Chapter 4: Cassian Duskbane
1249 Words
I woke up to the sharp scent of firewood and damp stone.
Then the ache hit—dull, deep like I’d been tossed around and left for dead. My whole body felt wrong. Heavy. Too stiff to move right.
It wasn’t just pain. It was something worse. The kind of exhaustion that left my limbs useless and my head too foggy to think straight. Even breathing felt like work.
I blinked against the dim glow, shifting slightly. A groan slipped out before I could stop it. My ribs protested the movement, bandaged with something that smelled faintly of herbs and whiskey. My mouth was dry. My head throbbed. And my throat—raw.
I wasn’t dead.
That was my first mistake.
“Finally awake, are we?”
The voice was deep, edged with dry amusement.
I snapped my head up.
Across the cave, perched on a rock like he had nowhere better to be, sat the rogue from the forest. Cassian.
He stretched, loose-limbed and languid, but there was something sharp beneath it. A quiet kind of menace. The sort of stillness that didn’t belong to someone lazy. It belonged to someone waiting.
For what, I didn’t know.
My heart kicked hard in my chest. I pushed myself up, disoriented, and that’s when I noticed—this wasn’t what I’d been wearing.
The shirt hung loose, slipping down my shoulder. Too big. Not mine. And it smelled like him. Woodsmoke. Dirt. Something raw and unfamiliar.
I yanked it back in place. “You stripped me?”
Cassian didn’t even blink. “I saved your life. Quit being dramatic.”
I gritted my teeth.
He noticed. Of course, he did. His mouth curled—slow, deliberate. He was enjoying this. Waiting for me to c***k.
The firelight cast shadows along the hard lines of his jaw and cheekbones as it flickered against his skin.
His lashes cast faint shadows beneath his eyes—gold-flecked, steady, and totally elusive to read.
Maybe he would’ve been handsome. If he didn’t move like someone who had learned the hard way that biting first was the safest option.
I hated that he looked amused.
I hated that he had me at all.
“Where the hell am I?” My voice was rough.
“My cave.” Cassian stretched again, exuding all the energy of someone who hadn’t been fighting for their life the night before. “Well, not mine, exactly. But it’s cosy, right?”
I forced my aching limbs upright, ignoring the way my body protested.
Cassian tilted his head, watching. “You shouldn’t be moving yet. You lost a lot of blood.”
“Thanks for the concern.” I scanned the cave—stone walls, the dying embers of a fire, and a pile of fur blankets that I definitely wasn’t getting back into. One narrow exit.
I took a slow step toward it.
Cassian didn’t move, but the air between us did.
“You’re blocking the door,” I said, deadpan.
His lips twitched. “Sharp one, aren’t you?”
I stepped closer. “Move.”
He didn’t budge. Instead, he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes steady—too steady.
“See, I don’t think you get it.”
A pause.
“You were dying when I found you.” And before you get all indignant—yeah, I could’ve left you there.”
I didn’t flinch. “Maybe you should have.”
Cassian let out a low laugh. “You’re fun.”
I curled my fingers into fists. “What do you want?”
Cassian’s gaze flicked down, lingering on my wrist.
He let out a quiet hum, something unreadable in his expression. “Now that’s the right question.”
I swallowed.
The mark.
Even now, it pulsed faintly under my skin, the glow softer in the cave light but still there. A brand. A curse. A question I didn’t have an answer for.
Cassian watched me, eyes sharp, unblinking. “You have no idea what that thing means, do you?”
I said nothing.
“Thought not.” He stood, stretching again like a wolf testing its limbs. “Let’s make a deal, then.”
I tensed. “Not interested.”
“You haven’t even heard the terms.”
“I don’t make deals with rogues.”
Cassian smiled, teeth flashing white. “That’s the thing, sweetheart. You don’t have a pack anymore. That makes you rogue too.”
The words landed harder than they should have.
I wasn’t packing any more.
Not Silverclaw. Not anything.
I had no home, no protection, nothing but a glowing mark and the weight of betrayal sinking deeper into my ribs.
Cassian must’ve seen something c***k in my expression because his smile faded slightly. He didn’t push, though.
Just stepped closer, slow and deliberate.
“You’re asking the wrong questions,” he murmured.
I forced myself to meet his eyes. “Then what are the right ones?”
His fingers twitched at his side. “How about: Why were they so scared of that mark? Or better yet—what the Elders are really hiding.”
My stomach tightened.
I knew there was more to this. More than just rejection, more than just fear. The Elders had looked at me like I was an execution waiting to happen.
Like they’d seen this before.
I clenched my jaw. “You know something.”
Cassian studied me. Then, without warning, his hand closed around my wrist. I sucked in a sharp breath as warmth surged between us—sudden and startling. Energy pulsed under my skin, buzzing like static in the air.
Cassian frowned. His grip tightened slightly. Not like he meant to hurt me—but like he was testing something.
I ripped my hand back.
His eyes flicked to mine, unreadable.
“You’re not normal,” he muttered.
“Thanks,” I snapped. “Real helpful.”
Cassian’s smirk returned, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I stepped back. “I’m leaving.”
Cassian didn’t move.
I moved slowly toward the cave entrance. Every step was a fight. Every movement sent a sharp stab of pain through my ribs, making each breath a battle.
I was extremely tired. Every part of me felt like a dead weight, screaming for me to stop. But I clenched my jaw and pushed forward.
I reached the opening.
And then Cassian was there.
He didn’t touch me. Didn’t block the way physically.
But he might as well have.
The air between us changed again—subtle, but charged. The way he looked at me now… it wasn’t the same. Like he wasn’t just seeing a lost wolf.
It was just as if he saw something I couldn’t.
His voice was quiet like he was mulling something over. “How much are you willing to bleed for the truth?”
I went still.
Something cold slithered down my spine.
Cassian didn’t look away. Didn’t blink. “Because that’s what it’s gonna take.”
Silence settled between us, heavy. Waiting.
Then—
He stepped aside.
My breath shuddered out.
Cassian only watched as I walked past him, stepping out into the dawn-lit forest, away from the cave, away from whatever the hell he was trying to drag me into.
But even as I put distance between us, even as I tried to shake off his words—
I already knew.
I was going to bleed for this.
And I was going to find out why.
- Writer
