“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” Cassius came out with a smile on his lips. It was a smile I came to call ‘my special smile’ because Cassius never smiled.
Born to an omega single mother, he lived as the pack runt for the better part of his life. When his mother died from a mysterious disease that degenerated our kingdom’s omega population, his Alpha took him in, only to mistreat him. He served as the Alpha’s steward, his knight, and a vessel for unleashing his anger until he killed him. He lived a tough life that toughened him.
“It’s no problem.” I adjusted myself in my seat. My mission here was tricky and might fail but I had to try. “How are you?” I cleared my throat. My words had no emotions in them, sounding as if I did not care about his well-being.
“Why does it sound as if you don’t care about that?” He chuckled. “I have a meeting in twenty minutes so let’s cut to the chase. Why did you request an audience with me so early in the day?” He was in the best mood during the mornings.
“I would like you to call off our engagement.” The bombshell slipped from my lips with my eyes fixated on him.
Beating around the bush and cloaking words with more words never appealed to me but I mastered society’s habit of speaking in a roundabout manner. However, looking at Cassius sitting opposite me, I had no interest in masking my words. I would rather not prolong issues with him.
“That’s not a funny joke.” A shadow darkened his face for a second. “Being my Luna isn’t something you should joke about.” He leaned back in his seat, muscular arms crossed on his chest.
“Does it seem as if I am joking?” I copied his movements with my eyes fixated on his.
A thick lump clogged my throat when I leaned back in my seat. Unable to hold such a sloppy position, I sat upright, my spine straightening. Cass broke our eye contact, his palm rubbing his nape. I linked my fingers together under the table to stop my hands from trembling.
“What is wrong with you?” The question took me off guard, making me flinch.
“Alpha –“
“Why do you call me ‘Alpha’ now? I have held this position for three years and after three years of trying to have you address me with my title, why have you chosen now?” His upper lip twitched.
“It is – “
“Ridiculous.” He pushed out of his seat and walked to the window, facing away from me.
‘Cass! Cassius!’
‘Alpha. Don’t be stupid, Persephone, you must address me by title!’
Recalling the sting of those words, spoken in the presence of a small crowd, made me flinch.
Calling Cassius by his name made me feel closer to him so despite his upgrade from an ordinary wolf to the Alpha of a pack, I refused to address him formally. It took many years for me to convince him to call me by my nickname. We were fine with calling each other by our names and nicknames until a rift grew between us; a rift that caused him to sneer my name and rebuke me when I addressed him without his title.
“You fought hard to earn that title. It is only fair I use it when addressing you.” The teacup on the table had turned cold. Looking down at it showed me a glimpse of my pale face.
“Have you gotten cold feet?” He turned to me.
“No, I simply do not wish to burden you with this mating.” I raised my head and held his gaze as he strode over and settled back into his seat across from me.
“Burden me,” he muttered to himself. “Did I give the impression that I am burdened by this?” One thick eyebrow raised in question.
“I know you wish only for your true mate.” He scoffed at my response.
“That was an excuse to get the elders off my back about mating. Less than twenty per cent of our kind find their true mates. Only an idealistic fool waits around for a soulmate they may never meet.”
Yes, I knew that much. He made an excuse of waiting for his fated mate to stop the elders from pushing their daughters on him but April’s appearance made him realize a part of him longed for his destined mate all along.
“What if your mate appears one day? What would you do?” I probed.
“I never knew you were the type to consider such idealistic things. It confirms my suspicion that you are having jitters already.”
“Alpha –“
Ha! Why did he suddenly have such a large smile on his lips? I hated how that smile made my heart flutter. Even after dying at his hands, I could not harden my heart when confronted by a simple smile. Ah, Cassius, after everything –
It was yesterday I woke up to find myself in bed after dying. Closing my eyes conjured up different horrible scenarios in which I died a gruesome death at the hands of Cassius and April. In every dream, I screamed and cried out to the goddess to be saved. I shouted at Cassius to warn him of April’s deception but in each dream, he never believed me. In each dream, he plunged his knife into my heart.
I went back in time but I could not tell anyone. Not only would they not believe, they would also tag me as a mad person, tarnishing my name and my father’s. The goddess gave me a second chance at life so I must live right.
“It’s okay, Perse. You don’t have to worry about my true mate crashing our engagement. Such coincidences only happen in books.” Cass’ voice cut into my thoughts.
“In the future, you will meet your mate and I might too. It is only –“
“Enough!” He barked, a strange look flickering in his eyes.
Was it happening already? Cassius never yelled at me until April came into the picture. As his best friend and biggest supporter, he cherished me too much to raise his voice against me.
