His Hybrid Queen

Chapter 24

Victor

“What did you just say?” Claire asked with an accusing tone. Her brows were curled in a frown.

“Good morning?”

“No, before that!”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“God!” She exclaimed, pushing away from me and sitting up. “I can’t believe you were doing this to me on purpose!” 

“Doing what?” I asked, feeling lost.

“I thought you forgot! Or, you couldn’t do it on time or something! I’ve been trying to find silly excuses for you!”

“Claire, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” 

“I’m talking about how you filled me ‘nicely’ and made me pregnant last night!” She said making air quotes.

I was in trouble. She wasn't supposed to hear that. I knew I wasn’t speaking out loud and I didn’t open the mind link.

“You invaded my mind?” I asked, feeling a little violated that she sneaked into my head and listened to my thoughts. But also, I was admiring her for doing it so smoothly and seamlessly.

“I’m the one who should feel violated. At least I didn’t want to get into your head. But you,” She pointed at me accusingly, “you didn’t pull out on purpose. You wanted to make me pregnant!”

“Is it so wrong to want to have children with you? So what’s the problem with that? ” 

“No, it’s not wrong at all.” She sighed. “The problem is, you were doing it without asking for my opinion.” Her voice was much lower, and I could hear it almost break as if she was about to cry.

Did I misread the situation? When we talked about it first she said she wanted to wait, and I respected her wishes. But then, she asked me to mark her. And in my head, that meant that she also wanted to make a family. We were finally together and happy. It was what any young couple was expected to do right after mating. Making babies.

“Do you...want to have children?” It was late on my part to ask her now. But better late than never.

“Now you ask me?” She narrowed her eyes on me. “My opinion doesn't really matter does it?” 

I must admit that was a weak way of making amendments. There was no use asking now after the deed has already been done. It was insensitive on my part to not consider her feelings when she will be the one carrying a child in her womb and going through painful labor. 

She groaned as she yanked the covers off her and jumped off the bed. This was our first fight since we mated and I couldn’t leave things this way. I needed to make up with her. I looked at her naked body as she walked to the ensuite bathroom. The sight of the delicate dimples at the base of her spine and her heart-shaped bottom reminded me of my earlier thoughts. I knew just the right way to make up with her. 

“Don’t even think about it!” Claire made a half turn and held her hand on a halt sign as I put one foot on the floor

I dropped back on the bed groaning. What the hell just happened!

After breakfast, we hit the road right away. We couldn’t spend more time at GreenLake, despite how charming of a town it was. Especially not when my mate didn’t even want to look my way. The silence was heavy in the car and the tension was palpable. Claire grumbled something about a stench in the car and lowered the passenger window completely.

I was an Alpha werewolf and had hot blood coursing through my veins. But the freezing wind whipping inside the car was making my fingers turn into popsicles. When I stopped for fuel, Claire bought a bunch of pine fresheners and hung them on the rearview mirror. As I settled back in the driver seat I eyed the little pine-shaped cards dangling. 

Their smell was a poor imitation of the real pine scent that I loved. I didn't want to say anything and start another argument for such a trivial thing. Though my nose was tingling because of the artificial and chemical scent, at least she had lifted the window leaving only a small c***k. I wondered what foul smell she was talking about. I kept my car clean and I never left anything perishable. Unless the bad smell was me.

Once we were back to the palace, Claire and I went on separate ways. I hated to leave things unresolved between us, but I knew I should give her time to calm down. I’ve never seen her this mad at me. Given our history, I was a little scared that she might leave me. My confidence went crumbling down. I won’t let another separation happen. Not after we had mated and sealed our fate together. 

I couldn’t think straight the whole day. I barely managed any work done with thoughts of my mate and how to make up with her filled my head. The days were short, but as soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains I decided I had enough. I needed my mate like I needed air. 

I headed upstairs to our room. Her fragrant scent hit me when I walked in and eased some of my worries. I followed the invisible trail to the walk-in closet. What I saw made me stop in place. Claire was pulling my clothes out and throwing them on the floor. 

“Are you kicking me out?” I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. She simply could not kick an Alpha out of his pack. Most probably she was kicking me out of the room. But even that would break my heart.

“No,” she gave me a side glance, “I didn’t want to say anything before, because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. But since you don’t care about my opinions or my feelings, I don’t see why I should care about yours. The truth is,” She said as she continued emptying the closet and my heart started beating at what she was going to reveal next. “you STINK!” 

