THE AWAKENING Chapter Chapter-6-

Cassandra watched with open hatred as he disappeared, moving far too quickly for a human being, but
differently than her wolves, and she wondered what world she’d woken up in today.

She walked cautiously away from the fire and found the bubbling pool just as her captor described. Her
body ached from the pounding given to her by the twin wolf brothers and the water was a welcome
relief.

She sank in and submerged herself, and then found a bar of organic soap waiting for her on a ledge.
After soaping herself and rinsing, she drifted over to a submerged ledge and settled herself upon it.

The water swirled around her like a hot tub and her protesting muscles began to relax under the
soothing jets of natural jets bubbling from the depths of the earth.

She lost track of time and must’ve fallen asleep for when she opened her eyes again, her captor was
standing there watching her.

She sank lower in the water to shield her breasts from his gaze but he laughed at her efforts.

“Come, I have clothes for you to change into.”

She scowled and motioned for him to turn around. “I’m not putting on a peep show for your
entertainment.”

“Foolish child…it doesn’t matter whether I see your naked body now or later. But suit yourself. I will
indulge your request because it amuses me.” He turned to give her privacy and she rushed to cover
herself. But as she lifted the clothing he’d brought her, she realized with dismay she may as well have
remained naked.

The cloth was a sheer sheath that was certainly inappropriate for the chilly cavern and definitely
inappropriate given the situation.



She looked for her old clothes but found they were gone. As if sensing her confusion, he said, “I burned
them. The seed of those beasts was all over them. I thought I might be ill.”

“So you brought me this?” She lifted the thin sheath. “This is ridiculous. I’ll freeze.”

He turned and she gasped as she struggled to cover herself. “Do you know nothing of your nature?” he
asked. When she failed to answer, he explained in irritation, “In a few short hours you will phase again.
The heat in your body will ramp up until you are burning with fever. The sheath is simply a nod to your
modesty, however thin. You will rip it from your body when you are in full phase.”

She swallowed, remembering the scant details Jandin and Koris had shared before she’d slipped into
her second phase. She remembered the heat inside her body, liquefying her bones and she shuddered
in fear it at happening again. “You must take me back to my clan. I’ll die if I phase without them.”

By his flat expression, that was perhaps his entire plan. “That’s murder. I’ve done nothing to deserve
what you’re planning for me. Have you no conscience?”

He smirked. “A wolf speaking of conscience? Your species has a history of savagery and yet you cry
about the fairness of your situation?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, offended and uneasy. She didn’t know anything about the
world she was suddenly thrust into and yet, this man was judging her.

The man shook his head, annoyed by her ignorance but he decided to explain.

“Without a Breeding female, the two clans settle into an uneasy truce, which bears well for the humans
they choose to live beside. But a Breeding female creates a lust for dominance that is impossible to
quell under the best of circumstances; add in a Breeding female of your particular blood line and it’s
doomed to chaos and bloodshed.”



“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked, intrigued in spite of herself. “I don’t know any of this. I was
adopted. I have no idea who my biological parents were.”

His mouth curved in a short line. “That explains your excruciating ignorance.”

“Hey! Are you always so rude?”

“Almost always.”

“I believe it,” she grumbled, gesturing for him to continue, even though she hated being educated by a
dickhead. “Continue.”

“Your father came from Clan Barrichius; your mother, Clan Janus. As such you are a direct descendent
of the Lycan line. Your blood is powerful. Your womb is dangerous.”

Her hand drifted to her belly. “How?”

“There is a legend…one that has kept the two clans warring since the beginning of time. A child would
be born of the two clans union that would bear fruit to rule the world. You, Cassandra, are that child.
And anyone in either clan would do anything to claim you and all that goes with it.”

She gasped and shook her head. “You’ve got to be joking. This is ludicrous.”

“Really? Were you not just fucked by two werewolves? Were you not compelled to fuck when your
phasing began?”

Her cheeks burned at the memory. “Yes,” she admitted with shame. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“It’s in your nature. Which is why you cannot bear fruit in that womb of yours.”

“But they will come for me,” she said, not sure what to think anymore. “They will find me.”



“The minerals in the spring water act as a natural neutralizer. Their seed has been washed away for the
time being. But your final phasing will create a scent that they can follow. We will leave before that
happens.”

His gaze drifted down her naked body, barely covered by the sheath in her hands, and she hurriedly
pulled it over her head.

She shivered as the fabric whispered over her curves and danced around her knees. He looked away
as if scalded. “I brought you food. I suggest you eat. Your body’s metabolism is moving at a much
faster rate and you will find yourself nearing starvation within hours if you don’t eat every two hours.”

Cassandra hesitated to ask him what he’d brought her to eat seeing as she’d gobbled raw meat a few
hours earlier but she found his choice acceptable and started eating.