“Perse –“
“Cassius, we will not be good for each other,” I cut him off. “If you don’t want to cancel the engagement party, we can push it back for a month –“
“No,” he spoke with cold finality.
“Or even a week!” Desperation clawed at my throat.
Yes, postponing the engagement wouldn’t be a bad idea. April would show up before then so we would have a valid reason to call off the engagement ceremony.
“I won’t do that,” he growled. He got out of his seat and moved it, dumping it beside me. “You have prepared hard for this and I won’t let you back out now because you are afraid.” He leaned into me, brushing my hair from my face.
“Afraid?”
“Yes. I don’t know what you’d be scared of but I see fear in your eyes when you look at me.” Strong hands gripped my chin and forced my gaze on him. I swallowed. “Persephone, I know that I rejected the idea at first but now, I am certain you would be the perfect Luna for me and my pack. Being the Luna of such a large pack may seem daunting but if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s you.”
“I don’t want to do it.” A bitter taste coated my tongue and my heart clenched.
“Permit me to hold your hands as you have held mine all this time.” Big hands held mine.
The atmosphere in the room changed to one I could not explain. The look in his eyes was strange and made me uncomfortable. There had never been a time Cassius looked at me with such affection in the past.
I thought back to how we were before we fell apart. It seemed like ages ago but we used to be close. He was cold and distant from everyone else but I was clingy and my clinginess rubbed off on him. We hugged often and sat close to each other all the time. Sometimes, I would place my head on his shoulders and he would wrap his hand around mine but he never looked at me with anything other than friendly eyes.
Remembering the past and how I always threw myself at him, I felt silly. Him touching me made me uncomfortable so I pulled my hands from his and he let me go after a moment’s hesitation.
“You are pulling away from me,” he mumbled, staring into my eyes. He sighed when I looked away. “Why are you putting up a wall against me all of a sudden? There is no reason why – ah –“ He trailed off and my heart stuttered. “Have you fallen in love with someone else?” Those words caught me off guard.
I was too busy dying at his hands to have fallen in love with someone else but would this be a good enough reason to call off the engagement?
“Yes,” I lied through my teeth.
“You – With who?” He growled low in his throat before shaking his head. “No, it doesn’t matter.” He sighed. “I know your feelings for me, Persephone and our engagement is in six days. We even invited the Alpha King!” He scrubbed his palms down his face.
Did he know of my feelings?
I wanted to laugh. Of course, he knew. I had been hiding behind my father to propose this union and he knew of my feelings and he did not reciprocate them but he didn’t hesitate to use them to his advantage.
“You are promised to me, Perse and I have no intentions of letting you go.” His eyes glowed with a strange emotion that had me swallowing.
“This won’t do.”Back in my room, I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were hollow and red and my skin was shockingly pale. My head hurt, my body hurt and my mind hurt. Knowing the past or the future, I suppose, I could not afford to mate with Cassius but I also could not annul the engagement on my own, not without Cassius’ consent. The only other way was for my father to step in and I had vowed to keep him out of all this.This was the mess I created and the last time he tried to clean up my mess, he had his throat cut. I swallowed through my dry throat. “No, this won’t do,” I muttered to myself.“Miss Persephone?” Sylvia knocked on my door. “Emma is here for the final dress fitting.”“Send her in. Have someone prepare tea and some snacks. She must have set out without breakfast to arrive here this early.” My fingers drummed against my chair handle.This would not do.Cassius was one of the most powerful men in the Deimos kingdom now and I made him. I built him with my hands fr
On the day of my engagement to Cassius, I wore a black dress. It was a dress that sparkled under even the smallest lights– but black. I kept my makeup simple because I knew that if there was one thing I had, it was a face that did not need much to capture people’s interest. “Your dress…” Cassius’ mouth fell open and I fought the urge to laugh.“Isn’t it beautiful?” I asked, forcing a smile.The only feeling that came up every time I saw or thought of Cassius was disgust. It was even hard for me to smile while looking at my killer but now that I had decided to take the path of revenge, I had to pretend to avoid suspicion. I had to play the part of a fool.“Of course, it's beautiful,” he said with a smile. “You are always beautiful but the colour…” Again, he trailed off. “Do you want me to change?” I pretended to be nervous.In fact, whether or not he liked the dress didn’t matter to me. I remember dying in my engagement dress in my previous life and now, I decided that if I was to d
