Chapter 3

~CASSIAN~

Marry a bloody she-wolf.

Curse the grand council and their rules.

How the hell was I supposed to bind myself to a woman from the family my people despised more than death itself? How could she even survive here, in the heart of our territory, when every soul would sooner tear out her throat than offer her a smile?

The Council claimed it was to end the bloodshed once and for all, especially after the latest brutal attack.

They swore a witch on their high seat had foreseen it: a union between Thorne and Varkas would end the cycle of revenge.

Prophecy.

Sure.

Lies. I knew better than to believe their nonsense.

To make matters worse, I wasn't being offered any Varkas. No, they were handing me the Alpha's firstborn daughter—the pampered princess who had never wanted for anything in her perfect life.

Daddy's little jewel, always granted whatever she wanted.

The Council didn't mention loyalty, only marriage. It was a loveless union anyway. If the Varkas daughter had a lover, she was free to see him as long as she didn't dishonor my family in any way. But by giving her that freedom, she couldn't expect me to be loyal to her in return. This was a marriage arranged to keep the council quiet while I carried on with my life while also planning my revenge.

My brother Zerath walks into the room. Though a year younger, he carried the same grim weight on his shoulders, his eyes filled with the same rage that settled in my gut. He understood better than anyone what it meant to drag a Varkas bride into our home.

I had hated these people for years, despising every inch of them. And now, all of a sudden, I'm supposed to live with one? To see her walk through these damn halls as if she belongs here?

"You don't have to love her," he tells me. "Just speak the vows. Then lock her away in one of the empty rooms. She'll spend her days staring at empty walls, and her nights alone."

I gave a curt nod. "I'm aware, brother."

He paced, fists clenched. "Curse those fools on the Council. How dare they force this upon you—force you to sleep with one of those beasts?"

My jaw tightened.

The memory of our mother's scream made me wince, the reminder too much to deal with right now. The Varkas wolves taking over our home. Her cries for help that pierced the night air, as she begged them to stop. She shouted that she had children but they did not care.

Zerath and I had been nine, hidden, watching helplessly as they killed her. Father never recovered. Grief devoured him until one day we awoke to an empty bed and a note that simply read, I cannot anymore. He vanished, never seen again.

Our grandparents had stepped in, raising us with burning hatred. Aunts, uncles, cousins, they all poured their strength into us, creating two boys into the men who now led the Thorne clan. Or the Moon Reapers as outsiders liked to call us.

Zerath stopped pacing, "Do they think so little of us? That the Thornes are so low we must blend our blood with theirs?"

I rose from my chair, the leather screeching under my weight. "Come. We won't give those Varkas the satisfaction of thinking I'm too scared to claim their precious princess."

Outside there were lines of our finest guards ready just in case something went wrong.

A few family members insisted on riding with us. I'd refused most of them, it was better to leave strong hands defending our home in case this "peace" was nothing more than a trap.

The great horn sounded, signaling departure. Horses stamped and snorted, eager for the road. Though cars waited in the garage, my family clung to tradition; horses were swifter in the deep woods, silent when needed, and bonded to us by blood-oath.

I was already seated on top of my stallion, Nightshade, as I led everyone through the gates.

Two hours of hard riding carried us into Varkas lands, territory we had avoided for years except to spill blood.

As we passed the massive gates, I felt the weight of a hundred aggressive stares. Varkas guards lined on both sides, teeth bared in barely concealed snarls, hands hovering near weapons.

Their scent was fucking too much for my senses, marking them unmistakably as the enemy.

I smirked openly, letting my gaze linger on each one, daring them to act.

"I can smell their fear," Zerath murmured beside me, lips barely moving. "Even on their own ground, with numbers in their favor."

"Weak," I replied softly. "All of them. Weak."

Nightshade tossed his head, sidestepping suddenly, and my reins jerked.

A startled gasp rose from the ground. I looked down to find a young woman sprawled in the dust.

She was dressed in rags. Why didn't she have proper clothes? Her blonde hair was pulled into a knot, strands escaping to frame a face smudged with dirt.

Perhaps nineteen at most, several years younger than my twenty-three.

She scrambled to her knees, head bowed.

"S-sorry, my lord," she whispered, voice trembling.

Did she know who I was? For some reason, she didn't seem to fear me like the others.

"Watch where you're going, girl," I snarled, more out of habit than true anger. I was far too harsh. For the first time ever, I felt guilty for my tone.

She lifted her face then and everything went still.

Eyes like the heart of the ocean, a beautiful blue, met mine without flinching.

For one impossible heartbeat, time stilled.

The noise of the courtyard faded, even the wind seemed to pause.

Something fierce stirred in my chest, a pull I could not name.

This woman. . . She seemed. . .I couldn't find the right words.

She looked small, fragile, as though a strong breeze might carry her away. Totally vulnerable. And in that moment, a strong urge surged through me: to shield her, to stand between her and every threat the world could summon.

"Who are you?" I demanded, the question leaving my lips before I could stop it.

Her gaze darted nervously to the guards now pushing through the crowd, then back to me. Fear flashed bright in those eyes.

"There she is!"

The girl's breath hitched. She bolted without giving me an answer.

Zerath stared after her, brow furrowed. "What the fuck was that about?"

I sat frozen in the saddle, heart pounding against my ribs, staring at the empty space where she had been. Those eyes haunted me already.

"I don't know," I answer him, lost in thought. "But I intend to find out."