Chapter Fifty-Three

Claire

Claire soared in-between trees, over brush and stumps, into the night with the moon as her guide. Aunt Demetria refused to ride home with Kerry in his truck, so Dad was forced to take her home before going to the pack house.

Claire was glad. She didn't want to ride in a vehicle with them for over an hour with so much tension. She wanted to run—her wolf wanted to run—with Axel. Though Kerry tagged along behind them, he didn't complain about taking the long way back to the truck.

Not that she would have cared if he had.

It'd been a long few weeks, and Claire felt her wolf deserved it.

After her talk with her father, her body felt tired. He'd lied to her for so long. How had she never noticed anything weird—or out of the ordinary—about her father? She felt foolish. And for him to keep so much bottled up … no wonder he was grumpy.

She wanted to forgive him, and she would, but she needed time. She had a freaking lycan-werewolf locked inside of her for years, and he kept her from seeing her true self.

That was big.

He'd admitted to being wrong, which was more than anything he'd done before. The look of sadness on his face when he mentioned her mother. He'd loved her, and the lycans took her away. It twisted her stomach into shards of regret that she'd never known her. It made her understand he wanted to protect Claire.

He'd admitted to her that he was scared to lose her to Axel, but that ship had sailed. The mark on her neck proved it. There was no going back now, and she didn't want anything else.

She'd always been the shy little girl that took everyone's crap. Now she felt empowered and free.

Then there was Jaxton. He'd gotten away with a handful of lycans. Part of her dared him to come back. She'd kill him just as she did Tristan. And the other part was tired and wanted him to tuck his tail in surrender.

Axel's wolf howled behind her, and she felt the sound of it send shivers over her wolf. She loved the sound of him, the feel of him running near her. It was a completely different universe.

What had she been missing?

They made it to Kerry's truck, and Axel swiftly gathered her clothes from the bed and tossed them to her. The being naked part would take some getting used to, though she didn't mind seeing Axel's toned ass every once in a while.

She slipped into a pair of too-big basketball shorts and an over-sized track shirt that smelled like Kerry.

It was odd she knew Kerry's smell so precisely, but she did. She smelled everything. The strong scent of pine and even the night. It smelled like home.

"Are we ready?" Kerry asked, stalking toward the driver's side. He slammed the door behind him.

Axel glanced over at Claire. "I don't even want to know."

"Me either," she said, reaching for the door handle, but Axel stopped her.

She glanced up at his dark eyes, and he smiled. He looked younger—lighter—most likely less stressed than before. "You were amazing out there, Claire. Your wolf is beautiful, and you're strong. I never would have guessed that wolf was hiding inside of you."

She chuckled. "You and me both."

Axel laced his fingers around the back of her neck and angled her mouth to meet his. "We won."

"We did," she said with a smile, but it turned downward. "What about Jaxton—"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "He won't be back any time soon. He's alone besides a few lycans. How much havoc could they cause? If he does come back, it'll be a while. It's our time to be together. To go back to school and start our lives."

"You're right," she whispered.

Kerry honked the horn, and Claire sent him a dirty look through the window. "Weird isn't it?" she asked. "Everything feeling normal?"

He chuckled and opened the door for her. "It's about damn time."

***

Axel's fingertips traced along her bare back, causing goosebumps to form on her skin. They'd had a lazy weekend at her apartment. The one she didn't have to stay away from any longer.

The campus fell back into a normal routine with no missing students or attacks. It'd felt nice to walk across the courtyard without fear that someone would try to kill her.

Not that she couldn’t protect herself now, but she didn't want to get a big head about it.

The autumn breeze blew in from her cracked bedroom window and made her smile into her pillow. Axel's woodsy scent enveloped her against the bed where he trapped Claire beneath him.

He had football practice in minutes and always made an effort to wake her before leaving. "You want coffee?" he whispered into her ear.

She pressed her face into the pillow, while lifting her bottom against him, making him groan. "I want something alright," Claire said, turning to look up at him.

She knew she looked disheveled since she just woke up, but it didn't matter either way. "Don't be greedy," he said. "I have five minutes, and you know that's not enough time to—"

"Definitely not," she said, shoving him off.

He looked delectable in his football pants and t-shirt. The veiny lines of his biceps sent her stomach into somersaults. She'd let him drag her back to bed if it meant spending another day there with him.

"I can make my own coffee. I have a late class this morning. You need to hurry, so you're not late."

He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she started the coffee pot.

"Tibbs still doesn't remember anything?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nope, looks like Demetria did a good job with him over the weekend. Everything is back to normal. Besides Coach's desperate plea to find Jaxton. Poor guy. I wish I could tell him."

"I know," she said. "He'll eventually give up. Hopefully. I admire him for it, though. He cares about his players."

"Yeah," Axel said, grabbing his bag from the floor. He slung it over his shoulder. "I'll see you in class, and maybe we can grab lunch."

"See you then," she said, blowing him a kiss. He jogged out of her apartment and down the stairwell. She listened to him all the way to his truck and even hearing the door slam from the parking lot below.

Claire fixed her coffee, and sat on the couch while scrolling her phone. She had almost two hours before her class. Someone knocked mid-drink, and she glanced over her shoulder, knowing it was Aunt D, which startled her.

She could sense her unease from across the room.

"Just a second."

She walked over and opened the door to a distraught version of her aunt. "What's the matter—"

"I need to talk to you," she said, shoving her way inside.

Aunt D was in pajama pants, which was weird, and a tank top, as if she'd ran straight from her bed to Claire's apartment.

Claire put her palms outward. "What's the matter? Slow down."

Aunt D slicked her palms back over her hair and sighed. "There is a reason I can't act on my mating bond with Kerry, and believe it or not, it's not because I don't like him. I like 'im, Claire. I like 'im so much."

Claire lifted a brow and took her seat on the couch. "Continue."

"This is serious," she said sharply, giving her a look. She walked around and sat down beside her. "I'm in really deep."

Claire sat down her coffee mug. "It can't be worse than what I've been through. Tell me. We will figure it out."

Aunt D sighed and briefly closed her eyes. "Years ago, I got myself in trouble with a coven of witches and made a deal with a warlock to get out of it."

"A coven of witches? What kind of deal?"

"That I would owe him one day. I was young and didn't realize the extent of a deal with a bad warlock or that owing him meant more than a favor."

Claire shifted nervously, noticing the look of sadness on her aunt's face. "What do you owe him, and how do you know he is requesting his favor?"

She pulled a fancy script-like paper from her pocket and handed it to her. An ancient seal was pressed into the letter with one sentence.

I'm here for my favor, Dove.

Claire glanced up. "Why do you think this means he needs more than a favor? Am I missing something?"

She turned the page over for Claire. On the front of the envelope was a symbol. "It's the mark of death, Claire. He is coming to collect on my debt. And I'm the debt."