CASSANDRA“Finnick!” I cried .“Mommy!” Finnick shouted back through tears. “Mommy, help me!”I shined the flashlight over the rocks and coordinated a small path. I could get a better look at the situation if I shifted a little around them.“Hold on, baby,” I pleaded. “Mommy is going to help. Just keep breathing.”“Okay,” Finnick whimpered, and the sound tugged at my heartstrings.I followed the beams of light and made my way down over the rocks. It was a little difficult to navigate, but I had to save my son.When I reached the bottom, I shined the flashlight around me to get my bearings, and when I did, I realized we were at the entrance of a small cave. Somehow, Finnick had managed to stamp on it and get caught in between rocks.“Keep breathing, Finnick,” I urged him as he wiggled and writhed. “I think I can get you out.”I carefully climbed back up to the top of the rocks and over to Finnick. Even in the dark, I could see his cheeks were soaked from his tears. His lower lip trembl
CASSANDRAWhen I awoke, my vision was blurred, and my head swam with incoherent thoughts. As I fought back the dizziness, my eyes began to adjust, and images of the Moon Goddess and the Holy Moon appeared.For a moment, I stared at them and wondered if this was the afterlife.Had the bear managed to take my life? Was I… dead?Suddenly, the room came into focus, and I recognized the mural I’d painted on my ceiling long ago. I wasn’t dead. I was in my bedroom, tucked tightly into bed.How had I gotten here?Suddenly, I felt the soft touch of a warm hand on my arm. When I glanced over, I caught sight of Marley.“Oh Cassandra,” she gushed in pure relief, and her pale green eyes glittered with tears. “You’re awake!”It took me a moment to register everything. I blinked a few times and then I smiled up at my dear friend. “H-hi, M-Marley.”The effort of speaking hurt my throat, but I was so relieved to see her that it didn’t matter.“I was so worried, Cass,” Marley continued on, and she wipe
CASSANDRAI tried to protest Marley’s proposal, but I knew it was a losing battle. I needed to get some rest so I could be strong enough to see Finnick. Even though he was with Alpha Gareth’s family, my poor boy was probably terrified and worried about me. And I was worried about him.But I couldn’t deny that I needed rest.So, I laid back in bed.Marley told me she’d be downstairs and she’d check on me in a little while, and then she quietly left the room. Once she was gone, I took a long deep breath and tried to process everything she’d told me.Asher Collins had saved my life.I closed my eyes after a while and tried to get some rest. Luckily, the medicine Marley had given me was highly effective, and I drifted off quickly, but my sleep was anything but peaceful.My dreams were plagued with images and nightmares of the inferno, along with scenarios of losing my Finnick all because Asher had exposed my real identity. The dreams were strange and twisted, and when I awoke, I was drenc
CASSANDRAMy voice caught in my throat as the Alpha King’s words set in. He was absolutely correct and I understood the potential consequences of my actions completely.Things in Anemond were different than they were here. In Anemond, going against the Alpha’s wish or running from the Pack was considered treason, and furthermore, a felony. They were strict in their laws and highly set in their ways in the capital, something I knew all too well. I’d lived in that terrible city for eighteen years.Asher Collins’ cold gray eyes bore into mine with horrible intensity as he waited for me to respond to his accusation, but I didn’t know how to answer. If I owned up to and admitted that I was trying to run away, I would be arrested and tried for treason. But I didn’t have another reason to justify my actions.Who would run into the forest at midnight with all of their belongings other than a deserter?Luckily, before I could respond, Rayden rushed to his feet.“You’re taking her to Anemond?”
CASSANDRA I felt like a rabbit cornered by a fearsome predatory. My entire body broke into goosebumps, and as I stared back at the Alpha King, I couldn’t believe what was happening. Was this truly the Asher Collins I’d known since childhood? I’d always known the Alpha King was ruthless. I’d heard countless tales from others in the Wild Crawler Pack about his heartlessness and his cruelty. It’d been said on many occasions that he was much like his father, the old Alpha King, a man who’d centralized his power and oppressed the members of his own empire. At the time, I hadn’t believed the stories. I’d thought there had to be some sort of disconnect, a misunderstanding of some sort that kept people from seeing the real Asher. He might not have been a loyal mate, but I’d always trusted that he would be a great Alpha. Past memories flooded through my mind. Asher had never been a cold and dominant man all those years ago. We’d grown up together and spent most of our childhoods with one a
CASSANDRAI gulped back the lump in my throat as I stared at the black mark on Asher’s skin. Of anyone, I never would have expected the Alpha King to become infected with the mysterious disease. Especially since he’d just arrived here from Anemond.Was the disease running rampant in the capital just as it did here?We hadn’t heard anything about it here, and besides, if it was so prevalent, there would have been no reason for Asher to keep his condition so private and concealed. So, how did he get infected in the first place? From the research I’d conducted with my patients, I’d come to the conclusion that the disease didn’t transfer very easily, which was especially lucky for us. Otherwise, we’d all have been infected by now, especially me. I worked around the infected so often that it was a miracle that Marley and I hadn’t become infected yet. Though the illness was peculiar and mysterious, there was one thing I did know- the disease weakened werewolves’ power. Once present in the
CASSANDRAI lingered outside the meeting room door for a moment, and my heart beat ferociously in my chest. Sure enough, Marley was gone, and I took this alone time to center myself.It’d been a long time since I’d thought about the girl I’d been before the inferno.As the years had grown by, I’d allowed her to fade away into near nothingness, but the return of Asher Collins to my life had changed that entirely. Cassandra Keller, my new identity, was no match for the Alpha King, and his arrival, along with the order to return to Anemond, had a chance of tearing my life to shreds.Long ago, I’d been Cora Felix, the daughter of a Gamma wolf named Darrin Felix. I had been born into a prestigious werewolf family, exalted in the Wegalla Empire, and the Crescent Pack in particular.My father and my older brother, Ector, were well-respected warriors in our Pack. They were tough as nails and a major asset to the crown. After a chain of events, I was chosen to be Asher-the Alpha prince’s-mate
ASHEROnce the healer left, I leaned back in the armchair in Alpha Gareth’s meeting room and released a sigh. My head was aching, as if I had a million hammers pounding at it at once. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. It was difficult to say whether the headache was from the mysterious disease worsening or the lack of sleep. I barely got a full night’s rest these days, and it was beginning to take its toll on my entire body. It was simply too difficult to rest when there was so much plaguing my mind.And now, there was someone else to consider, someone I couldn’t get out of my head. Cassandra Keller. Even though she was gone, her name ran circles in my mind, over and over, as if it were a song rather than a name. Cassandra Keller, a nobody healer from a long-forgotten Pack on the border of Wegalla. Over the past few conversations I’d held with her, I knew there was something special about her, something weirdly familiar that drew me in in unexplainable ways. As