I was dumbstruck, not knowing what to say, what to do, or even what to think. At least she wasn’t leaving me and she wasn’t kicking me out of the bedroom. That fact gave me little solace. Claire balled a bunch of shirts and walked to me.

“These need washing!” She said, pushing the laundry in my arms. Then she scrunched her nose in distaste. “You too. You need a shower.” She added before leaving.

I slumped on the wall. What was all that about? I was keeping good hygiene, but I sniffed myself and my shirts for good measure. 

*******

“How long are you keeping this up?” I questioned Claire as I cornered her in the closet.

It has been a week of pure torture. She was avoiding me like the plague, day and night. Except mumbling how bad I smelled to her, she barely spoke to me. Not only no one else complained about it, but also I checked with the betas. They were surprised by my question but their answers confirmed my doubts that it was just her nose acting up. 

It was unfair because to me she smelled irresistible. Her scent was more intense and pronounced. I could distinguish the delectable Jasmin and vanilla fragrances. There was something else I couldn’t quite tell what it was, making me want to hold her and never let her go. 

“Keeping what up?” She retorted as she stood her arms crossed over her chest, pushing her breasts up. Are they getting bigger or is it just my imagination? Her perky t**s were getting me distracted so I tried to focus on her face instead.

“You’re being unreasonable!”

“I’m being unreasonable?” She pointed at herself her eyes wide.

“Yeah! Ignoring me because you don’t like my scent!” 

“Is that how little you think of me? It’s not about your scent, but something more serious. Or do I need to remind you? You didn’t even apologize for crying out loud!”

“I thought we were over that.” I didn’t have to ask what she meant because I already knew.

“You made a life-changing decision for both of us without asking my opinion and you want me to get over it? Just like that?” I couldn’t find any comeback and stood there silent.

“Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of our lives? You make all the important decisions and I just have to sit back and watch?” 

Claire’s shoulders dropped as she made the compelling argument. She looked dejected and disappointed. Her eyes were glassy with tears threatening to fall. I haven’t realized how much I’ve hurt her with my actions. I was an Alpha for many years before she came along, and I was used to making decisions without consulting anyone. I should have known that having a strong mate would mean that we won’t have a normal Alpha and Luna relationship.

I haven’t even realized that I had fallen for my father’s teaching. Despite how much I disagreed with his opinions, I ended up thinking the same. That the mate’s sole purpose was to breed the Alpha’s heir and that she had little to no saying in the pack’s matters. As I rubbed my face, I thought about it further. If the roles were reversed and she made that kind of important choice on my behalf, I’ll be pissed off too.

“I’m sorry.” 

I never had to apologize before. And surprisingly, it felt easier than I thought. What I didn’t expect though, was my mate breaking in tears at my apology.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I took one careful step but kept a distance between us. I didn’t know if she was still upset with me.

“I’m such a mess! I don’t even understand why I’m feeling like this!” She sobbed. “The other day I started crying because the designer brought the wrong color samples! Can you imagine?” She sniffed.

I held her hand and pulled her to the bedroom. I sat on the bed and had her sit on my lap. I rubbed her back and down as she sobbed on my shoulder. 

“What’s wrong with me? I used to love the way you smell. And now I can’t even stand it!” 

Her teary face was cute, with her pouty lips and red nose. 

“Let’s go see the doctor tomorrow. Maybe you’re going down with a cold or something.”

Werewolves didn’t get sick easily, but I was worried it was some of the aftereffects of the poisoning. The doctor said that her body will expel the drugs with time, but no one knows what that traitor has poisoned her with.

I cupped Claire’s face and wiped the tears off her cheeks with my thumbs. I couldn’t help but pepper her face with feather-like kisses. I didn’t want to overstep her boundaries. It was my way of comforting her. I may not be the ace of communication but I knew I couldn’t go wrong with what I was going to say next.

“I love you.” I told her as I looked into her eyes.

“I love you too.” She replied before pressing her lips into mine.

The kiss was messy and sloppy. She was as hungry as I was for her touch. A week was damn too long without being able to kiss or cuddle with my mate. Claire straddled me and things got heated very fast. We were already clawing at each other's clothes. I dipped my head on the crook of her neck, sucking my mark on her skin and she shivered under my touch.

“I want you.” Claire moaned out. I’ll be more than happy to oblige.