Chapter One

      Cassandra didn’t understand.

   How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was…it was kind of blurry, but she knew something had happened to her- something really bad. She could remember walking down the street in her neighborhood, she wasn’t sure where she had been coming from, but funny enough she remembered the song she had been humming to- Bob Marley’s  ‘Everything’s gonna be alright’. She was just a few blocks away from her house when someone- or was it a something? She knew it had an odd form to it, and it had jumped at her. That was as far as her memories went before she found herself here.

   And then she saw him.

   She had never met the grey-eyed, silver-haired man before today, she had felt a sense of peace when their eyes met, but only a brief second passed before the terror overtook her, she couldn’t say why she was so afraid of him…again, her memory failed her, but it seemed like the fear was planted in her subconscious. She knew she felt safe with the elderly woman, so maybe it was a fear of males, but why?

   Her eyes darted to the woman who was watching her like a hawk as she drank the concoction she made her, it tasted awful, like someone threw a gym sock into a mixture of garlic, curry and asparagus, but the old woman promised it would numb the pain in her leg and her back and she would take anything for that.

   Her right leg was wrapped in a bandage, she was clothed with an extra large tunic she assumed belonged to the grey-eyed man, but didn’t ask. She liked the feel of the cloth against her skin and the smell of it soothed her oddly.

   Her eyes once again studied the magnificent room she was in, the size of it marveled her. It looked like something out of the 17^th century, the architecture, the paintings, the doors; everything reminded her of a 17^th century castle with its pristine walls and golden arcs.

   She noticed the elderly woman smiling warmly at her, she gave a sheepish smile as she realized she must have been caught wide-eyed. Her thought changed when she realized she had miraculously finished the soup albeit absent-mindedly.

   “Thank you for the soup” she said, her voice barely audible. It was much better now, twenty minutes ago it had been a croak, and eight minutes before that, she hadn’t even been able to emit a sound.

   “You’re welcome child. And I am called Magnolia.” The woman replied softly, her warm smile unwavering.

  Cassandra nodded, “Thank you Magnolia”

   “And what may I address you with?”

   “I’m sorry. I’m Cassandra; Cassandra Patrice”

   “Patrice?”

   She smiled, “I’m part Creole” she supplied to Magnolia’s silent question and got a nod of understanding in response. There was a moment of silence between both women which Cassandra finally broke, “So, how long have you been in Michigan?”

   Magnolia raised a brow at the girl, “Michigan?”

   She nodded, “Yes, this is Michigan….right?” she suddenly looked panicky, now unsure of her current location.

   “Child, this is Connecticut, not Michigan”

   Cassandra looked confused, and then amused. It couldn’t be, how did she get here? She couldn’t even find her way out of Michigan, how could she possibly have gone as far as Connecticut? “No, i…it’s Michi….it’s Michigan.”

   Magnolia placed a comforting hand against Cassandra’s shoulder once she noticed the girl getting agitated, “You need to sleep now child.” Magnolia said, her eyes staring directly into Cassandra’s troubled ones, she was casting a temporary sleeping spell on her. This was not the time to tell her all that had happened, a few more hours of sleep was sure to prepare her psychologically even if just a little.

   Cassandra stared at the old woman until her lids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep wondering what could have possibly gotten her here.

*****

“You need to relax Caleb, you’re really agitating the entire pack with your fretting” Roy, Caleb’s beta said, in what he knew would be a wasted attempt, he had been saying the same thing for over twenty minutes and he could still hear the turmoil going on in his Alpha’s head.

   “She doesn’t recognize me, she doesn’t bloody recognize me!” Caleb bellowed, more to himself than anyone else in the room.

   “You don’t know that yet, she just woke up, she could’ve screamed for any reason.” Roy once again, tried to reason with his best friend.

   “And then she ran away from me. I’m her mate, she ought to be instantly drawn to me as I am to her.” He continued, like he hadn’t heard a word Roy said. In all honesty, he couldn’t hear anything beyond his wolf’s howling and growling. It was even more agitated than he was.

   “Listen, Magnolia will soon be through with her, then, we’ll know what’s truly wrong with your mate”

   Caleb nodded absent-mindedly, but said nothing.

   A few minutes later, Magnolia came into the room.

   Caleb suddenly became alert and grabbed onto the woman’s shoulders as soon as he was close enough to do so, “What is going on Magnolia?” his face was a mixture of various emotions; fear, apprehension, anger, confusion, sadness….

   Magnolia knew he was in shambles right now and the worst was that she wasn’t about to make things any better, “You should sit first, Caleb” she suggested

   “I don’t want a seat!” he growled, as he turned away from the elderly woman, “All I want is my mate. Tell me what I want to hear.”

