“What are you doing here? ” she asked, his lips still warm against her neck. It was the middle of the night, and Sebastian Sax, Alpha of the rival pack, was in her bedroom, drunk, with her parents asleep down the hall. Cass should have pushed him away.
She should have thought about what this meant. But she had spent three years starving for the way he looked at her, and now he was here, claiming her like he’d never left. “I broke off my engagement,” he murmured. “I don’t want her.
I want you. ”
Cass had been eight years old the first time she decided she hated him. The feeling had been pure and simple then, easy to hold onto. He had spat his gum into her beautiful long hair during a tree-climbing contest, and she had screamed and cried and thrown herself at him, smacking him in the jaw.
All hell had broken loose. Their packs had once been one clan, split decades ago when two wolves in line for Alpha fought over the same mate. What had been a powerful pack became two resentful halves that blamed each other for everything. Cass and her brother Ronan ran into the children from the Silver Pine pack in the woods all the time, and for a while, it was innocent fun.
But her parents had warned her away from them—especially Sebastian, the Alpha’s son. So Cass had made it her life’s mission to best him. Nights were spent planning strategies, recruiting peers, turning every innocent game into a fierce competition. The gum incident had started it all, and it had never really ended.
At eleven, Cass won her first real victory. Sebastian was thirteen, set to compete in the traditional hunt, and everyone expected him to bring back the biggest bounty. Cass, too young to participate, had secretly studied the plans, memorized the terrain, and tracked a bear for days. On the day of the hunt, she dragged the massive beast into the clearing herself.
The crowd erupted in shock, then applause. The head elder placed the Garland around her neck—the Garland meant for Sebastian. The look of pure shock on his face had been the only reward she cared about. By thirteen, she was an aggressive fighter, a force to be reckoned with.
Her father had started pitting her against Ronan, testing which twin would be better suited to become Alpha. Cass knew she would win. Because across the woods, Sebastian was already looking like the next Alpha of his pack, and if Sebastian was going to be an Alpha, then so was she. She refused to be less than him.
It was around then that their fights in the woods changed. They would sneak out at night, just the two of them, and battle until one of them was pinned. But Sebastian was growing taller, broader, stronger. He was holding back his punches, and Cass hated him for it.
She had managed to pin him once, straddling him in the dirt, her thighs tight around his waist. She had looked down at him, and his gaze had changed. Dark. Unreadable.
He had flipped her over, pressing her into the ground, and she had felt the graze of his teeth against her neck. “Get off me,” she had gasped, genuine fear clawing at her. He had moved away like he’d been burned. “I scared you,” he’d murmured, looking suddenly regretful.
“Shut up,” she had snapped, and run off. After that, they barely spoke for two years. At fifteen, Cass started dreaming of him. In almost every dream, Sebastian bit her neck, and she would wake up breathless and terrified.
She hated it. She wanted it gone. She went to the magician, Adrien, and asked him to take the dreams away. He refused, telling her the best way to get rid of unconscious feelings was to confront them.
Cass had snapped at him and left. So she did. She saw Sebastian at a gathering by the lake. He was almost eighteen now, tall and broad and surrounded by girls who stared at him like he was something special.
He barely glanced at her. That night, she dreamed she was the one everyone admired, the one commanding his submission. She woke up feeling powerful. She needed to match his social skills.
Maybe then he would stop treating her like a youngling and see her as the rival she was. At sixteen, Cass enacted her plan. She went to a club with her brother and their friends, wore enough makeup to pass for an adult, and danced until she caught Sebastian’s attention. But when he saw her, he only frowned and walked away with his friends.
So Cass seduced one of his friends right in front of him. Peter was kissing her when Sebastian pulled him off, snarling. “She’s sixteen years old,” he barked. “You think it’s fine taking advantage of a minor?
”
“I wanted him to kiss me,” Cass said, her chin raised. “Leave him alone. ”
Sebastian’s jaw clenched. “Can’t you smell how much he—” He was shaking with barely contained anger.
“He wanted more than to kiss you. ”
“I’d be happy to let him,” she smiled, purposefully crude. Sebastian’s grip tightened to the point of pain. His eyes dropped to her bare neck with a fixated intent.
The insane thought that he was about to bite her bloomed in her mind. Then he let go and walked off. He came back. “Our place in the woods.
Tomorrow night. ”
Triumph washed over Cass. They never spoke before they fought that night. Sebastian was furious with her for seducing his friend, and Cass wanted him to know she could steal anyone’s attention from him whenever she liked.
Their fight went on forever, neither gaining the upper hand, until Sebastian said, tired, “I think we’re finished here. ”
Finished. The word made her go blind with rage. She screamed and threw herself at him, toppling them both to the ground.
Their eyes met, and then they were kissing. It was angry and forceful and entirely new. Sebastian tore at her clothes, and Cass helped him remove his own. She didn’t protest when his eyes met hers, searching for permission.
She didn’t protest when there was a sharp pain, and she encouraged it, fueling him on with her words and hands and lips. Afterward, alone in her bed, regret tightened her throat. They shouldn’t have done that. Mates did that.
