THE AWAKENING

Cassandra watched with open hatred as he disappeared, moving far too quickly for a human being, but differently than her wolves, and she wondered what world she’d woken up in today.

She walked cautiously away from the fire and found the bubbling pool just as her captor described. Her body ached from the pounding given to her by the twin wolf brothers and the water was a welcome relief.

She sank in and submerged herself, and then found a bar of organic soap waiting for her on a ledge. After soaping herself and rinsing, she drifted over to a submerged ledge and settled herself upon it.

The water swirled around her like a hot tub and her protesting muscles began to relax under the soothing jets of natural jets bubbling from the depths of the earth.

She lost track of time and must’ve fallen asleep for when she opened her eyes again, her captor was standing there watching her.

She sank lower in the water to shield her breasts from his gaze but he laughed at her efforts.

“Come, I have clothes for you to change into.”

She scowled and motioned for him to turn around. “I’m not putting on a peep show for your entertainment.”

“Foolish child…it doesn’t matter whether I see your naked body now or later. But suit yourself. I will indulge your request because it amuses me.” He turned to give her privacy and she rushed to cover herself. But as she lifted the clothing he’d brought her, she realized with dismay she may as well have remained naked.

The cloth was a sheer sheath that was certainly inappropriate for the chilly cavern and definitely inappropriate given the situation.

She looked for her old clothes but found they were gone. As if sensing her confusion, he said, “I burned them. The seed of those beasts was all over them. I thought I might be ill.”

“So you brought me this?” She lifted the thin sheath. “This is ridiculous. I’ll freeze.”

He turned and she gasped as she struggled to cover herself. “Do you know nothing of your nature?” he asked. When she failed to answer, he explained in irritation, “In a few short hours you will phase again. The heat in your body will ramp up until you are burning with fever. The sheath is simply a nod to your modesty, however thin. You will rip it from your body when you are in full phase.”

She swallowed, remembering the scant details Jandin and Koris had shared before she’d slipped into her second phase. She remembered the heat inside her body, liquefying her bones and she shuddered in fear it at happening again. “You must take me back to my clan. I’ll die if I phase without them.”

By his flat expression, that was perhaps his entire plan. “That’s murder. I’ve done nothing to deserve what you’re planning for me. Have you no conscience?”

He smirked. “A wolf speaking of conscience? Your species has a history of savagery and yet you cry about the fairness of your situation?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, offended and uneasy. She didn’t know anything about the world she was suddenly thrust into and yet, this man was judging her.

The man shook his head, annoyed by her ignorance but he decided to explain.

“Without a Breeding female, the two clans settle into an uneasy truce, which bears well for the humans they choose to live beside. But a Breeding female creates a lust for dominance that is impossible to quell under the best of circumstances; add in a Breeding female of your particular blood line and it’s doomed to chaos and bloodshed.”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked, intrigued in spite of herself. “I don’t know any of this. I was adopted. I have no idea who my biological parents were.”

in a short line. “That explains your

you always so

“Almost always.”

it,” she grumbled, gesturing for him to continue, even though she hated

Clan Janus. As such you are a direct descendent of the Lycan

drifted to her belly.

clans warring since the beginning of time. A child would be born of the two clans union that would bear fruit to rule the world. You, Cassandra, are that child. And anyone in either clan would

head. “You’ve got to be joking. This is

not just fucked by two werewolves? Were you not

memory. “Yes,” she admitted with shame. “I

Which is why you cannot bear

me,” she said, not sure what to

away for the time being. But your final phasing will create a scent that they can follow. We will leave

by the sheath in her hands, and she hurriedly pulled it over her head.

whispered over her curves and danced around her knees. He looked away as if scalded. “I brought you food. I suggest you eat. Your body’s metabolism is moving at a much faster rate and you will find yourself

gobbled

one?” she asked around the bite of raw steak. “And you still haven’t told me your name,” she

are not necessary for what will happen between

killers and had often used crime profiles as teaching materials. He had joked that if ever in a situation with a stone-cold killer, try to engage with them on a human level, remind them that you are more than an object without feelings.

can agree to

you, Mr. High and Mighty? You’re clearly not

her insult. “I’m surprised your senses have not figured it

clarity came to her and she

keep watch for

The meat stuck in her throat and she swallowed again. “So…why do you care so much about the politics

crying over who has what toy. Vampires have been keeping the

need to

become rabid, quarreling beasts who tear apart everything in their

her and she immediately

A werewolf ripped apart my human family after

Cassandra offered, not quite sure how to offer condolences on something so awful. “But Jandin and Koris

yourself. They were consumed with lust for you because of the power you possess. Why else would they go out of their way to put their mark on you before they

There

As have I. They lost