Chapter Nine

Claire hadn’t planned on falling asleep but the exhaustion of her day finally caught up to her. So she woke up with a start the next day, instantly going alert as she remembered her current situation.
Lukas wasn’t on the bed with her much to Claire’s relief and she started to sigh only to choke on it as she saw Lukas seated at the sitting area, drinking from a glass and staring straight at her, a laptop in front of him.
Claire gave into her instincts and scrambled backwards even though Lukas didn’t move an inch. There was a wary expression on her face as she gathered the sheets closer to her protectively.
Lukas still said nothing, staring down at her with open disdain.
Claire couldn't understand why he refused to let her go if he hated her so much. She was tempted to beg him to let her go again, she would take her parents and leave Lockwood without hesitation.
When Lukas looked unwilling to break the silence, Claire decided to do it. "What do you want from me?"
Lukas placed his glass on the table. "Your parents were here last night." He said calmly, flicking his eyes in her direction as he did.
His words made Claire instantly forget that her question had been ignored. "Wh-What?! What did you do to them?" She demanded, unconsciously moving closer.
"I entertained them, of course. Only the finest treatment for my soon to be in-laws." Lukas smirked, his eyes chilly.
Claire didn't back down. "I'm not getting married to you."
The smirk fell off Lukas' face. "Unfortunately, that choice was taken away from the both of us."
"My parents would never agree to this sham." Claire announced confidently, sitting upright.
Lukas response was a scornful chuckle. "Funny you'd say that when they were all too happy to give their blessings."
All of Claire’s confidence faded away, her shoulders curving. "W-What…"
Lukas got to his feet, signaling that he was done with the conversation. "I've made arrangements for your things to be taken to the city, we'll leave in two days."
Claire seemed to not hear him, unable to recover from the blow of her parents being unable to help her. They didn't even ask to see her? That was impossible.
"I don't believe you." She whispered, fury making her voice tremble. "My parents would never do that!"
"If I were anyone else, perhaps…" He mused, taking a step in Claire’s direction. "But fate must hate you as much as it hates me because it brought you to me."
Claire felt her eyes burn with angry tears. “I don’t care about fate, I’m not going to stay with you.”
Lukas didn’t stop walking towards her. “Why don’t you try to run away again.” He taunted, “I’ll even give you a head start.”
“Y-You…” Claire shook with frustration, her emotions making her throat close up.
“Monster? Beast?” Lukas completed for her, thoroughly unaffected. “That’s what all humans think of us as, why are you so surprised?” He added when her glassy eyes widened at his words.
He forced himself to stop walking closer to Claire at that point, he had never planned to do that in the first place but his body seemed to have a life of its own.
Lukas hadn’t slept in the suite reserved for him and that was a good thing because he couldn’t trust his instincts around Claire. He had shown up that morning to rudely wake her up and inform her of her new living conditions but as soon as he saw her, he couldn’t go through with it.
So he was forced to wait for her to wake up instead. He tried to busy himself with a drink and checking emails but it didn’t help, he found himself constantly staring at the human.
Lukas should have probably felt guilt when she woke up with a startle, instantly looked around for him and looked relieved when she didn’t see him at first. But he didn’t, not when her relief changed to horror at the sight of him nor when she started to cry.
She would never understand how much pain her existence brought to him, the least he could do was give her a little taste of it.
“Why do you want me to hate you?” Claire blurted out before she could stop herself, because she could see no other explanation for Alpha King Lukas’ actions.
Lukas looked genuinely surprised by this question, he swept through the space between them in the next moment and sat comfortably on the bed.
Claire didn’t try to scramble backwards at this, she knew that there was no use, Lukas would always catch her if she tried to run.
“Claire.” He said her name syrupy sweet, tipping her jaw upwards so he could look in her leaf green eyes. “You dumb little human. What makes you think I care about what you think of me? I’m a selfish monster and all I do is to my own benefit.”
Claire stared at him in disbelief, tears spilling and drenching her eyelashes. What hurt the most then wasn’t Lukas’ words but the glaring fact that she could never hate Lukas.
Lukas took his hand away and scoffed. “Wipe your eyes, you’re about to be the Luna Queen of a whole country, don’t act like a child.”
Even though Claire felt hopeless, she still held on stubbornly. “I-I don’t ca-care, I’m not getting married to you.” She shot back, tears spilling down her pink-tinged cheeks.
Lukas was unimpressed by her defiance. “Dumb little human.” He tsked, shaking his head. “I wasn’t asking.”
“Stop calling me that!” Claire lashed out, wiping furiously at her eyes.
Lukas went silent for a few seconds, just watching the little human glare at him with tear-filled eyes and rage at fate for cursing him with a human mate consumed him.
He could have been the happiest werewolf alive right then but a certain human with expressive bright green eyes had ruined everything.
Lukas forced himself to calm down but Claire had seen his brief expression of rage and was stricken, her hands clutched to her chest in terror.
Lukas rose to his feet, he was dressed in a simple black dress shirt and black slacks. “Stop throwing a tantrum and get ready to have breakfast with me, there’s an outfit for you in the closet, I expect you to be seated at the dining table in half an hour.” He ordered, striding out of the suite without looking at Claire so he didn’t see the terrified expression on her face.