Rise of the Blood Moon Princess

Chapter 3

*Xavier's pov* 

    I didn't sleep at all that night. My mind kept racing about what had happened. When Cassidy tried to reject me, my wolf went crazy. He didn't want to lose his mate and neither did I. After our little "session" she ran and locked herself in the bathroom. I begged her to let me in but she refused, telling me to go to Elise. Hearing her say that sent pangs through my heart. I never realized how much finding my mate would hurt until I met her and now the woman I am destined to be with doesn't want anything to do with me. 

    Eventually the early morning rays cut through the curtains and bathed the room in a light gold. Cassidy still hasn't come out the bathroom and I'm not gonna lie I was worried. What if she escaped and ran off again? My wolf asked.

"She couldn't of...I've been here the whole time. I would've seen her." I told him.

    Yeah but did you check the bathroom? There could be a window in there?

    Panic set in as I took in his words. Before I knew it, I was leaping across the beds and grabbing for the door. I threw myself against the wood, once. Twice. On the third time the door gave way and I frantically stepped in. I gazed down in shock to see her fast asleep in the bath tub. Her raven black hair spilled over her shoulders and the edge of the tub like ink, while her breathing was soft. Her eyes were swollen from crying as she had a towel clutched against her chest. My broke at seeing her this way knowing it was my fault. I kneeled next to the tub and gently pushed her black strands out of her face. 

"Cassidy," I whispered. She twitched slightly before she groaned and tried swatting him away.

"Cade....leave me alone and let me sleep. You know I don't like to be woken up this early." She huffed before curing back up into her ball.

    My wolf growled angrily at the sound of her brother's name. I know he's just her brother but he was the one that tried to take her away from him and he hadn't forgotten that. He shook his head before gently shaking her again. He jerked back as she shot up growling out. 

"Hey! Hey calm down! It's just me." I said trying to calm her down. Her eyes focused on me for a minute before recognition clouded her eyes. It didn't last long though, once she realized where she was embarrassment covered her face as she looked away from me.

"Um...can you give me a minute....please." She asked. 

"Uh yeah. Sure."

    I got up and left the bathroom. I quickly grabbed our things and threw them into the truck. I walked around to the back and dropped the tailgate. I sat down and waited on her to come out. We still had another couple hours ahead of us before we made it back to my pack and I was ready to get home. While lost in thought I detected somebody walking in my direction and turned to see my beta, Chris walking towards me.

"So," Chris started. "Wanna talk about it?" 

I glanced at him huffing. "Talk about what?"

    Chris gave me a knowing look before I sighed and slid off the tailgate and started pacing.

"She's my mate." I stated.

Chris looked at me in surprise. "The girl we just got? Are you sure?" 

I glared at him in irritation and he lifted his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, sorry. But still, judging by the sounds we all heard last night, I take it you marked her?" Chris asked.

I shook my head in frustration. "No....she knows about Elise...and I uh...I told her I couldn't leave Elise. It could cause a war between our packs and uh....afterwards she rejected me." I trailed off sadly. 

"She rejected you?" He asked in shock. "What did you do? Did you accept her rejection?"

I shook my head. "No....she tried to leave and I grabbed her and pushed her against the wall and I uh...well you know what happened......" I trailed off. "My wolf went crazy when she did that. He wanted to mark her right then and there so she couldn't leave....afterwards she ran and locked herself into the bathroom." I stated sadly. "She told me to be with Elise that she wouldn't let me take advantage of her again."

    Chris shook his head and they just stayed there in silence. After a while, he broke the silence.

"So what are you going to do? Because no offense but Elise is a stuck up bitch." 

I sighed before looking at my best friend. "I have to break it off with Elise and try to prevent a battle." 

*********

    Eventually, Cassidy came out of the room and got into the truck. She didn't speak a word to him and he tried every chance he could to engage her in a conversation. The only recognition he received was the occasional head nod. Finally, he cut the music off and sighed.

"Cassidy......."

Silence greeted him. He huffed in frustration before continuing. "I know you're mad at me. I don't know what to say or how to apologize. I'd rather hear you yell at me then go on giving me the silent treatment. Please just talk to me. Tell me what you want." He pleaded with her.

    She continued on in her silence. He eventually gave in to defeat and kept driving. The silence of the vehicle was deafening. Eventually I heard a soft sigh and I glanced in her direction.

"Why won't you reject me?" She whispered. I could hear the sadness in her voice as she continued staring ahead.

"Cassidy...I've waited a long time to find you. I prayed to the moon goddess every night to send me a mate. After a while I didn't even care what she was. I just wanted my mate. Eventually I sunk into depression. I was a walking body with no feelings. Usually we meet our mates by the time we are 21 and I still haven't met mine....not until now." I whispered. I looked over to see tears streaming down her cheeks. I saw the hurt and despair in her eyes as she tried to hide her tears.

"I refuse to reject you because I want to be with you. I just haven't figured out how yet. But I will. Just...give me some time....please." I begged. Cassidy remained silent as I continued driving through the woods. 

"Ok."

