LOGINCassie Jones POV
THE NEXT MORNING I yawned on my bed as I turned around to look at Jamie but I couldn’t see him so I stood up to take a proper look at the room. Even though I couldn’t remember clearly what happened last night, I knew we both just had sex together and he professed his love for me too. As I stood up, I smiled at the blood on the bed signifying my innocence before going into the bathroom to shower. After showering, I wore the short flag pink gown on the dressing table which I guessed he had just left for me and picked up my purse. I went out and headed towards the hallway since everywhere was quiet so I was thinking Jamie would be addressing everyone today and he would fully start his alpha’s duties. As I walked along the hallway, I could hear the maids looking at me and gossiping but I had no idea what they were talking about. “Did you know the alpha is choosing a new Luna today during his speech?” I heard one of the maids who passed beside me said, I gasped, my mind clouded with thoughts. He had finally decided he didn't need any mate and was choosing me because he realized I must have really loved him. I didn’t care about anyone but I do to him in a lot of ways and I will continue doing because he’s worth it. I smiled lightly before walking faster to get to the hallway, I couldn’t wait for him to call my name and show me as Luna to the whole pack. I was scared, I wouldn’t lie. All these years, I've been waiting day and night for him to propose to me. As I got to go the hallway, I met him addressing all the pack members so I stood staring at him from the entrance without going in. He was everything every lady wanted. “Everyone is wondering who our Luna will be.” Immediately he said that, shouts erupted. Everyone wanted to know who was his fated mate or who would be our Luna. But my mind went to our intimacy last night. The rhyme, the sound, the promise. And lastly when he told me about how he had always crushed on me again. I wanted to ignore the feeling but I was already getting wet thinking about it even though I knew I shouldn’t be that way since other lone wolves can easily detect my wet feelings. I saw him stare at me for a few minutes and smiled, which he reciprocated back. “It’ll be announced in some time, so everyone can enjoy one another as I need to settle some things.” I frowned as he said that but he walked out coming to me. “Why are you here?” He asked me, the question was weird as I’m the one who was supposed to be called Luna right? “Of course I’ll be here, I mean, you forgot…” “You can’t stand here. I’m saying you should go and sit down there.” He interrupted me by pointing at the front chair, staying alone. Without waiting for my response, he went back to the stage and started raising the attention of the pack members which was annoying me. Why will he ask me to go and sit down at the front lonely seat when he can easily call me from here and he was being distant from me which felt more weird. “Our new Luna will be someone we all know well. A loving and brave soul, she’s the most beautiful woman on this earth.” It made me blush when he said that. I adjusted my gown to fit more so I’ll be comfortable walking on the stage. “It’ll be no other person than Alex.” Immediately he said that, my shoulders dropped. The light reflected on me but someone from behind pushed me which made me fall on my knees as she walked inside. She went on the stage and smiled at everyone as Jamie kissed her lips, I could feel my breath seizing away just with the scene. My heart was burning in pain as I was confused at whatever was happening in front of me right now. Alex was announced as the new Luna of the Vale pack or was it about the man I love announcing it himself. Now I remembered why Daisy kept being around him, Daisy was Alex’s best friend. It wasn’t until after I came here that I befriended Daisy. “She’s my fated mate, most of you all might be wondering why we kept it a secret, it was found out recently since we found out a few weeks ago.” “And for the alpha succession party to go smoothly and successfully.” As he said that, I could feel my heart beating rapidly in pain No no no, I don’t want to believe what I was hearing. Few weeks ago? I have been lied to. Used, dumped and betrayed. Everyone was chanting her name and praising her while she stood shamelessly smiling and waving hands at everyone. Shocked was an understatement to describe how I felt right now as I stood up angrily dashing towards the stage. “What do you two think you both are doing right now?” I shouted as I cleaned my tears and at Alex angrily. “Why her, Jamie ? Why is she the one to be your mate? Why does she deserve to be your Luna? What happens to the promise you told me? Have you forgotten what happened between us last night?” He let go of Alex’s hand and stared at me, he broke into a smile at first turning it into a laughter as his face turned cold all of a sudden. This will be the first time he’ll stare at me this way and all I could see was hatred, pure hatred all over it. “That was just the numerous mistakes two opposite gender friends make when drunk so don’t think about it. It was just a fling.” Immediately he said that, I staggered backwards. My eyes were building up in tears, my heart hurt and I couldn’t believe this was how Jamie ever thought of me. He just told me I was just a fling due to a numerous mistake every friend does make. I had no idea how it happened but I knew I just did the most unexpectable thing. My body fuelled in anger as I climbed up to the stage pulling him to face me as I slapped him across his right cheek. Slam!Lark's POVMy hand was shaking when I woke up.Not violently. Just enough to be noticed when I reached for the water jug on the bedside table and I had to use both hands to keep it steady. I set it down carefully and sat on the edge of the bed for a moment in the grey morning light, willing it to stop.It stopped eventually.It always stopped eventually. That was the part I held onto. It always passed. The shaking, the dizziness, the pressure that gathered behind my eyes some mornings was like something pushing from the inside out. It came, and it went, and I functioned in between and nobody had to know.Cassie was still sleeping. I watched her for a moment before I stood up. She looked younger when she slept. She'd been watching me since we left Vale Pack. I knew she had. I could feel it, those small sideways glances she thought I didn't catch. .I got dressed quietly and left before she woke up.Mark found me in the courtyard before I'd even had a chance to settle back into the
