Cass's POV
Dad turned to walk back in the direction of his truck, the tear long gone from his face. I, however, was rooted in place. I couldn't move. Shock had taken over me. The ringing of my dad's cell phone inerupted my mind's sea of nothingness.
"Janine! Hey, I was just about to call you."....."No I hadn't had a chance to text you back. I'm sorry."....."Yes. She's fine. It was another one of her spells, just quite a bit worse."...."I know dear I want answers too. They don't have any though."...."No! She's not staying. We are about to be released. See you soon." Dad said cutting mom off and ending the call before she could say anything else. We must have been here longer than I thought.
I could hear my dad's heart beat and it was still pumping a little higher than it should. He was still a little uneasy about what had happened. How could he not be? His daughter had just. Fuck. I don't even want to say it. Mainly because I still didn't have a damn clue what had happened. I was ripped from the panic beginning to rise from gut when my dad grabbed my arm and said, "Come on Cass. We need to get home before your mother goes looking for you at the hospital. I don't know if I can hold her off much longer and we both know she can't see you like this."
"Dad. What just happened? I need to know." I pleaded with him. "I know Cass. I wish I had answers for you. For us." he said quietly. There was a look of worry etched on his face.
"But what am I? Why did that happen? What were you talking about with that royal lycan-something? What the fuck was the burst of blue light that LITERALLY shot out of me? Why did I grow? What did I turn into? I HAD FUCKING HAIR AND CLAWS ON MY FEET DAD!! I. WAS. GLOWING." I shouted. This was bad. I was losing it! I felt the familiar pressure building up in my stomach and I looked up to see my dad's wide eyed expression while holding his hands up as if to surrender.
"Honey...Cass. Your eyes are glowing. I promise we will get answers together but you have got to take a breath. Remember how i taught you to control your fear and adrenaline? Use that." He said calmly. I did what he said. I closed my eyes, focused on taking calm steady breaths. Slowly my heart rate settled down and i was able to open my eyes again. The pressure in my chest was gone so I was hoping the glowing eyes would be too. "Better?" I asked.
"Yes ma'am. You're back to normal. Good job. I know that couldn't have been easy." He said, honestly looking proud. "Is this why you made me do all those weird mind over matter exercising growing up? Did you know about this?" I asked.
Running his hands down his face, my dad slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the moon before he began to speak. "Yes and no. I honestly thought my grandfather, your great-grandfather, was just telling me fun stories about our family being decendants of royal Lycanthropes. He would tell me things that obviously I thought were total shit, like how our bloodline was only activated by the rising of great evil, and how we were destined to fight that evil. That evil being vampires, which I honestly hope even more that he made that part up. He even said that I would have abilities even if I never...well do what you just did. I obviously never believed any of it was true. That stuff doesn't exist. Right? I admit, I'm was born to be a soldier. It's why I wanted to be a Seal. I was naturally stronger, more ituitive in combat, faster, and my eyesite is unmatched. I noticed the same things in you early on. The logical part of me always won the internal battle, but that didn't keep the small part of me that wanted to believe my grandfather from doing everything I could to prepare myself and then you for this moment."
I thought for a moment trying to slow my racing mind. "So why me? Why didn't you ever, you know." I asked.
"I have no idea. Honestly Cass. I'm as shocked as you." He said. I looked at him and studied his freatures. He looked like he had just aged ten years.
"Wait. How did you know to bring me here? How did you know I was changing?" I asked. The thoughts had suddenly popped into my head.
"Well, I remembered my grandpa saying someting about us having to be eighteen before we could have a chance to change. Your eyes looked brighter this morning. It's why I asked how you felt, but you honestly acted fine. But when you fell to the ground during your game, I saw your spine ripple like it was about to break. Then you screamed and I knew. Or at least I thought that is what was happening. I didn't want to believe it at first,but you didn't see what I saw while you were beginning to turn. Your face and bones and skin were contorting in ways that shouldn't be possible. I just knew I needed to get us away from people. So I ran you out to the first stretch of woods out of town I saw. Now, as much as I love answering your questions, and believe me I have just as many as you do, we have to go Cass. Please. I promise we will figure this out." He said, pleading with his eyes that were the same shade of blue as mine not to argue and just head home with him.
