The Alpha's College Mate

Chapter 19

Lucan's POV

I marked Clara sterling last night.

Lying on my back and staring at the ceiling with Clara curled against my side, I exhaled slowly and let the truth settle over me. I had waited my entire life forty-three long years to find my mate. Now she was finally here, right where she belonged.

In the weeks ahead Clara would grow more animalistic. She would develop canines and claws and ache for her belly to swell with pups the way every she-wolf did once she found her mate. And f**k…

Clara stirred in my arms, her head tipping back against the pillow in the crook of my elbow, lips slightly parted. The blankets covered her nearly bare body, yet I wanted nothing more than to tear them away and take her again.

Like every alpha, I wanted pups as soon as possible. I wanted my bloodline to continue. Our children would be stronger than either of us and would become the greatest leaders of their generation. But with Draven camped at the edge of my territory and Clara still not having shifted once, pups were nowhere near the near future.

“It is too early,” Clara mumbled, rolling over completely and yanking the blankets over her head. “Turn off the light, Jasmine. I am having a good dream about Professor Vance. Go back to bed.”

My lips curved into a small smile. I slipped out of bed and drew the curtains shut. Clara needed every bit of rest she could get. I was not even sure she had fully processed what happened last night. She had nearly fallen a sleep in my arms on the way back to the pack house.

When she woke she would face the shock of realizing she was now a werewolf.

That would be only the first of many challenges she would have to face.

After dressing and closing the door quietly behind me, I nearly collided with Milo, who stood across the hallway with his arms crossed and one dark brow raised sharply.

“Why did you not tell me Draven is after your mate? We could have brought her here to protect her.”

“I did not want to draw attention to her,” I said, walking down the hall toward my office and keeping my voice low. “It is bad enough that one of the most ruthless alphas in New England is hunting a human girl. If heor The Council discovered she was also my mate, they would work twice as hard to locate her.”

Milo followed me into the office and dropped into one of the plush red chairs. “f**k The Council,” he growled. “They are getting on my nerves. They are trying to control every pack on the continent.”

“f*****g tell me about it.”

If they learned I had a human mate they would swarm her even more aggressively than Draven. Those old traditional bastards wanted werewolf blood kept pure. If they found out about Clara they might even try to kill her.

My stomach twisted. Had I made the right choice by biting her last night?

“Alpha,” Levi said through the mind link. “Draven is at the edge of our property with his warriors, demanding to see you. What should I do?”

I glanced at Milo, who stood at once. We hurried out of the room and down the hall past my bedroom. Clara’s sweet scent drifted toward me and I tensed. If Draven was here, Clara was not safe alone.

“Get to the pack house and guard it with your life. Nobody sets a paw inside,” I ordered Levi.

“Got it,” he answered a moment later.

Once outside I shifted into my wolf and sprinted toward the edge of my territory where Draven had been camping lately. My warriors parted to let Milo and me through until we stood face-to-face with Draven himself.

“Where is she?” Draven demanded the moment one of my warriors tossed me a pair of pants. His teeth lengthened into canines as he growled and stepped forward aggressively. “Where the f**k is Clara? I can smell her here. Her scent is all over your property.”

I pressed my lips together to stay calm, though all I wanted was to tear this man’s head from his shoulders. What was his obsession with Clara, and why did he want her so badly? She was mine, and no not even Alpha Draven would take her from me.

“How do you know what she smells like?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Draven let out a ferocious growl. “Answer my question.”

“You answer mine first.”

After glaring at me for several seconds he took another threatening step closer and bared his canines. “I do not care if I have to tear this entire town apart. I will find her. And when I do, I am taking her back. She is not yours to f**k around with.”

My wolf seized complete control. I drove my claws through his shirt collar and slammed him against a tree, canines lengthening and muscles flexing. “Do not threaten me or Clara. I will rip you into two f*****g pieces if you touch a single hair on her head.”

“You kill me and The Council will strip away all your power and your people and claim your land as theirs,” Draven threatened.

And he was right.

They would take every freedom my pack possessed. Everything I had dedicated my life to protecting.

“You are working for The Council?” I asked.

“I do not work for anyone, Vance.” He shoved me back several feet. “If I did, I would have taken your f*****g pack already.” He walked back toward his gathered warriors and nodded toward the trees. “Mark my words, Vance: I will find her. I do not care how long it takes. We have the university and your pack surrounded. The moment she leaves, I will know.”

As he started into the woods I growled, “How do you know Clara?”

He had to be searching for her for a reason, and I needed to know what it was.

Draven called over his shoulder, “If I told you that, you would hand my ass over to The Council.”

Once they disappeared, Milo shifted back to human and pointed into the trees. “Why did you not kill him? He is threatening to take our luna and your mate. We should have his head right now.”

As much as I wanted to end him then and there, I could not.

I f*****g could not.

The Council would learn that my pack had wiped out another, that I was protecting a human, that Clara was my mate, and we would lose far more than a few warrior wolves in battle. We would lose this pack, our family, our luna, and my mate. I could not risk it.

Not yet.

Not until Clara shifted for the first time and I knew she could protect herself.

Then I would rip Draven apart and take on The Council.