Clarence
‘I reckon he's gonna be strong,’ I hear Abriya, as Davonyé and me run into the woods.
‘Of course he’s gonna be strong. He's mated to our daughter, and he's had her blood, but his ass still ain't gonna be as strong as us.’
‘True. How you think he's gonna take it?’
‘Asha took a week before she could go out in public, but we both know Davonyé’s different. He might be strong, but if I’ve learnt anything about this kid, it’s the fact he’s passionate.’
‘I agree. Even from when he came over here while you were training Ariella.’
‘Right. And it’s plain to see how much he loves her, so we gotta make sure he ain't gonna get pissed off over anything petty when they go back to school.’
‘Exactly, and remember Ariella mentioned that he feels a way about his ex-girlfriend being brought up in conversation. Test those buttons, too.’
‘Oh, don’t you worry, Baby, I’m gonna test them all.’
‘Am I wrong for being excited to see what he's like?’
I roll my eyes. ‘No one said you couldn't come.’
‘Nah. You need to fully focus on him, he deserves that. You should see Ariella, though. I know she's worried.’
‘She's concerned for her mate. That’s natural.’
‘I suppose...’
“So how you really feeling?” I ask Davonyé.
I'm trying to ignore his scent, but as alpha and a dominant male myself, I can't help but feel somewhat defensive towards him. He’s lucky I've had twenty years to get used to that shit. And Abriya, well, she’s still too nice, so shit like this don’t really bother her at all.
‘Hey!’
“I’m kinda anxious about all this. I'm worried about my sister, too, and to be honest, I wanna be up there looking for her. Not that I don't trust you and Abriya to find them, but that's my family.”
I take a quick glance at him. He’s being honest with me, which is a good start. “I understand that, Davonyé, but Maximus ain't a threat to take lightly, and until you at least master the basics, you ain't no help to them.”
“Maybe not, but that don't change how I feel.”
“There are gonna be times when you ain't gonna be able to do what you want, like now. You’ll have a pack of your own one day and you’ll be the one to call the shots. But for right now, you're a part of mine, and it’s my job to protect you, which means you will do what you’re told.”
“I ain't tryna cause no trouble, Clarence. Ariella's already told me about the whole dominant thing, but I don't feel no way about it. I don't want your spot.”
He couldn’t take it no way. “Maybe not, but when it comes to being around a group of wares that all have different opinions, it's gonna matter to you then.”
We reach the lake where I trained Ariella, but I take us further. This is far enough away from the house that no one can hear us now. “Ariella, if you can hear us, let Davonyé know.”
“She can’t.”
“Alright. So we're good.” ‘Baby, I want you to block me out, and ask Ariella to do the same. I’d block you, but I don’t want you needin’ me and not being able to contact me.’
‘Okay, B.’
Abriya’s connection leaves me and I wait for Davonyé to tell me Ariella’s done the same.
“She’s done it.”
“Alright.” I drop the rucksack on the ground beside me and get him to do the same. “We always start with gettin’ you changed. That's the most important part at first. Now, I know my daughter, so I know she woulda warned you about what I might use to test that anger.”
He gives me a knowing look. “Yeah.”
“You might not think that shit is gonna bother you, but it will. And training male wares is heated. What happens between us while we're training is between you and me.”
“Alright…” he says.
“We’re almost definitely gonna fight.”
He steps back. “Nah... I ain’t on that.”
I laugh. “You don't want to now, but you will.”
I sense his animosity now. “No, I won’t.”
This kid ain’t got a clue... Hell, I think this is the most excited I've been to train a ware since Abriya. Davonyé’s definitely bigger since his change, but it don’t matter what he looks like as a human, it’s his ware form that matters. “So how long you gonna keep in contact with your ex girl?”
He frowns. “I ain't. I don't speak to her.”
“That ain't what Aura told us.”
He smiles. “You almost got me, but Ariella can look at my memories and find out that ain't true.”
“Maybe, but Abriya and I already decided that you ain't gonna be around for much longer.”
Yeah, now he looks worried. “Huh?”
“You think we're gonna let Ariella keep seeing you? You could be a decoy mate for all we know.”
“Decoy?”
“A fake. I mean, it’s not like you left that girl you was with straight away, did you?”
He recoils. “I didn—”
“You know she don’t need you, right? My daughter might want you now, but she can get a second chance mate anytime, like her grandfather did.”
His reaction to that shit tells me everything, and I realise that’s his weakness.
Losing Ariella.
And I can’t even blame him, cuz losing Abriya was always mine. It still is, even though she can’t die.
“Ariella wouldn’t do that.” I can see the hurt in his eyes now.
“We know her better than anyone. Mates or not, you think she's gonna have time for you in the long run, huh? She’s an Elder and you're just a ware.”
“That’s bullshit!”
“No, what’s bullshit is the fact you were messing with my princess at the same time as that girl.” I step closer to him. “You thought I just forgot about that shit? You think she has?”
“It wasn't like that. And she knew I was with Carisse, I never hid that from her…” He's almost there, but I'm gonna have to push him harder.
“And what’s gonna happen when another dominant ware comes along and tries to take Ariella from you? My daughter’s beautiful; there’s gonna be enough wares that will want her when they see her. Then what the fuck will you be, huh? A first love, nothing more—”
His shift begins but then it stalls, so I shift and threaten him with a growl to force it out of him. The blue in his eyes flash and then he shifts fully.
He releases a low growl, but it ain't the growl I expected.
“You ain’t shit,” I bark at him, getting in his face, feeling threatened by his heightened scent. “You can’t even shift properly. How the fuck you expect to protect my daughter? They’ll take her from you easy.”
His dark eyes widen and then I sense shit change.
Oh, yeah… now he’s pissed.