Refusing my Alpha mate

Clair

"You guys have got to be kidding me." Arthur's voice was hoarse and almost broken. "I deeply hope our guard has not failed in this." The guards widened their eyes in fright.

"No Alpha, it was the Council guard." They answered.

"We're going to end the wedding, Clair can't risk being in sight. We're going to cancel everything and I want guards with her at all times." Arthur said it as strong as an order, but each word carried an extra dose of frustration and fear.

We took so long for this, and we put so much effort into this party, it was the celebration of our love, the union of our Packs, it was our appointment as Alphas.

"Arthur," I said right after his order. And it made my now husband turn completely towards me. "It's our wedding..." I tried to argue.

"I won't let anything happen to you." He said it with all the certainty in the world, in every word.

"I know, honey," I said smiling. "But Veronica has already taken too much from me, I'm not going to let her take away our wedding party too," I said firmly now.

"Clair..." He pleaded, closed his eyes, and shook his head, but he knew that arguing with me was pointless. "Okay, but redouble security here, I want searches in real-time, and no one, absolutely no one comes close to Clair other than me, David, Monica, my mother, and Ethan."

I looked at the center of the Pack, the place we had just left, it was crowded, besides all the friends and family, my uncle came and the distant family of my father and mother, all of Arthur's relatives, who there were many on both sides, there was still all the Council staff, and the members of the two Packs. The Alpha naming party was big, the mating party too, and ours, on top of all that, was also an official Pack union. There couldn't be more people.

And like every wedding, at that moment people started to come and greet us, and the line was forming, I felt Arthur's blood boil.

"Honey, it's going to be okay, let me be the last one in line," I told him softly while smiling. "David and Monica go first, guards behind and on my side," I ordered, and as if we had rehearsed this, they got into position, and for a moment I imagined everything would be okay.

Each guest approached and greeted everyone, and one by one the line was decreasing, at the end when I greeted the last guest and I felt that there would be no more danger, I relaxed, but a familiar smell filled my nose.

A smell that I previously linked to motherhood, to care, because that's what I thought she was for me, but now in the smell, I felt notes of rot, and acidity, the acidity of tea, the acidity of silver.

I turned around and I didn't need to see the face to know it was Veronica, she was wearing a Council guard uniform and a mask to cover her face, I knew it was her, but she wasn't behind me, in fact there was a guard behind me, she walked up behind Arthur, and I saw the reflection of the knife in her hand, which I knew was silver.

There I froze.

She wasn't threatening me, she was threatening him, and I had never feared for Arthur's life, and now with our mate bond intact and stronger, I felt myself dying inside, just thinking about the possibility of something happening to him.

And then I remembered so many times he saved me, so many times he snatched me from death and took me in his arms, my chest hurt remembering the suffering I put him through.

But there I took control, my hands went to her wrist and I turned, putting my body in front of him, my movement was fast, but I felt inch by inch the blade penetrate my body, the silver didn't burn, I didn't feel it burning, I just felt my belly tearing, and I felt the blood coming out and I quickly looked down to see the blood stain reddening my white wedding dress.

My eyes then went up, up to look at her, and Veronica's green eyes looked at me in surprise and horror, but I knew that in my expression I only had anger. Completely ignoring the pain I felt, I pulled the blade from my body, and I felt the bleeding increase, but that also didn't stop me from turning the blade and thrusting it into her belly, I watched Veronica's eyes widen, and I felt a pleasure within my being in turning the blade while still inside her, she gave a scream of pain, and took a step back.

What in my head seemed like minutes had passed, it was just fractions of seconds when I saw Arthur turn to me, just to the point if I could put one hand on his shoulder, and the other on my stomach, I could see his expression, horror in his eyes, and I saw in my peripheral vision the guards hold Veronica, and then everything went black.

I woke up in a field of flowers, it was tall yellow grass, it was like there was a light smoke in the air, and everything looked different. I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I turned quickly, but I was scared when I saw what seemed to be my reflection in the mirror, it was her, deep down I knew it, and I felt it was her.

