Chapter 7 The Entitled Crush

Daisy’s POV

Harold's retreating figure left a hollow silence in the room of the pack house and I listened to his footsteps get farther outside the door. A brief moment of silence was allowed before an interruption came at the door. The handle turned and I gripped the arm of the chair I was sitting on tightly in suspense. When Elara came in through the door, I released it and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, it’s just you.”

She raised an eyebrow at my remark as she strode to the bed and sat down at the edge of it facing toward me. She’d been lurking around, waiting for Harold to leave so she could come in and continue her talk.

She perched on the bed opposite me, leaning forward and sporting a suspicious smirk on her face. I was confused for a while and kept looking everywhere else but her. I stared at the clock on the wall as its second hand was ticking in time with my heartbeat.

Finally, Elara broke the silence. "So," she began, "care to tell me why you're trying to wiggle your way into Harold’s circle?”

Her words confirmed my already budding suspicion. Ever since I was brought to the Blue Moon pack, I felt a constant undercurrent of hostility from Elara. I was already suspecting that she had some kind of feelings towards Harold, mostly because of how she acted towards me and how she looked at him with practically watering puppy eyes. Now her statement everything clicked into place.

"Don't play dumb with me, Daisy," Elara continued, her smile turning to a sneer. "I've met she-wolves like you. Wolves who just want to take advantage of men and use their pretty faces as nothing more than a ploy to wreak some havoc. You're just like that, aren't you? Appearing from nowhere and turning our Alpha soft."

I was initially taken aback, but it quickly morphed into amusement. "You think I’m pretty? I think that's great and I hate to break it to you, but I don’t swing that way.” I plaster a smirk on my face. “But seriously? I can't believe you think I'd come here alone, into enemy territory, for some stupid spy mission?"

Elara raised a brow at me, then swept her eyes over me, taking in my injuries, simple clothes, and lack of weapons. "It doesn't matter. It's best that you don't underestimate me, you outsider. I see your little game plan. You're trying to get close to Harold. You think he won't see through your little charade because you pout and whine a bit.

I let out a chuckle. "Pout and whine? Wow, Elara, you sure do have a good deal of experience with dating, don't you?"

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Stop with the sarcastic nonsense. Harold is not yours to take! He's mine!"

My jaw dropped in faux surprise as I gasped. "Don't tell me... you're his mate?"

Elara crossed her arms over her chest, her voice reverberating with obvious pride. "We've been there for each other since we were pups. We grew up together and we've been through more things than you can compete with."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. Her possessiveness and sense of entitlement were bizarre. I couldn't believe she truly believed she had a claim on Harold simply because they'd been friends since childhood. I resist the urge to laugh at her delusion.

"Look, Elara," I said, trying to reason with her, "I understand that you care about Harold. But there's no 'claim' here. He's not an object to be owned. Except you’re his mate and from what you just said…you aren’t." I shrugged.

Elara stood up abruptly, towering over me. Her amber eyes flashed with an intensity that could only come from the anger of her wolf. "Don't lecture me on my pack dynamics, an outsider. If you think you can waltz in here and steal Harold away from me, you're mistaken. I won't let you."

My wolf growled within me, her anger growing with every mention of Harold's name on her lips. "You don't get to decide who Harold belongs to," I stated, my voice firm despite the tremor in my hands. "And believe me, the last thing on my mind is to ‘steal’ anyone. Besides I only came here because you found me after I was attacked by those wolves.”

Elara looked confused and I realized what had happened.

“You didn’t find me, did you?”

“Of course not. Harold found you and sent me to pick you up from where you were lying, unconscious."

“No, because you’re lucky my wolf found you.”

It suddenly dawned on me that Harold had been saying the truth hours earlier. I hadn’t believed him because, at the time I opened my eyes when I was being carried back, it was Elara I had seen.

Elara scoffed. "I even asked him to leave you to die since you're a trespasser on our land but he refused. And here you are trying to take what’s not yours.”

The more she spoke about being entitled to Harold, the more I felt the urge to burst out and spill out the fact that I was, indeed his mate but Harold’s warning ringing in my ears. I didn’t know why he wanted me to keep our bond secret but my instinct told me to just trust him and go ahead with his plan.

Just as I was about to retort, the heavy oak doors creaked open, and Harold and Rax walked back in. The tension instantly dissipated, replaced by a sense of relief. And once again, static tension seemed to heat my veins at the sight of Harold.

Elara straightened her posture quickly. "Alpha," she said curtly, inclining her head in a brief greeting.

"Beta," she said, turning toward the second man before reverting to Harold.

"Elara," Harold responded, his eyes settling on mine. "Is everything alright?"

The question hung in the air. The man with him stood to the side, face looking amused.

"Just a little… misunderstanding," Elara replied, forcing a smile.

I took a deep breath and spoke, "It's fine. Elara was just filling me in on some pack traditions."