Cassandra’s point of view: Dalton had all of us standing in a line, facing him. The seriousness on his face showed that his devotion to duty never wavered. Every single trace of playfulness from earlier was long gone. “We’ll start with some exercises. Jeremy, Rowan,” Dalton ordered two warriors to come forward to show us some demonstrations. Both warriors right away started illustrating the exercises that we’d have to do for the next hour or so. They did it so smoothly as though they’d done this a couple of times already. “You can all follow along.” Dalton stated, trailing his eyes across all the pack members. When his eyes met mine, I winked at him. His eyes widened for a split second, clearly not expecting that I’d have done that. Mischief danced in his eyes, but he managed to keep his face straight. Shaking my head, I put some distance between the two girls standing beside me to follow along with the exercises that Jeremy and Rowan were demonstrating. Shortly after, Dalto
Cassandra’s point of view: “Since we have only a few minutes left, we’ll do the combats in our human forms. You will each be equipped with a single weapon.” Dalton started, pointing at the side table which was filled with all types of different weapons. “Feel free to choose a weapon.” I followed the others towards the table to grab a weapon of my own. Almost everyone could familiarize themselves with at least one of the weapons. But, I couldn’t say the same about me. While they knew which weapon they could use to its efficacy, I wasn’t even aware which one I could use to my advantage. Ashley flashed me a smug smirk when she noticed my hesitance and confusion in selecting my desired weapon. As if she’d always chosen the weapon she’d laid her hand on, she picked it up. It was a single spiked ball attached to a handle by a metal chain. A flail! How did she even lift that up from the table? That looked heavy as fuck! And she held it up as though it weighed nothing in her hand. Okay,
Cassandra’s point of view: “Alpha Dalton -” Ashley scrambled towards Dalton. Dalton raised a hand to silence her. She stilled completely before bowing her head in obedience. The dark energy that had been controlling me slowly retreated back as though it hadn’t even been there at all. I felt like it could tell I wasn’t in any kind of danger anymore. I couldn’t say the same about my wolf. Sierra was still there. “You’re both punished! Do 20 laps of the training field… in your human form.” Dalton announced firmly, meeting my eyes when he said the last part. He left no space for any further discussion. I glanced down, feeling guilty. I was at fault for letting this thing within me dominate me and the whole situation. Bowing to Dalton to show him that I accepted the punishment, I started running. I deserved this punishment, I thought. ‘No, you don’t.’ Sierra disagreed. ‘Sierra, please…’ I pleaded to my wolf, not wanting to argue with her. I blocked her off. I wanted to clear my
Cassandra’s point of view: It’s been two days since I’d last seen Dalton. He wasn’t around to direct the pack training. It was one of the best warriors who trained us for the past two days. I didn’t get to see him at all during the day nor at night. It felt like he just went missing all of a sudden or was he avoiding me on purpose? Why would he do that though? Either way, I didn’t like that he wasn’t there and that I couldn’t see him. I wandered across the stream, admiring the view from up here. The bittersweet moment I’d shared with Dalton back then flashed into my mind. Looking back over my shoulders at the specific spot where we’d first shared a kiss, where we’d first felt this strange pull drawing us closer, I felt my heart skip a beat. The emotions I’d felt since then whenever Dalton was around me seemed too real to just ignore as some kind of physical attraction. It got to be more than that but what? If only I could talk to someone about my feelings, about the strange ye
Cassandra’s point of view: “You know this creature?” Dalton sounded shocked that I'd identified it. “Well no… I mean yes but I’ve only seen them in movies.” I was confused to see one here, in the middle of a pack of wolves. “Do you know how to defeat it?” He stared at me, hoping to hear me say yes. I wasn’t so sure if I knew how to defeat one. From the movies I’ve seen, zombies are different and the ways to defeat them varies depending on their strength and abilities. ‘Go, take a look.’ The familiar voice within me commanded, surging above, ready to take complete control. “I need a closer look.” I stated, making my way down the mountain and heading straight towards it. I wasn’t the one speaking. I was being influenced by this dark energy yet again but Dalton wasn’t aware of it. ‘Are you sure you want to get near that thing?’ Dalton’s voice drifted in my mind. ‘It might look frightening but it should be easy to deal with it… but first, I need to check its strength.’ I replied.
Cassandra's point of view: Not only me but the warriors standing behind me were shocked to hear him begging us for his death. But, they didn't, not even once, relaxed their posture. They stood tall and stiff, ready to take charge if needed. "Why do you want us to kill you?" I asked the zombie. It was quite hard to breathe in the same air as him since his mouth stink. Yet, I held on, hoping to get the answers the dark energy within me was hoping to hear. "They tortured us." His voice softened as though he was re-living every moment he'd suffered. He had sounded gruff at first but then, his voice had turned more... human. 'What is he talking about? They... who?' I questioned the voice within me. Unlike earlier, it ignored me. "Who tortured you?" I heard myself questioning the zombie instead. "I don't know them. They took us from our homes and imprisoned us." He answered me as if he felt obliged to obey me. That was weird! I couldn't help but think. "Where?" The dark energy wit
Cassandra’s point of view: I stood in the dungeons corridor, feeling at a loss as to what had happened and as to what to do next. Now that the thing within me wasn't hanging above the surface anymore, I felt stunned with the warriors staring at me as though waiting for my next command. Their Alpha was injured and with their Beta in a coma, they were clueless without a leader to guide them during such a strange experience with an unseen human turned into some sort of a creature. The enormity of the situation I had just handled was sinking in. Taking in a deep breath, I said, "Until Alpha Dalton doesn't get to the root of this problem, don't tell anyone about it. This man might be wrong about the Moon Howlers."I looked through the small squared window at the human who was currently lying down on the cold concrete floor even when there was a bed in the room. I'd made sure to keep him in a room the furthest away from the rogues imprisoned here. He shouldn't know that we're werewolve
Cassandra’s point of view: It was as if he had always been in my life and I’d just been on hiatus – waiting for him to come back. We fumbled backwards against the door to my bedroom… pushed it open. My room had been cleaned for the day, and my bed had been freshly made by the servants. Dalton lowered me down upon it, his hands running through my hair, on my body, hungry to touch, hungry for me. It felt good to be in his arms again. It felt so right. This was why it had hurt so much when he had stayed away from me for the past two days – because I’d felt as if I’d been losing a part of myself. All the confusing thoughts and puzzling emotions I’d feel about him would go away when he’d be with me. His presence felt divine enough to make me feel so at peace that I’d forget about anything else. He had this charismatic presence that would distract anyone. That must be because he’s an Alpha… that would explain why I’d always feel like this around him. It couldn’t be just me! Yeah, that’