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 red 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 thepound. It isn’t safe out here.”
She withdrew her hand and he looked back at her. “Answer me, Tieran.”
His lipspressed 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 n 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 n.”
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 w 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 n. 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 ns. No one even remembers why the ns are fighting. There
are frightened women in n Janus who suffer unimaginable abuse simply because they had the
misfortune to be born into a n 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 n 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 n 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 sh, her own senses went on alert and she put her back to Tieran, staring the same as him into
the inky darkness nketing the forest.
The crickets abruptly stopped their singing and an unearthly silence enveloped the de. 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 nked by more of Ulster’s n.
They’de for an ambush and Cassandra had yed right into their n.
Panic threatened at the corners of her mind as she calcted their odds of survival when they were
clearly outnumbered but she refused to beg or cry.
If Ulster nned 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.
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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 hisst 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.
Come and get it, asshole.
And prepare to die.