Claws // Colby Brock

💫 62 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

COLBY BROCK

I thought, for a heart-stopping moment, that I had killed her. I'd gotten lost in her taste and didn't realise until I pulled away that once she'd come down from her high, she'd passed out. I took a moment to listen to her heartbeat before breathing a sigh of relief.

She was never gonna live down getting fucked into a coma.

Carefully dressing her in one of her favourite shirts — of mine — I kept an ear out from anyone downstairs but they were deadly quiet. I was getting a little concerned, considering they all knew I could hear them, but I supposed that was why they didn't want to push their luck. Cassie was still in my bad books, despite how well this night had gone.

Only once Amira was wrapped up in a blanket did I dare leave her, sipping into the bathroom to look in the mirror. My skin looked darker than before, the pale tone replaced with a healthy, slightly pinker tone. Examining my arms and chest, I noticed I looked a lot bigger, too. Amira blood was coursing through me like nothing I'd ever experienced before, and I didn't entirely think it was because she was my One. Something told me the secret information I'd been given by Luna had more to do with the strange feeling in my chest.

A sense of responsibility was certainly unwelcome, as I glanced at my woman on the way to the bedroom door. I didn't know how long she would be out for, so I had to get as much done as I normally did while I waited. As long as I was here when she woke up, it didn't matter if I left her for a short while.

Cassie was already waiting for me at the entryway to the living room, her arms crossed prepared for a telling off. Although a small part of me held some frustration with her, I chose to be more diplomatic about it than my usual erratic behaviour. "Cassie."

"Don't bother, Colby. I know you have something to say," she replied sharply, though I could hear how tense she was.

"I do, but it isn't what you think, actually. It's much more general. You're close to Amira and I've noticed you use that to your own advantage — that's going to stop tonight. The woman's been used enough times, she doesn't need you continuing that pattern, especially not when we are on the opposite side of a war with those who betrayed her before.

"Most of you" — I looked around the living room at the rest of my clan — "don't know her story, and she didn't give me permission to tell it but I'm going to anyway.

"When Amira was young... Dickwad, as she calls him, was there alpha of the pack and her father felt that he deserved to be in that position instead. As is tradition for packs, the two of them battled on equal ground, and her father lost. Dickwad chose to kill him as opposed to letting him live, then he killed her mother to get rid of any further competition. The only reason he left Amira herself alive was because of her age, because he thought he'd be able to condition her into one of his loyal followers.

"She lost both of her parents in the space of a week. From there, she was used for her strength and will to win battles for Dickwad. From all of her stories, I've connected the dots. He knows she's stronger than him and he knew back then that if he didn't keep a close eye, he'd end up getting overthrown after all, but she was too close with the other members of the pack to risk killing her. Eventually, she solved the problem for him by deciding to leave.

"Amira was used by him then and has been used by everyone else she has come across since. Young wolves looking for a strong figure to stand beside them and lead them into alphahood. It's never worked; she was never interested in anything long-term.

"The last thing she needs is any of you using her to make me and the rest of the clan stronger, yet that's exactly what you were pushing on her, Cassie. I don't care if what you were suggesting benefits her, too, it's still cruel."