Chapter Thirty-One

Claire

"Claire?" Grace asked as she opened the door and peeked her head inside. "Are you okay, dear?"

Claire wrung her hands together but stood up to greet her. Her bare feet had gone cold from the cool wooden floor, which was a nice contrast from the clammy feeling of her palms. "I'm fine, Grace. Is everything okay?"

She walked inside and relocked the door, tying her bathrobe around her tightly. "Everything will be fine. Sit back down, relax."

Claire sat back down, Grace taking a seat beside her. "They found a lycan on our property."

Claire's spine stiffened. What were the odds of a lycan showing up after what happened earlier in the night? She hoped it wasn't the same one. His nasty teeth and deep black eyes had played a part in her dreams for the night. She was shocked she didn't wake up screaming.

"Is everyone alright? Do they know who the lycan is?"

She shrugged. "Not sure yet. They took him to the cell, and I'm sure Derrick will tell me once he gets back. Are you hungry? Do you need some water?"

Claire didn't pick up any nerves from her, but she wasn't sure whether Grace would be worked up easily or not. "I'm fine. Thank you."

Someone knocked on the door, and Claire sat up straight, expecting to see Alpha Davers or Axel come through the door.

Kerry poked his head through the crack and opened it when he realized they were dressed. "Message from the Alpha, ma'am. The lycan they caught is the football player from the college. Chad or something."

"Cash," Claire said with a gasp. "I can't believe it. He came here?" she asked.

Kerry nodded. "Yeah, apparently the other lycan tells him what to do. He thought the lycan would change him back if he did."

Grace gasped and covered her mouth with her palm. "Oh, poor kid. Does he know who the other lycan is?"

"No," Kerry said. "And I ran the perimeter, and it doesn't look like there are any other lycans around. We're thinking that he sent him in to test our security."

Grace nodded. "Does he know what he wants? An army?"

Kerry's gaze shifted toward Claire, and her stomach sank to her butt. "He is building an army to take over the surrounding packs, but …"

"Get on with it," Grace said. "We're big girls. Tell us."

Kerry cleared his throat and smoothed his palm back over his ponytail. "He wants to make Claire his …queen."

Grace gasped slightly underneath her breath and reached over to take Claire's shaking palm in hers. What in the world would make him want Claire? She couldn't fathom a reason. She'd never met a lycan as far as she knew, which didn't mean much. She'd known Axel for years and never knew he was a werewolf.

She felt her heart begin to race faster, and her palms become clammier. Would he not stop until he had her? She didn't even know that lycans had queens?

"You can go now, Kerry," Grace said, giving him a look. "Tell Alpha Derrick to come get me when he's back. Claire needs to speak with Axel I'm sure."

Kerry looked ready to leave the room, and nearly flew through the doorway. Grace turned Claire to face her and cupped her cheeks with her palms. The slight crow's feet around her kind eyes showed her wisdom, but it did little for Claire's anxiety.

"Breathe, sweetie. Axel, and no one in this pack, is going to let this lycan put one hand on you, okay? I don't know what this is about, but we will find out."

Claire closed her eyes, and a tear danced down her cheek. "We're going to visit my Aunt Demetria tomorrow, and my dad is going to be there. I'm going to ask her about my background. Axel seems to think that there may be something there that would make a lycan want to mark me."

"Good thinking," she said, nodding, and squeezing her shoulders reassuringly. "Do you think you can go back to sleep? You two have classes tomorrow. I'll sit here with you until Axel comes."

Claire nodded, even though she wasn't sure she could fall back to sleep after that slap in the face. However, she curled into a ball underneath the covers and pressed her eyes closed.

She must have fallen asleep because she woke to the feeling of someone tapping her awake. She stirred and opened her eyes, glancing over at Grace walking through the door and Axel staring down at her.

He looked tired, with heavy circles underneath his eyes, and a frown that she didn't like. She reached up and slid her thumb against the corner of his mouth, noticing there was a lot of light in the room, telling her she'd slept a few hours at least.

