His brother, My mate.

Chapter 2: something about her

Cassian pov

****

I woke to the incessant ringing of my phone, the shrill sound cutting through the remnants of sleep that still clung to my mind.

With a reluctant groan, I rolled over and reached blindly toward the bedside table, searching for the device.

My fingers finally wrapped around it.

I glanced at the screen.

“Cassian.”

The moment I heard my father’s voice, whatever traces of drowsiness remained vanished.

I immediately sat upright, my brows drawing together as I listened.

“The succession ceremony for your brother is scheduled to take place in three weeks. You are expected to return to the estate by tomorrow to begin preparations. As the younger son of the Alpha, you will assume the position of your brother’s right hand.”

My jaw tightened.

Those words landed with the weight of a hammer against my skull.

Of all the things I had wanted to hear that morning, this was certainly nowhere near the list.

I had never possessed the slightest interest in pack politics. The endless meetings, traditions, expectations, and suffocating responsibilities had been precisely why I’d abandoned the pack house in the first place.

I preferred freedom.

I preferred a life without obligations.

But now that Kieran was finally stepping into his rightful position as Alpha, hiding from my responsibilities was no longer an option.

“I have given you sufficient time to live your life as you pleased,” Father continued, his voice stern and uncompromising. “Now, it is time for you to assume your responsibilities as a member of the Thorne family.”

Before I could formulate a response, the call ended.

I stared at the screen in disbelief.

“Fuck.”

“Cassi?”

A sleepy voice came from beside me.

I turned my head and found the blonde woman from the previous night stirring beneath the sheets.

“Is everything okay?” she murmured, blinking sleepily. “Why are you awake so early? Come back to bed.”

My gaze drifted toward her.

She was laying beside me, her naked body partially concealed beneath the white sheets.

“No. I’m leaving.”

I climbed out of bed and began collecting the clothes scattered across the room.

Last night had been eventful.

I’d met this woman, spent the night with her, and woken up to the unpleasant reminder that my carefree existence was apparently coming to an end.

It wasn’t unusual for me.

Women had always been a temporary indulgence in my life—nothing complicated, nothing permanent, just the spur of the moment.

That was simply how I lived.

I treated every day like it could be my last and every night like it belonged to no one but me.

Commitment had never appealed to me.

Neither had permanence.

I dressed quickly and left before the woman beside me could protest.

---

The next day, I found myself standing before the imposing gates of the Thorne Estate.

A place I had once called home.

A place I had deliberately stayed away from for years.

The moment I stepped inside the mansion, a familiar sense of confinement settled over me.

Nothing had changed.

Or perhaps everything had.

I walked through the grand corridors until I spotted Kieran farther down the hall, engaged in a serious conversation with one of the council members.

I slowed.

It had been years since I had last seen my brother.

And somehow, those years had transformed him.

Kieran looked different from what remembered.

There was a certain authority in his posture now. A quiet confidence in the way he carried himself.

The presence of a future Alpha.

His eyes eventually found mine.

For a moment, surprise flashed across his features before his expression softened into genuine happiness.

“Cassian.”

I walked toward him, and we exchanged a brief embrace.

It was strange seeing him again.

Familiar.

Yet somehow unfamiliar at the same time.

I wanted to talk to him properly, but the council member beside him made it obvious that Kieran had more pressing matters demanding his attention.

“I’ll come find you later when you’re less busy,” I said.

He nodded.

I gave him one final glance before walking away.

I decided to explore the estate.

It had been too long since I had wandered through these halls, and perhaps revisiting them would help me reacquaint myself with the place I had once considered home.

I barely made it around the corner when I heard the grand doors opening behind me.

I stopped.

Slowly, Looking up.

And then—

I saw her.

For a moment, everything else ceased to exist.

Sunlight streamed through the open doorway behind her, illuminating her silhouette and casting a radiant energy around her figure.

It made her appear almost ethereal.

I couldn’t see her face clearly at first, but even from where I stood, I could make out the elegant curves of her body.

Her dark hair flowed effortlessly over her shoulders, framing skin that looked impossibly soft beneath the warm sunlight.

There was something undeniably captivating and mesmerizing about her.

Something that demanded my attention.

Without realizing it, I took a step toward her.

Then another.

And the moment I saw her eyes clearly —

Our eyes met.