Not natural enemies. But he came back the next night, and they fought for a few minutes before their bodies pressed together. The night after that, they didn’t even pretend. For months, Cass told herself every night would be the last time.
But every evening, she found herself running to the woods, eager for his hands, eager for the way he looked at her like she was everything. At eighteen, everything fell apart. Cass had been at a bar with Ronan and their friends, and Finn had put an arm around her shoulders and made a joke. It was nothing.
But then there was a crash, and Cass saw Finn holding Sebastian against a wall. “He smells like you,” Finn growled at her, horrified. “We had a little squabble behind the bar,” Cass said quickly. “That’s all.
”
Ronan didn’t believe her. “You attacked her alone? ” he spat at Sebastian. “You’re an Alpha now.
You could have hurt her. ”
“We didn’t fight,” Sebastian started. “Yes, we did,” Cass snapped without thinking. Ronan went for Sebastian, and all hell broke loose.
Later that night, Sebastian confronted her. “What were you thinking, telling them we’d gotten into a fight? ”
“What else was I supposed to say? ” she cried.
“Finn smelled me on you. What if he’d realized what then? ”
“You’re the one that panicked at the idea of everyone finding out about us,” Sebastian said, “not me. ”
“There is no us,” Cass protested, her heart in her throat.
“You and I aren’t together. I can do what I want with who I—”
Sebastian gripped her jaw, forcing her eyes to meet his. They had turned gold. “You’re mine,” he growled.
“I’m not,” Cass snapped. “You could be,” he said, softening, resting his forehead against hers. “I want you to be. ”
Cass’s heart did something complicated.
“We’re nothing,” she said, pulling away. “You’re nothing to me. ”
He paled. “Fine,” he spat, and walked away.
The next day, Sebastian answered her father’s call to discuss the altercation and apologized for approaching Cass. He swore it wouldn’t happen again. It didn’t. Cass was twenty when her father told her she would be the next Alpha.
It was everything she had ever worked for, everything she had dreamed of. She felt nothing at all. That same morning, she learned Sebastian was engaged to a girl from another pack. A powerful pack.
At the engagement party, Cass wore her most beautiful dress. She arranged her hair in an updo that left her neck bare, hoping he would at least think of their time together. But he never looked at her once. He danced with his fiancée, made speeches, laughed.
Cass felt something die inside her. When she finally forced herself to greet them, the fiancée smiled warmly. Sebastian simply inclined his head and said, “Thank you,” before leading his future wife away. As if Cass were a stranger.
As if everything between them meant nothing. Cass fled to a library to escape the pain. He followed her. “Why are you hiding from the crowd?
” he taunted. “It isn’t like you. ”
“My father chose me to be our next Alpha,” she replied, offering the title like a shield. “Well, congratulations then,” he said with a shrug.
“It’s everything you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? ”
“Then what is this? ” she forced herself to ask. “Why did you follow me here?
Have you come to gloat? ”
He turned to leave, and the words burst out of her before she could stop them. “Do you love her? ”
Sebastian froze.
“Isn’t that obvious? I’m marrying her, aren’t I? ”
“All right, then. I’m happy for you.
”
“What’s it to you how I feel, anyway? ” he scoffed. “We were never anything to each other. You’ve made that abundantly clear.
”
“You’re the one that always acted like it was nothing,” Cass barked. “Like it embarrassed you to be with me. ”
“I’m the one that always had to earn your attention some way or another. ”
“You didn’t earn anything,” Cass argued desperately.
“You always had it. I’ve always looked at you, always, ever since we were young. ”
“No, you didn’t. You’d look, but you wouldn’t see me.
”
“I’ve watched, seen, and thought only of you for as long as I can remember,” Sebastian growled. “But I’m done now. It’s over. ”
Cass was crying.
She didn’t remember when it started. “It’ll never be over,” she said darkly. “You know it, and I know it. ”
She grabbed his face and kissed him.
It was a bruising, desperate kiss, and he returned it with just as much hunger. He buried his hands in her hair, pulling out the pins, and she sighed into him. “I want nothing to do with you,” he breathed against her skin. “I love you,” she replied, choking on the words.
He flinched like she had hurt him. “No,” he said, stepping away. He fled the room without looking back. Cass went to the magician’s shop that night, but it was closed.
The next morning, she woke up to the feel of wet lips sucking bruises on her neck. Sebastian was in her bed, drunk, smelling of celebration. He had broken off his engagement. He said he couldn’t marry another when he loved her.
“Say that you love me again,” he begged, his eyes crazy with desire. “Please. ”
“I love you,” she murmured. His teeth grazed her skin dangerously.
Cass’s scent spiked in response. She knew she should stop him. She wanted him to claim her—she realized she wanted it—but not like this. Not while he was drunk, not in her parents’ home.
“Don’t stop,” she gasped, baring her neck to him despite her mind saying no. His teeth sank into her skin, and Cass screamed. Then Ronan was there, screaming too. There was blood—Sebastian gasping above her, features contorting in pain.