Despite how much I wanted to be unbothered, my chest still felt stuffy. Soon, Cassius would introduce another woman and everything would change.Even if I forgot everything that happened in the past, I would never forget how my world shattered on the day I met April. On a day when people came in from all around to celebrate Cassius’ and I’s engagement, he brought in another woman and joyfully announced he had found his mate.How did I love such a wicked man?The way he smiled that day haunted me. A man who never smiled brought in a strange woman and beamed like it was the best day of his life while his new fiancée stood to the side. It was supposed to be a big day for me but it ended up with me being humiliated. Everyone left that day with a sigh on their lips, talking about how we wasted money on an engagement that ended on the spot.“Are you okay?” Ayla asked when I looked at the clock for the tenth time in ten minutes.“I’m fine,” I lied with a smile on my face but she reached out
My mouth opened and spit out words before I had the chance to engage my brain. It wasn’t until after the words left my mouth that I thought of how they may sound to this rumoured crazy guy. The weird expression on his face evaporated and his gaze hardened. I stilled myself, waiting for him to open his mouth and curse at me but he was silent for a long time; long enough for me to become anxious. My wolf paced, her anxiety heightening mine.When he opened his mouth, the voice that flowed out of his mouth was calm.“What do you mean?” He looked me square in the eyes, his gaze unwavering and without giving me a chance to hide.It was unlike me to hide so I straightened my shoulder and held his gaze. A thick brow raised and the corner of his lips pulled up in a derisive smile that seemed to taunt me. It fueled my irritation but it also made me feel hot inside, hot with the urge to wipe that stupid smirk from his face.“You want the throne, don’t you?” I asked.Despite never having any int
I told him where to find the sword and it was up to him whether or not to believe me. If he did, he would find it and it would make him trust me. His finding that sword was also necessary for the next step of the plan forming in my head.“Miss, where have you been?” Sylvia and Hannah rushed to me when I returned to my room that night.I took off the heels I had been wearing all day long. There was already a blister forming on my feet as I fell backwards into bed, my arms splayed out and anticipation buzzing inside me. I could almost taste the sweetness of revenge but the dangers ahead were not lost to me.Holding hands with Alpha Koa meant going against the Alpha King and his family. Even though I knew he came out victorious in the end thanks to the memories of my past life, I knew I had my work cut out for me but with Alpha Koa’s protection; I felt a bit untouchable.“Alpha Cassius came by earlier,” Hannah said as she massaged my feet. “There was a strange woman with him too.” My ear
CASSIUS’ POVI loved Persephone Adelard as much as I hated her. She was everything to me. Without her, I was nothing. She was a constant reminder of the past I wanted to leave behind, a reminder that I was nothing, nobody, yet, I loved her. Sometimes, I felt I would place the world at her feet if she demanded it but most times, I wished she did not exist.“You – Are you really going to take another woman as your mate?” As I stared at the pitiful expression on my true mate’s face, I felt annoyed yet sorry. It was a worse duality than I felt when I stared at Persephone. “I – I prayed hard to the goddess to find you and now – why me? How could this happen to me?” My mate cried.How did she know? How did Persephone know I would find this wretch on the day of our engagement? She was a smart woman but she was also naïve and it was not like she could see the future.Then how did she know?April’s tears moved my wolf, making me uncomfortable. This woman with a wretched green dress was who the
KOA’S POVPersephone Adelard.‘She is either very stupid or very smart. I am curious as to which it is,’ my wolf, Anakin, said.She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.‘Please, don’t have any funny ideas about another man’s fiancée,’ Anakin warned.Persephone Adelard was well-known. Despite no one knowing what she looked like because of how well hidden her father kept her, it was impossible for her not to be well known. Her father led the kingdom to victory during the rogue battle over twenty years ago. He was known as the Crimson Wolf, a cold-blooded killer that would cut down everything that stood in his path to victory.After his mate died, he shut himself off from the world. When he emerged again, we all knew he had a daughter but no one knew what she looked like so since her birth, people have been curious about Persephone.When she started to make waves for herself, it was because of Cassius. There was no one who did not know that Persephone Adelard picked up the runt
“Sylvia, my engagement ring has gone missing,” I said as Sylvia helped me out of my dress. The hand working the buttons on my back froze and Sylvia rushed to stand in front of me, her mouth wide open. “Mi- Miss! This is a serious issue. Why are you so calm about it?” She screamed in my face. Once again, I was reminded of my past. In my past life, I had been so angry at Cassius for humiliating me on our engagement day that I took the ring he gave me and threw it into a river. Then I panicked and accused April of stealing it. It was the very beginning of my bullying the so-called poor girl. This time around, I was not angry at Cassius, I was rather curious. I kept the ring amongst my jewellery and had seen it while I prepared to go out earlier in the day but now the ring was missing. Right after April came in to clean. I wanted to laugh but it was not funny. “That aside, Sylvia,” I pulled up my hair. “What do you think of my fiancé?” The way her eyes widened and she stiffened made