Chapter 10: THE BRIDE

CASSIAN’S POV

The moment Cassian faced the girl standing right before him, he gritted his teeth.

His blood was boiling.

After what that woman had done to him...

After he had offered her a position he would never offer anyone.

After he had allowed himself to be vulnerable to a woman for the first time in his life.

He usually only slept with she-wolves and moved on.

But something about that woman had intrigued him.

Intrigued him so much that he had intended to take her back to his own pack once he was done here.

He hadn’t cared about the girl he was now being forced to marry.

He had already decided the woman from earlier would be his, while the girl he was being forced to marry would be tossed aside and forgotten.

But then she had hit him.

His jaw clenched.

No woman had ever hit him.

Even the she-wolves who had dared to raise their hands against him had met an untimely fate.

No one had ever been physical with him and survived.

No one.

And of all people...

A woman.

In his place, he would have had her beaten for daring to do such a thing.

Cassian took off his mask and set it aside before reaching for the veil covering his bride.

He slowly lifted it.

And then he froze.

His entire body went still.

Those eyes.

He stared at her face for the first time.

Really looked at her.

She was beautiful.

Far more beautiful than he had imagined.

For a moment, he couldn’t look away.

Then it hit him.

Those eyes.

Those lips.

That face.

It was her.

The woman from earlier that morning.

The woman he had met with the horse.

The woman he had kissed.

The woman he had marked.

His blood boiled.

She was the one.

His mate.

The woman who had stood before him earlier and told him she was bound to him.

The woman he had marked as his own.

And now she was standing in front of him as the woman he was supposed to marry.

His eyes narrowed.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

She had planned this.

They had all planned this.

She had known who he was.

She had deliberately approached him earlier, pretended not to know him, allowed him to lower his guard and become vulnerable to her.

And now she was standing before him as his bride.

His fists tightened.

They had deceived him.

But then another realization hit him.

Her scent.

Something was wrong.

He stared at her again.

Human.

His eyes widened slightly.

She was human.

His blood ran cold before the anger returned twice as hard.

They had given him a human.

"How dare you..."

His voice was low.

But the anger in it made the entire hall fall silent.

Before he could utter another word, Trent stepped forward with a nervous smile.

"Alpha Cassian, welcome to Willow Pack. It is an honor to have you here. I know our families have been rivals for a very long time but I’m hopeful that you and I would make things different. This is my lovely sister, Alex. She is-

"Save your pretence."

Trent’s smile disappeared.

Cassian’s eyes remained fixed on him.

"You knew."

"Alpha, I-

"You gave me a human."

Trent’s face paled.

"It’s not what you think."

Cassian stepped closer.

"How dare you give me a human girl?"

"She is our father’s love child," Trent quickly explained. "He had an affair with a human woman. But she is still my sister."

There was soft murmur from amongst the crowd.

Cassian gritted his teeth.

Was this a spectacle?

Before Cassian could respond, an older woman who looked like she was too old and shabby for the dresses she wore stepped forward.

"Please, Alpha Cassian." She pleaded.

Her voice suddenly became soft.

She walked toward Alex and wrapped her arms around her.

Alex seemed stiff in her arms.

"She is my daughter. I am the Luna of this pack."

Cassian’s eyes narrowed.

"She may have been born from her father’s betrayal with a human woman, but I raised her as my own."

Luna Elizabeth placed a hand against her chest.

"I loved Alex as though she were my own flesh and blood."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"And it breaks my heart that she is being married off like this. Alex has loved us all

In this pack as if we were her own and we have done the same for her. Haven’t we?"

She seemed to ask the members of the pack and they all nodded with yes and claps in agreement to whatever the woman had to say.

And then she turned back to Alwx, her face cupped in her hands. "Alex was the one whom sacrificed herself so this pack would still stand. So selfless. This pack would be empty and nothing without her when she leaves. If I could take her place, I would."

She looked at Cassian desperately.

"I love this girl more than anything."

Cassian stared at her.

Then his eyes returned to Alex.

He didn’t believe a word.

His gaze dropped to their joined hands.

The mark.

The bond.

Human or not, she was the woman he had marked.

He clenched his fists by his side.

He hated humans.

He had never liked them.

Especially not after what they had done to his family.

To his mother.

They were more his enemy than the Willow pack.

He looked back at Trent.

"Do you know what I am capable?" Cassian asked stepping forward. "Haven’t you heard stories."

Trent swallowed and looked like he was going to melt at the spot.

"You dare give I, the great Alpha of the Night pack a human as his bride." Cassian warned.

And just when he would have declared war on them, said to hell with politics, he did why no one expected.

Even himself.

Cassian stepped toward Alex and took her hand.

She flinched.

"You’re coming with me."

Her eyes widened.

"What?"

Cassian’s expression remained cold.

"I am taking my wife."

The entire hall fell silent.