THE AWAKENING

“Did you mean what you said?”

He smoothed the hair from her eyes in a tender gesture that surprised her. “Which part?” he asked.

“All of it.”

He didn’t answer right away but shifted so that his weight was no longer bearing down on her. His hands drifted to the swelling of her stomach and he paused there, his big hand resting on the lump where her babies were nestled.

“I would not allow another man to touch what belongs to me,” he answered gravely. “But I would give my life to protect you and my child.”

Cassandra swallowed, remembering Iona’s warning. “There are two babies in there,” she said. “What about the other baby? Would you hurt the one that isn’t yours?”

Tieran frowned and his nostrils flared at her question but she didn’t know if his distaste stemmed from having to answer a difficult question or because he truly found the idea an anathema.

He rose and helped her to her feet. “We should get back to the compound. It isn’t safe out here.”

She withdrew her hand and he looked back at her. “Answer me, Tieran.”

His lips compressed to a tight line and he appeared as if he’d rather chew nails than answer that single question but she had to know.

“I will protect my babies with my life. If you plan to take one and snuff out its life, know that I will kill you for trying.”

my heart broke in the

of the greater good rather than the life of one person. That I am weak if I allow the seed of another Alpha to draw

lifted his tormented gaze to hers and she was struck by the stark misery she saw reflected from his blue eyes. “But the idea of

she flung

You can be the change in this clan. You don’t have to do everything that has always been done in the past. That’s why there’s so much fighting between the clans. No one even remembers why the clans are fighting. There are

a whisper.

he bore for the clan and she was thankful she wasn’t harnessed to a certain set of

superstition. She lifted on her toes to seal her mouth to his but stopped when

she put her back to Tieran, staring the same as him into the inky

and an unearthly silence enveloped the glade. Even the slight gurgle of the

you shift?”

with

beast emerged from the darkness, a snarl dripping from his

Ulster.

behind her, meeting Ulster’s growl with a warning of his own. The hairs rose on her neck and she shook with fear. Madness shone

focused on her

to regard Tieran who had positioned himself in front of Cassandra, protecting her with his body. Suddenly, Cassandra felt a

ambush and Cassandra