Cassie POV Viktor’s return sparked a wave of gossip, everyone having their own piece to add onto the story. The only thing that didn't seem to change was that no one knew who Viktor’s mate was. “Either way, I'm not going to rush to be her friend,” Reya said caustically as she forcefully shoved a flower into a vase. Luna Delia shook her head and clicked her tongue. “Ladies, we must be welcoming to Viktor’s new mate,” she encouraged. Reya and Reza shared a look which I chose to ignore, passing the Luna another flower for the arrangement she had insisted I learn - because, in her eyes, flower arrangements were critical in Luna duties. “Vasilios is insisting that you be given a chance to settle in before you become Luna, but that does not mean that you cannot learn the role in the meantime,” she had told me in a borderline commanding voice. I therefore had zero choice, and got roped into more random organisational things than I thought a Luna even did. Including preparing the bedro
Cassie POVThe moment I saw Stacey, my feet faltered with utter shock. I somehow managed to trip myself up and landed sprawled out on my stomach in front of Viktor and Stacey. “Looks like Vasilios’s mate has already learned her place,” Viktor said with a sneer as he stepped over me. Stacey kicked me “accidentally” as she passed, crying out in fake apology. “Oh, Cassie. I'm so sorry, I'm so clumsy.”Neither bothered to help me up, not that I would have accepted their help either way. The pair sauntered off through the house, while I lay dumbstruck on the marble floor. I slammed my fist into the floor and immediately regretted it as pain shot through my hand. “Why did it have to be fucking Stacey? Of all bloody people?” I grumbled as I got to my feet. It wasn't entirely uncommon for humans to be mated with werewolves, but having hybrid blood increased that risk. Stacey's grandfather had been a hybrid, so I guess that put her at an advantage. “What happened?” I heard Vasilios say
Cassie POVThe first incident happened a week after Viktor and Stacey moved into the packhouse. It was nothing overly serious, but enough to show that Viktor was bitter about losing the title.Vasilios had planned an intimate dinner for just me and him, a sweet gesture that I appreciated since I knew that he was still struggling to keep his head above water while running the pack. I dressed up for the event, secretly excited to be alone with him. And before you say anything - yes, I had finally admitted to myself that I was in love with the man. Although, I don’t think I ever truly stopped loving him if I were to be completely honest. Regardless, Vasilios fetched me from our bedroom looking super suave and almost edible, and escorted me to his restaurant where he said we were going to be dining alone. Only, we weren’t alone. Somehow, Viktor had convinced the manager that he had got the booking wrong, and instead we were completely surrounded by tourists, probably organised by tour
Cassie POVReza lay motionless on the hospital bed, pale with dark circles around her closed eyes. The beeping of the monitors hooked up to her was the only sound in the otherwise still room. Vasilios and I stood by her bed for a long time, not moving and barely daring to breathe. As much as Reza and Reya had tormented me throughout my life, Reza did not deserve to die like this. For two days, the pack doctor had tried to pump whatever poison she had ingested from her system until he had declared that there was nothing more that he could do and that he suggested she be sent to a bigger facility. Within an hour, Vasilios had arranged for her to be sent to Slovenia where the top doctors would be able to assist in whatever way possible. “Any change?” Reya whispered as she came to stand beside us, her face gaunt from hours of crying and not enough sleep. I took her hand and squeezed it, trying to be as supportive as I could. “Not yet, but the doctor did say it could take some time for
Cassie POV“I think that Stacey poisoned Reza,” I said to Vasilios as I lay in bed, wrapped in his arms as the sun started to rise on the horizon and caste the room in a golden glow. His body stiffened beside me, “why do you think that?” I let out a long breath before I responded, knowing that I had some explaining to do. “Just after you were made Alpha, Amber put something in my coffee and I overheard her speaking to someone on the terrace about it. I now know that the person was Stacey.”The events of the tea party played out in my mind and I remembered a detail that I had pushed to the back of my mind, thinking that it was unimportant. “You said that some poisons can be transmitted through touch. Stacey touched Reza’s hand, quite purposefully in fact.”Vasilios was silent for a moment but I could tell that he was thinking hard about the new information. “It would make sense, since Reza is clearly a threat to her and Viktor’s relationship.”I couldn’t deny that - especially since
Cassie POVThere are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally, acceptance. Both Reza and Reya were confronted with full on denial after Vasilios spoke to them about Reza’s loss of vision, insisting that they hear it from a doctor. And when the doctor came to explain that the poison had damaged her optic nerve, Reza wanted to see a specialist.A few days later, as we all returned back to the packhouse, the anger stage hit head on. “You should have just left me in Slovenia,” Reza snapped at Vasilios as her foot hit the base of the stairs and she began to fall, despite Vasilios trying to guide her. The poor man looked a bit shell-shocked, but kept his mouth shut until she was sequestered in her own bedroom, a familiar environment which she would hopefully be able to feel her way around. “When I find who poisoned my sister, I’m going to kill them with my bare hands,” Reya said through gritted teeth. I couldn’t fault her - hell, I’d probably be feeling t
