Chapter 4

“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” Cassius came out with a smile on his lips. It was a smile I came to call ‘my special smile’ because Cassius never smiled.

Born to an omega single mother, he lived as the pack runt for the better part of his life. When his mother died from a mysterious disease that degenerated our kingdom’s omega population, his Alpha took him in, only to mistreat him. He served as the Alpha’s steward, his knight, and a vessel for unleashing his anger until he killed him. He lived a tough life that toughened him.

“It’s no problem.” I adjusted myself in my seat. My mission here was tricky and might fail but I had to try. “How are you?” I cleared my throat. My words had no emotions in them, sounding as if I did not care about his well-being.

“Why does it sound as if you don’t care about that?” He chuckled. “I have a meeting in twenty minutes so let’s cut to the chase. Why did you request an audience with me so early in the day?” He was in the best mood during the mornings.

“I would like you to call off our engagement.” The bombshell slipped from my lips with my eyes fixated on him.

Beating around the bush and cloaking words with more words never appealed to me but I mastered society’s habit of speaking in a roundabout manner. However, looking at Cassius sitting opposite me, I had no interest in masking my words. I would rather not prolong issues with him.

“That’s not a funny joke.” A shadow darkened his face for a second. “Being my Luna isn’t something you should joke about.” He leaned back in his seat, muscular arms crossed on his chest.

“Does it seem as if I am joking?” I copied his movements with my eyes fixated on his.

A thick lump clogged my throat when I leaned back in my seat. Unable to hold such a sloppy position, I sat upright, my spine straightening. Cass broke our eye contact, his palm rubbing his nape. I linked my fingers together under the table to stop my hands from trembling.

“What is wrong with you?” The question took me off guard, making me flinch.

“Alpha –“

“Why do you call me ‘Alpha’ now? I have held this position for three years and after three years of trying to have you address me with my title, why have you chosen now?” His upper lip twitched.

“It is – “

“Ridiculous.” He pushed out of his seat and walked to the window, facing away from me.

‘Cass! Cassius!’

‘Alpha. Don’t be stupid, Persephone, you must address me by title!’

Recalling the sting of those words, spoken in the presence of a small crowd, made me flinch.

Calling Cassius by his name made me feel closer to him so despite his upgrade from an ordinary wolf to the Alpha of a pack, I refused to address him formally. It took many years for me to convince him to call me by my nickname. We were fine with calling each other by our names and nicknames until a rift grew between us; a rift that caused him to sneer my name and rebuke me when I addressed him without his title.

“You fought hard to earn that title. It is only fair I use it when addressing you.” The teacup on the table had turned cold. Looking down at it showed me a glimpse of my pale face.

“Have you gotten cold feet?” He turned to me.

“No, I simply do not wish to burden you with this mating.” I raised my head and held his gaze as he strode over and settled back into his seat across from me.

“Burden me,” he muttered to himself. “Did I give the impression that I am burdened by this?” One thick eyebrow raised in question.

“I know you wish only for your true mate.” He scoffed at my response.

“That was an excuse to get the elders off my back about mating. Less than twenty per cent of our kind find their true mates. Only an idealistic fool waits around for a soulmate they may never meet.”

Yes, I knew that much. He made an excuse of waiting for his fated mate to stop the elders from pushing their daughters on him but April’s appearance made him realize a part of him longed for his destined mate all along.

“What if your mate appears one day? What would you do?” I probed.

“I never knew you were the type to consider such idealistic things. It confirms my suspicion that you are having jitters already.”

“Alpha –“

Ha! Why did he suddenly have such a large smile on his lips? I hated how that smile made my heart flutter. Even after dying at his hands, I could not harden my heart when confronted by a simple smile. Ah, Cassius, after everything –

It was yesterday I woke up to find myself in bed after dying. Closing my eyes conjured up different horrible scenarios in which I died a gruesome death at the hands of Cassius and April. In every dream, I screamed and cried out to the goddess to be saved. I shouted at Cassius to warn him of April’s deception but in each dream, he never believed me. In each dream, he plunged his knife into my heart.

I went back in time but I could not tell anyone. Not only would they not believe, they would also tag me as a mad person, tarnishing my name and my father’s. The goddess gave me a second chance at life so I must live right.

“It’s okay, Perse. You don’t have to worry about my true mate crashing our engagement. Such coincidences only happen in books.” Cass’ voice cut into my thoughts.

“In the future, you will meet your mate and I might too. It is only –“

“Enough!” He barked, a strange look flickering in his eyes.

Was it happening already? Cassius never yelled at me until April came into the picture. As his best friend and biggest supporter, he cherished me too much to raise his voice against me.

“Perse –“

“Cassius, we will not be good for each other,” I cut him off. “If you don’t want to cancel the engagement party, we can push it back for a month –“

“No,” he spoke with cold finality.

“Or even a week!” Desperation clawed at my throat.

Yes, postponing the engagement wouldn’t be a bad idea. April would show up before then so we would have a valid reason to call off the engagement ceremony.

“I won’t do that,” he growled. He got out of his seat and moved it, dumping it beside me. “You have prepared hard for this and I won’t let you back out now because you are afraid.” He leaned into me, brushing my hair from my face.

“Afraid?”

“Yes. I don’t know what you’d be scared of but I see fear in your eyes when you look at me.” Strong hands gripped my chin and forced my gaze on him. I swallowed. “Persephone, I know that I rejected the idea at first but now, I am certain you would be the perfect Luna for me and my pack. Being the Luna of such a large pack may seem daunting but if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s you.”

“I don’t want to do it.” A bitter taste coated my tongue and my heart clenched.

“Permit me to hold your hands as you have held mine all this time.” Big hands held mine.

The atmosphere in the room changed to one I could not explain. The look in his eyes was strange and made me uncomfortable. There had never been a time Cassius looked at me with such affection in the past.

I thought back to how we were before we fell apart. It seemed like ages ago but we used to be close. He was cold and distant from everyone else but I was clingy and my clinginess rubbed off on him. We hugged often and sat close to each other all the time. Sometimes, I would place my head on his shoulders and he would wrap his hand around mine but he never looked at me with anything other than friendly eyes.

Remembering the past and how I always threw myself at him, I felt silly. Him touching me made me uncomfortable so I pulled my hands from his and he let me go after a moment’s hesitation.

“You are pulling away from me,” he mumbled, staring into my eyes. He sighed when I looked away. “Why are you putting up a wall against me all of a sudden? There is no reason why – ah –“ He trailed off and my heart stuttered. “Have you fallen in love with someone else?” Those words caught me off guard.

I was too busy dying at his hands to have fallen in love with someone else but would this be a good enough reason to call off the engagement?

 “Yes,” I lied through my teeth.

“You – With who?” He growled low in his throat before shaking his head. “No, it doesn’t matter.” He sighed. “I know your feelings for me, Persephone and our engagement is in six days. We even invited the Alpha King!” He scrubbed his palms down his face.

Did he know of my feelings?

I wanted to laugh. Of course, he knew. I had been hiding behind my father to propose this union and he knew of my feelings and he did not reciprocate them but he didn’t hesitate to use them to his advantage.

“You are promised to me, Perse and I have no intentions of letting you go.” His eyes glowed with a strange emotion that had me swallowing.