Refusing my Alpha mate
Chapter 20

Arthur

How could Clair do this to me?

On the same day that she makes her plan to come out on her own clear, she brings me a gift, kisses me, now she tells me this.

If her goal isn't to drive me crazy, I don't know what is.

Soon Tommy arrived and other Alphas too, my friend poured me a shot of whiskey without even asking me if I wanted it.

"Just by the look on your face I know you need it." He said handing me the glass.

"Is it that visible?" I asked laughing as I ran my hand through my hair.

"Is it a certain redhead that makes you loose your sleep?" He asked now clinking his glass to mine.

"Sleep and sanity." I responded by venting and taking the first sip.

My eyes searched for her, but I didn't find the redhead in the guard's uniform, and I furrowed my brow when her sweet scent reached my nose.

"You served yourself and didn't even offer it to me." Her velvety voice came from behind me and I turned with a smile as she walked around and poured herself a shot.

"It was Tommy's fault, this time he made my cup." I responded by shrugging and pointing at my friend.

"I don't want to carry this guilt, I'm going to see if Clark has arrived yet." Tommy said, but Clark had arrived with him, I knew he was just leaving the two of us alone.

"He's already here." Clair said quietly, just for me to hear, without making any effort to let Tommy know about it. "In fact, it's time to start now. Are you ready to win another medal?" She asked me, taking a sip of her whiskey and looking up at me, but my eyes were already fixed on her, I was trying to understand, my thoughts were going around trying to understand, but it was so difficult, she made everything so confusing.

"Why do you do this, Clair?" I asked, almost a loud thought that escaped.

"What?" She asked, genuinely not understanding, her big blue eyes glued to mine. She was exactly below me, close, too close, her face completely turned up to look at me.

"You insist on following through with the plan of rejecting me, but you tease me, kiss me, confuse me. Why, Clair?" I asked, but it was almost a plea to try to end my agony.

She stopped when I asked, with her eyes glued to mine, her gaze went from one eye to the other, as if in my gaze, she would find some answer.

"I don't know." That's what she managed to say, in a whisper, a breath.

She swallowed hard.

"Clair, let's get started." Ethan's voice in the background didn't break our trance, our gazes were still glued to each other.

"We need to go." She said, still looking at me, and I gave a short nod.

She left, but my gaze followed her, before I did the same, and went to the finish line.

"I declare the last race of the games started. I would like to thank all those who participated in advance, and it was incredible to play with all of you in my inauguration ritual, I hope that we continue with this same atmosphere of friendship and harmony, during our future meetings as leaders of the Packs." She said it with such authority and firmness, it was so beautiful to see her speaking, Clair spoke with lightness and certainty, she was as strong as she was gentle, she had the perfect balance. And it was only after she finished that the screams, howls and applause took place. "Thank you. As soon as the bell rings, we will start the race, get ready."

She said smiling, and next to the finish line was David with a bell in his hands, I positioned myself on the line and Clair came to position herself exactly next to me.

"Good luck Arthur." She said whispering with a smile. "Although I know you won't need it." She said turning forward and positioning herself to run.

Her words danced in my head, but then the sound of the bell broke me out of my trance and made my legs start running into the forest.

The forest region was exactly the same as the Rabbit hunt, at the same time I had a feeling of familiarity, I felt afraid of it all happening again, no matter how much I wanted to win, my main objective was still to keep Clair safe, my eyes didn't let go of her. Her red hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed with each step of her run, her muscles were strong and agile with each fallen trunk she climbed, and they marked the uniform she wore, making me want to rip it off every second. A few minutes passed, but the older Alphas were already left behind, when I realized, there was only me, Clair, Ethan, Brennon and Tommy, even Clark had already been left behind.

We passed very close to where Clair was attacked and my heart sank, my eyes were searching for her the whole time, but I was careful to make the shift, in a few meters we would transform and continue running like wolves. A flash of the nightmare with Clair came to my mind, I thought it could be because I had passed the place of the first attack, I ignored it, but then it came stronger, it was her wearing her guard uniform, she was standing in front of me, and an arrow hit her chest, but unlike the other dreams, this time, her hair was tied up in a ponytail.

It wasn't a nightmare.

It was a vision.

