Chapter 2

Cassian’s POV~

Something was fucking wrong today. Way fucking wrong. And I hated it.

Ever since I stormed back into my chambers straight from the high council meeting, slamming the heavy oak door right behind me hard enough to shake the whole frame, something had been eating at me from the inside out.

I paced back and forth across the stone floor, my hands clenched so tight at my sides my nails dug into my palms. My jaw was locked so hard I was pretty sure I was grinding my teeth to dust.

The meeting should’ve been nothing but routine bullshit. Borders, alliances, territory, power, all the shit I eat, sleep and breathe for. The shit I control.

I sat at the head of that table, listening to the old elders drone on, making decisions that decide who lives and who dies for hundreds of miles around.

But halfway through, something shifted. A twist in my gut, a burn under my skin, a pull so faint I almost thought I imagined it, but it wouldn’t let go. It was fucking annoying as hell.

I didn’t even know what the hell it was. Couldn’t name it. All I felt was this restless, crawling energy running through my veins like fire.

Then the heat hit. It started low in my stomach, and spread fast, burning hot and thick until every inch of me felt too tight, too hot, like my own skin couldn’t hold me anymore. It wasn’t anger.

It wasn't fear. It wasn’t anything I’d ever felt before. It was need. A sick, twisted, desperate need.

Ever since I walked out of that hall, I haven’t been able to stand still for more than ten seconds. It felt like some invisible chain was wrapped tight around my ribs, yanking me forward, pulling me toward something I couldn’t see or touch or hear.

I kept turning back to the door, to the windows, like whatever the fuck it was was just out there waiting for me.

My nostrils kept flaring, sucking in air, sniffing like some goddamn hound dog. I told myself it was just stress. Just paranoia. Just some enemy hiding in the shadows I needed to find and rip apart. But deep down? I knew it was worse. Way worse.

My wolf was losing his fucking mind inside my head. Roaring, pacing, going wild. He wasn’t growling at a threat. He wasn’t angry.

He was whining like a pathetic, lovesick pup, making desperate noises that made me want to smash my own head against the wall just to shut him up.

He kept screaming the same shit over and over: Find it. Go get it. Ours. Like he was dying without whatever the hell this thing was.

Fuck.

I fought him with everything I had. I am Alpha. I don’t run after shit I don’t understand. I don’t answer to instincts that make me feel out of control. I don’t need anyone or anything. I take whatever I want, whenever I want it.

I don’t fucking long for anything. I slammed my mental shields down hard, tried to crush the feeling, tried to pretend I was still the same goddamn man I was this morning.

And right there, standing in the middle of my own chambers, was when the worst fucking thing happened.

A soft breeze drifted in through the high window, carrying the cold night air… and then it hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest.

The smell wrapped around me, sweet enough to make my teeth ache, rich enough to feel like I was swallowing it whole.

It was the most fucking beautiful scent I’d ever com across. It was intoxicating as hell. The raw, unmistakable scent of a fertile, unmarked, and untouched female.

My body reacted instantly, violently, like I’d been shot. My cock hardened in a heartbeat, stiff as steel, aching so bad it felt like I was gonna tear right through my pants.

It was a hunger I’d never felt before in my life. A filthy hunger. I didn’t just want her. I needed her like I needed air, like I needed to breathe. Like if I didn’t get my hands on her right fucking now I was gonna die.

My wolf went absolutely feral. Rearing up inside me, howling, his eyes rolling back in my head, his mouth watering so much.

He didn’t give a single fuck who she was. All he cared about was that scent. He wanted to tear the whole goddamn world apart just to get to her.

Mine. Fucking mine.

I instantly stiffened. Fuck me.

Because I knew whatever that had made my whole body scream with this dark, sinful craving and made me harder than I’d ever been in my life… was going to be the end of me.

——————

I told myself I was going to go look, just to see what the hell could possibly smell like that, just to crush this feeling and kill it before it made me weak.

But I was already moving before I finished the thought. I walked fast, my long strides eating up the ground, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

Every step was heavy, like I was walking through thick mud, my cock throbbing so bad it hurt to move, my nostrils flaring wide, drinking in every particle of that smell as it got stronger and stronger.

It led me down the stone corridors, past guards who bowed their heads as I stormed by. I passed the main halls, the servant quarters, going lower and lower, deeper into the dark, forgotten parts of the pack where only trash and useless things belonged.

