CASSANDRA I was a little taken aback by the Alpha King’s question. Did Asher actually care that I’d been hurt or had he asked only out of politeness? I nodded anyway. “I’m fine.” He didn’t seem as convinced. His eyes remained fixed on my bandaged arm and his mouth drew into a thin line. With every second, I was growing more and more uncomfortable with this interaction and decided to not waste any more time. “How is Adalyn?” I wondered and immediately, Asher broke his gaze and cleared his throat. “Half of her left forearm is burnt,” he revealed and he ran his hand through his tousled dark hair tiredly. “Though the acid wasn’t strong enough to get to the bone, it will leave permanent scars. The royal healers did all they could, but there’s only so much they could accomplish. Adalyn is upset.” I nodded but didn’t say anything. Of course Adalyn would be upset. She was incredibly vain when it came to her appearance. Any type of flaw or imperfection would make her more emotional than
ASHER “Your Majesty, you have to put that vicious, wicked healer in jail!” Linda Moses declared in a shrill voice that sent a shiver down my spine. She and her husband stood in front of my desk, their eyes filled with wrath as they awaited my answer. I exhaled deeply. In the last few hours, I’d heard two versions of this story. Cassandra Keller had said it was Adalyn who’d threatened her and spilled the acid on her arm, while Adalyn had insisted that it was actually Cassandra who’d spilled the acid. Deep down, I knew whose version was more likely and trustworthy, but trust had nothing to do with it. The situation was much more nuanced than that. “Adalyn should not have entered the laboratory,” I said as a headache began to plague me. “Everyone in the palace knows not to go in there, and the guards informed me she was told quite explicitly to stay away-” “That doesn’t matter!” Linda blurted, and then her cheeks flushed scarlet and her eyes fell to the desk. “Your Majesty.” “It d
ASHERI rubbed my temples and tried to remain calm. I was spending more and more time in my study these days to stay away from those who wanted to incite more trouble or drama around me. I needed to stay relaxed, but the disease was affecting me more and more lately.Heat spread through me as my head pounded and I could feel sweat building up. I rolled the sleeves of my shirt up and when I did, I winced in surprise. The mysterious black marks had been growing significantly, and now there were some blooming up on my forearms. I wanted Cassandra to check up on them, but since she was confined to her chambers, my health check would have to be delayed.I hadn’t expected any of this to happen. It wasn’t my fault was it? Kane had warned me beforehand and told me that Adalyn was jealous of how I treated Cassandra. I knew that she was wrathful and hell-bent on destroying the healer.But what I didn’t understand was how I felt about the ordeal and furthermore, how I felt about Cassandra.All m
CASSANDRA That night, for the first time, after all of these years of loneliness and emptiness, I dreamt of my father and brother. It was a nice dream. In it, I was out with my family in a field. Ector and I were running while my father watched on with a kind smile on his normally stern face. As we ran, a warm breeze kissed my cheeks and bright sunlight filled the sky. Ector and I tumbled around in our wolf forms and rolled in the tall, soft grass. It was the first time I’d pictured my wolf form in ages. I’d almost forgotten what she’d looked like. I wished I could have stayed in that dream forever. But it wasn’t meant to be. I awoke the next morning to the sound of someone calling my name. My eyes blinked open slowly and my vision was blurred as I came to. Who was saying my name? Moments later, my eyes focused, and I saw Erika standing over me. The maid’s face was painted with worry and she touched my forehead gently. “Oh, sweetheart,” she murmured. “You have a fever.” For a m
CASSANDRA That voice… deep, coarse, and gravelly. It was the kind of voice with a texture, one that was impossible to forget. It had been lingering in my mind for the past five years, playing in a loop in my nightmares. For a moment, I tried to convince myself that I was making it up, because there was no way it was possible to hear that same voice in the present day, here in my chamber. What was going on here? I’d always had a sneaking suspicion that it’d been Margaret who’d wanted me to die in the inferno. She had always disliked me and sought out any reason to keep me away from the royal family. And yet, there were some factors that didn’t make that possible. Margaret didn’t have the right to instruct soldiers. No one could, in fact, aside from their leader, the Alpha King. Not only that but soldiers who had served in the empire’s military couldn’t be recruited as guards for the royal family. Even though soldiers had the capability, they had seen too much bloodshed and trouble
CASSANDRAMy heart skipped a beat.Was Kaleb being serious?I searched my mind for the right thing to say, but nothing was coming to me. Meanwhile, I could feel heat spreading through my cheeks.Before I could suffer for too long, the king of Yurene began to laugh.“I’m joking, Cassandra,” he said with a brilliant smile. “I simply wanted to lighten the air a little bit. But in all seriousness… are you alright?”I nodded as I rubbed my wrist. The guards had been really rough with me, and I could feel the kind of tenderness on my arm that usually meant a bruise was forming.Kaleb suddenly noticed the bandage on my wrist and his deep blue eyes widened in surprise.“What happened to you?” he asked as his eyebrows knitted together in concern.I quickly tucked my arm behind my back to keep from alarming him further.“It was an accident in the lab,” I explained off-handedly, but Kaleb didn’t seem convinced by my words.“I heard there was an accident yesterday and Lady Adalyn was severely bur
