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Chapter 20
“The Alphas of the Noctelle Pack and the Auremere Pack have always avoided each other. That looks like Alpha Leopold… Why is he here?”
Whispers spread like wildfire throughout the banquet hall.
All eyes turned toward the tall figure at the entrance.
Leopold stood there, dressed immaculately in a tailored suit, but his expression was dark and brooding. His gaze was locked onto Clarisse and Adrian’s interlaced fingers like it could burn a hole through thein.
“Why is Alpha Leopold staring at Clarisse like that? Don’t tell me… he’s here to take her back?”
Adrian instinctively pulled Clarisse into his arms the moment the doors slammed open, his arm stretched protectively across her front
like human barricade.
But Clarisse remained surprisingly calm.
She looked at Leopold and suddenly smiled faintly. “What brings you here, Leopold? Are you here to deliver your congratulations on the Mating Ceremony?”
Her words were like a blade, stabbing straight into his chest.
His jaw clenched, veins throbbing beneath his skin. His voice came out raw and hoarse. “Clary, come back with me.”
Clarisse’s smile only deepened. “Go back to do what? To watch you how keep loving Grace?”
“I don’t love Grace!”
Leopold’s voice rose to a near roar, echoing across the entire hall and making the entire room erupt in stunned gasps.
“The one I love is you!”
Gasps rippled through the room, followed by a cacophony of murmurs.
“Didn’t everyone say Alpha Leopold was abstinent, not interested in women at all? And now that he’s finally fallen for someone, it turns out he’s in love with Clarisse, the same girl as the Alpha of the Noctelle Pack?”
“This love triangle is way too intense…”
Leopold inhaled sharply, struggling to keep himself from spiraling out of control. His voice turned low and tense. “Can we talk somewhere private?”
Adrian scoffed. “Alpha Leopold, you’re not welcome here.”
But Clarisse gently placed a hand on Adrian’s. “It’s alright. I’ll make things clear with him.”
Adrian frowned, clearly uneasy, but in the end, he nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
Clarisse shook her head. “I’ll go alone.”
Inside the sleek black Maybach, Clarisse sat in the front seat, quietly watching the scenery outside.
Leopold gripped the wheel in the driver’s seat. His tie was askew, shirt collar open, eyes bloodshot–he had clearly raced here without
rest.
He had never looked so disheveled.
did make a copy of the footage. But it was not to threaten you,” he said hoarsely. “I just…. wanted to keep it for myself.”
“I tried to make arrangements in the Pack Prison to protect you. I never meant for you to get hurt. But I didn’t know Grace would bribe them and hurt you under my name.”
“I didn’t let you into my study because I was hiding your things in there and afraid that you would find out. As for the photos of Grace,
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she paid the staff to put them there.”
“Grace and Margot have been sent off to bond with a seventy–year–old rogue. They’ll never rise again. And the Eboncrest Pack is bankrupt.”
He explained it all, piece by piece, as if trying to lay every misunderstanding bare for her to see.
Clarisse listened quietly, then calmly asked, “And?”
Leopold froze.
“And…” His voice shook. “I want you to come back with me.”
“Clary, the one I’ve loved all along was you.”
Clarisse smiled.
It was a soft smile, but it felt like a dull blade slowly sawing into his chest.
“Leopold, you’ve always known my position. You’ve always known what I was facing.” Her voice was soft. “And yet, you still chose to side with Grace again and again.”
“Even if you didn’t love her, the pain you caused me was real.”
“I’ve spent that time slowly letting go of my feelings for you.”
“And now… I can’t get that feeling back.”
Leopold’s grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white.
“I’m not a god, Clary,” he whispered, trembling. “I did mess up, but can’t you allow me to make just one mistake?”
“Is the price of that mistake losing you forever?”
Clarisse looked at him, her eyes calm to the point of cruelty. “Yes, it is.”
“I don’t hate you, Leopold. But I’ll never love you again.”
She pulled a Mating Ceremony invitation from her purse and handed it to him.
“My Mating Ceremony with Adrian will be held in three days.”
“Given your pride, Leopold, I know you would never stoop to begging for forgiveness twice.”
“So let’s keep our pride,”
“Let’s end this with dignity.”
And with that, she opened the car door and walked away without looking back, toward Adrian who waited by the roadside.
Leopold remained seated, staring at her retreating figure, and suddenly remembered the first time he saw her.
She wore a red dress, radiant and untamed, like a flame that had stormed into his black–and–white world without warning.
But now, that flame had gone out for good.
Chapter 20
