B0079G5GMK EBOK (7 page)

Clarissa gulped and rushed. She knew she only had to catch the corner to be safe
ly
in her class with Blake, Fabio and Marcel. Half-running, she darted inside the classroom and crashed on her chair. The teacher glanced at her sternly, but said nothing. At that very moment the door burst open and Adam stood at the doorway with a crazy gleam in his eyes. He went straight to Clar
issa and lifted her
lightly as if she weighed nothing. The other shape shifters got up, but Adam dashed them back to their chairs and looked at them furiously. The others knew
they were powerless against him
, even though they had a three against one situation, and didn't even try to get up again. “Call Mom!” Clarissa yelled in her mind and the men nodded imperceptibly.

“Young man, what do you think you're doing?”
said the teacher
sternly.

Adam turned his burning black eyes to the young female teacher w
ho shut her mouth and backed away
. Clarissa tried to struggle herself free from Adam's iron grip, but that grip didn't give. He marched out of the class
room
, carrying the screaming Clarissa and didn't stop until he reached the gym door. He thrust th
e door open and dropped her on
the floor.

“You're crazy!” Clarissa shouted.

Adam looked at her dan
gerously, and Clarissa backed off
.

“Leave me alone!”

“You are my woman,”
said Adam
between his teeth.

“You're insane! Totally, totally insane! What I do is my business, I owe you noth
ing! And by the way it's you that
gropes Brianna all the time so doesn't that mean I have a right to do what I want and with whom I want? Let me go, and we can forget this lunatic
scene you made, okay?” she
begged and tried to press herself against the wall, trying to be as small as possible.

“No! Not before I've tasted you. If you want me to let you go after that, you're free to go,”
he
grunted dan
gerously and approached her
with a predatory look in his eyes.

“No!” she
screamed.

Adam grabbed her hands and locked them against the wall. She tu
rned her head from him, but he
managed to turn he
r head back easily and kissed her
by force. Cla
rissa tasted blood in her mouth as
Adam scarfed down her lips. She tried
to force her lips shut
, but she couldn't help the little exclaim of pleasure that escaped from her. Adam continued
to kiss
her, but his brutality slowly started to change into tenderness and she couldn't do anything but answer his kisses.

No one had ever kissed her like this. She literally felt the earth quake under her feet. She melted as one with
him and her head was empty of
any thoughts. Adam kissed her slowly
,
savoring every bit of her taste. When he let go of her hands, they found their way to his black hair and grabbed it. Adam pressed himself closer to Clarissa and she purred with pleasure, offering her body to him. His hands were everywhere. They searched her body and intruded their way under her shirt. They g
roped her soft skin and she
gaspe
d and moaned desperately. His
hands found their way to the button on her jeans and
slowly started to undo it. She
screamed his name and
he
whis
pered gently into her ears. In the next second everything changed as t
he door was thrown open
to reveal Sofia standing
there like a storm on the verge of breaking.

Sofia

“Adam, let go of her!” I yelled strictly. “Leig rach Adam!”

“Chan eil!”

“Tha! A nis!”

Adam looked at me and got ready to attack.

“A nis!” I roared.

Adam stared at me angrily but he had to obey me or he would feel the anger of the elders later. He didn't want to become an outcast or force Clarissa to live as one. She was more than his soul and I knew that. He
also knew
that I knew, but Gunward and I had made the decision to keep it to ourselves. We didn't want anyone to know how stuck he
was already with Clarissa. He
had to win her over but not like this. No! Never like this!

Adam let go of Clarissa and she slumped to the floor. She looked at him with her glassy eyes. Her lips had swollen and her hair was a mess. Her shirt revealed more than it hid, but she didn't care. She just kept staring at him enchanted. Joshua couldn't move. He glanced at them in turn. He
looked like he could kill Adam
any minute. Only Tiamhaidh's tight grip on his arms
was stopping
him. Finally, Marcel went to Clarissa and hi
d her under his jacket. She
whimpered Adam's name and Marcel pressed her deeper into his arms.

“Is this what you wanted?” I snapped at Adam.

“No! But I had no choice!” he
yelled and stared murderously at Joshua.

“There's always a choice! Look at h
er!” I yelled and only
Tiamhaidh
’s gaze
kept me still. I dug my nails in
my palms and tried to remind myself that yelling never helped, not in any situation.

Adam didn't move his gaze from my eyes. The riotousness started to fade and fear came to replace it.

“Look at her! Is this how you want your female? An apathetic, whimpering bundle? You almost raped her!” I snapped.

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!” he
exclaimed miserably and finally looked at Clarissa.

There were tears running down
her f
ace, but she still couldn't turn
he
r gaze from Adam's face. If he
had asked, she would've crawled to him and begged him to continue.

“Oh, my God! What have I done? I am so sorry mo gaol. Mo beatha.”

“Adam,” Clarissa whispered desperately and stretched her
hands out to Adam. If Marcel were
n’t been holding her, she would've rushed to his arms.

Adam took a step towards her, but Blake stepped between them.

“Leave us now,” I said icily and looked sternly at him.

“Sofia...”

“No, Adam. Not now. Give me some time to think about this,” I closed my eyes and wished he would disappear.

