

If Clair hadn't explained it to me before, I would have been afraid that she would actually turn on me.

"Come on, why aren't you guys fighting yet?" Jackson yelled in her direction, and my wolf growled, he almost came to rip Jackson's head off right then and there.

I turned my gaze to her, and Clair had anger in her eyes, her big blue eyes were narrowed and staring at Jackson.

"I won't challenge him." Her voice came out firm, hard, like an order.

"Yes, you will, Clair, it will be the best for you, for your Pack, and for your people. Remember what we talked about?" He asked in a calm tone, and the manipulation he was doing with her became increasingly clear, he disgusted me more and more and I agreed more and more with my wolf in taking his head off.

"No Jackson, your manipulation doesn't work anymore, I won't challenge Arthur," Clair said again, louder and clearer than the first time.

"No problem, with you there, I'm in charge. I challenge Alpha Arthur Hausen." Jackson's voice was also loud, and firm. And when he said the challenge to me, I felt the vibrations of his voice tear me up inside.

At that moment, the guards who came with him lined up at the border next to each other, making it clear that they would not let Clair pass, she was trapped in my Pack, without any authority.

My gaze went to her, Clair stared at me with her lips open, not really knowing what to do, looking at me scared, she took a deep breath, and then her gaze went to Jackson.

Veronica came out of one of the cars, obviously, she was also part of everything.

"As Alpha Arthur doesn't have a mate, but I do, we'll both fight against him," Jackson said, with all the wickedness he could muster.

I was big and strong, trained, but so was Jackson, even though he was older, he had many more years of training than me.

Veronica was a tall and strong woman, trained too, there were two of them, and I was alone, it would be quite a fight, and the chance of me losing existed, and it terrified me.

And then Clair, who I was starting to know even more, Clair Alfa, determined, and fearless.

She appeared.

"He's not alone, I'm his mate." She said, taking a step to the side, standing in front of me, protecting me.

That tiny little redhead was protecting me.

She was in my territory, with her own guards forming a front line preventing her from returning to her own territory. There, she wasn't Alpha, she was just a visitor, she couldn't order anything, and she couldn't stop Jackson from challenging me, but she could take her place at my side, as my mate.

"The mate bond is only sealed after mating, and the rejection you asked of him is still active. You cannot take his mate's place now." Jackson said back, laughing. And sending a chill down my spine, at the same time I felt what she felt, we were still winning.

"I withdrew my rejection of Arthur, in my last meeting, in the presence of all the Alphas in the region. And we have already mated, our bond is strong and sealed." Clair said projecting her voice and every vibration I felt made me shake inside. My mate, officially, taking my side, defending me. And if that wasn't enough, she actually took my side and intertwined our hands. "Come on, Jackson, I'm going to love ripping your head off."

Me too, honey. I said it loud in my thoughts, for her to hear, and Clair smiled at that.

She was trained, and even though she was smaller than Veronica, we were younger than them, two counts two were a fair fight, and the probability of us winning was huge.

"No, that can't be..." Jackson's voice was broken, he took a step back and looked at Veronica in confusion. "You drank the tea, you weren't supposed to...."

"I didn't drink tea today, and by the looks of whatever you put in there, it must have worn off by now...." Clair said almost in a mocking tone now.

I was ready to fight, fight alongside her, but another sound distracted us, cars arriving, and suddenly many guards came down, and I swear I've never been so happy to hear David's voice.

"Alpha Clair." He shouted towards Clair and she responded with a smile on her face.

"Arrest everyone." She said towards him. "And arrest Beta Jackson and Beta Veronica for poisoning their Alpha and treason."

The guards who came with David were in greater numbers and it was clear that they were much younger than those who were with Jackson. After everyone was arrested, Clair hugged me tightly.

"I need to go back to my Pack, I need to talk to my father and resolve this. Can you come with me?" She asked me while still in my embrace.

"Of course dear," I responded by slowly pushing her away.

"But your father's wake, aren't we going to delay everything?" She asked me now, looking deeply at me, and in those blue eyes I saw so much sweetness, and concern, it was as if she was three times more gentle than I was used to.

"Unfortunately he won't be back Clair, we can postpone the wake if that's the case, but we need to resolve this. And when you told me that you would always be here for me, I should have already been clear that I would always be here for you too." I said, holding both of her hands in mine and pulling them up to my lips, lightly kissing her fingers. "Do you remember I told you at the Council that if you accepted me it would be all of me? Mind, body, heart, and soul, I'm all here for you." I said looking at her again and I saw her sigh, swallow hard, and a small tear run down her cheek.

"All seized, Alpha," David said loudly walking towards us.

Clair turned towards David and she tilted her head asking.

"How did you know I was here and that I needed guards?" Clair asked him confused.

"You ran out saying that you needed to see Arthur and that we couldn't trust anyone, least of all, Jackson. After a few seconds of you leaving, he ran into the guard headquarters, surgically calling only the guards I already suspected of involvement in your ambush. I gathered the information and called the trusted guards to come after you. I couldn't leave my Alpha in danger." David was smart, I recognized that in him. At first, I found him unbearable, but he gradually showed himself to be a faithful friend and a responsible head of the guard.

"Thanks," Clair said smiling in his direction.

"Clair, what do you think we go to the hospital first? And get a silver treatment. Remove any traces that may be in your bloodstream." I said directly to her.

"Great idea," Clair said turning to me. "David tells my father that I will be at the hospital, and finishing the treatment I will go directly to him," Clair said to David. "Take my car, I'll go with Arthur." She finished by throwing him the car keys and walking towards my car.

Her Pack's hospital was close by, and I confess that going in there without her being in imminent danger of life it was something comforting, nothing compared to the despair I felt when I walked in with her bleeding non-stop.

And I couldn't believe that the whole nightmare seemed to be over, at least it seemed...

Okay... I need to know what you think. Ready? I think we'll have some more emotions out there...