Chapter 13

“You don’t close your eyes, Cassie! Stay with me! We’re going to get you home,” he pleaded, the desperation formed a lump in his throat.

At the palace, Daisy watched in horror as the search party trampled through the trees, carrying a figure in Mark’s arms that made her heart stop. Cassie was pale, translucent skin marked with blood across her cheeks. As anxiety blitzed her mind, it collided with a rush of excitement from what was about to happen.

“No…” she said, a mix of disbelief and dread washed over her.

Mia, standing next to her, gasped. “They found her!”

Daisy’s mind was racing. She hoped this day would arrive, but not like this. “What if she is dead,” she said, her eyes icy and scary.

Mia was taken back for a moment, she stared at her friend, speechlessly.

"She is alive!" Mia snapped, her eyes full of fury. "You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that!"

But with her heartbeat thundering wildly in her ears, Daisy's brain had started to whirl chaotically. What would it mean for her if Cassie were to actually live? Would the pack turn on her? Would Mark finally see Cassie as the real threat she had always been?

The scent of the pack now installed in the healing quarters wafted into her nostrils, with the search party rapidly behind it, and a chill went down Daisy's spine. The Greyer Pack found itself darkened at that very moment by the haze of uncertainty-was that girl called Cassie still going to live and face her rivals, or was this truly the end of that girl's story?

The hours of that night dragged on with uncharted interrogations, with the silhouettes of the forest marking a well of symptoms of doubt: would they ever see Cassie again, and if so, what kind of future awaited her among the wolves?

In accordance with the secret murmuring of the night forest, Cassie's fate hung somewhere uncertain in the midst of dancing flickers of moonlight.

Moon high in the sky over Greyer’s Palace, the silvery light yellowish cast upon the palace grounds. The grand halls echoed with whispers and secrets, yet the tension seemed to be actualized in the royal medical room. Mark and Lark, two Alphas of the pack and loyal to it, had found Cassie, their beloved Luna unconscious in the forest. Her delicate form lay against the cold stone, with the bright flowers around seeming to mourn her state.

There was such urgency in their rush to get her to the palace, fear clutching their hearts like a vice. The royal wolf doctor, an aged healer with silver fur and keen instincts, came shortly thereafter. Scrutinizing Cassie's frail body with furrowed brows, he informed the assembly.

“Weakness and blood loss,” the words came forth soft yet steady. “She will pull through, but we must act quickly.”

Mark's heart fluttered in frenzy. “But what could have caused this? She was perfectly fine a day ago!” Now pacing the room, his mind gnawed away with worry.

Lark pressed a calming hand on his shoulder. “You heard the doctor, Mark. She'll be fine. We're here to support her.”

But Mark couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something really evil lurking beneath the surface. That was never Cassie's, a shining ray of light in dark lives; now, that glow was almost extinguished, in a sense. He saw her pale face while the chest rose and fell in a bad and almost cautious kind of rhythm.

Swiftly, the door opened almost crashing into him, allowing Daisy, Cassie's friend, inside. When Daisy saw her unconscious state, her usual bright countenance gave way to shadows of rage and despair. "What happened?" Her words were drenched in disbelief and fury.

"She fainted, Daisy," Lark said, making an effort to keep calm. "The doctor says she’ll be fine."

Daisy stepped closer, her eyes regarding Cassie's pale face and her ragged breathing with mounting fury brewing inside her.

"Fine? She’s ruined everything! Do you understand? Everything!" Her voice echoed across the vast chambers.

Mark frowned in perplexity. "What do you mean?"

Lark cautioned Mark to keep mute and the twin Alphas excused the two friends.

The hateful mask returned to her face. "Cassie, the golden breed, the darling of all. And now, look at her! She’s weak and pathetic!"

Turning back to Cassie, a darker shade colored her voice; "She has always been in the road of what I deserve."

"Daisy, there is no time for jealousy; Cassie needs all the support she can get." Her subconscious mind spoke to her.

But, as her eyes caught a glimpse of the fruit knife lying threateningly on a plate nearby, they suddenly gleamed dangerously under the flickering candlelight.

Her thoughts dragged forth into the black, putting up pictures of vengeance and revenge. Wouldn’t this Pack be better off without her?

Slowly, she picked up the knife. The cold steel sent a shiver running down her spine.

"I'm tired of living in her shadow. Maybe it's time for her to know what it's like to lose everything."

With her attention snapping back, alarms went off in her mind. "What are you doing?" Her wolf questioned

She looked at Cassie with a mixture of fury and despair. "She has to pay for what she’s taken from me!"

"Once she is gone, I will become the Luna, just a little slit at the wrist, not too alarming,” She spoke to herself, her fingers gliding through the blades.

She was crouching by Cassie's limp form, the knife glittering dangerously. Time seemed to slow down, with each heartbeat echoing in the hollow silence.

Daisy's gaze burned into Cassie's with a frenzy of raw emotion. She hesitated, knife suspended between desire and conscience. "She's taken everything from me..." came a whispered confession, dripping with venom.

Would Daisy succumb to the dark urges within her, or would the bonds of friendship prevail against the surging tide of envy?

The answer just laid beyond the horizon.