Chapter 4
1225 Words
Cassian’s POV
I didn’t sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face. The way her eyes widened when I touched her. The way she froze when I kissed her. The way she left without a word, but her scent lingered in my mind long after she was gone.
It was a mistake. I knew that.
But my wolf didn’t care about mistakes.
He paced inside me all night, restless, growling her name over and over again. Ayla.
By dawn, I gave up trying to fight it. I threw on a black shirt, grabbed my keys, and drove through the mist-covered streets of Silverpine. The city was quiet, still asleep, but my thoughts were loud enough to drown everything else.
I had spent years building walls so high no one could climb them. I didn’t touch anyone. I didn’t let anyone touch me.
Until her.
Something about her scent. Wild, clean, familiar broke through every layer of control I had built. My wolf didn’t just tolerate her. He wanted her.
And that terrified me.
When I reached the office, I expected her to be there. She was always early. Always the first one in. But her desk was empty.
No coffee cup. No files. No scent.
A strange unease settled in my chest. I told myself she might be late, but the voice in my head whispered something else.
She’s gone.
I walked into my office, but I couldn’t focus. I kept glancing at the door, listening for her footsteps. By nine, she still hadn’t come.
Then the phone rang.
“Alpha Hale,” my secretary said quietly. “Ms. Blackthorn is here to see you.”
I clenched my jaw. “Send her in.”
Lara entered with her usual polished grace. She wore a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Good morning, Cassian.”
“Say what you came to say.”
Her smile sharpened. “You’ve gotten yourself a new assistant. Pretty little thing. Reminds me of someone.”
I said nothing.
She tilted her head. “You do know who she is, right?”
I looked up slowly. “What are you talking about?”
Lara stepped closer, lowering her voice. “Ayla Reed. That’s her new name. But I remember her real one.”
My pulse spiked. “What name?”
“Ayla Rivers.”
The name hit me like a strike to the chest.
Ayla Rivers. The girl who disappeared years ago after her pack was wiped out in the northern raids. The girl my father had ordered executed.
I stood up so fast the chair scraped against the floor. “You’re lying.”
Lara smiled faintly. “Am I? She’s been hiding under your nose. Clever, isn’t she? But don’t worry, Cassian. I can make her disappear again. Just like before.”
Something inside me snapped.
I moved before I realized it, grabbing her wrist. “You will not touch her.”
Her voice trembled, but she didn’t pull away. “You’re protecting her now? You don’t even know what she’s done.”
I released her slowly, breathing hard. “Leave, Lara.”
She smirked. “Fine. But when she destroys you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
When she was gone, I stood there in silence, every muscle tight.
Could it be true?
If Ayla was Ayla Rivers, then she wasn’t just a stranger. She was the last surviving daughter of the Rivers pack. The same pack that had once stood against my father’s reign.
The same pack he slaughtered.
I sat down heavily, gripping the edge of the desk. My wolf was howling inside me now, angry and desperate.
Mate.
The word came through like thunder.
“No,” I muttered under my breath. “It’s not possible.”
But deep down, I knew it was. It explained everything. The pull, the calm I felt when she was near, the way my wolf quieted around her.
She was mine.
And I was the monster who had destroyed her world.
Hours passed before I moved again. I couldn’t sit still. I needed to see her. To know the truth from her own mouth.
When I finally found her, she was sitting by the river at the edge of the city, her shoes off, her legs pulled close to her chest. The afternoon sun made her hair shine like copper.
She didn’t turn when I approached. “How did you find me?”
“I followed your scent.”
She gave a small, humorless laugh. “Of course you did.”
I sat beside her, leaving a careful distance between us. “Why did you run?”
She stared at the water. “Because you kissed me.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“For me, it is.” Her voice cracked slightly. “You shouldn’t want me, Cassian. If you knew who I really was, you wouldn’t even look at me.”
“Then tell me.”
She hesitated. The silence stretched between us, filled only by the sound of the river. Then she whispered, “My name isn’t Ayla Reed.”
I kept my voice steady. “I know.”
Her head snapped toward me. “You do?”
“Lara told me.”
Her expression hardened. “Then you know what your family did to mine.”
“Yes.”
“And you still came here?”
“I had to.”
Her hands curled into fists. “You should hate me.”
“I tried.”
She looked at me then, really looked, and I saw the pain she carried behind her eyes. Years of loss, grief, and fury, all trapped behind a calm she barely held together.
“Why me?” she asked softly.
I didn’t have an answer she would understand. “Because my wolf won’t let me forget you.”
She turned away, shaking her head. “You can’t fix this, Cassian. You can’t erase what your father did.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
I looked at her, my voice low. “Because I think I was supposed to find you.”
Her eyes glistened, but she blinked the tears away. “Don’t say things like that. It makes it harder.”
Before I could respond, a sharp c***k echoed through the trees behind us.
A warning growl rose in my throat.
Ayla’s head jerked up. “What was that?”
I stood quickly, scanning the shadows. My wolf surged forward, senses flaring. Someone was watching us.
Then I saw it—a dark figure moving near the treeline, carrying a crossbow.
“Ayla, get down!”
She ducked as the arrow flew past, grazing my shoulder before embedding itself in the dirt. Pain burned down my arm, but I ignored it and lunged toward the woods.
The figure vanished into the mist before I could reach them.
When I turned back, Ayla was standing, trembling but unhurt. I could smell the fear rolling off her, sharp and familiar.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
She shook her head. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing.”
She looked at me, eyes wide. “Cassian, they weren’t aiming at you.”
I froze. “What do you mean?”
“They were aiming at me.”
- Writer
