The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

Standing at the precipice, Sam looked out over the glistening water with the forest behind him, Aspen Beach to this left and the major metropolis on his right. The wind tugged on his black hair and clothes. The water crashed against the rocks below the cliff. The sun was warm on his tear-streaked face.

He still couldn’t catch his breath. His chest constricted, binding tighter and tighter around his heart and lungs.

He should have seen it coming. He should have known that Mik wouldn’t give up on his dream to become alpha. He should have known that Mik would eventually succumb to his female-loving nature. How could he have expected anything like that to change? Because of the matebond? A force neither one of them had control over? How could he ever hope for Mik to go against his nature and love him without the matebond pushing them together? Mik was a fighter; he didn’t give up on what he believed in and he would fight even harder against something trying to control his nature.

How could he have been so foolish?

Sam was as his father always said: worthless. He’d never amount to anything. He’d never be able to do anything right. He was defective. Try as hard as he might, he would only disappoint.

He didn’t deserve a friend like Cameron or parental figures like Luna Aki and Alpha Noodin. He didn’t deserve a mate to love him and cherish him all the days of their lives.

Mik deserved love—as everyone did—but he deserved the love of a female that he craved. A love that fulfilled him in every way—not a forced love.

And Sam couldn’t give him what he needed. He’d known that all along.

He would never be good enough.

He wasn’t meant for this world. This cold, hard, unforgiving world. It would have been better if he had been left to die in the arms of Mother Earth.

It would be better if he didn’t exist.

Where did his future lie now? Before him or behind him?