(Cassie POV)I spent eight hours at the mall with my mother. EIGHT. HOURS. I felt like a walking dress-up doll, whose opinions and style did not matter even a little bit. My mother happily went from store to store, talking to the clerks, pulling clothes, pushing me into dressing rooms to try one hideous thing on after another.On the bright side, my mother did not make as many snide comments as she usually does. I think that’s because I held back my own tongue and just let her have her way all day. She also seemed sincere in the outfits she picked out; nothing she selected seemed to be selected as joke (like the wedding dress I ultimately bought).By the end of the day, we had our arms filled with bags of dresses, skirts, heels, and everything else a “proper” lady should have. No leather, no denim, nothing too short, nothing too loud. At one point, my mother had to use the ladies’ room, and I used the opportunity to sneak into a store that appeared to have eclectic leather and
(Cassie POV)My heart stopped as I listened to the conversation between Danny and his father.“Be careful with Cassie, Son. There is a reason that her father has always had trouble with her.”“Dad, Cassie is going to be my Luna soon. There is nothing wrong with her. She just needs someone who knows how to tame her.”I recoiled a bit at that description. What am I? A wild animal? I don’t need taming.“The point remains, Son. You have been so focused on Cassie lately that you have taken your eyes off the prize. My men are running around getting information for you when they should be focusing on how we are going to take over Blue Moon.”Take over Blue Moon? What???? I thought the two packs were in an alliance.“Father, your men have done nothing but give me information they already had access too. Besides, with Alpha Blake’s wedding getting pushed back, you aren’t in any hurry. Continue to send the rogues to attack periodically, and things will be fine.”Oh, Goddess. Oh, God
(Cassie POV)It is now Wednesday evening. I do not now how I survived the past 24 hours, nor do I know how or if I will survive the next several days.I figured out very quickly last night that I am not a spy, nor do I have any hope of ever becoming one. I only made it out in one piece because: 1) Danny is an egotistical buffoon who could never begin to imagine that a woman would fake her affection for him; 2) Danny appears to be sincerely obsessed with me; and 3) in addition to being an egotistical buffoon, Danny is a SEXIST egotistical buffoon who underestimates the intellect of women generally.I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, I think I got most of what I needed to get. There were a few moments where I wondered why the movies made this sort of thing sound so easy, like when I realized that I needed a way to save the important computer files but I didn’t have anything to save it on (surprise, surprise; I don’t routinely carry zip drives in my purse). Another
(Aaron POV)Wednesday afternoon, I was in my father’s office going through reports of recent rogue attacks and sightings. Rogues were always a problem, but there was too much consistency lately. I thought back to my meeting Alpha Ryan; could White Howlers really be behind some of the attacks? If so, how would we prove it before it was too late?As I thought about the White Howlers’ pack, I started to think about Cassie. And how Cassie had been mated to Jason. And about my irritation when I saw future Alpha Danny giving her a lap dance.Urgh. Why was one woman taking up so much space in my head? I had not thought this much about a woman in years, if ever. Had I thought this much about Allison? Maybe? That relationship was so short-lived… and traumatic… that it’s hard to remember those kinds of details clearly.I had promised myself that I would stay out of Jason’s mate drama, and then I ended up telling him about Danny’s interest in Cassie anyway. As if Karma was telling me
(Aaron POV)Once we were safely inside the war room with the door closed, the human pointed to my father. “Who is he?” she asked, nervously.“My father.”“Ok.”“Before we get started, would you be upset if I react like a human for a moment? I don’t understand werewolf culture or hierarchy, and I suspect you will be upset by my reaction, but I don’t think I will be able to concentrate if I don’t do something first.”I looked at her puzzled. “Sure, go ahead.”The human slapped me hard across the face. “I am not a d—n hooker, and how dare you talk to me as if I was one.”My dad chuckled. “She did ask first, Son.”I sighed. “I know you aren’t a hooker, and I’m sorry. I had to come up with something quickly, and it fit the conversation we had in the car.”I gestured for her to take a seat, which she did.“Now tell me why you are here. You’ve been awfully cryptic so far. All I know so far is that you somehow know Cassie.”“My name is Maggie. I don’t know much, but I know Cassie a
(Aaron POV) I looked through the files on the phone, and found one labeled, “Play me.” I placed the phone on speaker, and did as instructed. There were parts of the audio that were easier to hear than others, but thanks to our werewolf hearing, we were able to make out almost all of it. My father and I took turns growling until we reached the part where Danny confronted Cassie, and then the growling was 100% me. When the recording was over, my father and I sat in silence for about ten minutes, with both of us processing our thoughts. My father was the first one to break the silence. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. That girl was specifically chosen to be part of our pack. Thank goddess she was in the right place at the right time, and that she was smart enough to find a way to get the information to us.” “Do you think she was sincere about being interested in Danny?” I couldn’t believe that was the first thing I said after listening to the audio, but it was almost as
(Cassie POV)On Wednesday night, just when I thought all hope was lost, my parents lit into me for an hour in front of my sister, Alpha Fred, and Danny. I had never been so grateful.Specifically, my parents were upset that I had slept in Danny’s room on Tuesday night. They told me that they did not care who he was; until he was my husband, I wasn’t going to be his “whore of the night.” They told me that, if I wanted to play that role, I could move back to the human town. Until then, while I lived under their roof, I was going to be respectful and follow their rules.To my surprise, Danny didn’t try to fight them about it. He simply kissed me on the forehead, promised me that we would be married soon enough, and told me and Alpha Fred had a lot of things to do anyway.After that crisis was diverted, Megan dragged me upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door. “What is going on between you and Danny?” she demanded.I desperately wanted to tell her the truth, but given Mike’s rol
(Jason POV) The past week has been one of the hardest weeks in my entire life. The last time I saw my mate she was angry and in tears because I blamed her for something she didn’t do; the last time I talked to my mate was by text message when she told me that she wasn’t sure how to feel; and the last time I had any type of contact with her at all was when I felt her kissing another man on Tuesday night. Since Tuesday night, I have been going out of my way to stay busy and avoid uncomfortable conversations with pack leadership about where things stand with Cassie. Right now, my plan –my only plan—is to attend her sister’s wedding and pray to the Goddess that she will talk to me. I feel like I’ve never had so much riding on a single wedding; not even the one involving Alpha Blake and Josephine. It's funny to think about how much I have changed in the few short weeks that I have known Cassie. Growing up, Aaron and I both “sowed our wild oats,” although in different ways. For me,