Claimed by the Alpha and the Vampire Prince: Masquerading as a Man Chapter 177: Reed Is A Wolf

Clark’s POV

Looking back, I was so stupid. How could I have been so blind?

I’d been convinced that Reed wasn’t one of them—the monsters. He looked scary, sure. He had that suffocating aura around him, the kind that made you feel like you were suffocating just by being near him. That was the first thing I thought when I saw him—he looked terrifying, like soone you’d expect to rip your throat out without blinking. But he didn’t have any fangs, didn’t shift into a beast, so I figured he was safe.

I naively chalked it up to his intense presence being just that—intense. And sure, his brown eyes would turn almost yellow when he got angry, but I brushed it off as a trick of the light. Or maybe so sort of weird eye disease. I an, who was I to judge, right? I wasn’t exactly the expert on the whole werewolf thing. Who would think to associate that with sothing as absurd as a werewolf?

I was wrong. So wrong.

I found out the hard way.

It happened before the university had officially been restructured into the Docurum Academy, before classes even began. This was the day after the Blaze incident—when Blaze had drunk from Lucas and Lucas had been convinced I was the one who’d sold him out. Yeah, no idea how that happened, but it didn’t stop him from blaming .

I still don’t know if it was so twisted form of revenge, but after that, two of Lucas’s packmates decided to corner . It was right after I’d bought my lunch and stocked up on food for the whole day, hoping to avoid any further trouble. No such luck. They were tall, massive even, towering over like predators.

And they weren’t in a good mood.

I could barely breathe as I looked up at them. These guys were massive. The size of them made feel like a bug, sothing to squish underfoot. And judging by the way they were staring at , I knew this wasn’t going to be so harmless threat.

One of them growled, accusing of ssing with their things. I had no idea how I’d gotten their stuff, but they were convinced I had, and they were eager to teach a lesson. I could see in their eyes they weren’t joking. This wasn’t so schoolyard fight. This was real.

"You ssed with our stuff," one of them growled, his voice low and nacing. How I’d gotten their stuff, I still had no idea. But they believed I had. And when these two believed sothing, it was as good as fact.

I was terrified. They weren’t ssing around.

They laughed—loudly—and the one with the scar across his face said, "Since you look so cute when you’re scared, we’ll give you a head start. You’ve got three minutes to run. After that? We’ll catch you, and we’ll see how cute you look then."

Without thinking, my body reacted before my brain could catch up. I ran.

Like a rabbit.

I wasn’t looking back. I didn’t care that I dropped my lunch and it spilled all over the floor. The food was a distant thought compared to the pounding of my heart in my chest. I was running for my life. The adrenaline was already kicking in, every muscle screaming at to run.

The sound of their laughter echoed behind , each step getting closer. I could feel them enjoying the chase, savoring the fear coursing through my veins. I didn’t know how fast they were, but I knew I wasn’t fast enough.

Three minutes were up. They shifted

Two huge wolves—one with brown fur, the other red—were right on my heels. I scread. I scread as loud as I could, hoping that soone would hear, that soone would help. But by now, everyone on campus had learned to mind their own business. People didn’t care. The screams were just background noise to them—sothing to ignore.

I could feel their breath getting closer—could hear the thumping of their paws behind .

I was going to die.

I could feel them on my heels, their breath hot and heavy, the ground shaking with every step they took. The adrenaline that had been fueling started to fade, replaced by the cold reality that I was about to be torn apart. They could catch in seconds.

But they were enjoying the chase too much to end it quickly. I could hear them laughing as they drew nearer, the sound of their paws thundering behind like the beat of a death drum.

And then, I turned the corner.

Right into a dead-end.

I froze.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t strong enough to fight, not even close. I couldn’t outrun them, couldn’t hide. I was trapped.

"Please," I begged, my voice barely above a whisper as I spoke to the beasts in front of . "I didn’t touch your stuff. I swear."

Their eyes glead with a sadistic hunger, and I knew they weren’t listening. They were going to hurt . And worse, they were going to enjoy it.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the pain. I didn’t even bother to fight. I just closed my eyes, praying it wouldn’t hurt too much when they tore into .

But then, I heard a sound that made my blood run cold—a growl.

It wasn’t theirs.

A deeper, far more nacing growl filled the air.

My heart skipped a beat, and I opened my eyes just in ti to see sothing—a figure—blurring into motion. A massive force crashed into the two wolves from behind, knocking them both against the wall with a sickening crack. I thought, for a mont, that they’d been killed. They slumped to the ground, whimpering, their bodies unmoving.

But no. They weren’t dead. Just out cold.

The figure stood tall, a beast of a man, his chest and arms still covered in thick fur, his face twisted into a snarl. I felt the air shift, the temperature drop, and suddenly I was aware of how small I was in comparison. My breath caught in my throat, and I realized—this wasn’t so random person.

This was a half-shifted werewolf.

I took a step back, my heart hamring in my chest, the reality of the situation sinking in.

His chest and arms were covered in thick, dark fur, his face twisted in a snarl, but his eyes... his eyes were human. For the first ti in my life, I saw a werewolf and knew it for what it was. Not just so animal, but a person—a monster, sure, but a person nonetheless.

And when the guy turned toward , I froze. I thought he was going to finish what the wolves had started, but instead, he shifted back into a fully human form.

The figure turned toward , his gaze locking with mine. I thought, for a split second, that he was going to finish what the other wolves had started, that he was going to tear apart, too. But then, in the blink of an eye, he shifted back to his fully human form.

It was Reed.

Reed was a werewolf.

It took a mont to register the full impact of that. Reed, the guy who’d always been around, the one I thought was just a strange, scary guy. He wasn’t human. Not even close. He was a monster, a powerful one at that. He had taken down two fully shifted wolves, who were both larger than him, with nothing but sheer force. And he had done it while only half-shifted.

It was then that I realized just how dangerous Reed was.

I should’ve seen it before, I should’ve figured it out. But I hadn’t. Not until now.

Reed was standing there, completely unbothered by the two wolves at his feet, like he hadn’t just taken down two fully shifted beasts without even trying. I could barely wrap my head around what had just happened.

Since that day, I couldn’t look at Reed the sa way again. Every ti I saw him, I shuddered, rembering the way he had effortlessly subdued those wolves. The way he’d taken control.

If he could do that to them, what about ?

I was just a weak, defenseless human. If I made him angry, if I pushed him too far... what would he do to ?