Clarissa's POV

My secret?

There was only one secret that I had, and that was my feelings for Damon. I never told anyone before.

If anyone knew, it would only be because of how I acted around him.

But still, no one would be able to know for sure.

She smiles at me, and I try to hide the worried expression on my face.

I can’t let her know that she was right. I can’t tell her that I genuinely did have a big secret. She was

probably doing this to mess with me, to get me to confess. That will never happen.

This was one secret that would always stay with me. No one else must ever know.

Class finishes quickly after that, and I’m happy to be away from her. I’m happy to be away from all of them.

But I’m looking forward to seeing him more than ever now. I can’t wait to be near him once more. I don’t want to have to spend another minute seeing him with Anya.

I saw how miserable she made life for Atticus and Autumn, even when it was clear he had

chosen Autumn over her.

If she only knew how much I loved Damon, she would no doubt try to make my life miserable as well. I was surprised that they still kept her around our family after all she did to separate Atticus and Autumn.

She was a very sly bitch.

How much could they believe it was a just a spell?

I didn’t trust her at all. I kept feeling that there was plenty about her that we didn’t know about. And I also felt like it was my duty to find out what she was hiding from the rest of us.

She still had to choose between Damon and Dante.

While I was in love with Damon and didn’t want him to be with her, I also knew that Dante was too good for someone like her.

I wish they would both get over her already, as Atticus did. If he could do it, why couldn’t

they as well?

Atticus also pointed out that he didn’t feel anything for her when he lost his memory after the accident.

If she was his mate and he didn’t officially reject her, how did he so easily move on from her?

How did Autumn become his mate?

I felt like everyone wasn’t asking the important questions.

When I enter the cafeteria, I spot Damon, and of course, he’s with Anya. Atticus and Autumn, as well as Dante, are also with them.

“Behave yourself, Clarissa,” I whisper under my breath.

I knew now that Leslie was keeping an eye on me. I still wasn’t sure if she was referring to my feelings for Damon, but I couldn’t take any chances.

Especially not with the number of people in the cafeteria.

“Someone’s finally finished with her class,” Atticus says as I join them at the table.

I smile and take a seat next to Autumn, even though next to Damon is really where I want to be.

“How was class?” Damon asks me.

I can feel his intense gaze. I know why he’s asking that question. He still wanted to know if anyone was hara.ssing me.

“I had a great time.” I lied.

If I mentioned Leslie and her message, I risked him finding out I liked him. I still wasn’t sure if that was what she was referring to, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I didn’t want the Fawns to kick me out and separate me from the one person that made me want to keep living. I never wanted to be apart from him.

“Are you sure?” He asks.

I can hear the edge to his voice. He doesn’t believe me. Of course, he would be able to see right through my lie. He was good at reading me.

I wasn’t about to give in now and tell him the truth. I hate lying to him, but this was for his good as well as mine.

There are things that he must never know, and this was one of them.

“Damon, the girl said she had a great time,” Anya says. “Why are you trying to force her to say something else? If she says she had a good time, she did. Let’s talk about something else. Let Clarissa live her life; I’m sure she feels stifled by how overprotective you are.”

My lips part. Why the hell would she say that? I loved his overprotective side.

Autumn gave me a look, and I felt the same way that she did. We both didn’t like Anya at all.

Autumn had more reason to dislike her after the many, many things she’s done to try and cause problems between her and Atticus.

I was happy that she wasn’t trying to pull them apart anymore. She did apologize, but that apology seemed fake to me. She blamed it on the spell and claimed she wouldn’t have acted that way otherwise.

At least Autumn trusted Atticus enough to let him sit at the same table with her.

Dante clears his throat and kisses Anya on her cheek, “we can talk about anything you want us to"

I try not to gag at that sight. Damon gets noticeably irritated that he’d just kjssed her in front of him.

I try not to get upset by his reaction. It’s normal for him to react like that when she is supposedly his mate. I still wasn’t sure about that.

I believe that both Damon and Dante hadn’t found their real mate, just like Atticus hadn’t until he married Autumn.

l just needed to find a way to prove it. And I was planning on doing it the first chance that I got. I just wasn’t sure if doing that would make Damon upset with me.

That was the last thing I wanted to happen. He’s never been angry with me, and I didn’t want to

change that.

Whatever I had planned, I had to be smart about it.