CassiusI stormed through the gates of the pack like a goddamn hurricane.My vision was red, my mind barely hanging on to reason. Fury boiled in my chest so hot I could taste blood. Selene was dead. Throat slit. Her sanctuary scorched with runes I couldn’t decipher. And someone—someone close—had done this. Someone who didn’t want me uncovering the truth.Julian.I found him near the weapons shed, laughing like the world hadn’t just shattered. Like a witch hadn’t been murdered in cold blood. He stood there, surrounded by warriors, calm and collected like he hadn’t just erased the last person who could’ve told me what happened to Lorien.I didn’t stop to think. I crossed the yard in three strides and slammed him into the shed wall with one arm across his throat.“Tell me what the hell happened to Selene.”The laughter died instantly. Julian’s eyes went wide.“What—what are you talking about?”“Don’t play dumb with me.” I shoved him harder. “She’s dead, Julian. Her body was left like a m
Cassius“Yes,” Lorien said honestly.That one word felt like it had been carved out of the air and shoved straight into my chest. It knocked the breath from my lungs, leaving nothing but a hollow ache behind. There was no tremble in his voice. No doubt. Just truth. Cold, clean, and final.I looked down at the floor, gripping the edge of the wall like it was the only thing holding me up. My insides twisted, a sick heat rising in my gut. I could hear my own pulse pounding in my ears, louder than anything else in the clinic hallway. Louder than Lorien’s voice. Louder than reason.He had meant it.He had really meant it.And that terrified me more than anything else ever had.Even after everything I’d done, everything I’d ruined, I still wanted him. I wanted our children. I wanted to go back—back to the beginning, before I made every wrong choice I could have made. I didn’t care anymore about how it worked, about how he’d carried life inside him. That didn’t matter. What mattered was him.
Lorien "Not now!" Cassius snapped, voice booming with his Alpha tone. “Now's not the time for that,” The command struck me like a whip across the skin, searing through bone and blood and freezing me in place. I gasped involuntarily, knees nearly buckling from the weight of it. My wolf whimpered inside me, folding under the dominance in his voice. Every cell in my body told me to submit. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I stood frozen, heart hammering as my eyes locked onto his. For just a fleeting moment—just one breath—I thought I saw guilt in them. It flickered behind his lashes, caught in the tight pull of his jaw. But then... it was gone. Like I imagined it. Maybe I did. Maybe I just wanted him to feel something. Anything. “Give him to me,” I said, voice hoarse, taking a step forward. “Lucian. Give me my son.” Cassius didn’t even flinch. He cradled Lucian tighter, ignoring me like I was nothing. Like I didn’t exist. But the doctors suddenly rushed over then—finally moving. And unl
LorienI pulled at my hair, the strands twisting between my fingers as my thoughts spiraled out of control. My heart pounded wildly, thudding against my ribs like a war drum. Where were they? Where were my boys?“Dammit!” I hissed under my breath, pacing back and forth across the cold tiles of the guesthouse.Everything was a blur—every thought, every possibility, every scenario. None of them made any sense except one: my children were gone, and I had no idea where. My mind raced with wild theories, flashing with images of Caius and Lucian wandering into danger, of someone taking them, of Cassius doing something unthinkable.I growled low, a sound that vibrated from deep in my chest. Going to Cassius had crossed my mind more times than I could count, but what good would that do? He hadn't been helpful since I arrived. All he'd given me was cold glares and stony silence, like my very existence offended him. Like the past we shared—no, the future we lost—was a stain he couldn’t scrub cl
CassiusI stared at the boy—no, not just any boy. My boy. My wolf clawed at my insides like it wanted to leap out of me and stake a claim. Every inch of that tiny face—those dark brows furrowed in defiance, the slight snarl in his mouth, that sharp glint of unyielding resolve in his eyes—it was mine. Ours. My chest tightened with a sickening pressure I didn’t know how to handle. And I didn’t even know his name yet.Lucian. That was it. Lucian.Julian was already rising, eyes narrowed with offense, his voice dropping into that patronizing tone he reserved for people who crossed the line.“Young man, I don’t know who—”Lucian didn’t flinch. He stood there, three feet tall, maybe less, with the audacity of a full-grown wolf and not even a sliver of fear.But when Julian reached out, fingers wrapping around the boy’s wrist to escort him out, something in me snapped.“Don’t you touch him!”My voice erupted before I could stop it. It tore through the room like thunder and echoed so violentl
CassiusI pushed a slice of toast across my plate with the side of my fork, the golden crust already going soggy in the yolk of my eggs. I wasn’t really hungry. My stomach turned every time I let my thoughts wander, but I couldn’t help it—not when the memory of Lorien’s lips pressed beneath my thumb played over and over in my mind like a damn reel I couldn’t stop.I shifted in my seat, adjusting the discomfort growing in my pants with a frustrated sigh. Pathetic. I’m a grown man. An Alpha. Get it together.But no matter how hard I tried to focus on something else—the dull hum of the kitchen staff cleaning dishes in the background, the faint ticking of the ornate grandfather clock near the wall—my thoughts kept circling back. The feel of Lorien’s breath against my skin. The way my body responded before I even realized it. It was maddening. Addictive. Like tasting something forbidden after years of starvation.Across the table, Julian was already halfway through his coffee, phone in han