I nodded my head, and followed my dad to his truck.
It was a quiet ride home. I was exhausted, and even though it was only another ten minutes to home I laid my head over on the cool window and let sleep take me.
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Ezra's POV
I was sitting in my office studying some of the annual numbers for my ever expanding pack lands. So. Many. Numbers. I wish the Alpha position didn't entail all this paperwork, but it is what it is. I have conquered and absorbed six other packs since becoming Alpha. I only took out the alphas I knew were in the process of trying to overthrow me. It wasn't pretty, but we made quick work of the weaker packs and had smooth transitions. I am a bit of a hard ass, but it is a necessary evil to keeping the factions in line.
I was deep in thought when a faint ringing started in my ears. It was quickly followed by a rush of energy that hit my body like a punch to the chest. The burst of energy was gone and quickly as it came, although the ringing lingered for a bit. It felt like I was being called to shift. No one could command me though. I was one of the strongest alphas that there was.
I bolted out of my chair and into the hallway. I could feel the members of my pack, and they were panicking. Howling began to thunder all around. My pack was being forced to shift. What the fuck is happening? I could feel my wolf wanting to surface but I had no issues controling it. This didn't mean I wasn't having trouble controling the fear I felt in my gut knowing something or someone was so powerful that they were causing my entire pack to shift.
"Alpha!What the fuck is happening?" Xander, my beta yelled through the mind link. "Why are we all shifting?" He asked before I could form a reponse.
"I don't know. I didn't shift, but I felt the energy and the call." I told him. That was the truth. I didn't have a clue what the hell was going on.
My front door busted open and my father came running through. "Son! Everyone in the pack without Alpha blood seems to have shifted! Even your mother couldn't hold it off and she's a strong alpha female." my father practically yelled. I could see the high level of uncertainty in his eyes. "I don't understand Dad. Did you feel the powerful surge of energy right before it happened? I've never felt anything like that. Have you?" I asked looking to him hoping for some sort of wisdom to ease my mind.
"No. Something or someone would have to be insanely powerful for this. Royals were said to have the ability to cause mass shifts. We can figure all this out later though. You need to address the pack, Son." my father advised. "I agree." I said with confidence. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew it was over for the moment at least. Everyone would be scared and it was his job as Alpha to assure them that they were protected.
"EVERYONE. I KNOW YOU ALL FELT THE SAME BURST OF POWER THAT I DID A FEW MOMENTS AGO. PLEASE DO NOT PANIC. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH IT IS OVER FOR NOW. I KNOW YOU ALL WILL HAVE QUESTIONS, BUT I ASK THAT YOU GIVE ME THE NIGHT TO SPEAK TO OTHER ALPHAS TO SEE HOW FAR THIS REACHED. UNTIL THEN, I ASSURE YOU THAT OUR WARRIORS AND MYSELF WILL PROTECT YOU ALL AND THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES ARE SAFE. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR HOMES FOR NOW AND REST UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING."
I turned to head back to my office so that i could make some phone calls with my Father close on my heels. There's no way that everyone made it out of this without shifting in front of humans. There is going to be major damage to fix.
