THE AWAKENING

Chapter-24-

“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.”

No matter if my heart broke in the process.

“There are some who have counseled me to do exactly that,” he admitted bitterly. “That I have to think 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 breath within our clan.”

He 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 killing anything that is part of you…makes me want to claw my own heart out.”

His admission caused a storm to break loose in her heart and she flung herself into his arms, shocking him with her sudden movement.

“It is not weak to protect and nurture a child, no matter who the father is,” she said vehemently against the salty skin of his neck. “Listen to your heart, Tieran. Your heart is good and strong. 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 frightened women in Clan Janus who suffer unimaginable abuse simply because they had the misfortune to be born into a clan with an Alpha who is bad. You could be the Alpha to rule them all.”

Her breath hitched in her throat as she added with a whisper. “With my help. Together…we can change the world.”

Tieran stared into her eyes and she sensed the struggle. She could only imagine what a burden he bore for the clan and she was thankful she wasn’t harnessed to a certain set of ideals or traditions.

She was free to think outside of the rigid rules that boxed in the clan with ritual and superstition. She lifted on her toes to seal her mouth to his but stopped when she felt his muscles tense.

In a flash, her own senses went on alert and she put her back to Tieran, staring the same as him into the inky darkness blanketing the forest.

The crickets abruptly stopped their singing and an unearthly silence enveloped the glade. Even the slight gurgle of the creek seemed subdued as they strained to listen.

“Can you shift?” he murmured.

“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully as her heart hammered with fear. “I’ve never tried twice in such a short time frame.”

“Then we will have to fight,” he returned grimly just as a dark beast emerged from the darkness, a snarl dripping from his red jaws. Cassandra swallowed a horrified gasp and fought to maintain her composure.

Ulster.

Cassandra felt Tieran change 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 in Ulster’s eyes as he barely noted Tieran.

He was focused on her belly.

He cocked his head, as if evaluating her condition, and then swung his big head to regard Tieran who had positioned himself in front of Cassandra, protecting her with his body. Suddenly, Cassandra felt a presence at her back and she whirled to find herself flanked by more of Ulster’s clan.

They’d come for an ambush and Cassandra had played right into their plan.

Panic threatened at the corners of her mind as she calculated their odds of survival when they were clearly outnumbered but she refused to beg or cry.

If Ulster planned to take her, she wouldn’t go down without shredding fur and bone first.

She concentrated her hatred and rage against Ulster to fuel her transformation. She dropped to the ground and within seconds, she was growling beside Tieran, snarling at Ulster with vicious intent.

She flexed her coiled muscles beneath her fur and reveled in the power thrumming beneath her skin. She had no doubt that Ulster would show no mercy to Tieran’s pup, that he would likely eat it whole the minute it was free from her body.

And Cassandra wasn’t about to let that happen.

She was fighting for more than just her life — but the life of her babies. She also knew that Tieran would protect them all with his last breath. The knowledge bolstered her courage and stomped on the weak fingers of fear pulling at her mind. No one was hurting her babies.

Not even the devil himself. She lowered her head at Ulster and snarled deeper, pushing an image of Ulster ripped to pieces into his mind so he would know exactly what he was asking for by choosing this battle.

When he didn’t back down or cower, Cassandra felt a sick glee at the inherent challenge as she wouldn’t hold back. She wouldn’t offer mercy. She wouldn’t stop until it was finished. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Come and get it, asshole.

And prepare to die.