CASSANDRA A gasp escaped me, and for a moment, I swore I was about to faint. My head spun and a huge knot formed in my stomach. Had I heard the king correctly? Emmett? My Emmett? “I was devastated to hear that Emmett had passed away,” Kaleb continued without skipping a beat. “But now I’ve found you. I thought it was a coincidence that your last name is also Keller, but then at the banquet, you said you were from the Wild Crawler Pack. Does that mean…” His question trailed off and I knew I had to finally speak. “Emmett was my husband,” I confirmed. Kaleb nodded solemnly. “I figured as much.” The room fell into silence as I processed all of this new information. Emmett had been to Yurene? He’d never mentioned he’d been to the North even once. In fact, most people in Wegalla never spoke about the North in general. Why had he gone there in the first place and what brought him to the former king of Yurene in the first place? The room begin to tilt and I had to steady myself for a
ASHER I was only half awake as I sat in the meeting room and listened to the morning report. Jacoby was informing me about the investigation being conducted about the attempted kidnapping that’d taken place in the market, and the councilor’s dark eyes were glum as he spoke. “We checked the identity of the kidnapper, Your Majesty,” he said. “They didn’t live in Anemond, nor did they seem to be residents of Wegalla at all.” My brow shot up immediately. “Do you think they were foreigners?” Jacoby nodded. “I believe so, Your Majesty. But without officially issued certification, no foreigners would have been able to pass the territory line of Wegalla.” I frowned. This was all very strange. “Did the soldiers stationed there fail their duties?” I wondered as frustration rose within me. “How could a foreigner enter the territory without anyone knowing?” Jacoby hesitated for a moment. “Perhaps,” he began. “There’s another possibility. I find it a little coincidental that the king of Y
CASSANDRAIt was a sunny day, the first one in a long time.After the long winter and cold spring, summer eventually came, and it was hotter than it had been in forever.Sunlight streamed in through the clinic window, and I was a little distracted as I stared out at the window at the kids in the yard.Finnick, Lila, Marley’s boys Eric and Adrian, and Dominic were all chasing each other, playing a game of tag with one another. Marco was out there with them too, but he was sitting on a bench alone, meters away from the rest of the kids. He looked lonely and didn’t move as the others played around him.It had been a month since the chaos in Merliscire and Adalyn’s death. I supposed it was still hard for Marco to accept the fact that his mother was gone. She had killed herself right in front of him after holding him hostage and threatening to hurt him. The poor little boy had endured so much trauma in such a short amount of time.He wasn’t a bad kid. He had a mean disposition at times, bu
ASHERIt had been a while since Cassandra entered the building, and with every passing minute, my nervousness and anxiety grew stronger. While I knew she was capable of handling herself, I didn’t like the idea of her being in the House of Moses without me.I began to feel restless. It was a mistake to let her leave with Adalyn alone.I pondered my options for a minute and then decided I couldn’t wait out on the grounds any longer, not when my mate could be in danger. I started to walk toward the building, but before I could get too far, the soldiers guarding us stopped me.At first, they were polite but quickly, they became rude. They shouted and told me to back up. I wasn’t allowed in, not until Lady Adalyn said so.I considered pushing past them but didn’t want to escalate the situation, so I nodded and retreated ever so slightly. All around me, the councilors grew restless. They too, wanted to leave, only they desired to go back to Merliscire. However, when a group of them tried to
BECKYAfter our conversation with Oliver Moses, Dickson and I had been seized by the Moses guards and taken into a room that appeared to be used for interrogation. The door was crafted from iron and there were no windows, so the room was dim and quiet. There were only a pair of chairs, each a little rickety and old-looking. It was a pathetic, desolate sort of place, which was surely on purpose.Time didn’t make much sense in there and I soon couldn’t figure out how long we’d been locked in. My body ached and my mind was spinning out with a million thoughts as I absorbed all of the information I’d heard in the past couple of days.I had thought Oliver Moses would quickly find out the truth or ask me to confront Adalyn again, but Dickson thought the opposite when I presented the idea to him.“Look at this place, Becky,” he said, his voice gloomy and negative. “No one is going to visit us any time soon.”Sadly, he appeared to be correct, and his point was only proven as time went on. Tho
ADALYN Ada. How long had it been since I’d heard that name? My parents had never referred to me as Ada. They had never given me a single nickname or pet name. Mother had always said it was improper to call a child by anything other than their name and Father had never given me enough affection to bother. There were only two people in this world who had ever called me Ada. Asher. And Cora. I tensed as I tried to understand how Cassandra knew this. Had Asher told her about our close friendships when we were young? No, there was no way. Suddenly, I was hit with a realization, one I couldn’t ignore. I stared at Cassandra and studied her carefully. I searched her features, scrutinizing her nose, her mouth, the shape of her eyes. None were familiar, but as I stared at her deep emerald green irises and recognized the hue of them, it all began to make sense. I’d never understood how Asher could fall in love with a common healer. Cassandra wasn’t ugly by any means but to care so deepl
CASSANDRAAdalyn’s golden eyes narrowed and then locked on mine.“Why would that wicked woman come with us?” she demanded as she continued to shoot daggers in my direction.“Those are my terms,” Asher insisted. “You want an audience with me? Those are my requirements.”It was a bold assertation on his behalf. As long as Adalyn had Prince Marco in her grasp, she had the upper hand, but she was far too weak to realize her power. Asher was still the Alpha King, after all, so I supposed that subconsciously, she felt compelled to obey.Silence hung heavily in the air and then finally she sighed.“Fine,” she huffed and then she flashed me a sneer. “Let her come. Perhaps we’ll have some fun with your little plaything once we’re there.”“You won’t harm her,” Asher growled.“We’ll see,” Adalyn said with a shrug. “Come. It’s time we left this musty room.”Her big eyes scanned the room and then she addressed the councilors. “The rest of you shall come as well. Might as well make an event of it.”
