B0079G5GMK EBOK (22 page)

The days had passed, and Joshua hadn't seemed to be mad or accusing her of anything, so she really had no idea what had made him so mad. She was quite sure he didn't know about Adam.

“Joshua,” Clarissa said
brightly.

Joshua didn't bother to say a word. He grabbed her arm and started to pull her back inside. Clarissa felt something break inside of her. The coldness filled her and gave her goosebumps. Joshua knew. She was sure of that now, and she knew that nothing but her excellent acting skills could save her from him. 

“Joshua! Stop! What are you doing?” Clarissa asked, stunned.

Joshua stayed silent and kept pulling her towards the
gym locker. In front of the boy
s locker room he stopped and pushed her inside. Joshua leaned heavily against the wall and tried to make himself calm down. Clarissa was too scared to say a word. Joshua opened his mouth a few times, as if to say something, but closed his eyes tightly and pressed his mouth shut. Clarissa stared at him with eyes wide from fear. She had never seen him like this. The minutes went by. When nothing happened, Clarissa took a few cautious steps towards the door. Joshua was there in a trice and pushed her against the nearest wall, with his hands tightly on her throat.

“Joshua,” Clarissa whispered in horror.

“Not a word,” Joshua spluttered in pain.

Clarissa opened her mouth, but the warning of danger i
n his eyes stopped her. She
was too afraid to move. Joshua's hot breathing felt as if it was burning on her skin and even though his strong body was pressed really close to hers, she didn't feel the familiar warmth like she used
to do around him. Everything about
him
was screaming from the repressed
violence and that scared her the most. Okay, if she couldn't pretend that she didn't have a clue why he was so mad, what could she do? Think! She ordered herself. Joshua's hands were still on her throat and there was not a single s
ign that he was going to back away
. Clarissa begged with her eyes to let her go, but he didn't ease his grip one bit. She sent the silent cry for help to all the shape shifters of the pack and hoped that someone was near enough to save her from Joshua's rage.

“Stop,” Joshua snapped.

“What?” Clarissa asked
innocently.

“Just stop!” Joshua shouted. “
You're not that good.”

“Do you think I ca
n't hear you
begging for someone to help you?
” Joshua grinned coldly and fondled her neck with his finger.

“No one is coming, you can be sure of that. I made sure they all think you're safely shopping at the mall with me, and as they have no reason to think that I would harm you, no one is going to help you,” he said, laughing like a maniac.

“I know!” Joshua screamed.

“Joshua,” Clarissa begged
quietly.

“No! I know you've secretly been seeing Adam!”

Clarissa was quiet. She tried to think as quickly as she could. Was there any exit for her? Could she find any loopholes to wiggle herself out of this?

“I trusted
you! I gave you everything I had
! But you, you just played me around the whole time!” Joshua raged.

“No! It wasn't like that! Please, let me explain. Yo
u are so wrong,” Clarissa asked
calmly.

“Don't lie to me!” Joshua banged his fist on the wall right next to Clarissa's head.

“I have been so stupid. Oh, I saw
the signs between you and Adam but
I didn't believe my eyes,” he grunted. “Not even when I saw how the others
would look
at each other every time I entered the room. I was so blind and I didn't want to push you. I thought that was what you wanted, to move slowly. And at the same time, you gave yourself to Adam like any other slut that follows him. I really thought you were different.”

Clarissa was quiet. Joshua was right. She was no better than the others, but why had he gone so mad right now? She was going to tell the others this weekend and she had hoped he could've waited a few more days. Joshua slammed her against the wall and
his face was twisted with self hatred
.

“You have
chosen, haven't you?” He asked
bitterly.

“Yes,” Clarissa said, almost silently.

“And when were you planning to tell me? Were you going to invite Adam to your home and tell us all together? Or did you think, Joshua will understand? Good old Joshua,” a spit spattered from his m
outh and Clarissa shut her eyes
with disgust.

“You made your choice at Christmas, didn't you?” Joshua raged.

“Yes,” Clarissa said
quietly.

“Damn your mother!” Joshua shouted.

“Leave my mother alone,” Clarissa said, horrified. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“So, you would've chosen Adam anyway,” Joshua said bitterly. His face was red with fury and humiliation, but he had to know. “I bet Adam gave you one hell of a birthday gift, didn't he?
”

Clarissa blushed but said nothing. Joshua pressed her tighter.

“Answer me!” Joshua shouted. Clarissa, however, couldn't answer.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“So am I,” Joshua snapped.

Joshua's eyes narrowed an
d he let go of her. He drew back
and stared at her cruelly. Clarissa massaged her
aching throat and looked at him
with her head up. His eyes were on
fire and Clarissa could see
the wolf and
the man inside of him struggling
. Eventually the wolf won and Joshua howled quietly. He jumped back to her and hit her on the face. Her head flopped down to her side and a small streak of blood started to leak fro
m the corner of her mouth. Y
et she said nothing. A deep feeling of loss and sadness engulfed her. In a few minutes Joshua had spoiled every beautiful thing that had ever been between them.

She decided she would not beg for mercy. She knew what was going to happen, but she didn't want him to have the pleasure of hearing her beg. Every single muscle she had ached. Joshua's fingers had left red marks on her neck and she was sure she had bruises all over her. Yet she knew she could be happy if she survived this day. Oh, Adam, she sniffed in her mind and prepared for the worst.