"Good morning," he whispered, swiping her golden locks from her face. "Are you okay?"

Claire shifted to her butt and reached over to hug him tight. Axel's large arms wrapped around her, drawing her closer than ever, his chin resting on her shoulder. "Kerry told us about Cash and the army," she said, pulling back to look at him. "He wants to mark me, Axel?" she said in a soft whisper. "I—why does he want to do that? I thought that was for mates?"

Axel swallowed, his thick throat working down what looked like a lump of fear. "It is, Claire. But for those that don't have mates, or don't want their mate, you can mark anyone. He wants to mark you to become his queen, which tells us he is a Lycan King. He rules over other lycans."

Claire hated the sound of all of that. "What are we going to do?"

Axel cleared his throat. "We're going to do what we planned. We're going to ask your aunt about anything in your family tree, and then we're going to protect you at all costs."

Claire folded her knees to her chin and pressed her forehead there. "Are you going to let Cash go?"

"No," Axel said. "We can't. I know that he is mostly innocent and blind, but I don't trust letting him out yet. New lycans or wolves have trouble with their temper sometimes. Plus, if we release him, the other lycan could call him back, forcing him to attack people on campus, or whatever he wants, really. It's one less risk of someone hurting students."

Claire nodded. "I'm scared."

Axel leaned over and kissed her forehead, heat racing down her skin to her toes. "Don't be, Luna. I have you."

Claire and Axel ate the breakfast Grace left out for them and drove toward campus. Kerry drove behind them, planning to stick around campus in case any hell broke loose. Alpha Davers had left that morning, before Axel and Claire, to scope out the campus for himself, and look for anything that was overlooked.

It made Claire feel more safe knowing other wolves would be there. They had a class together, so Kerry found refuge in the library.

Cat sat in her seat in front of Claire, her hair back to her famous pink color, while she smacked on her gum. "Here’s Claire and her bully boyfriend, Axel," she said with a smug look.

Axel let his book bag hit the top of her head on his way to snatch the empty seat next to Claire. "Hey, watch it, football. I'm trained in the very complex fighting style of 'I wish an asshole would,' and I'm sure I'd win."

Axel snorted, while Claire chuckled, feeling the first stroke of normalcy in hours. Cat turned around as more students piled into the room, taking their seats and pulling out their books. "Remember when I told you about my new guy?" she asked, waggling her brows.

Claire smiled and pulled out her notebook. "How could I forget?"

Cat sighed deeply and rested her chin on her palm. "He introduced me to one of his friends named Heather, and she is planning a hunt."

Claire's body stilled for the briefest of moments, but she tried to play it off smoothly. "Oh yeah? What are they planning to hunt? Snipes?"

Cat smirked. "No. They are planning to hunt the animal that's terrorizing the school. Since everyone is scared to even host another party, and this curfew sucks balls, we're trying to kill it, so we can go on with the rest of our semester without looking over our shoulders."

Claire knew students walking around at night, sneaking around at night, to try to hunt an animal that they wouldn't find was stupid. It was more stupid to her because she knew the culprit, and no one would be able to outrun or outsmart a lycan.

If they went through with it, someone would die, but Claire couldn’t say anything. By the way Axel stared at the side of her face, she knew he wanted to say something, too.

"You're not going, are you?" she asked with a laugh. "That sounds like a bad idea."

Cat's mouth hung opened. "Seriously? I think it's a great idea. Plus, I'm dying for some adventure. Please come?"

Axel snorted. "She's not coming, and you shouldn't either."

Cat rolled her eyes. "You're not the boss of Claire, Axel. Or me for that matter. If Claire wants to come, she should, and I'm definitely going."

"Maybe you should rethink it. Students are really getting hurt."

Cat sighed. "Hence the group of us going. Whatever, party poopers, have it your way, but I'm going to have fun."

Claire didn't doubt they'd have fun … until they didn't.