CASSANDRAAdalyn’s face twisted again at Karsh’s cold and daring question, only this time, she didn’t recover and lost any sense of calm within her.“How dare you demean the future king’s mother?” she roared, her golden eyes flashing with anger as she bared her teeth.Despite her outrage and fierce expression, the councilor remained as cool as ever and didn’t even flinch. It was an impressive sight to behold and it made me respect Karsh even more. Adalyn had always been a brat but I had the sense that her ferocity wasn’t something to take lightly, at least not today.“I’m just stating the truth, Lady Adalyn,” Karsh said with a slightly raised chin, his eyes locked on hers. “The king is alive, I can assure you-”Before he could finish his statement, Adalyn motioned with her hand and gave a signal to the soldiers behind her.“Seize that traitor!” she ordered, and her men launched into action at once.My heart raced in my chest as I saw the soldiers approach Karsh, but before they could
CASSANDRAThankfully, Adalyn’s proposal wasn’t as convincing to the councilors as she’d expected. It was clear from the glint in her golden eyes and the proud expression on her beautiful face that she assumed all would accept the idea of Marco’s ascension without complaint, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The room dissolved into whispers and gasps at once.One of the councilors I didn’t know the name of cleared his throat and all fell quiet.“Pardon me for my bluntness, Lady Adalyn, but it’s absurd to announce a new Alpha King when there is no evidence showing that the king is dead,” he pointed out, his thick dark eyebrows furrowed at her. “We have nothing of the sort before us-”“The forensic report will explain everything-” Adalyn began to say but the councilor waved her off with his hand.“A report means nothing,” he stated boldly, and then he glanced around the room to garner attention from the other councilors. “If the Alpha King is dead, we need to see his co
CASSANDRAOne thing was absolutely certain amongst Asher, the councilors he trusted, and I.Whatever Oliver Moses wanted to do at the council meeting, we needed to stop him. We were in complete agreement but knew we needed others to agree to our cause. We needed the support of other Packs in order to bring him down, and knew we wouldn’t get far without it.“Oliver Moses has quite a number of soldiers stationed in Anemond, especially around Merlisicre,” Karsh revealed solemnly. “If we want to confront the Moseses, we will need a troop of good soldiers of our own.”Though I didn’t want to admit it, the councilor was correct in his assessment. Despite having support from Alpha Gareth, Wild Crawler on its own couldn’t provide enough soldiers. If we wanted to gather real numbers to stand against the Moses soldiers, we needed to contact other Packs and ask for their support.“Your Majesty, it would be best for you to remain in the darkness before the meeting,” Jacoby advised after a moment
ADALYNThis girl was stupid and annoying, to say the least.Yet, despite these facts, I regretted that I had underestimated her. I should have dealt with the tiny redhead girl right after Cassandra Keller had disappeared. Now, she had become a big problem, one I wasn’t sure how to handle.“I was hiding in the room next to yours when you spoke,” Becky chimed in.Father’s face changed when she mentioned the meeting. His complexion paled and his hazel eyes widened, but when he ran his hands through his graying hair, it was clear that he seemed convinced by her words.I had to hand it to her.Placing herself at the scene of the crime was a bold move, one I wasn’t sure how to work around. This was damning to be certain but I had to remain collected if I wanted to make it out of this and continue my plans without interruption.Silas’ little kitten was a true thorn in my side.Father studied the girl’s expression like a fox studying its prey. “I hope you acknowledge that you will be punished