MasukCASSIUS VALE POV28 years ago…“Where are we going? My legs hurt, can we sit here and rest?” My little voice cried as mom held my hand.“You’re a big boy now, stop acting weak. We will soon get to our destination.” Mom said as she pulled me along with her. I turned back to see Dad walking behind us with a few bags.“Dad, are we leaving Ravenwood?” I asked as my Dad ruffled my hair playfully.“Smart boy, yes, kind of, just for a few days.” He replied as I nodded and kept walking in mom’s fast pace.Soon we got to a place with werewolf guards standing around and a house that looked quite old.We approached the men, it seemed like they knew my Dad, they exchanged greetings and Dad took one of them to the side while mom stood with me, playing with my hair.“Mom I’m hungry, when are we going to rest and eat?” I asked but mom rather gave me a soft tap on my shoulder.Dad signaled mom to come and she pulled me along with her, as we approached the guards had their eyes on me, they looked big
CASSIUS VALE POVMy office was silent except for the soft ticking of the grandfather clock by the wall and the faint scratching of my pen against paper.Reports stacked neatly on my desk, each one demanding attention.Vespera’s absence had created a gap I could not ignore.The pack needed a leader they could rely on, and until she decided to reappear, that responsibility fell fully on me.I leaned back slightly, exhaling as I closed the file in front of me and reached for my phone.Jin answered on the second ring.“Alpha.” His voice was calm, professional as always.“Give me an update.”There was a brief pause, the sound of papers shifting on his end before he spoke again.“The pack is stable. I have reinforced patrol rotations and instructed the guards to double night watch. No one has questioned Beta Vespera’s absence yet. I made sure her usual duties were quietly reassigned so it does not raise suspicion.”Panic spreads faster than fire in a pack like Ravenwood.“They are not to kn
VESPERA POVThe blade slid through the leather cleanly, a quiet, satisfying slice that split the training dummy from shoulder to waist. I exhaled slowly, lowering my arm. I raised the blade again and struck, harder this time, the impact echoing faintly through the empty hall.I didn’t miss, but the anger still sat in my chest like a burning coal that refused to die.Alpha Cassius Vale…I clenched my jaw, tightening my grip on the blade handle until my knuckles turned pale.Many years, I stood beside him. I knew his moods, his silences, his violence. I knew the exact tone his voice dropped to when he was about to destroy something. I knew the way his eyes darkened when someone tested his patience.I knew him.And yet, somehow, a fragile little human walked into his life and took everything.I let out a bitter scoff and drove the blade straight into the dummy’s chest.A fucking human…He used to speak about them with such cold indifference, like they were beneath notice, like they were
CASSIUS VALE POVThe cold night air kissed my skin as I leaned back on the lounge chair, my body still warm from Annelise.The pool water behind us shimmered under the soft lights, reflecting the stars above like the sky had melted into the earth.Paris was loud in the distance... Music, laughter, fireworks testing the night before midnight.But here, in this part of the house, it was just us.Just me and my girl.Just me and the woman that had somehow turned me into a man that looked forward to peace.Annelise lay on the lounge chair beside mine with a blanket lazily wrapped around her body, her curls messy, her cheeks flushed, and her lips still a little swollen from the things I had done to her by the poolside not long ago.My eyes drifted over her face and my chest tightened in a way I would never admit out loud.“What?” she asked with a small smile once she noticed my eyes on her, her voice still slightly breathless.I smirked. “You look like I ruined your bones.”She rolled her
ANNELISE POVThe next morning made every feeling I had too real.I sat in the passenger seat with both my hands pressed against my belly even though there was nothing to feel yet. Nothing had changed physically, but everything had changed neurologically.I was pregnant.Pregnant.Every time that word crossed my mind, my chest tightened.Cassius drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on my thigh.What if I wasn’t ready?What if I was going to be a terrible mother?What if school became impossible?What if I lost myself?I turned to the window and watched the cold Paris morning blur past. Christmas decorations hung from lamp posts, little wreaths and red ribbons everywhere, and people walked around looking festive and alive.Meanwhile, I felt like I was floating outside my own body.“Sweetness.” Cassius’ voice broke into my thoughts. “Stop thinking too much.”I turned to him. “How do I stop thinking too much when I might be carrying a whole baby inside me?”His
CASSIUS VALE POVThe ride back home was too quiet… heavy.Annelise sat by the passenger seat, staring outside the window while the Christmas lights from the streets reflected on her face.She looked beautiful, soft… fragile and completely somewhere else.I kept stealing glances at her while driving, trying to read her expression, trying to catch what exactly had shifted in her mood since this morning.But she was doing that thing she does when she is overwhelmed.She was shutting down.She wasn’t speaking unless I asked a direct question.She wasn’t smiling the way she usually did when we passed something silly on the road.She wasn’t humming to the Christmas songs playing low in the car.She was just there…And it was starting to piss me off, because I didn’t know what was happening in her head, and I hate not knowing things.I hate not being in control.My hand tightened on the steering wheel.Was she rethinking us?That was the first ugly thought that crossed my mind and once it en
ANNELISE POVThe soft chirping sound of birds outside, and the morning sun radiating through the opened curtains into the room woke me up. I sat up on my bed as I stretched my sleepy bones, yawning loudly.I swung off the bed and headed to the bathroom, it was the weekend, and I intended being prod
The way he had heard her sob in his car and didn’t make a move to console her, the way he had zoomed off after she left the car and not ran after her, knelt on the floor begging. Annelise was hurt, but mostly perplexed by his actions.This wasn’t the meet cute she had imagined in-between her rage t
Annelise was done dressing up for school and stood in front of the mirror checking out her reflection, it was a shadowed one as usual, she tried playing a fake smile she intended to wear for the rest of the day to avoid Beau Beauchamp's worrisome questions. She had thought to stay back and spend th
Annelise had heard a single knock on her door, she lay still, too lazy to get up, hoping that she wouldn't get another knock.She was curled up like an embryo on her bed in her new escape room in Isolde’s home, this had been her daily routine for the past three weeks, barely having her bath, barely







