THE AWAKENING

“How can there be two?”

The question, delivered in Tieran’s quiet, deliberate tone was edged with uncertainty and echoed throughout the closed room.

Cassandra remained rigidly silent as the seer removed her weathered palms from Cassandra’s slightly rounded belly and looked as bewildered as the rest of the Barrachius clan inside the room.

Tieran, the Alpha of Clan Barrachius glared at Cassandra as if she were to blame for this upset in his plans. Cassandra glared back. It wasn’t her fault she had an overactive womb.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she snapped, moving away from the seer and straightening her shirt. It was bad enough she already felt like some kind of lab experiment gone awry, now she had to deal with this? “Maybe the prophesy is wrong.”

“Impossible,” Tieran retorted, though his eyes told a different story. He turned to the grizzled woman looking pensively at Cassandra’s belly. “What does this mean?”

“I do not know,” she answered truthfully. “But it cannot bode well. The prophesy clearly stated there was one child. I must consult the Mother Goddess for answers.”

“Great, get her on the phone and get some answers so everyone can stop staring at me like I’m the devil,” Cassandra grumbled.

Jandin bowed low to whisper in her ear, “The Mother Goddess is the moon.”

Oh.

She cast a thankful smile Jandin’s way for his explanation but she felt like an idiot. Of course, the Mother Goddess was the moon.

How obvious. Not.

of some paranormal underground species that just

asked, ready to leave this room and all the pairs of eyes staring at her

Tieran said and immediately Cassandra bristled. She hated when he bossed her around like she was an underling of some sort, or worse, a bathroom attendant at a

stalked from the room, not because Tieran told her to, but because she couldn’t stand another minute being scrutinized for circumstances that

upon her — including losing her

God damn, she was hungry enough to

as she waited. Tieran, the Alpha, and consequently, one

was some weird custom that the clan adhered to and they were very attached to their customs and traditions. If Tieran and Cassandra actually liked each other, it wouldn’t be a big deal that Tieran felt obligated to feed her, but as it was, neither wanted the roles that had been handed to them and

between them, Cassandra might’ve tried

that was a bit over the top, but lately, her hormones had been kicking into overdrive and sometimes she couldn’t quite help the thoughts in her head or the words that popped

no small tragedy to be in his arms or beneath him, but when he looked at her, there was nothing but pure lust glazed over the veneer of anger and resentment and that just killed whatever might’ve been

she ten times the amount of stupid that

of her Breeding Time and now that she was pregnant, she simply ate

wanted sex. And considering that the one person who would oblige couldn’t actually stand to

their DNA, Cassandra didn’t think Tieran would have sex with her ever again but as it was, he couldn’t help himself just as she

them ever closer to one another. Which

want her now that she’d conceived his child. Cristophe had told her that it

Alpha would always protect his

points of being a werewolf. She’d been shocked to learn Cristophe was with the werewolves when previously he’d disdained their presence