LOGINChapter 035CASSIANGrey caught me in the corridor before I reached the office. "I have a report.""Can it wait? Louis is coming in ten minutes.""No."I stopped and turned to face him. "Talk."He kept his voice low, eyes scanning the corridor once before settling on me. "One of the pack staff has been leaving the pack house through the eastern gate.”I looked at him, my attention now caught. “How long has this been going on?”“Last night during patrol I noticed someone slip out of the maids' quarters in a cloak and I couldn’t see the face properly.""One of the maids.""I believe so." He paused. "I trailed the figure from the maids’ quarter and the way she moved through the guard posts… this was not the first time. She knew exactly where to step and when."I felt something cold settle in my chest. "So, a maid has been slipping out of the pack house regularly and none of the guards flagged it.""I would not blame the guards entirely." Grey's jaw was tight. "I got close enough to try a
Chapter 034CECILIA"Why would you think that way?"Cassian looked at me like I had just said something in a language he did not recognize."You cannot be serious," he arched his eyebrow at me."I am completely serious. Louis is a visiting Alpha. He came here on business. The least we can do is accommodate him properly and show him the pack." I reached for my water. "Give him a reason to want a real alliance.""I cannot believe you just said that." He said again but this time with a deep frown."What should I have said instead?"He pushed back from the table slightly and crossed his arms. "I do not want you speaking to him."I put my cup down and looked at him. "Excuse me?""You heard me.""Cassian." I kept my voice even. "You do not get to decide who I speak to.""I am not deciding who you speak to." His jaw was tight. "I am telling you what Louis is doing here and it is not friendship. I know men like him. I know what they are capable of and I know what that look on his face means
Chapter 033CASSIANShe jumped in first.The yelp that came out of her hit the air before the splash settled."It's so fucking cold, Cassian." I stood at the edge laughing before I dropped in after her."Be careful. That part you're swimming to is slippery." Cold hit me everywhere at once.She frowned as if disbelieving what I said before swimming away towards me.I watched her move through the water, the early light catching the surface around her, her hair spreading out behind her. She was good in the water, like she had grown up near it.She circled back and came closer."This is so relaxing." She stopped in front of me, treading water, face tilted up. The sun was still low and the light was soft and gold and it was doing things to her face that I was not going to say out loud. "I had forgotten what this felt like.""What?""Just being somewhere quiet with no one wanting anything from me."I said nothing and let that sit."Come here." She moved sideways to a shallow stretch whe
Chapter 032CECILIA My eyes stayed locked on his cock even after he spoke. It looked impossibly thick, the veins standing out like cords under the skin, the head flushed dark and slick with those small beads of pre-cum that caught the moonlight. It was beautiful in a raw, intimidating way. And magnificent and scary at the same time. My stomach flipped with nerves and something hotter.“Are you going to keep staring at it, or are you going to come take it?” he asked, voice low and rough.I leaned in closer on my knees. My fingers trembled a little as I reached out and traced the length from base to tip.When I circled the head with my fingertips he groaned, the sound vibrating through me.I looked up. “What exactly am I supposed to do?”He raised a brow. “You haven’t done this before?”I glared, heat rushing to my face. “Shouldn’t you already know that from the part where I said I’ve never kissed anyone? How can a woman know about sex if she hasn’t even kissed before?”He chuckled, t
Chapter 031CASSIAN She shook her head slowly. “No,” she said. “I’m not going to do it.”I sat back on my heels in the sand. “Why not?”She raised her voice straight away. “Just pick something else. Anything else.”I felt my jaw tighten. “That’s not fair. I asked for a simple run. You’re the one who made the deal. You set every term. I won, and now you don’t want to honour what you agreed?”She pressed her lips together. I looked away towards the far end of the river where the water disappeared into darkness. Regret sat heavy in my chest. I should never have asked. Should have kept my mouth shut from the beginning. Should have let the win stay a win without turning it into this awkward mess.After a long quiet she spoke again, voice smaller. “Are you mad at me?”I turned my head back to her. “No.”She swallowed. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”“It’s fine.” I lay back flat on the sand, arms behind my head, eyes on the stars. I wasn’t sleepy. Just tired of pushing. “If you’re done starin
Chapter 030CECILIAWe stood side by side on the line he marked in the sand."On your mark." He looked sideways at me with that expression, the one that was already too pleased with itself. "Get set.""Go." I took off before he finished the word.The sand pushed under my feet and the night air hit my face and for about ten seconds it felt good. Fast and free and like something I had not felt in weeks.Then my side reminded me it existed.The pain pulled through my ribs like a thread being yanked and my pace dropped and I gritted my teeth and pushed through it anyway because I was not stopping. I refused to stop.I glanced back.Cassian had started running and he was not even trying. Long easy strides eating up the ground between us like the distance was nothing. Like he was out for a gentle evening stroll and simply happened to be moving at an unreasonable speed."Stop running so fast!" I yelled."Run faster then." He was barely breathing hard. "Or I am going to catch up."I added mor







