LorienI couldn’t hold it in any longer.“What is going on?” I asked, staring between the two of them like they had grown matching sets of horns.Cassius and Antoinette—yes, Antoinette—burst into laughter, throwing their heads back like I had just told the best joke in the world. The two of them looked like they hadn’t seen each other in years, and the tension that had been practically boiling earlier was now gone like mist in sunlight.Antoinette grinned at me, his eyes shining with amusement. “You really fell for it, didn’t you?”Cassius smirked beside me, smug as always. “Don’t feel bad, love. I didn’t warn you on purpose.”I blinked. “You two were playing a prank on me?”Antoinette nodded, clearly proud. “I just wanted this arrogant cousin of mine to beg a little. Maybe see some humility for once.”Cassius scoffed. “Please. I didn’t beg.”“You did,” Antoinette said with a snicker. “You just did it with your chest puffed out.”I folded my arms and shook my head. “You people are ins
LorienI rolled my eyes as Cassius squared his shoulders and looked like he was about to throw a punch at the Beta. For someone supposedly trying to earn the goodwill of a pack, he sure had a knack for pissing people off. His fists clenched at his sides, his body tense like a coiled spring ready to snap. The guards around the gate mirrored his aggression, and I could already sense the tension humming between the two sides like a taut wire waiting to be severed.“Of course,” I muttered under my breath. “This is exactly what we need right now.”The Beta, tall and built like a stone wall, narrowed his eyes. “Turn around and leave. You’ve got no business here.”Cassius took a threatening step forward. “I came to see the Alpha. Not his dogs.”And that was it. I’d had enough.I stepped between them, putting a hand firmly on Cassius’s chest. “Would you stop trying to fight everyone?” I snapped, glaring up at him.He didn’t budge.“We’re not here to fight a war,” I said, louder this time so t
CassiusI sat at my desk, eyes fixed on the wall, but I wasn’t seeing anything. My thoughts were a tangled mess—an endless maze I couldn’t escape. The silence of my office was heavy, but I couldn’t bring myself to break it. For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do.This pack—my pack—the Ironclad Pack my father had built with blood, sweat, and unshakable will, was falling apart right under my command. And the terrifying part wasn’t just the betrayal, or the sickness that plagued my sons, or the elders trying to twist the truth. It was that I was starting to see just how much of the rot had begun from within.I slowly pulled open the drawer and took out the folded sketch I’d kept hidden there. It was a pencil portrait of Isabella—elegant lines and soft shadows. My father had commissioned it himself. According to him and Julian, she was supposed to be my equal. My partner. A force that would complement mine.But the longer I stared at her image, the more my chest burned wi
CassiusThe hall had gone eerily silent, save for the flickering of torches and the shallow breaths of guilty men. I could still hear the elder’s voice echoing in my mind, whining about fairness—about letting the traitor at my feet plead his case. The same traitor who had ordered my sons kidnapped. My sons. The heirs of this Pack. Of my blood.I took a breath so sharp, it burned my lungs. “You're right,” I said coldly. “He should plead his case.”They all visibly relaxed. Idiots.“Then again,” I continued, voice lowering, “your ‘justice’ only matters when it serves you.” I looked to the guard. “Behead him.”The kidnapper’s eyes widened in panic as the sword was unsheathed behind him. He thrashed and screamed, sputtering promises and apologies, but I didn’t flinch. Not once.“No! Please, Alpha—” the elder next to me began, desperation creeping into his tone. “I had nothing to do with this—”I backhanded him across the face before he could finish. The crack echoed through the room, and
LorienI didn’t want to be here.Every step I took felt heavier than the last. The gazes, the whispers, the memories—they all clung to my skin like a second layer of filth. This pack had done nothing but hurt me. It had stolen years from me, stolen my dignity, tried to steal my children. And now I stood here, watching the man who had hurt me the most take the center of the stage—my mate. Cassius.He looked powerful as he stood under the afternoon sun, his back straight, voice like a blade. The way his jaw flexed, the cold gleam in his eye—it was everything I hated and everything I craved. I hated how he could make my heart stutter even now, even after all he’d put me through. And worst of all, my mind kept looping back to what we had done earlier, the way he had touched me like he still remembered every curve, every scar, every part of me that still belonged to him. I’d acted like I didn’t care. Like I was above all of it.But the warmth of his mouth still lingered on my skin, and I w
CassiusI couldn’t believe what I was seeing.The blood on Lorien’s shirt, the bruises on his cheek, the look of pure fear still lingering in his eyes—it was all wrong. It felt like the world had twisted on its axis and I’d arrived too late to stop the damage. He looked so fragile lying there, trembling in my arms, even though I knew Lorien was anything but fragile. But the moment I saw him in that damn cell, cornered by that bastard with a knife—I broke.I broke, and I didn’t care who saw it.I had nearly killed that man with my bare hands. I still felt the heat of the blood between my fingers. The anger hadn’t gone anywhere. It lingered under my skin like poison, twisting around my gut. What the hell had just happened? Why the fuck was Lorien in a cell in the first place?He was mine.And someone had dared to touch what was mine.I carried him all the way back to the cottage. He wouldn’t stop trembling. He wouldn’t even look at me. Guilt pressed down on me so hard I could barely bre