Chapter 5

• Claire's POV
• A week passed by and I barely left my room. I avoided wolf interaction as much as possible, mostly Darien's.
• Finally, I summoned courage and walked right into his room without knocking. I was met with a wide, masculine back. My eyes trailed down the spine to meet dark, tight briefs hugging his waist and tight butt.
• My wolf was yelping and itching to bed her mate.
• He didn't seem to notice my presence in the room. Maybe he did with the way his spine straightened as he walked over to his drawers.
• A blue set of trousers blocked the magnificent view of his delicious-looking butt.
• "Are you going to say something or keep staring at my ass?" He still looked away from me, his gaze on something probably more interesting than his mate.
• My cheeks turned crimson. "I wasn't staring. I merely took a glance."
• He turned to me, nodding in agreement ever so lightly but I knew he didn't fall for my lies, even I didn't.
• "You should tell that to the drool on your lips." He pointed out
• My fingers rushed to my face, checking in a not-so-subtle manner.
• I turned even redder when he burst into laughter. I just kept embarrassing myself in front of him. No wonder he didn't want anything to do with me.
• I rolled my eyes, trying to play it off as nothing. "It's not that funny."
• He raised a brow in disagreement. "From where I'm standing, it is."
• I waved a hand in the air, changing the subject. "That's not why I'm here. I want to discuss something with you."
• "Go ahead, take a seat." He beckoned to his king-sized bed covered in red duvet.
• I took a quick survey and noticed he didn't own a chair. Who doesn't own a chair in their room?
• I let it slide as I walked over to him, sitting my ass at the end of the bed, keeping a large distance between us.
• He gave a charming smile that would have woman dropping their panties. I gulped loudly. Maybe this was a bad idea.
• "You know what? I'll check back when you are in your office. This is inappropriate." I tried getting up, aiming for the door when a large hand pulled me back. I fell into a hard body.
• Fuck!
• "How so? You are my mate and you are bound to see this room sooner or later. It was my mistake not showing it to you in the first place." He held me tightly in place, not letting me off him.
• "Still, I don't want to be in here longer than I have to. This doesn't bring good memories."
• "You don't want to be in the same room as your mate?" He sounded hurt which was unlikely. He hated me.
• "You've been avoiding me all week. You barely come out of your room, you eat three square meals in there. You don't even interact with the pack members." His words had me feeling guilty which they shouldn't have. I didn't belong here. My job was to bare pups and I wanted nothing more than to do that.
• "Interacting and being friendly wasn't part of the job description." I let him in on my exact thoughts. "I thought you wanted it this way. The less attached the better."
• "I don't want you isolating yourself from the rest of the pack. It won't be good for my image. Their Luna needs to interact with them, at least that's what they think." He finally let go of my arm. I scooched inches away from him which he frowned at, instantly closing the space between us.
• I tried creating more space and ended up with my butt on the floor.
• This just kept getting better and better. I thought I couldn't embarrass myself more, guess I was wrong.
• He held out a hand for me. "Are you alright?"
• I took it shyly, pushing my straight, brunette hair in my face to cover my flaming hot cheeks.
• He tried taking a good look at me but I pushed him away, too embarrassed to let him see me. "Stop it."
• "Hey!" He let out a loud protest. "I need to check if you are injured."
• I rolled my eyes behind my hair in irritation and tried to stop the tears from falling.
• "I'm a wolf, fast healing remember?" I pushed back my hair, letting him see me.
• He clicked his tongue. "Right."
• It was awkward for a moment and I remembered why I was in his room in the first place.
• "The reason I came is to let you know that I need to begin training soon. Is there anything I need to know before I start? Anything you'd like to tell me?"
• He paused for a second. "One question. Why do you need to train when you have me? I'm more than capable of protecting you."
• "Of course you are. I need to return to my pack. It's not like you plan on hanging around forever. I do my job and I'm out of here, back to protecting myself and my family."
• He looked like he wasn't going to budge but I needed to change his mind. "I've trained almost every day of my life and I'd like to believe that I'm good at it. It might be the only thing that I'm good at and I don't want that taken from me because I found a mate."
• He gave in. "Fine, you get to train with the other enforcers and she-wolves. Maybe then you can interact more with the pack. I guess we both get something out of this." He held out a hand for me to take. I looked at it for a second, weighing my non-existent options before taking it.
• Ignoring the sparks that shot up my arm, I murmured to myself but I knew he caught it. " I hope I don't regret this."