Vasilios POV“Do you think it's too late to kill the fucker?” I asked Luca as I caught him up to speed on the dramas I'd faced since he left, hidden in the privacy of my bedroom. My best friend laughed and I could almost picture him cracking his knuckles as we spoke. “It's never too late.” I grunted and pulled the switchblade from my pocket, pressing the lever so the blade sprung from its handle and feeling the edge of the blade before I put it back. It had been a gift from Luca when we had been teenagers, and it had stayed with me ever since.“I'm not like you. You got away with killing your psychopathic family member… twice. As for killing mine? Well, I'd probably be chucked into a dungeon somewhere by the council if I harmed Viktor.”“OK, maybe killing him isn't the answer then,” Luca sighed. “But putting him and his bitch of a mate into a crate and shipping them to Peru is still an option.” I chuckled at the very tempting thought. “Damn, don’t put those things in my head.”“Do
Cassie POVVasilios drove carefully up the poorly repaired driveway, careful to avoid the giant craters in the asphalt as we approached the ancient looking house. It was the night after Alpha Dimitri’s funeral, and while Vasilios appeared calm to all who came across him, I could feel the tension in his every movement. “Where are we going?” I asked him for probably the twentieth time, half expecting him to give me the same response as he had given me half an hour ago when we climbed into the car - “not far”.Only this time, he actually revealed the secret mission we were going on. “This is the base of my operations,” he said as he parked the car and switched off all of the lights. “I need your help with something, if that’s ok with you.” The corner of my lip twitched as I bit back a sardonic laugh. “It’s a bit late to be asking if I’m ok with coming out to the middle of nowhere with you.” In the pale moonlight I could see the hesitation on his face before he reached for the door ha
Chapter 2Kat POVI pressed my ear to the door of the suite on the third floor of the Palazzo Hotel, hearing the steady breathing of the occupant inside. He must be fast asleep - just how I wanted him.“This should be easy,” I whispered to myself as I pulled the lock picks from where I had hidden them in my hair.The hotel had been deserted as I had made my way through the foyer and hallways, as it should be at 3am. Only a sleepy looking desk clerk had possibly seen me, but I think the man was too busy scrolling through reels on his phone to even realise that I had snuck in.Not exactly the kind of service you would expect to find at a five star hotel, but I was glad for it. Within a few seconds, I had the door unlocked. With a slightly proud smile, I slipped off my shoes and pushed the door quietly open before I snuck inside. The room was lavishly decorated and my bare feet sunk into the thick carpet. Exquisite paintings hung on almost every wall and I had to stop myself from pullin
Chapter 1Kat POVI was drowning. The water flooded my lungs as I tried to scream, my clothing dragging me down into the dark depths as shadows hovered above the water. Bright lights flashed across my vision like fireworks as my lungs burned, and then it all went black.“Wake up, Kat, it’s just a nightmare.” I felt a hand press against my mouth and my arms flew out to ward off my attacker. “Stop screaming before you wake up the others!”Giulia’s face was barely visible in the dark room, her warm brown eyes filled with sisterly concern.I nodded my head and she removed her hand, brushing my hair from my face just like a real big sister would do. “Was it the same nightmare again?” she whispered, careful not to wake up the four children who slept on mattresses on the floor.“Yeah,” I whispered back, shivering as the cool night air cut through my pyjamas which were drenched with my own sweat. Giulia tugged the thin blanket up under my chin, looking after me just as she had done ever sin
Cassie POVI stood watching the ceremony with tears in my eyes as Aleko took over the Alpha title amidst cheers from the pack. Once the shock of Vasilios stepping down had worn off, the elders of the pack were elated to have Aleko back again. The giant man had begun helping with training the younger wolves, and had even gone as far as to redo the roof of one of the ancient widow’s homes that Vasilios and I hadn’t even known was leaking. All in all, he was far more suited to the role than Vasilios ever had been. And we had come to the conclusion that Vasilios had just wanted to be Alpha because that is what had been expected of him his whole life. Vasilios had formed a strong bond with Aleko in just a few short months, and the man had quickly become like a father figure to him. In fact, no one was surprised when we named our own son Niklos Aleko after his great uncle. The baby boy had launched himself into our lives a month early, but according to Luna Delia it was probably a good th
