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Dominique's POV

I couldn't believe what had just happened. Clara had turned down my proposal to be my mate, not really turned down, but it seemed so to me. I had never been so angry in my life, not even when I got turned down by Laura. I had put myself out there, opened up my heart, and she had just brushed it off like it was nothing, telling me she'd think about it.

I looked at her sitting across from me and tried to hold back my anger that night, my imagination got a hold of me. "So, what do you say?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

"I'd think about it," she replied, and that's when my anger boiled over.

"I didn't ask you to think about it. I asked you to be my mate," I said, my voice rising. "Do you not understand what that means?"

Clara stared at me, her eyes wide with surprise. "Of course I do. It's a big decision."

"Then why can't you make it? What's so difficult about it?" I demanded.

Clara looked down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers for a moment before looking b