"Clair." I screamed, with all my breath, with all my strength, I took two bigger strides to reach her, but she simply stopped when she heard my voice, and before she even had time to turn towards me, an arrow passed by the side of my face, buzzing my ear and hitting the tree in front of her, where her chest would be if she hadn't stopped.

She was under attack.

Again.

I pulled her body against mine, while my head looked around trying to find some way out, or the direction the arrows were coming from. Chaos ensued, and screams and howls filled the silence of the forest.

We were exactly in the middle of the trail, it wasn't safe there, if we wanted to have a chance, we would need to choose one side and enter the closed part of the forest.

But which?

Two more arrows passed through my side and I used my reflex to dodge while trying to keep Clair attached to my body, in front of me, I felt her tremble, tremble with fear. And that made my wolf growl inside me.

I needed to get her out of there, and quickly.

Another memory of the nightmare came, and the arrows were coming from the left, a lapse of consciousness hit me, if we wanted to have a chance of getting out of there alive, we would need to go to the right.

I held Clair's hand to guide her to the right, but a shout from one of the guards on our left made her turn around.

"Alfa Clair, this way." The guard shouted, making a movement with his hands, asking her to enter a clearing with him. Further ahead there were 4 more guards.

It would be the most logical path, but I knew it wasn't that way, I knew it, my wolf knew it, we needed to go to the right.

"Clair, we can't go there." I said, still holding her hand, I saw that she hesitated, her brain was telling her to follow the guards. "Clair, trust me, it's this way." I said, almost begging her to listen to me, and in the midst of that chaos, she raised her eyes to look at me, her big blue eyes held my gaze and she nodded yes.

It was enough for me to pull her by the hand, I pressed her back against my chest, I wrapped her entire body with mine, that was what I always wanted to do in all my nightmares, protect her, with my own life if necessary, and just the fact that I was able to do it at that moment, brought me unprecedented peace.

I guided Clair with my body to the right side of the trail, until we entered the forest, and at the exact moment we entered the dense forest, she turned to the guard who called her, he turned his back when he saw that she was not going to follow him, but they didn't have a chance to go back, just one step after they entered the left part of the forest, all 5 guards were hit by arrows, arrows directly into their chests, Clair's body tensed upon seeing the scene.

It was supposed to be her there, and there once again I saved her life.

We just needed a safe place to stay, but where?

The two of us entered the dense forest, there wasn't a step that didn't need to be over logs or leaves, very different from the clean trail we were running on, but at the same time we needed to slow down, the closed trees gave us more security than than an open field.

I had no direction, and I didn't know the forest that well, but we ran, without a destination, just needing to get away from it all, after a few minutes of running, Clair turned her body to the left, and guided me somewhere, I didn't dare ask , I trusted her too, and it took less than a minute for us to reach a clearing where there was a small stone hut with wooden windows. She pulled me towards the cabin as she said.

"It's an old hut from our Pack, used as a hiding place in times of war, my father used to bring me here when he hunted." She said, letting go of me and going to a rock on the side of the house, taking a key, she took a few seconds with the lock, I don't know if it was because of the age of the lock or if it was her small, shaking hands.

Clair opened it suddenly and we quickly entered, closing the door behind us. The smell of humidity and mold filled my nose, making it clear that it was not a place used often. I turned to her, and held Clair by her shoulders, her big blue eyes stared at me scared.

"Are you okay?" I asked, analyzing her face, looking for any scratches, my gaze went down to her body looking for any injuries. "Something hit you? Are you hurt?" I asked turning my gaze to her.

Clair shook her head, as tears welled up in her eyes, she pursed her lips trying to contain the tears, but the tears were stronger than she was, and it fells like waterfalls on her face, Clair didn't think twice, she simply buried herself in my embrace, her small arms wrapped around my waist, and I received her hugging her body while my chin rested on the top of her head.

"We're safe now, everything's okay." I said, trying to comfort her, but I knew we were far from safe and well.

"Someone wants to kill me Arthur, someone tried to kill me, twice." She said through sobs, and a part of me wanted to push her away and say that: I said it was risky to keep the running, but I knew that wouldn't solve anything at that moment. Most of me wanted to hug her and comfort her.

Strong emotions.... And they are in danger again. But I must say that you will have a surprise in next chapter...

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