“Sofia, tha mi duilich.”

“I know. Just go now.”

“Adam,”
screamed Clarissa
.

“Tha mi duilich,” said Adam and left, leaving Clarissa behind.

“Adam!” Clarissa's shocked scream echoed in the gym.

We looked at each other silently. No one was to blame and yet we knew this was not supposed to happen. We had all been blind to Adam's fierce nature, and we couldn't understand how he could possibly have done this to her. No, we couldn't blame anyone. Each of us had failed her and left her unprotected. We should've protected her better. We had failed.

I ordered Joshua to carry Clarissa to the
car. Marcel gave way to him
reluctantly. I saw how hard it was for Joshua to touch her and I knew that he would blame himself for a long time for leaving Clarissa unprotected. Rolling in self pity wouldn't help though. None of us could have predicted that anything like this could happen, and if anyone could've known that, it was me. Yet I knew exactly how Joshua felt.

Marcel got into the backseat and pulled Clarissa to his arms. She sniffed miserably and grabbed him desperately. I didn't let Joshua come to our car and he went sulkily to another car with Jonas. Tiamhaidh drove
fast and Joshua
followed easily right behind us
, full of anger
.

At home, Tiamhaidh carried Clarissa straight to her own room. Marie was already waiting for them, and when Tiamhaidh had put Clarissa on her bed, she rushed him out. Tiamhaidh glanced at her before he left and Marie knew he wouldn't go far. Ciall had already placed himself behind Clarissa's d
oor and would make sure that no
one could disturb them.

I looked at Tiam anxiously when he stepped into the living room. He shook his head and I felt the guilt flow in me. I should've defended my child. I had made the decision to let Adam contend for Clarissa and I should've known better. I had believed that Adam could behave properly, even when I knew what kind of a beast lived inside him. Now I had to live with the consequences. My daughter
was lying
upstairs; her heart ripped in tatters, frightened half to death and still every cell in her thirsted for Adam. He had assaulted her violently, and yet he had won. Clarissa belonged to him. Everyone in the room knew Adam had chosen his spouse and Clarissa had chosen her sire. Clarissa was the only one who hadn't realized that yet.

“Stop that, Sofia,”
grunted Tiamhaidh
.

“I can't! I don't know what to do anymore. I have been so stupid and I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for you Joshua, especially for you, but for you all as well.”

I sat on the edge of the sofa with my back
straight and looked at each
of the males. Joshua
was staring
at the wall behind me. His eyes were full of murder. I wasn't sure who he wanted to kill the most, me or Adam, but in his present state of mind he could've even murdered Clarissa. The memory of her
willingly embracing Adam cut his
heart like the sharpest knife. Blake
was cleaning
his nails and Marcel and Fabio
were whispering
quietly to each
other, glancing guiltily at me from time to time
. Jonas lay relatively relaxed on a lounge
r and played with the remote,
changing the channels every second
until Darel snatched the remote
and threw it to the sofa where Jonas couldn't reach it. Igor and Alexei grunted in Russian and stared at the woods rather than meet my eyes. Drew
was texting something on his phone
, looking concentrated, but glanced sympathetically at Joshua
in
between his tapping.

Tiamhaidh came and sat behind me. He
started to massage my shoulders slowly, and I felt the knots starting
to ease. I couldn't break now. I had to be strong, at least till David came home a
nd I could collapse in his arms
in private
. I was the pack leader and they
were all depending
on me. I shook Tiam's heavenly hands away an
d looked steadily at Joshua.

“I understand if you want to go home to your own packs. No one will blame you if you quit now. You all know as well
as
I do what the situation is and I want you to know, no matter what happens, you're all welcome to join my pack and live together with us.”

“Sofia,” Fabio started uncomfortably. “My pack is waiting for me and even if I like it here, I have no reason to stay away from my family any longer. I'll be gone before dawn.”

“I know it's not the best time to go, but I've been gone way too
long already. I'm sorry,” he
said quietly.

“Same here,”
grunted Igor
. “I, however, am not going to give up as easily and the minute Adam is gone, I'll be back.”

“I'm going, too,”
said Alexei
. “I've known from day one that she wouldn't choose me, but I still hoped for nothing. It's better to leave now and save myself from further humiliations.”

The other males grunted in agreement and when I counted the ones who were leaving, I noticed that besides Joshua, only Blake and Jonas were about to stay. Only three, I thought, and for nothing. Blake looked straight at me, as if he had heard my thoughts.

“I'm not staying for Clarissa, but
for
you, Sofia. I don't have any other family and I like it here.”

I nodded approvingly. Blake was not the strongest of males, but he was very bright and clever. I was more than happy to have him in my pack.

“I, as well, am not staying for Clarissa, but for Joshua. He has become a brother to me and I'm not gonna let him face Adam alone,”
said Jonas
.

Joshua nodded at him and I smiled at them warmly.

“I'll stay, of course, though at this moment I'm sure Clarissa will nev
er choose anyone else over
Adam. Anyway, I am not so sure Adam seriously wants her. I think he'll play with her awhile and then throw her away like a used toy,”
said Joshua
bitterly.