DAMON
It was as if everything beside me stopped for a moment as a wave of cold hit my body upon hearing Luca’s last statement.
“What? Why are you just telling me that now?” I yelled, threw the book I had been holding in my hand away, and made to leave.
Whatever Luca just revealed sounds untrue but now that Olivia is involved, I just have to believe him, he would not lie to me. I trusted Claire and loved her genuinely as a good friend of mine.
Why would she poison me and my mate? Tiana was so nice to her to the extent that people thought they were sisters because of how close they were, so why?
Why did she do something like that? “I already sent the guards to follow her, they must’ve apprehended her by now. Let’s go back to the tower” Luca responded.
My blood was boiling at the highest degree, and each step I took hurriedly back home aggravated my anger. I felt scared, disappointed, and betrayed.
Claire had no reason to hate either of us. Was keeping her close to me a bad idea? I only did it because I thought she was someone whom I should look out for.
I also kept her close because of Amy. Claire was kicked out of her father’s house after she got pregnant with a stranger’s baby and she had nowhere to go.
I couldn’t allow her to stay on the cold street when I had so many spaces in my home. Was helping her and taking care of her a bad idea?
Even if she holds a grudge against me for a reason, why Tiana? What if she hurts Olivia too?
Flashes of Olivia’s expression each time I mentioned Claire in front of her came rushing back to my memory.
I should have understood her from the beginning but I failed to do that because I thought the only person who would be able to guide her was Claire.
I won’t be able to cope with it if anything happens to Olivia because of me. I promised to protect her, I promised not to endanger her life in any way.
As those thoughts filled my mind, it made me walk even faster. I need to get home to see for myself, to see that she is fine.
“I just communicated with Douglas, Claire has been caught. You don’t need to worry about anything, Alpha” Luca’s voice echoed in my ears.
I have forgotten for a moment that he is with me. “What of Olivia? How is she?” I threw the question at him and he went mute.
Seeing that he had nothing to say about that, it’s either she was hurt or he did not get any information about her.
Instead of stopping to question him, I decided to keep walking towards home.
The tower was in chaos by the time we got there and for some reason, a bad feeling settled inside me.
If Claire was truly the one who did that to us, the fact that she was someone I thought would not be able to kill an ant and the fact that she is someone that I have known for so many years will make me not go easy on her.
I won’t spare her because she is a woman, I don’t care!
Claire was already locked up in the cell. I went straight there and the first person I met at the entrance was Douglas, the head of securities.
“Alpha, I-”
“Where is Olivia? Is she alright?” I cut in with a question. I have tried to communicate with her through the mind-link but she is not responding.
“I am sorry, Alpha. We captured her late, they were not together when we saw Claire but the guards are already searching for her” Dauglas explained, confirming the eerie feeling I had when I entered the tower.
My jaws clenched as my hands rolled into a fist in outrage. I moved past him to the cell where Claire was being kept, I could ask the question myself.
“Take Amy to her grandparents” I instructed. They might have hated the fact that Claire got pregnant but they’ve shown Amy nothing but love since she was born.
I don’t want her to be here, I don’t want her to witness me slaughtering her mother while her head rolls on the floor.
A part of me was silently hoping that she was arrested unfairly, that she would defend herself and tell me that everything was fabricated but it never happened.
Claire was carelessly seated on the floor with a rigid expression on her face, she looked different from the same person I saw yesterday night.
She looked up at me and smiled when she saw me and for the first time, I wanted to wipe that smile off her face. How can she smile at me in this situation?
“I thought I would never get to see you again, Alpha Damon” she enunciated. I tried to compose myself so that I wouldn’t do something terrible to her.
Until I find Olivia, Claire has to live. “Where is Olivia?” I asked monotonously and she chuckled. “Is that the reason why you are here?” she rebutted.
The sound of her laughter was suddenly not appealing to my ears anymore. “Where is she, Claire? Do not let me ask you that one more time” I barked.
Claire laughed once again, and I couldn’t hold it in. I grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the wall.
“Even now, you are more concerned about a little rat than me. This was why I hated Tiana, she had your attention more than I will ever get” Claire coughed.
My hands on her neck tightened as my lips quivered at her confession. I was shocked to hear that from her. My hope of her being innocent flew through the door.
“Was that why you poisoned us?” I choked her harder until her hands were held against mine while gasping for breath.
“I had no intention of killing you” she wheezed and in the next seconds, I let go of her. She exhaled and inhaled for a minute to get her breath stable.
“I didn’t know you would be eating with her from the same plate, your so-called mate was my target. Thankfully, she died just like I wanted and you survived”
My legs wobbled on the floor as I listened to her, I could not believe that Claire would be saying these things with her mouth.
“She was my mate!” I roared. Claire nodded her head in agreement. “More reason I had to take her out of the picture” She paused and grinned.
“I waited for three years to at least be given the title of your mistress or Luna but you brought in another female instead” she laughed hysterically
“You have never touched me even though we have shared the bed countless times but you slept with Olivia within 24 hours of meeting her” she chortled bitterly.
“That’s because I never saw you more than a friend, a friend I could rely on. I will-”
“A friend? I don’t want to be your friend, Damon. Am I not good enough to be Luna? Or your mistress?” she screamed, cutting me off from completing my statement.
“Forget about Olivia because you will never see her again. If I can’t be with you, I won’t allow anyone else to be with you”