Refusing my Alpha mate
Chapter 7

Arthur

At that moment everyone looked at me in astonishment and wide-eyed, but of all the reactions I was most expecting was Ethan's. He was the most successful Alpha in battles and wars of his generation, he was a legend, and the Capture the Flag game was a battlefield simulation, I analyzed every inch of his face, but I simply couldn't read what he was looking at. Thinking, he sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and rested his hands on the map, speaking.

"That's genius." He said before turning to me, one hand on my shoulders. "Let's win this battle, son." He squeezed my shoulder and we headed towards the starting point.

Clair was already ready, the two teams side by side, and at the sound of the bell, Clair simply took off ahead, as our plan, we all headed towards the flag, and for a few seconds I analyzed Clair's athletic body running, passing through obstacles, her muscles proving strong and I remembered the dream, but I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and soon I saw the clearing that gave entrance to the mountain, I followed my path and turned back to see Tommy heading along the river, Clair took the flag and also according to plan, Gael and Ronnan ran after her, and right behind them Ethan and Clark.

Great, everything was going as planned.

The mountain wasn't easy, there were a lot of trees, fallen logs, and mud, and it was wet and slippery, I used all my training and managed to get through everything, but I didn't know if I could do it in time, Clair was fast, maybe she would have managed to get through faster than me. I started going down the mountain as fast as I could, and almost at the end, I saw her running with the flag in her hand, a little behind where I was, it was perfect timing. I positioned myself, and jumped towards her, being careful to make my body collide with the ground, but she stayed exactly on top of me, I pulled the flag with one hand, but she tried to grab it again, making me spin and hold her body with mine on the ground, I was holding her in place while one of my hands raised the flag high, out of her reach, I was just going to get out and go to the finish line, but I saw a tear in her uniform that disconcerted me.

The tear was exactly on the right breast and showed the birthmark that I had seen in a dream, only in a dream, I thought it was in my head, but her mark was real. How is this possible?

I looked at the mark and her face, and with almost no control, my hand went to reach her and made me run my fingers lightly under her soft skin, Clair sighed at my touch and I shivered.

"Your mark…" I said in stutters. "I saw it in my dream, but how is it possible? I've never seen it before?"

And upon hearing the word dream I saw her eyes widen, and her lips opened in astonishment.

"Wait… Did you dream about it too?" I asked and the one who answered me was her wolf, she rose to the surface just to the point of letting me see her eyes, and he came too, my wolf took my eyes and I spent a few seconds staring at her bright eyes. She didn't even need to answer, I knew it, I knew that she had the exact same dream. She sighed with her lips open and it was instinctive for me to move forward, our lips were less than an inch away from each other, so much so that I felt her short breaths, we shared the same breath and I just wanted to have her all to myself.

When my lips were about to take hers, she tilted her head forward, and then I felt a tug on my hand. My eyes immediately went to my hand, to the point where I saw Tommy pulling the flag and running towards the finish line. My eyes then went back to Clair in confusion, and she pushed me to get off her, I rolled to the side and ran after Tommy, she ran too, but he got there first making the bell ring, and we were champions of the second game.

"I declare Arthur Hausen's team champions of the second game." My father declared as referee now.

In the next second, Tommy and Ethan grabbed me by the waist and threw me up, we hugged as a team, and I smiled at the celebrations, but my gaze went to her, she was serious and clearly upset.

Did she think our almost kiss was a strategy? I needed to clear this up.

"Let's go to the champions' lunch," Ethan said smiling and dragging us to their Pack House, which was basically an stone old castle. I was looking for some openings to get closer to Clair, but it was in vain. Ethan organized our team at one end of the table, and Clair's at the other, she was far from me, but I felt her eyes staring at me.

The waiters served wine, and then the food came.

"But tell me son, how did you manage to put together this strategic plan? I would never have thought of it myself." Ethan asked me, resting the glass on his chin and his elbows on the table.

I smiled, took a breath, and said.

"Well, contrary to some thoughts, I didn't spend 10 years away, running away from the responsibility of being an Alfa." I had to look at her, it wasn't a provocation, it was an explanation. "I actually spent these 10 years studying incessantly, I did 3 colleges, law, administration, and physiotherapy, and around 35 courses, including administrative techniques, legal, martial arts, firearms, war strategies, and archery. And the last two I used a lot in the last two games." I replied taking a sip of my wine at the end.

"But you read Clair like an open book, even I, who's known her since she was born, didn't think about using her predictability like that," Ethan said which caused not only my wine to be spat out, but hers as well, my eyes went to her, without thinking, and she was wide-eyed, staring at me without understanding.

I cleared my throat and my thoughts to respond.

"Clair is your only daughter, and she did everything she could to assume your position, and well, to impress you too. Her desire to be a Troffendoll's Alpha makes her forget that she is already one, and there is simply no way she can be more worthy than that." I smiled at her, she opened her lips sighing, and smiled back. "She has you as an example and a safe haven, obviously, so Clair would choose you first, and by doing so, I already break her trust of a perfect plan, and more than that I got one of the greatest war strategists on my team and you added pressure running after the other team's captain and the flag she is also chasing. Clair is fast, so it was obvious that she would go in the middle, I used two participants to follow her in the middle while I took an alternative route up the mountain and Tommy across the river, we found her close to the arrival point."

"I have to say I'm impressed. You'll make a great Alpha, son." Ethan said, and Clair swallowed so hard everyone could hear it, Ethan raised his wine glass to toast. "To our two-medal champion, future Alpha Arthur Hausen."

We all toasted and I couldn't hide the smile on my face, but the expression on Clair's face was very different. She barely waited to finish dinner before she went to the balcony, I finished my wine and followed her. I found her in that position leaning over the guardrail and looking at the view of the forest. I heard her sniffling, but I didn't dare ask if she was crying.

"Everything is fine?" I asked, going towards her, and leaning on the guardrail too, but she turned in the opposite direction and put the back of her hands on her face, now I was sure she was crying, but she would never let me see that. Clair just nodded. "I just wanted to make it clear that I didn't plan what happened between us earlier, I was just going to intercept the flag and win, but your mark really freaked me out and…" I was explaining myself but I saw that she was actually crying. "Clair, what happened?"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned instinctively revealing her wet face.

"He said you'll be a great Alpha, and he's impressed." She said with a choked voice, and let another tear fall. "He never said that to me, he never said he was impressed, even though that's what I want him to feel, that's all I want most. My dad always says that IF I work hard I can be a great Alpha, and that one day I will become one." Now she turned her face to me, I could so clearly read her expression filled with resentment and pain. "And you come with ONE strategy and listen to what I've wanted to hear my whole life."

I didn't react, I honestly didn't know exactly what to say or do.

"I didn't want you to feel that way. Honestly, I didn't even look for it…" I sighed. "And in fact what I said about the strategy made everything worse…"

"It wasn't your fault, and in fact what you said made me feel better, especially the part about me being worthy of being a Troffendoll," Clair said wiping her tears again. "But my father always treated me like a boy, always wanted me to be a boy, and no matter how much he tries and does everything, I still won't be one. I'm going to bed. Good night Arthur." At that moment Clair left, leaving me alone on the balcony again.

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