Cassie POV“I wonder why Damian is being so secretive about who he wants us to meet,” I mused aloud as we drove to Damian’s house. Vaslios was driving at a snail’s pace, and I had to resist the urge to take over. The man had been driving me insane over the last few days with how over protective he was being - “No Cassandra, you can’t lift that. You’ll hurt yourself.”, “No agapití mou gynaíka. You shouldn’t be straining yourself. You need to rest.”I was seconds away from murdering the man. I guess it was cute that he was trying to protect me, but I was made of tougher stuff and I didn’t feel like being imprisoned in my own apartment because the man thought the stairs were too dangerous. “I guess it won’t matter since I will die of old age before we get there,” I muttered under my breath. Vasilios snorted and rolled his eyes before he increased the speed by a fraction. Luckily we weren’t far from Damian’s house and as we drove up the driveway we could see another car parked. “Well
Vasilios POVI watched the screen as the doctor slid what looked like a product scanner across Cassandra’s stomach, not entirely sure what to expect. I’d always heard that foetuses look like little aliens, but to me it looked like perfection. “There’s the spine, and there you can see baby’s heart beating,” the doctor pointed out bodyparts on the screen which I could barely make out. It was a bit like those black blobs shrinks use to determine if you’re insane or not - only in this case I was trying to figure out my kid’s anatomy. My child. The thought was still so strange and yet so welcoming. “Are you wanting to know the gender?” the doctor asked. Before I could respond, Cassandra shook her head. “No. I want it to be a surprise.” As if having the kid in the first place wasn’t enough of a surprise, but I let her have her way. Either way the child was going to be loved beyond measure. If it was a girl, she would be my princess. I would treat her in a way that she would know what
Cassie POVVasilios and I collapsed onto the bed in the honeymoon suite of the hotel - the same one where I had lost my virginity to him. I chuckled when we had pulled up outside the Aman and he had shot me a strange look before he took my hand and guided me into the gigantic, minimalistic monstrosity.The honeymoon suite was on the top floor, and Vasilios lifted me into his arms and carried me through the door into the candle lit room, laying me gently on the petal covered bed before he collapsed beside me.Our wedding reception had been a blast, even with the very few guests attending. By the end of the night, Laryssa had pulled out a handy pair of scissors and had styled a fashionable knee-length dress out of my gown, and we had all danced to music played by Benny while Terry poured drinks into any glass that seemed slightly empty. The pair had celebrated my pregnancy and my nuptials in style, insisting that they be part of the celebration.Vasilios and I had been slightly surprise
Cassie POVIf someone ever tells you that you can’t organise a wedding in twenty-four hours, tell them that they’re wrong. By the time the sun rose the next morning, I was relaxing in my apartment with Elle and Laryssa, sipping mocktails and gushing about the gorgeous dress Laryssa had managed to get for me for an absolute steal. “So, Amy is on her way to pick up the bouquets we ordered and then she will come and dress here. Luca says the decor is already set up and that Damian’s chef friend is preparing what seems to be a twenty-course meal. We are all sorted,” Elle ticked off the to-do list on her fingers, smiling brightly. I took her and Laryssa’s hands and squeezed them slightly, “thank you for everything you have done for me. I really don’t think I could have pulled this off without you both.”Elle kissed my cheek and winked before she snuck off to call her mother-in-law so that she could check in with Gia - the kid was probably having the time of her life without her mother c
Cassie POVI’m pretty sure that the nurses held a party the moment I walked out of the hospital. Not because I was a terrible patient, but because Vasilios was probably the most non-compliant family member the ward had ever experienced. He refused to leave my side, and only my father was able to make him leave for an hour, although he complained about that too and made my dad stay while he was away. Vasilios broke all the hospital rules; climbing into bed beside me, reading my medical chart, getting food delivered because he said hospital food didn’t have enough nutrition to feed both me and his baby. The guy was overbearing to put it mildly. But I didn’t mind in the least. Vasilios drove carefully through the city, and we spoke about our wedding plans. I was determined to be able to have a relaxed ceremony with just our close friends and family, where we could actually say our vows and mean it. Yes, I know that we weren’t technically divorced, but this ceremony was going to be the
Cassie POVI felt as if I was burning alive, the fire clawing at my chest as restraints held me down. I tugged on the rope which seemed to be emerging from my own arm, but that only caused screaming from the depths of the dark cave I was locked in. “Someone, help!” I thought I heard Vasilios’s voice, but then a sharp pain radiated from my arm and my world went dark once again. It seemed like just a few moments later that I woke up again, the pain in my chest more of a dull throb than the fire it had been. The room was dimly lit, but my eyes seemed to take a while to adjust to the light as I slowly became aware of my surroundings. The clinical environment and the drip poking out of my arm seemed to be enough clues to point to the fact that I was in hospital. The highly flattering hospital gown and catheter removed all doubts that remained. I tried to sit up and groaned as the fire burned through my chest again, and I was forced to remember that I had been shot. The last thing I re