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

The ice-laced wind whipped across Mik’s face as he pushed open the door and slammed it behind him. His back pressed to the wood, his lungs heaving in the frigid air that made him cough with the bitter-cold burn in his chest. Covering his mouth with his sleeve, he looked around him. The storm had only just begun, throwing ice pellets in the mix of snow. Trees twenty feet ahead faded behind a curtain of white. The sun wasn’t due to set for a few more hours and then the world would be completely engulfed and impenetrable.

Sam’s words played in his head as he raked his fingers over his skull.

“I should have seen it coming.”

Everyone knew he would fuck up. No one believed for a second that he’d be faithful.

Even Sam.

“It didn’t matter how hard I tried, I can’t change your nature.”

Sam had given him everything. Opened his heart to him and invited him in. He didn’t care that he was male. He just wanted to love his mate and be loved in return.

And instead of jumping because Mik betrayed him… he considered jumping… to try and free him.

Who the fuck does that?

Who would give up his life to sever a bond so Mik could be free to be who he was? To live the life he wanted to live, no matter how fucked up he was?

Who would do such a thing? Why? Why?

His arms wrapped around his torso, pulling the thick fabric of his hoodie tighter. Binding it around him like a second skin.

In his own selfishness, he almost lost the most unselfish thing to him.

Pain twisted his muscles, constricting them tighter to the bone as disgust for himself threw him to the snow-covered ground. He coughed, his lungs burning with the cold and his throat stinging. His entire body ached but the pain was most profound in his chest.

A shadow loomed over him and laughed, echoing in his mind. ’Look at you. Pathetic. I should have walked away and let you become one with your namesake. Ice. Strong. Powerful. Lethal. Yet so fucking weak. It breaks under pressure. Shatters from heights. Melts in warm temperatures. You were so weak but I built you up. I made you strong. Powerful. Lethal. And this is the thanks I get?’

Mik bit his lip. Blood dribbled down and dripped on the pure white snow.

‘It was bad enough that your mate was a pathetic excuse for a male, but this? I didn’t raise you to bend to weakness. I didn’t raise you to bend for any male. I raised you to be a pussy-fucking alpha!’

“Fuck off!”

Dashing through the blinding white curtain, he wove through the trees as the snowstorm raged against him. The wind drove him back, but he fought against it while the voice of his father continued to taunt him.

Breaking through the tree line that surrounded the valley, he looked around while trying to shield his eyes from the wind and ice assaulting him but it was too thick. He couldn’t make out the pack houses. He knew their general location and lunged forward only for the wind to throw him to the snow.

“Dammit! Why?” he shouted up to the sky. Blasts of ice struck his exposed face, coating him in frozen crystals that made him scream out again. “What do you want from me? Why didn’t you take me?”

Tears stung his eyes like they had as a pup, on the verge of death—starved, broken, freezing, while burning up with fever—and his father nowhere to be found and no recollection of where he said he’d be or when he’d return.

“You had your chance!” he yelled. “Why spare me? Why spare me when you could have set Sam free? He’s the one who deserves to live! Who deserves happiness! Not me!”

Another incredible gust of wind blew in his face, pushing him back. Stumbling, he slipped and fell back into the snow.

Snow coated every inch of him. Freezing wet and biting cold. He shivered violently as he stared up at the sky. Ice pellets pummeled over him, striking his face as his tears froze on his cheeks and in the corners of his eyes and eyelashes. A numbness gnawed at his hands and feet while his face burned with frozen fire consuming every line, crevice, and orifice.

“He is meant to live,” he muttered. “He deserves freedom. I can’t be what he needs. I am all wrong. All warped and twisted. I’ll only break him.”

Shaking, the pain in his chest gripped him fiercely. Coupled with the frigid air, he struggled to breathe. Squeezing his eyes shut, all he could think about was the warmth and comfort of Sam’s body in his arms. His scent easing the shock the nightmare brought on of Sam jumping from the cliff. His muscles relaxing and easily molding into the curves of Sam’s body.

So many times he had woken from that nightmare and held himself back from doing what he longed to do—ached to do. Afraid that he would wake Sam if he so much as touched him.

Holding him, feeling the warmth of his body, the rise and fall of his chest, his heart beating in his ears… that was what he needed. The reassurance that he was alive and well after waking with a start every time from that nightmare. One of these times, the nightmare could be real and he couldn’t handle that thought. Couldn’t live with himself knowing that he had pushed Sam to the edge.

Now that he knew the truth, it hurt even more.

Because he never deserved a mate like Sam.

Sam deserved so much more than the likes of him.

He’ll never forgive you, Mik thought as the numbing cold crept deeper into his skin. He deserves better. You have to set him free.