The smell got thicker here, that sweet, intoxicating female scent that was driving me absolutely out of my mind.

And that’s when I saw her.

She was right there, kneeling on the muddy ground just outside the door, scrubbing at a stone step with a piece of torn cloth, her back to me.

Even from behind I could see the way her shoulders shook, like she was terrified of every little sound. My heart raced so hard I thought it would break through my chest.

This was her. This was the thing that had broken me. And then she moved, turning her head just slightly, and I finally saw her face.

My feet locked to the ground instantly like I’d been turned to stone. I just stood there staring, unable to look away, unable to move, unable to do a damn thing but drink her in.

Fuck… fuck me. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on in my entire miserable life.

It didn’t matter that she was covered in dirt, that her hair was a mess, that she looked like a strong wind would break her in half.

She was frail, delicate, soft in a way that made my teeth ache, her skin pale and smooth even under the grime, her lips full and pink and looking like they were made to be bruised and sucked on, her eyes big and dark and shining with tears that made my gut twist hard.

She looked like an angel thrown in the trash, and I wanted to ruin her so bad it hurt.

And then my wolf, who had been roaring, raging, trying to tear me apart just minutes before, went dead silent inside my head.

All that violence, all that hunger, all that chaos just… stopped. He sat down. He perked his ears right up, his whole body going soft and happy, and he started wagging his goddamn tail so hard I could feel it in my bones.

He was purring, that deep, rumbling, happy sound I hadn’t heard since I was a kid, whining softly and sweet like a lovesick pup, completely gone for her.

Ours. Mate. Perfect. Look at her. She’s ours.

My mind was instantly flooded with the filthiest, darkest thoughts I’d ever had. I wanted to walk over there, grab her by that messy hair, yank her head back and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to lift her up, press her against the nearest wall and bury my cock so deep inside her tight little body she’d forget her own name.

I wanted to paint that pretty face with my cum, cover her skin in my scent, bite her neck until she bled and mark her so deep that every other male who even looked at her would know she belonged to me.

I stumbled back, like I’d been punched straight in the gut so hard the breath left my body.

My hands shook at my sides, my mind reeling, screaming, unable to process what the hell I was seeing.

Fuck. FUCKING HELL.

I felt sick. This had to be some kind of sick joke. Some twisted, cruel game the Moon Goddess was playing just to humiliate me, just to break me down and laugh while I fell apart.

Out of every female in every pack for hundreds of miles, out of all the strong, powerful, worthy she-wolves that should have been mine…this was what I got? Her?

A worthless, low-ranking Omega trash with no wolf, no magic, no power, nothing but a broken body and a terrified look in her eyes?

I was the strongest Alpha in the North. I commanded respect, fear, loyalty from everyone I met.

And my mate? My other half? The one person meant to stand beside me? She was less than a servant. Less than nothing.

Just some useless little thing they threw out here to rot in the dirt. I could already hear the whispers, the laughter behind hands, the shame that would stick to my name forever.

Look at Blackthorn. The great, powerful Alpha, bound to a human girl with no spirit. He’s tied to trash. He’s weak.

Inside me, my wolf went from happy and soft to absolutely enraged in a heartbeat. He roared loud enough to make my teeth rattle, snapping at me, shoving me forward, screaming GO TO HER. TAKE HER. SHE IS OURS. CLAIM HER NOW.

He was furious that I was stepping back, that I was rejecting her, that I wasn’t falling to my knees to worship her like he wanted.

But I was just as angry at him, angry at her, angry at whatever sick fate had done this. I was losing control. Me. Cassian Blackthorn.

I was losing my goddamn mind, my body, my instincts, all over a woman who couldn’t even shift. A woman who would break in half if I touched her too hard, who couldn’t handle my beast, couldn’t fight beside me, couldn’t be anything but a burden and a disgrace.

I didn’t think. I surged forward, closing the space between us in one long stride, and I grabbed her jaw in my hand, forcing her head up so she had no choice but to look right at me.

I saw her flinch, saw the fear flood her eyes, saw her lips tremble, and I hated that it made my cock twitch. I leaned down, my face inches from hers, and I yelled at her.

“You. Whatever this cursed feeling is… whatever link the Moon Goddess mistakenly tied me to… I will destroy it. I will kill anything that makes me lose control. Especially something as weak, as worthless, as disgusting as YOU.”

I threw her face away like she was filth. “Get out of my sight. You make me sick just by existing.”

Then I walked away, almost running.