I Was left lost in a trance.

It was as though an invisible force had seized control of my body.

I couldn’t move.

Couldn’t look away.

Her eyes were unlike anything I had ever encountered.

Deep.

Mesmerizing.

Almost as if it was not of this world.

They felt like an entire universe concealed behind two irises, and somehow, I found myself falling into them.

She stared back at me.

Neither of us moved.

Neither of us spoke.

It was as though she were caught in the same inexplicable spell that had rendered me completely immobile.

She wasn’t like any of the women I was used to.

I couldn’t explain why.

I simply knew.

Something about her was different.

Something about her felt dangerously familiar.

What I thought had been a mere second.

Became Five minutes.

Perhaps more.

I had no idea.

I only knew that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.

“Cassian.”

Kieran’s voice echoed from town the hall.

The spell broke.

Both of us turned toward him.

Then I heard him say the name that immediately dragged me back to reality.

“Elara.”

My eyes snapped back to the woman standing before me.

Elara.

The Beta’s daughter.

My childhood friend.

My stomach tightened.

How had I not recognized her?

The last time I’d seen her, she had been younger, different.

But the woman standing before me now was almost unrecognizable.

Captivating.

Striking.

Mesmerizing.

And, for reasons I couldn’t comprehend, utterly distracting.

Then the realization struck me.

Elara was Kieran’s girlfriend.

My brother’s girlfriend.

The thought should have been enough to extinguish whatever strange fascination had taken hold of me.

Instead, it only made the thoughts inside my head more confusing.

I had no right to look at her this way.

No right to wonder what her lips would feel like against mine.

No right to feel this inexplicable pull toward her.

And yet, I couldn’t understand where any of it was coming from.

“Elara, you’ve remember Cassian right?,” Kieran said.

Her gaze shifted toward me.

“Yes, I do.”

Then she smiled faintly, trying hard to conceal what had just happened.

“It’s been a while since we last saw each other.”

Her voice.

oh heavens!!.

Her voice was delicate and melodious, almost like it was a song created my the angels themselves.

I swallowed.

Then she walked toward me.

Before I could prepare myself, her arms slipped around me.

A hug.

That was all.

Something completely innocent.

Something perfectly normal.

We had known each other for years.

We had been friends.

There was absolutely nothing unusual about it.

So why did my body react as though I had been struck by lightning?

The instant her body pressed against mine, an inexplicable surge coursed through me.

My muscles stiffened.

My breath caught.

Every nerve beneath my skin seemed to awaken simultaneously.

It felt like silk against my body.

Soft.

Warm.

Familiar.

And yet completely intoxicating.

For one reckless moment, I wanted to hold her tighter.

I wanted to bury myself in the warmth of her embrace and remain there indefinitely.

The thought startled me.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Then she pulled away.

And judging by the fleeting uncertainty that crossed her expression, I wasn’t entirely convinced I was the only one who had felt something.

She stepped backward.

I instinctively looked down.

My stomach dropped.

A visible reaction beneath my trousers immediately confirmed what I had desperately hoped wasn’t happening.

Fuck.

Panic surged through me.

I couldn’t let Kieran see.

Not this.

Not when Elara was his girlfriend.

I cleared my throat and forced myself to step away.

“Excuse me.”

I didn’t wait for either of them to respond.

I turned and walked away as quickly as I could without making my escape obvious.

The moment I entered my room, I shut the door behind me.

I leaned against it and dragged a hand down my face.

What the hell had just happened?

I had been with countless women.

Beautiful women.

Tempting women.

Women who had willingly thrown themselves at me.

And never—not once—had I lost control of myself simply because a woman touched me.

So why her?

Why Elara?

Why Kieran’s girlfriend?

I pushed away from the door and paced across the room.

There was no logical explanation for what I had felt.

It wasn’t simple attraction.

At least, that was what I desperately wanted to believe.

There had been something else.

Something deeper.

Something strange.

Something that had awakened the moment our eyes met.

And that terrified me more than anything else.

I finally collapsed onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as my thoughts spiraled into chaos.

Why had her touch affected me so deeply?

And why, for the first time in my life, did I feel as though I had absolutely no control over my own thoughts and body?.

I groaned and covered my face with both hands.

“What the hell is going on with me?”.