Elijah had left. And the wolves had carried Ezra's body to be prepared for the funeral.
She sat at her dresser, looking at her mascara smudged face. In her fingers, She twiddled a black ring, she had slipped it off Ezra before he was taken away.
She slid the ring on her finger, it was too big, but anything that was his, she wanted close.
Clarissa grabbed some tissues and quickly wiped the mascara off her face. She felt like she had been hit by a truck, it hurt so much to lose him.
Elijah said he needed to go, she assured him that she was okay and wanted to be alone for now. But she secretly wished he had stayed, he comforted her far more than others would. She didn't know if it was that he was a different supernatural creature, other than a wolf or if she had strong feelings for him.
Finally, she found the strength to stand up. She didn't want to go outside; but she had a decision to make. So she carefully walked out the door and into the camp.
There, everyone she could count was there; they were waiting for that decision too. Clarissa's bloodline had always been alphas to the pack; should she choose to carry on their legacy or just give up.
"Elijah?" She asked as she moved to the inner circle "what are you doing here?"
"We're allies" he said "I should be here for your big decision" smiling at her.
Clarissa didn't know if it was her grieving making her insecure; but shouldn't he have said something about kissing her, at least saying he cared for her. Not ignoring the whole morning they had spent and treating her like an ally.
She turned away. "I know all of you have waited for my decision" she shouted, trying to choke back the tears. She needed to be strong; even though she can't be. "And I'm here to say; I am choosing to carry on my family's legacy as alpha, my brother told me to look after the pack and I am keeping my promise, so from now on; you answer to me and if anyone has anything to say about this, speak now"
"I do" a man growled, emerging from the group "your family has been here too long"
Clarissa turned to face him. She looked infuriated but slightly amused, she yearned for a distraction and now she thought Elijah had his fill of her; she would resort to this.
"Okay" she shrugged "if you wanna be alpha, what do you suppose we do?"
"Fight, to the death" he growled
"I don't kill my pack" she spat with venom "fight until surrender" she said in a demanding voice.
Elijah had stepped back; this was wolf country and he had no business in intervening, the pack including Clarissa would not be happy.
"Sure" the man squared up to her, toppling her about 7 inches
"Take off your ring" she said, sliding her moonlight ring as well as her brothers. She walked up to Elijah and placed them gently in his hand, not saying anything but giving him a thankful look as she walked backwards into the circle.
The man had taken his off and thrown it to the side as if it was nothing. "Let's do this"
He made the first attack, pouncing like a cat. Clarissa immediately swerved the oncoming wolf, leading to him rolling on the floor before jumping back up.
"Don't go easy on me" she found a thrill in this; Ezra never had allowed Clarissa to fight and this was her first time; she was actually doing surprisingly well.
Punch after punch, Clarissa ducked and she threw a couple of good ones herself, that winded him.
He snapped his head up to her and looked her in the eyes, trying to distract her from the upcoming punch.
Clarissa grabbed his fist with force and squoze until she had the power to bend his elbow and throw him on the floor.
Her hand still clenched onto his and now she was pushing up slowly, causing a large amount of pain before she completely broke his arm.
"I surrender" he cried out, but Clarissa didn't hear him. She was too caught up in the sound of cracking in his arms and the blood rushing around her body, mixing with the adrenaline that she had just released.
She wanted to fight more.
"Clarissa" Elijah ran over and grabbed her shoulder to tell her to stop
"What?" She snapped out of her trance and looked at Elijah like nothing had gone wrong, she had won, she had asserted dominance.
"Stop, now" Elijah took her hand and relaxed it before gently pulling it away from the man. He now scuffled up and ran away.
"Anyone else?" Clarissa stood up in all glory waiting for more takers. "Oh" she sounded disappointed when nobody stepped forward.
"Are you okay?" Elijah asked, the only injury that had occurred was a small cut to her cheek, from when she fell down to break the mans arm.
"I'm okay" she nodded. The adrenaline slowly drained from her body and she realised that her brother was still dead and that fighting could help her, but it would never bring Ezra back.
"I've gotta go" she held back a sob when talking to Elijah and ran off back into her home.
Elijah stood there. Maybe, by giving her space, she would heal into her usual self again. And then they would be able to carry on from where they left off. He was torn between going after her or leaving her alone.
And that's when he got a call from Hayley, which changed everything.