They always told me that I was the exact copy of my mother, minus the personality, that was my father's.

But there, seeing her face to face, I could tell our differences one by one, my eyes were slightly bigger than hers, my eyebrows were a little thicker and more arched, and it looked like she had more freckles than me, but yes, we looked like copies of each other.

She smiled at me, a sweet, gentle smile, and she reached out her hands and cupped my face.

"Clair darling, this isn't her place." She said, with a calm and sweet voice, exactly how I imagined her voice would be. "I was unable to warn about this attack."

She now looked away.

"Alert who?" I asked, I imagined she was talking about my father.

"Arthur." She replied smiling again. "Your bond of mateship is so strong that it goes beyond the limits of the mortal world, that's why I was able to send him dreams with you. I wanted to send it to you, my daughter, but silver wouldn't let me." She now said, furrowing her eyebrows.

I closed the distance between us, and hugged her tight, the hug I always wanted to have, always wanted to feel. And it was good, it was like paradise.

Paradise.

For a moment I wondered if I had died, if Veronica had finally managed to take my life, and that at least I would spend eternity with my mother.

"You're not dead, Clair." She said letting me go slowly. "You still have a lot to do, your mission is not over. You need to go back." She said looking me in the eyes again.

And there, I saw the smoke getting thicker and in the background, my name was called in pain...

"Clair...Clair, please." The voice was Arthur's, and every time I blinked my mother became more distant.

Until I opened my eyes and saw him.

Arthur was crying and we were in what I imagined was the hospital.

"I'm here, it's okay." That's what I managed to say with a weak voice, pulling him into my hug.

"I can't believe you almost died trying to protect me." He said with his voice still cracking.

"It would be the best way to die," I said without even thinking.

"Don't joke about it," Arthur replied looking at me.

"If you had been stabbed like that, you would have died." Dr. Keller's voice was in the background, my gaze went to him, and only then did I see that in addition to Arthur who was leaning over my stretcher, in the background were my father, David, Monica, and Dr Keller who continued talking. "Clair's resistance to silver ensured that she lived, but if it had been you, Alpha Arthur, you would not have survived."

Dr Keller said, and I felt gratitude, immense gratitude for everything I did.

"About her?" My question was direct, and it was enough for Arthur to widen his eyes and look at me.

"Dead." He replied simply and I just nodded, but inside I felt relief, no guilt, no pain, just relief.

"I saw her," I said smiling.

"Yes, that's why you threw yourself in front of me," Arthur said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Not Veronica, I smelled her," I said shaking my head. "I saw my mother while I was unconscious," I said and my gaze went to my father and I could see him widen his eyes, open his lips in amazement, and sigh. "I really am identical to her." I completed smiling as I looked at him still, and then my eyes went to Arthur's as I took both of his hands and intertwined them with mine. "She told me that our bond is so strong that it goes beyond the mortal world, that's why she was able to send you signals that I was in danger, she wanted to send them to me too, but the silver wouldn't let her. Your nightmares, it was her talking to you." I said and not only Arthur but everyone there slowly absorbed each word. "Thank you for listening to her. But she said that my mission here is not over, we have a huge Pack to take care of. And some more laws to change." I smiled, finishing speaking and kissing Arthur lightly on the lips.

I left the hospital the same day, and after a while, we discovered that there were still some Council guards involved and that they facilitated Veronica's escape, now with our larger Pack, we had even more influence and we carried out a major investigation by all the guards, arresting everyone involved.

Even with everyone who threatened or attacked me, dead or arrested, we still knew that I was a symbol of female power in a Pack, and that bothered a lot of people. Still, that never stopped us from fighting for what we believed was right.

That's right, it never stopped us, because every fight of mine was Arthur's fight too, when he said he would be by my side, he wasn't kidding.

I completely understand why the Moon chose him for me, it couldn't be anyone better, and to this day I don't understand how I came to think about Refusing my Alpha Mate.

The end...

Thank you for reading this story, and I hope Clair has finally won your hearts.

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