THE AWAKENING

Tieran remained silent for a long moment but she could feel the tension in the air between them as they lay sprawled naked and spent. He turned slowly to regard her, his expression resigned, and perhaps a bit angry, as he gave her the answer she feared the most.

“The Prophecy has been set in motion.”

Tears pricked Cassandra’s eyes and her hand strayed to her flat belly. She swallowed as the import of his statement hit her hard.

“Am I pregnant?” she whispered. “How can you possibly know? It’s too soon, isn’t it?”

“The point of a Phase is to create new life. It is almost certain that I’ve put a pup in your belly.”

Tieran rose on shaky limbs to grab his shirt and jerk it on. She trembled as she wavered on full-blown hysteria. She wasn’t ready to be a mother, much less the mother of some Prophesied child!

“Tieran…” she pleaded, not knowing what she was asking exactly but he heard the fear and uncertainty in her voice. He softened, albeit minutely, and his eyes returned to their striking shade of blue. “Tieran…I’m not ready for any of this…”

He buttoned his jeans slowly, almost methodically before meeting her gaze. “That makes two of us. But we weren’t given a choice. I will send someone to help you bathe. I will bring food soon.”

“I’m not hungry,” she lied, fighting tears. “Just leave me alone. I need time to figure things out.”

“You will need food. The Phase raises your metabolism. And if you are carrying my child…you will eat, whether you want to or not. There are other things to consider now that the Prophecy has begun.”

don’t want this!” she shouted, her voice shaking as she struggled

did it matter now? There was nothing

want to go back to college. I want to forget that I ever met any of you people! I had a life. I had goals and dreams. I wasn’t some mindless freakish slut who spoke

he advanced, scooping her into the hard shelter of his arms before

your heritage but I’ve been shouldering the weight of this clan since I turned sixteen. It’s been ground into my head that I must sire

him as if she were diseased, he ground

as he regained some semblance of control, he said in an icy tone, “Never presume again, Cassandra. Ever.

her throat on a cry as he closed the door and as soon as he was gone, she fell back onto

tears finally stopped, she wiped her nose and rinsed her face,

at her own inadvertent trespass. She hadn’t meant to pry. It wasn’t as if she had a handle on the things that she could do. Like she’d wanted to know that Tieran had been thinking of someone else while he

deep down, she did care. She cared a lot — and she shouldn’t give two shakes of a beaver’s tail what that jerk fantasized about in the

her soul. She’d never begged for a man’s attention

new life so why should she expect anything would start sliding

welled again with more tears. She

Hell yes.

that’s what

to feel her mother’s arms around her, clucking and cooing,