“How do you know so much about werewolves if you’re not one?” she asked around the bite of raw
steak. “And you still haven’t told me your name,” she reminded him.

“Names are not necessary for what will happen between us.”

She shuddered. Her Intro To Psych 101 professor had been obsessed with serial killers and had often
used crime profiles as teaching materials. He had joked that if ever in a situation with a stone-cold
killer, try to engage with them on a human level, remind them that you are more than an object without
feelings. “Because as much as you want to pound the idea into my head, I am not an animal. No matter
my lineage.”

“We can agree to disagree.”

Frustrated, she asked, “So what are you, Mr. High and Mighty? You’re clearly not human but you’re
certainly judgy.”



He chuckled at her insult. “I’m surprised your senses have not figured it out yet,” he said.

Sudden clarity came to her and she swallowed with difficulty. “You’re a vampire?”

“Yes,” he said. “And my name is Cristophe. It is my duty to keep watch for the Breeding females of the
clans. Thus far, I’ve been successful in preventing the prophesy.”

“Oh.” The meat stuck in her throat and she swallowed again. “So…why do you care so much about the
politics of werewolves?”

“Wolves are like squabbling children, always crying over who has what toy. Vampires have been
keeping the werewolves under control for eons. Possibly since the beginning.”

She scowled, not liking his condescension. “Maybe they don’t need to be babysat. Did you ever think of
that?”

“Without control, they become rabid, quarreling beasts who tear apart everything in their path.”

She thought of Jandin and Koris and how tender they’d been with her and she immediately rushed to
their defense. “I don’t think that’s true. You have a bias against werewolves apparently.”

His stare narrowed. “Yes. A werewolf ripped apart my human family after I’d turned.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Cassandra offered, not quite sure how to offer condolences on something so awful. “But
Jandin and Koris aren’t like that.”

“Don’t mislead yourself. They were consumed with lust for you because of the power you possess.
Why else would they go out of their way to put their mark on you before they could get you to safety?”

“I was phasing. There wasn’t time,” she said.



“Be that as it may, they’d been watching you for some time. As have I. They lost control because of
who you are and who they are.”

A part of her wondered if this was true. She nibbled her steak, completely over the fact that she was
munching on raw meat, and focused on the here and now. “Where will you take me?” she asked.

“I have an underground compound that will suffice for the time being. I will try to see to your comfort as
much as possible. Should the phase end your life…I will see to it that your effects are put into order.”

“Not a castle?” she asked derisively. “I thought all vampires had castles. And what do you mean, my
effects?”

“I have several but there’s nothing close enough to reach. Besides, going underground is the best way
to muffle your scent from their damned canine sense of smell. And to answer your question, it wouldn’t
do to leave loose ends. Should anyone find your body, the authorities will assume you died of natural
causes.”

Bitterness filled her mouth. “You don’t give two shits about the fact that I’m innocent in all this, do you?”

He shrugged. “Innocence dies everyday.”

Cassandra shivered, giving up. He was a wall of ice without a heart. She had zero hope of outrunning
or overpowering him. Her only chance was that her new pack members would find her before she died.

She picked at her food, unsure why he was bothering to feed her at all. However, she was unable to
refuse fresh meat, no matter how much it stung her pride to eat anything he’d provided.

She finished her dinner in silence, the crackling of the fire the only sound between them. She looked up
to find Cristophe staring at her with a heat in his eyes that he couldn’t immediately squelch when their
gazes met. “Are you going to kill me?” she asked.



“I’m supposed to handle the situation,” he said by way of answer but he shifted in seeming discomfort.

“I don’t want to die,” she murmured.

“Most people don’t.”

“Why can’t you just relocate me, like a werewolf witness protection program?”

He shook his head. “There is nowhere you could go that they wouldn’t eventually find you. They are…
tenacious.”

“I’m a good person,” she said, wiping away a tear. “I was studying to be an engineer. I like finding out
how things work.” She was making mindless conversation if only to mask the trembling fear inside. “I
never imagined…”

“Your heritage is your only crime,” he admitted. “I would that things were different.” The quiet admission
shocked her and she glanced up and to catch him frowning. “You are the first Breeding female who
wasn’t aware of her lineage. Most are protected and hidden away to prevent the feuding. Of course,
none have had your bloodline before. Your parents were foolish to mate, having known the
consequence.”

“They must’ve really loved each other,” Cassandra supposed and Cristophe shrugged away her
romantic sentiment.

“A useless and dangerous emotion. Look where it has put you…and them.”

She perked up, curious. “Are my parents still alive?”

“No.” He dashed her sudden hope with his flat admission.

“What happened?”



She held her breath. Would she finally discover more about her true heritage before dying?

 


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