Chapter 2 Viper bite

CASSANDRA

“Cassandra?” Marley mudged me back into reality. Her pretty eyes were wide with concern. “Are you okay?”

I gulped, and then nodded as I pushed away my memories of Anemond. “Yes.”

I managed to pull myself together. I needed to be level-headed if we were going to heal this patient.

It didn’t take us long to reach the Pack House. The enormous mansion wasn’t far from the clinic.

When we crossed through the doors, we were surprised to see a crowd of people hustling around. The Pack House seemed to be in a huge commotion, and I had to duck to avoid bumping into anyone around me. This was the most activity I’d seen here in a while.

“Wow,” Marley remarked as Jasper led us down the hall. “This must be serious. Everyone seems so upset.” She tugged at Jasper’s sleeve. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”

“The Alpha will tell you once we find him,” Jasper remarked.

“Oh,” Marley replied, and she let out a sigh. “So much secrecy.

I wanted to ask follow-up questions, but Jasper’s tone was so serious, I decided to wait. When we reached the end of the busy hall, a pair of people were waiting for us. One of them was Gareth, the Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack, and the other was his eldest son, Rayden.

We bowed respectfully when we stopped in front of them.

The Alpha of the Wild Crawler Pack was a stern man, yet fair, and he was well-respected amongst the Pack. He was normally quite calm, but today, his brown eyes were wide with concern. Rayden wore a similar expression.

Rayden was tall, with big, dark brown eyes, and black hair that glinted blue in the light, and his perfect teeth were white as pearls. He was slim, but covered in exotic tattoos, and girls in the pack admired his high cheekbones and fit frame.

When I first arrived here five years ago, Rayden had been a young man of sixteen. Now he was all grown up, and it likely wouldn’t be long until he took his father’s place as Alpha of the Wild Crawlers.

I was a little surprised to see him here at the Pack House. The last time I’d seen him was two years ago at a dinner hosted by the Alpha’s family. It’d been a farewell dinner to celebrate Rayden’s departure for the Wegalla Empire’s army- an elite group known as the Myriad. It was an honor to be recruited, and so we’d honored the young man accordingly.

“Cassandra,” Gareth greeted me in a relieved tone, and then he looked at Marley. “And Marley. I’m so glad to see you.”

Then he turned to Jasper. “You can leave us. Thank you for collecting them for me.”

“Of course,” Jasper replied, and after he gave us a small smile, the guard turned and left us. After he disappeared down the hall, my attention turned to Rayden.

He offered me a kind smile as we approached.

“Hello, Cassandra” he greeted me warmly, if not formally, and he nodded his head at me.

“Hi, Rayden,” I replied politely. “It’s a surprise to see you here.”

“It’s been too long,” he agreed, and then he looked at Gareth. “If you’ll excuse me, father, I have some quick business to attend to.”

“Of course,” Gareth replied. “Do what you need to do, son.”

Once he was gone, Gareth turned his attention to the young male servant standing politely in the corner. “Please escort the doctor and her assistant to the second floor,” he ordered in a stern voice. “I must be going.”

Surprise flooded through me. The second floor of the Pack House was usually reserved for the Alpha’s family and their servants. It was considered private quarters while the first floor was used for meetings and dinners.

Marley and I exchanged a glance. There was a bad feeling forming in the back of my mind, but I did my best to brush it away.

“Follow me,” the servant addressed us, and after Marley and I offered polite nods toward Gareth, we followed him down the hall and up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a pair of double doors, and on either side of them stood four guards. Much to my continued surprise, they weren’t a part of the Wild Crawler, but the Crescent.

“Crescent guards?” Marley whispered under her breath. She too recognized the special crest on the guards’ shoulders. Her pale green eyes darted around the hall. “What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I was just as curious as she was. This guest of honor must have been very important if there were so many heavily-armed guards outside of the door.

