Her Second Chance✔ (Published)

14

Claire

The queen had been so understanding and warm. Claire had expected her to be distant with a sense of being too above her. Yet she'd been warmer than either of her grandmothers. There was to her a sense of power, a decisive nature that warned her not to go against her but she was sure the queen understood her situation.

After all, she hadn't done anything but follow her Alpha's orders. He'd required her to mate with his grandson instead of Cari. Claire had always known she was destined to be greater than her sister. She was the elder, more beautiful and outgoing. Everyone in the pack had told her she was meant to be their luna from as far back as she could recall. She couldn't understand why they were all of a sudden being unreasonable. Looking at her with judgmental eyes.

Could they really have preferred her sister? As much as she loved Cari she knew her sister was weak, not luna material. Claire had known her sister would be lucky to have a beta for a mate. After all she had no wolf and would never be strong enough to lead.

Even though paranormals didn't inherit human gifts, their grandmother had done something to ensure her descendants would have them. Even there Cari's gift was weak, an ability to soothe people where Claire could hide her emotions and influence people. It made sense then that as twins something had gone wrong in pairing her with Andre.

Oh she remembered him.

Ten years back she'd come across him while hiking with some of her friends. She'd cut away from them for no reason, maybe a call of destiny - if you believed that kind of thing. Anyway she'd hid her scent, wrapped it in her gift and followed him for a while.

Once she'd asserted that he was nothing more than a royal guard she'd left and hustled her friends off the mountain. She'd gone and vented to her paternal grandmother without telling her which pack Andre belonged to.

She hadn't known that Xander and Cari had recognized each other and he'd hesitated since like everyone he'd assumed she'd be his mate. He'd actually wanted to accept Cari, Claire was still a bit annoyed by that, but his grandfather had refused to allow it.

Her own grandparents had not been willing to have an untitled as part of their family so her grandfather and the Alpha had come up with the plan and she'd gone along. She'd thought Andre would search for her but he hadn't even. What kind of a weak male felt his mate with someone else and didn't do anything but run away?

Though she felt a bit guilty that her sister had felt some pain whenever she and Xander made love, it wasn't her fault that her father had refused the matches her grandfather had had for her. She'd told all that to the queen, leaving out the part where she'd met Andre.

The queen had been understanding of her predicament, with both her grandparents and the Alpha pressing her to think of the future of the pack. Claire had even explained that the pain of having Andre be with other females hadn't been that bad so she'd assumed it was the same for Cari. How was she supposed to know that proximity played a role?

This past week had been the worst she'd ever had. The pain of feeling Andre's hands on Cari had been like having a poker stabbing her and being dragged down. She'd wanted to ask the queen to have them stop from the first day but Xander had stopped her. Last night though had been unbearable and she'd nearly lost her unborn child.

Now she sat with the rest of her pack with the Nightwolves and other visiting packs in attendance. This was the the biggest gathering she'd ever attended and as heirs to the alpha positions of the hosting pack she and Xander sat right in front. She loved that everyone was aware of her importance.