   His shouting didn’t seem to affect Magnolia who didn’t so much as blink at the intensity of his voice.

   “Caleb, just sit first, I beg you.” Roy implored calmly.

    Caleb growled as he plopped onto the closest sofa, his eyes on the little woman in his presence, “So?” he asked impatiently.

   “Caleb, she’s been hurt…”

 

“I know that already…”

   “Not by you.”

   Caleb looked on intently as his mind tried to come up with what Magnolia was trying to say, “Who by? And how?” he asked, all set to find the bastard who had the nerve to harm his mate and end him.

   This was the hard part. Magnolia thought, as she took in a deep breath, “Caleb, you need to rela….”

   “Who by? And how, Magnolia?” his voice more insistent, hiding the havoc he would cause if not given the answer he sought.

   “I do not know who by…exactly, but I do know that she was….she may have been raped.” Magnolia finished.

   Caleb could only stare in confusion at first, different thoughts stormed his mind, each one causing himself and his wolf more agitation. How? Where? His eyes turned stormy,  “When?” he wanted to say more, but those were the only ones that came to mind as of now.

   “Sometime within the last six months. All I can say is, she wasn’t born were, and from the looks of things, she must have been a virgin as well.”

   She had been changed? She was a virgin? Caleb fell whatever confusion he had been plagued with dissipate, quickly replaced by rage. Some nut-job had taken not one, but two of his gifts from his mate forcefully. He should have been her first, he should have been the one to turn her, the thought that he had been deprived of both by no will of the person who held the power to determine its recipient made him so…..the sound of wood hitting wood reverberated in the room as he flung a nearby chair at the door, the weaker entity- the chair, broke into different pieces

      The entire room was silent as both Magnolia and Roy were smart enough to not speak as Caleb vented. They both knew this was something he had to get out in any way possible.

   Caleb crashed into the nearest chair and dug his fingers in his hair, what the fuck? He had been waiting for her for centuries; his other half, his missing piece and now that he had finally found her, some idiot had to fuck her up. He swore he’d find that beast and rip its head off if it was the last thing he’d do.

   “I need to see her.”

   “She’s resting”

   “I won’t awaken her, I just need to see her” he stated

   Magnolia nodded, realizing there was nothing she could really say to dissuade him from doing as he pleased- he was after all, Alpha.

                                                                                             ******

   She skipped over the puddle by the road, making sure to navigate her way through the wet pavement with the grace of a seasoned royalty and the speed of an athlete.

   It was too late to be out, she knew that, but she had been caught up with reading for her mid-terms that she hadn’t realized time had flown by. The streets were now deserted mostly and as much as she tried to distract herself by singing along to her favorite Bob Marley song, she couldn’t stop the eerie feeling she got.

   She was just two blocks away from home when she saw ‘it’…. First she saw its eyes- an amber glow. It was watching her keenly. She took a step back, her eyes never leaving it, she took another step, unaware of how tightly she was gripping her books. One more step and it made its first move toward her. The stream of light from a street-lamp caught what seemed to be an abnormally large paw.

    She lost it.

   She dropped her books and ran, but whatever it was that was after her was much faster and before she knew it, she was more or less body slammed into what was luckily, a grassy land, and pinned by this enormous creature. She screamed wildly and tried to beat it off, but it was much too strong.

    She was suddenly hit with the soothing smell of cinnamon and…the earth? She could hear a deep, calming voice that sounded so far off, yet so close, what or who was that?

   Cassandra’s eyes shot open and there he was again. That same man she had seen when she first awoke, concern was etched all over his gorgeous face and soulful grey eyes. Her first instinct was to run away; she didn’t know this man, what if he knew that thing that had attacked her in her dream? Was that really a dream? Instead of running, she found herself calming down as she stared deeper into those eyes.

   So beautiful.

   Those were the only words that came to Caleb’s mind as he looked upon his mate. He had been watching her sleeping form from a distance when he noticed her struggling and mumbling incoherently. He rushed to her side and was speaking to her in seconds, forgetting whatever promises he made to Magnolia. Even though she had now calmed and was awake, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her side still. He wanted to give her the space he knew she needed, but his wolf was adamant, wanting to bask in the closeness of their mate. He stared into her enchanting eyes for what felt like forever, when they finally left hers, they moved to her lips.

   Perfect. She was just perfect. As if conscious of his hungry eyes devouring the inviting pair, her tongue snaked out to wet them. He watched the entire action, both mesmerized by the sight and struck by jealousy of the lucky appendage.

   This was too much torture.

   Unable to control the urge anymore, he staked his claim on what was his.