58. Cassie

It’s been almost a week. Every night, I go to bed, still in Mrs. Berrybrows' comfortable guest room, I try to ignore the curling fear in my stomach.

Where is he? I should have asked him to mark me before he left. Not for any stupid schemes with Elle, but so I could know, within my soul, that he was safe.

He could be captured in Kallio. Drowned in that awful, lethal river. What if Elle has rounded up all the exiles and there is no sign of Robyn, Corbin, and the others to be found anywhere?

I pull open the curtains and stare up at the night sky. The clouds are thickening, barely any sun got through today. I can hear everyone in the pack commenting on it as they potter by.

Then, the saner part of me reminds me that Ayr is a grown man. Thirty years old. Strength of a god, or so it feels when he flings me into the air. Capable of leading hundreds of Betas into war. Survived perfectly fine on his own before I came along mere months ago.

Meaning deep down, I’m worried because I wasn’t do