“You bitch!” Joshua raged. “I'm standing right here and you call for him!”

Joshua looked at her feverishly and grabbed her shirt violently, tearing it apart. Filled with lust, he attacked Clarissa, but before he could do any harm, the door was smashed open and Adam was all over Joshua.

Clarissa fell to the floor and looked at the men fighting together. Even as they fought as men they did it with the rules of wolves. Clarissa saw how they hunched down like wolves, with their teeth revealed and eyes dangerously glowing, and there was nothing civilized in the fight. It was a matter of life and death, where they both tried to do everything they could to rip the other's throat open and kill the enemy. Even though Joshua was nearly as big as Adam he really didn't stand a chance. Every
cell in Adam was
trained to fight and kill
. C
ompared to that, Joshua was like a sweet boy from next door.  Adam was a mutt from the dirty streets. He had had to fight all his life, so the fight was over soon and what was left of Joshua was a bloody mes
s on the floor that moaned
quietly.  Adam straightened up and grunted. He kicked Joshua and turned to face the horrified Clarissa.

Adam pulled her into his arms and she felt like she could breathe again. Clarissa shivered and noticed that she was more shocked than she had thought. A small cry broke loose from her
mouth and Adam touched her back
comfortingly. Joshua moaned quietly on the floor, but Clarissa couldn't even look at him. She dug deeper into Adam's arms and sighed.

“Let's go, mo gaol,” Adam said gently.

Clarissa nodded and Adam led her out of the locker room. She was sure her legs would crash, but she
followed Adam with shaking legs that seemed
to walk in the mist. Adam walked her like she was a little child, through the silent halls of the school and through the e
mpty school yard. He pushed her gently
into his black BMW.

The car started thunderingly
and hit the road. Adam tried to drive carefully, as he didn't want to scare her more, but it wa
s really difficult for him. He
was used to driving f
ast and even though
he tried to abide by the traffic regulations, it wasn't easy for him. Clarissa sat quietly and stared at his face, searching. She could feel the rage under his skin and since she was safe from Joshua, she couldn't understand why he was still so pissed. She was not stupid. She knew exactly what Joshua would have done to her and without Adam
she wouldn't have survived Joshua's violent treatment
.  She reached out with her hand and touched Adam's cheek.

“Thank you,” she said and looked at Adam with her amazingly beautiful eyes.

She felt the moment when his rage passed slowly, and the sense of Clarissa reached
him. Adam pushed her hand away
gently and swallowed, confused. He obviously wasn't used to getting treated this nicely. He shrugged and grinned like a wolf.

“Any time, my love. Any time,” Adam laughed hoarsely.

Clarissa stared at him, wondering. Her throat hurt, not because of what Joshua had done, but because her heart was so full of feelings for Adam. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she wasn't sure if he was ready to hear
it. Did wolves tell each other
about their love or did they just demonstrate that with gestures and their behavior? She, however, felt she was more of a human than a
wolf and she wanted to tell him
how much she loved him. Clarissa coughed silently and Adam glanced at her. She tried, but she couldn't get the word love out of her mouth. So she asked, with a voice that could have belonged to any stranger, “How did you know where I was?”

“I'll always know where you are,” Adam said with a rough voice.

“But why didn't any of the others come?” Clarissa asked stubbornly. “Mom always knows where I am.”

Adam turned his black, intense eyes to her and lightly touched her lips. Clarissa kissed his finger and tried to catch it in her mouth, but Adam pulled it away quickly.

“Your mom hasn't made love with you.”

Clarissa stared at him, stunned. “Oh.”

“Is that the way it goes? Will I always know where you are?” she asked.

“If you want,” Adam laughed, like it was the most obvious thing.

Clarissa didn't dare ask more. Her mind was so full of Adam that she was too scared to search it deeper. Her heart celebrated. Adam
was really
hers. For eternity. As she was his. She looked at the sinfully handsome man next to her, and she co
uldn't understand how this had
happen
ed
. She just couldn't get it. She grinned to herself and turned to look out of the window.

The thought hit her like a bomb. She had just realized why he had been so full of rage after crushing Joshua down.

“You're gonna hunt him down,
aren't you?” Clarissa asked. “Bec
ause that's what you do, right? You hunt. You're a hunter.”

Adam said nothing and she begged.

“Please, don't do that. He's not worth it and besides, what more could you possibly do to him? You can't kill him, 'cause he's immortal and you have no right to exile him or do anything that you usually do to the turncoat wolves.”

Adam grinned, full of love. “That didn't stop you from believing that Joshua would kill you.”

“I could've died,” Clarissa yelled.

Adam looked at her so closely that she blushed and lowered her eyes. “I could have. Seriously,” she mumbled.

Sofia

I ran out as
Adam's black car curved into our yard
.
He waved his hand and helped Clarissa out of the car. Her lips were swollen and her clo
thes were ripped apart,
yet she
was leaning
trustingly on Adam
. I wiped her mind and would have fallen if David hadn't be
en standing behind me to catch
me.

“Joshua,” I sighed
sharply and felt David tightening
his grip.

“Bastard,” David grunted, full of hate.

Adam led Clarissa inside the house and looked at me. I searched his mind as well, and when I saw what he had done, I pushed David away and went to hug Adam tightly.

“Thank you, brathair,” I said and looked deep into his black eyes. “I owe you.”

“Don't mention it,” Adam grinned, confused.