All Chapters of Alpha Cassius Darkest Claim: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

CASSIUS VALE POVThe ride back home was too quiet… heavy.Annelise sat by the passenger seat, staring outside the window while the Christmas lights from the streets reflected on her face.She looked beautiful, soft… fragile and completely somewhere else.I kept stealing glances at her while driving, trying to read her expression, trying to catch what exactly had shifted in her mood since this morning.But she was doing that thing she does when she is overwhelmed.She was shutting down.She wasn’t speaking unless I asked a direct question.She wasn’t smiling the way she usually did when we passed something silly on the road.She wasn’t humming to the Christmas songs playing low in the car.She was just there…And it was starting to piss me off, because I didn’t know what was happening in her head, and I hate not knowing things.I hate not being in control.My hand tightened on the steering wheel.Was she rethinking us?That was the first ugly thought that crossed my mind and once it en

CASSIUS VALE POVThe cold night air kissed my skin as I leaned back on the lounge chair, my body still warm from Annelise.The pool water behind us shimmered under the soft lights, reflecting the stars above like the sky had melted into the earth.Paris was loud in the distance... Music, laughter, fireworks testing the night before midnight.But here, in this part of the house, it was just us.Just me and my girl.Just me and the woman that had somehow turned me into a man that looked forward to peace.Annelise lay on the lounge chair beside mine with a blanket lazily wrapped around her body, her curls messy, her cheeks flushed, and her lips still a little swollen from the things I had done to her by the poolside not long ago.My eyes drifted over her face and my chest tightened in a way I would never admit out loud.“What?” she asked with a small smile once she noticed my eyes on her, her voice still slightly breathless.I smirked. “You look like I ruined your bones.”She rolled her

CASSIUS VALE POVMy office was silent except for the soft ticking of the grandfather clock by the wall and the faint scratching of my pen against paper.Reports stacked neatly on my desk, each one demanding attention.Vespera’s absence had created a gap I could not ignore.The pack needed a leader they could rely on, and until she decided to reappear, that responsibility fell fully on me.I leaned back slightly, exhaling as I closed the file in front of me and reached for my phone.Jin answered on the second ring.“Alpha.” His voice was calm, professional as always.“Give me an update.”There was a brief pause, the sound of papers shifting on his end before he spoke again.“The pack is stable. I have reinforced patrol rotations and instructed the guards to double night watch. No one has questioned Beta Vespera’s absence yet. I made sure her usual duties were quietly reassigned so it does not raise suspicion.”Panic spreads faster than fire in a pack like Ravenwood.“They are not to kn

ANNELISE POVMy hand subconsciously rested on my still flat stomach, my fingers drawing slow circles over the soft fabric of my dress as I watched him. Cassius stood up from his chair, I could feel the burden that conversation had on him, I was familiar with that feeling. He moved to the window.He didn’t spare me even a little glance, it felt more like he wanted me to leave so that he could freely express the heaviness he must be enduring in his chest.He stood by the thick layered glass ceiling to floor window, staring out blankly at the serene landscape of the neighborhood.I couldn’t get the image out of my head. A little boy sitting outside in the dark in a place I assume is undeveloped and forest-like, waiting for parents that gave him hope of their return, but never actually planned to come back. Hungry, scared, surrounded by strangers who didn’t care if he cried or was cold. A child who stayed awake because sleep felt like menace.My chest ached with pity, it was inhumane… How

ANNELISE POVIt had been over twenty four hours. I couldn’t eat nor sleep.I stood outside most of the night like a fool, wrapped in a robe that did nothing against the cold, staring at the gate like he would just appear if I waited long enough. My phone never left my hand. I called him like I had never called anyone before. I couldn’t stop calling Isolde for updates every thirty minutes… Same answer every time, Dashiell wasn’t picking up.It made my panic worse.By morning, my chest felt tight and hollow at the same time. I went inside for a few minutes, then came back out again. I couldn’t sit still. I couldn’t think straight.Something was wrong, I could feel it.The sound of a car pulling into the driveway snapped my head up so fast it made me dizzy.I rushed down the steps before it even came to a complete stop. My heart pounding so loud I could barely hear anything else.It was Dashiell’s car. The door opened and Cassius stepped out.Relief hit me first, so strong it almost knoc