Cass's POVI've always been one of those people that either doesn't dream at all, or has crazy weird dreams. No in between. Sometimes the crazy dreams are just that. Crazy nonsense. Sometimes they are nightmares. Those usually involve me trying to get to Alex before that deafening crack hits my body like a bullet, but my feet are so heavy and I can only run in slow motion. Those are the worst. I've dreamt of Ezra many times. Rarely in a romantic setting though. He always appeared at random times doing random things. One time, I dreamt that my washing machine was overflowing with rainbow suds, and Ezra came to my house to see if I wanted to go meet his pet turtle. They say your dreams mean things about you. I'd love to know what the hell that one meant.After my exhaustion overtook me, I started to dream. It wasn't unusual. I was late for class, but was mad about something I couldn't figure out. So I went for a run. Somehow, I ran from UCLA campus to the clearing
Cass's POVSomething in me snapped. I don't know if it was the overwhelming moment of meeting Zeus or if it was the overload of more information that I needed to learn. Or maybe it was the mention of a war I didn't understand. Whatever it was, I let a little bit of my sanity slip and began to laugh.It wasn't a small giggle. It was a loud, obnoxious, from the diaphragm laugh. The look of confusion on Zeus's gorgeous face mad it worse. He clearly wasn't expecting this reaction. Maybe he expected determination, or fear, or maybe awe. That's not what he got. He got me. Me doing everything I could not to double over and laugh even harder than I already was.I steadied myself by leaning over on the pillar that Zeus had previously stepped out from behind. I put my right hand over my heart, and took a breath. "I'm sorry." I giggled out. "I really am." I laughed a few more times before I let the madness fade."Are you mad? How has anything we've
Cass's POV Steady breaths. Steady heartbeat. Steady breaths. Steady heartbeat. "Stranger Danger" is a concept we are all taught at a pretty young age. You don't talk to strangers. You don't take candy from strangers. If a stranger offers to let you see puppies in his van, you say "no"...or in my case a VIP tour in a temple. Shit. My parents would be shaking their heads at this. Good job, Cass. Good Job. I needed to act casual. This guy didn't smell like anything other than a normal person. I didn't smell anything wolf related on him. He didn't seem to radiate any sort of power. Ever since the activation of my Lycan genes I always have an acute sense of someone being dangerous. Amphitrion didn't ooze anything except normalcies. Unless you count those insane good looks. Which in this moment, I needed to NOT be focused on. Playing it casual was the only way to go. The only thing that had my senses on high alert was
Cass's POV The beauty of the stone palace in front of me was remarkable. I stretched my neck and leaned my head back to look up so that I could continue to take it all in. It was clear that this structure was old, ancient even. It was taken care of though. Pristine. There was something about this place that drew me in. Almost as though it had a power all on it's own. I was drawn it. I could feel it seeping into my very essence. Filling my soul. It felt right. As though it was mine all along. "It's beauty is capitivating is it not?" I drew my attention away from the alabaster wonder in front of me. I was greeted by the youngest appearing of the council members. He was tall, and extremely handsome. Although he was much older than he appeared, as humans go, he gave off the appearance of a man in his fifties. Bits of silver in his dark hair that probably only made him more handsome with age. His eyes were green and seemed extremely kind. He had on a wedding
Cass's POV I left the States without saying goodbye to Ezra. It was for the best. We said we needed to be said. The plane that the elders sent was a beautiful private jet. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they've accumulated funds over the hundreds of years they have been existence. Their official title was The Council of Elder Wolves. Not particularly creative, but I digress. The plane ride was going to be long, and I was the only one on the plane aside from the pilots and the small crew that only occasionally came to ask if I needed anything. The constant buzzing feeling from the plane's engines was very relaxing. The quiet was welcomed as well. I hadn't really been left alone very much since Alex's death. So the alone time was nice. As much as all the uncertainty that had been circling my life had caused me to worry, wonder and stress, I left feeling different. I felt, for the first time in my life, like I was going in the right direction. I w
Cass's POV Over the two weeks that passed, I trained hard. Harder than I've ever trained in my life. It felt amazing. It made me feel alive. My days consisted of the same routine. Wake up early, eat, train, get to know the warriors and the Alphas that came and went, train some more, eat some more, and at night I would shift and go for run with the moon. I had orignally planned to head to Rome to meet with the elders after two weeks but had decided to get one more week under my belt of training. It also gave me time to find out what the plans would be to keep working to raise our armies while I was away. It drove me insane to not know what we were raising an army for. The vampire attacks were not always obvious. Since the appearance of the King on US soil, there had been fewer and fewer bodies left for the world to see. The larger cities, however, had been reporting the homeless disappearing. Less and less were on the streets. Humans of course woul