Ronan had stabbed him in the back with their father’s dagger. “He forced himself on you,” Ronan yelled. “I heard you tell him no. ”
“No, he wasn’t,” Cass cried.
“I love him, Ronan. Sebastian and I have been lovers for years. ”
Sebastian grabbed her wrist weakly, losing consciousness. The dagger was laced with a powerful poison that could kill any wolf with a single prick.
There was no healing, no cure. Their father was furious, but even he was pragmatic. “He forced his way into your room, claimed you, and your brother defended you,” he decided. “That is the story, if you want to live.
”
Cass held Sebastian, murmuring to him, begging him to hold on. “I’m going to fix this,” she promised. “You’re going to be okay. ”
She banged on the magician’s door as the sun rose.
Adrien agreed to grant her wish. He had to—it was the rule. But he told her the price. “What matters most to you is being Sebastian’s mate.
So I’ll make sure you can never be mates by taking away the very thing that makes it possible. ”
He was going to take her wolf. Cass put her hand on her stomach. She had only just learned she was pregnant.
The baby would probably still have a wolf. But she—she would become fully human. “Do it,” she said in a toneless voice. “Grant my wish.
”
One minute, she could feel her wolf howling painfully against her broken mind. The next, it was gone. Like it had never been there. The abrupt dulling of her senses, the absence, the nothingness in her mind—it made her sway and scream.
But it was done. Sebastian would live. When Cass returned to the pack, Sebastian was awake, healthy, discussing what had happened with the other Alphas. He came to her, his smile falling when he met her gaze.
“What’s wrong? ” he asked quickly. “I asked the magician to take my wolf,” she explained. “That’s how he healed you.
”
Sebastian reached for her, cupping her face. “Look at me,” he begged. Cass couldn’t. It hurt too much to look at him, knowing he could never be hers now.
She pulled away. “I’d like to be alone now. ”
She fled. None of them followed her.
She was human now, after all. A week passed. Her twenty-first birthday came and went unnoticed. Sebastian burst into her room, ignoring Ronan’s protests.
He dropped to his knees beside her, pulling her into his arms. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Cass said with great effort. “I’m sorry I disrupted your engagement. ”
“Don’t be,” he started.
“I’m sure if you try hard enough, your mate-to-be will reconsider. And if not, there are plenty of others who—”
“What are you talking about? ” Sebastian interrupted, genuinely confused. “You’re my mate.
”
“I’m no such thing,” Cass snapped. “I’m a human now. Mating bonds don’t exist with humans. ”
He was quiet for a moment.
“Does this bother you? ” he finally asked. “That we can’t be bonded? ”
“When I told you I loved you, I meant it,” she said, tears welling up.
“Or did you think I was just saying that to aggravate you? ”
“I meant it too,” he said, searching her gaze. “I love you too, Cass. I thought it was rather obvious.
Pretty much the entire world but you had noticed. ”
“It hardly matters now,” Cass said heavily. “You’re a wolf and an Alpha. I can’t be your mate.
You’ll need one if you want to remain leader of your pack. ”
“I already told my pack I renounced my title,” Sebastian said with a shrug. When he saw her eyes widen, he added, “You really think I’d let my mate live somewhere dangerous? ”
“I’m not your mate.
”
“You are,” he insisted. “But if you’re against that appellation, I hope you’ll at least do me the honor of being my wife. I hear humans are perfectly satisfied being husbands and wives instead of mates. ”
“You’ve worked your entire life to be Alpha,” Cass said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I can’t let you give it all up for me. ”
“I’m barely giving anything up,” Sebastian looked appalled. “You gave your wolf for me. If you think for one second I wouldn’t make a sacrifice infinitely smaller than the one you’ve made in return, then you’re—”
“I’m pregnant,” Cass interrupted.
Sebastian looked surprised for a second. Then pure joy crossed his features. “You are? ” he asked breathlessly.
“Is it mine? ”
“Who else’s would it be, you fool? ” she groaned. “There’s never been any others.
”
A few months later, Cass was holding their four-month-old son when I arrived at their new home. Adrien had asked me to deliver a gift—a small ring and a promise that if Cass or her family ever needed help, they could come to the shop and Adrien would do whatever he could. “Could we go now and have him make Cass a wolf again? ” Sebastian asked, looking like he was seriously considering it.
They were giving up their son to Ronan for safety. Cass may not have shown it, but it was keeping her awake at night. “We already decided we wouldn’t risk going back,” Cass said, looking at her child resolutely. “Unfortunately, this type of request would require you to make a wish anyway,” I explained.
“You’ve done enough,” Sebastian snapped, showing me out. “Thank you,” Cass called over her shoulder. “Tell him thank you. ”
She looked thin, more frail than I remembered.
But her baby was healthy, and so was her husband. And despite everything, she seemed grateful. I wondered if I could ever love someone that much, to the point where I’d sacrifice everything. “Have you ever been in love?
” I asked Adrien later that evening while closing the shop. He didn’t reply.