Cassie's POVWe left Vale Pack just after sunrise.Jamie stood at the gates to see us off. He looked better than he had when we arrived. Still not fully himself, but the fog was gone from his eyes. He stood straight for the first time since we'd gotten there.He looked at me for a long moment before I mounted the horse.There was so much sitting in that appearance. Years of it. Things that probably deserved to be said out loud and never would be.A lot is better left unsaid."Thank you," he said finally."Take care of yourself," I told him.That was all.I took the reins, steadying myself. A gentle squeeze of my legs set it moving.I didn't look back.The ride home was quiet.Lark set the pace. Steady and unhurried, moving through the tree line where the morning light came through in broken pieces. I rode beside him without talking. I didn't have much to say, and he seemed to feel the same way.I was too busy watching him when he wasn't looking.It started with his hand. The one hold
Cassie's POVI didn't sit.Neither did she, after a moment. She had realized that sitting across from me like two people having tea wasn't going to work. She stood by the window instead, arms loose at her sides, looking out at the Vale Pack grounds like she owned them.Maybe she thought she did.I stayed near the door.Not blocking it. Just close enough that I knew exactly how many steps it would take to reach it if I needed to move fast. Old habit. The kind you develop when you've had to run before.The silence stretched.I wasn't going to fill it. That was her job. She called this meeting.She turned from the window eventually. Looked at me the way you look at something you've been thinking about for a long time and are finally seeing up close."You look like her," she said. "Our mother. Around the eyes."Our mother? What on heck is she trying to do? I said nothing. She smiled slightly. Like my silence was the answer she expected. "You didn't know her long enough to remember t
Cassie's POVI literally froze to the spot. My expression must have given her pleasure. The smile on her face was evident as she strode.Nobody moved. The shock rooted our feet to the floor.The room had gone the kind of still that happens when something impossible walks through a door and everyone present has to decide at the same time whether their eyes are lying to them.Jamie saw her first.Or maybe he'd heard her voice before I turned around. Either way when I looked at him his face had gone completely white. The cup in his hands tilted without him noticing. The warm liquid spilled over his fingers and he didn't feel it."Alexa." Her name came out of him like something he'd been carrying for a long time and had no idea how to put down.She looked at him briefly. Something moved across her face. Quick and complicated and gone before I could name it."Jamie," she said simply.That was all. Just his name. Like an acknowledgment. Like checking a box.He stared at her. His newly cle
Cassie's PovCord shifted the linen in his arms.He had the look of a man who wasn't sure if he was in trouble or not. That careful stillness people get when a Luna stops them in a corridor and looks at them the way I was looking at him."Is everything alright?" he asked."I just need to ask you something," I said. "Walk with me."He fell into step beside us without arguing. That was the thing about betas. Obedience was built into them the same way loyalty was. He didn't ask where we were going or why. He just followed me.I kept my pace easy. Unhurried. I didn't want him defensive."How long have you been Jamie's beta?" I asked."Six years," he said."So you were here when Alexa was."A slight pause. "Yes.""Were you close to her?"Another pause. Longer this time. "She was my Alpha's mate. I respected her the way you respect someone in that position." He chose his words carefully. "We weren't close."I nodded like that was all I needed. Let a few seconds pass."Jamie asked you to h
Cassie's POVI didn't sleep well that night.Vale Pack gave us quarters in the east wing. Clean rooms, good beds, everything a visiting Luna and her Alphas were entitled to. The staff assigned to us was quiet and careful not to look at me too long.A young lowly omega. Our room was guarded by two guards, plus the ones that followed us from our pack.Their hospitality was amicable.I lay on my back in the dark staring at the ceiling.The ring was out there somewhere in this pack. I could feel it the way you feel a storm coming before the clouds arrive. Lark's voice came quietly from beside me. "You're thinking aloud.""Ohh, I'm sorry.""Don't be." He paused and then sat erect. "What is it?"I breathe out."The curse feels too alive," I said. "Too fresh. Someone is still feeding it from somewhere inside this pack,” I turned to look at him in the dark. “Which curse?” He looked utterly confused.He wasn't a healer , so he was oblivious of what I was talking about, as well as everyone
The cabin in the middle ground was smaller than Cassie recalled. Or perhaps she had merely grown beyond her own skin.She slumped over the fire, pen over paper, journal in her lap. The fire spat mindlessly to one side of her, but its heat could not possibly melt the bitter chill in her breast."To
The moonlight poured in through the windows of the Vale Pack's great hall, silver and far away. Jamie sat by himself in his study, fingers wrapped tightly around an empty crystal glass of unbottled whisky. Papers spread out across his desk—reports, warnings at the border, marriage offers from ambit
The wind raging beyond the window of Cassie hammered at the glass in mournful protest. The fire had burned out of the fireplace, and a faint amber light fell over the shattered floorboards. Her mother's journal lay tight in her fists, but its pages offered her no solace. No letter written could soo
The council hall was colder than Cassie had remembered.The round stone room, constructed centuries ago by the original twin alphas, towered over her in judgmental silence. Candles danced in their sconces, casting shadows upon the faces which once had smiled at her but now looked at her as if she w