The guards stared at us coldly as we approached the door, but they stood aside and allowed us to enter the chamber anyway.

The moment the doors flew open, a chorus of sounds flew toward us. A tingle of anxiety moved through me, but I managed to remain calm.

The cavernous room was pure chaos. The curtains were closed, and the only light in the room came from candles and the fireplace that blazed with a crackling fire.

Servants rushed around hastily, a few with piles of towels, and others with trays of various foods, drinks, and other supplies. They all seemed to hover around a specific part of the room, and when a few moved out of the way, I noticed a large, canopied bed.

At the center of the bed was a young boy, around the same age as my Finnick. Servants attended to the boy, and even from across the room, I could see his lips were blue. Perspiration ran down his face and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. He was clearly in pain, and his expression broke my heart.

“There’s our patient,” Marley noted sadly as we followed the servant toward the bed. “Poor thing.”

“We’ll take care of him,” I assured her. As we walked, I pulled my waist-length copper hair into a ponytail and steadied my nerves. I needed to have my wits about me if I was going to heal the poor boy.

When we got closer, I noticed the Luna of the Wild Crawler Pack, Sofia Bailey, stood beside the bed. She was just as beautiful as ever, but her short dark hair was a little out of place, and her skin was paler than usual.

When she heard our footsteps, she turned her attention to me and I noticed her eyes were underscored by light purple shadows.

“Oh, Cassandra,” she sighed in relief. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

The Luna’s beautiful face looked tired, but she managed to smile at me anyway.

“The boys are downstairs with a maid,” she answered before I could ask. “They’re safe and playing quietly.”

I nodded. “Good. I’m glad they’re okay. Now, how’s our patient?”

“Not as good, I’m afraid,” Sofia lamented, and she nodded her head toward the young boy. “Please, doctor, you must do something to help him. I fear he’s in a great deal of pain, and nothing we’ve been doing seems to be working.”

I nodded again. “Of course. You’re in good hands now. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to help.”

“Thank you,” Sofia whispered, and then she stood aside so Marley and I could approach.

I crouched down beside the boy, and when I placed my hand gently on his forehead, I was surprised to find he was hot to the touch. He’d already broken out in a fever.

I glanced over at Marley and waved her forward. “Marley, can you prepare the heart rate monitor?”

Marley nodded and as she opened up the kit, I turned back to the boy. My eyes traveled down until they reached his right leg. His trousers had been rolled up, and the skin of his ankles was ghostly white, except for a huge swollen area. Clear canine marks were dug deep into the tenser skin, and a low sigh escaped me.

“Poor thing,” I whispered. I retrieved a pair of gloves from my pocket and pulled them on.

As I carefully examined the bite marks closer, a string of thoughts formed in my mind. Where would the boy have encountered a viper? There hadn’t been any reports of serpents recently, at least not in the forests of the Wild Crawler Pack, and besides, at his age, he wouldn’t have been allowed past the safe zone. So where had the snake come from?

I turned to Sofia. “Did they happen to catch the viper that inflicted the bite?”

The Luna appeared unsure, and her eyes flicked over to a point beyond me.

“No,” a deep, smoky voice said behind me. “The guards are still searching the forest for the wretched thing.”

A tingle ran down my spine. I’d know that voice anywhere.

For a moment, I was frozen in place, but after a deep breath, I turned around.

A man stood in the darkened corner, tucked away just far enough that I hadn’t been able to sense him initially. He lingered in the shadows for a moment and then stepped toward me.

My heart skipped a beat when his rugged but handsome face was revealed. Though he’d changed a little with time, his cold gray eyes were the same, and they bore into mine with intensity as he advanced closer.

The tall man was none other than Asher Collins- the Alpha of the Crescent Pack and the king of the Wegalla Empire. But none of that mattered to me. He was much more than just the legendary leader of all werewolves.

He was my mate.

All those years ago, he’d left me in that house, pregnant and alone to face the inferno.