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"I said ok" She replied back. 

    I smiled happily at the thought. One day she will be his Luna. They would love her as much as he slowly is. The only thought that concerned him was one thing. She's wolf-less. Would they accept a wolf-less luna? Granted, she can fight, but I would have too see myself whether or not she can. But something didn't add up and he had a feeling she was keeping something from him. He knew she wouldn't tell him if he asked so he would have to figure it out himself.

"Are you an only child?" She asked suddenly.

"Uh, yeah. Well I am now....." I trailed off. 

"What do you mean?" For once, she actually looked at me. Confusion clouded her beautiful blue eyes as she waited for his answer. 

"He died when he was two years old....he uh..died from some sickness. Mother won't ever tell me though. Just keeps saying he was sick and that was it. I never pushed the matter too much because it always seemed to upset her every time I did. My father never acknowledged the existence of my little brother either so everything about him is a mystery." I told her. She slowly nodded her head before opening her mouth again.

"Um, what's your favorite movie?"

I couldn't hold back my laugh as I looked at her. Nobody has ever asked me what my favorite movie was. Nobody really cared too.

"My favorite movie is 'As Above So Below'. It's like a cool mystery with a touch of horror."

"I'll have to watch it sometimes." She replied back before silence enveloped the truck once again. 

I cleared my throat, trying to think of a good question to ask when a thought struck me. 

"What's your relationship like with your brother?"

She looked at me surprised and shrugged her shoulders.

"Like a lot of brother/sister relationships. We argue, we fight. Sometimes we'll race each other through the woods. We always make a game out of it to prepare for a random ambush. He always wanted me to be prepared. So far I haven't lost." She laughed.

I couldn't help but glance at her curiously. "Race? Like wolf vs human?" I asked.

"No like wolf vs wo-...." She froze abruptly. "Yeah, exactly like that. I uh...I'm of course the human and he's the wolf." She trailed off. I looked at her suspiciously but decided to let it go. Something was definitely up.

"But anyway....we are very close. Well..were..after our mother passed we were all each other had. My father doesn't believe that she-wolves can be as strong as the warriors. The omegas in the pack were kept down in the cellars and mostly used as s*x slaves. I would've been there too if it hadn't been for Cade.....he fought my father tooth and nail. Eventually my father gave in just to shut him up. So we always shared the same room. Once I matured though, he renovated his room. He pretty much cut it in half so we could have our own space. He's always taken care of me." She pulled the hem of her shirt up to show me her stomach.

    I couldn't keep the growl of arousal that escaped my mouth as my eyes took her stomach in hungrily.  

"Down doggo. I was just showing you this." She giggled while pointing at her stomach. A huge scar ran up from her hip all the way to the crevice between her luscious breasts. "My father gave this to me after I challenged him for attacking my brother. Said my brother and I needed to learn to respect him. It took 92 stiches to close this back up."

    I looked at the scar in shock before meeting her eyes. "I swear to god I'll kill the bastard. I don't care if I just signed a treaty I'll kill him!" He growled out. He instantly relaxed as soon as he felt her delicate hands stroke his arm. Her touch instantly calmed his wolf. He took a deep breath and sighed before glancing back at her.

"Why did it scar? Usually a werewolf heals with little to no scaring." I questioned her. I knew that if a werewolf was wolf-less they had the same properties as humans. They double in the amount of time it takes to heal compared to a normal werewolf. 

"Silver. He cut me with a silver knife dipped in wolfsbane. It slowed the healing process down tremendously and made it harder to heal. Because of that it left the scar." She stated while shrugging her shoulders. "From that day on, Cade made sure to train me everyday. He wanted me to be able to protect myself just in case dad and I got into it again."

    My wolf was growling in anger. Her own father hurt her! All because she was a woman! I sat there seething in rage as I tried to figure out ways to make him suffer for what he did. Every once in a while, I would glance in her direction to see her either staring out the window or playing with the necklace that dangled near her breasts.

"You're staring again." She said without looking at me.

I coughed in embarrassment, not realizing she knew I was staring. "Uh sorry. I was trying to look at your necklace. I noticed that you kept playing with it. If I may ask, what is it?"

    I watched as she looked down at it. Spinning it around her fingers.

"It belonged to my mother.....after she died, my father boarded off her entire room. For some reason they never slept in the same bed so she had her own private room. But anyway, after he did that he forbade anybody from going into it. On my 16th birthday, Cade snuck into her room and went through her things. He found this necklace hanging on the mirror of her vanity. He took it and brought it back to me and gave it too me as a gift. He told me mom would want me to have it. After that I started sneaking in her room at night. I would take little things out one by one and hide them in my room. I just wanted something to remember her by." Cassidy sighed sadly. "I miss her everyday.....but it's a moon howling at the full blood moon. I don't know what it means but I feel a connection with it."

    I turned onto a dirt road hidden along the roadway, taking us deeper into the dark forest. We were about thirty minutes away from the pack house, but I wasn't ready to end our trip. I was finding out a lot about her past and I was slowly trying to piece together everything about her life.

"What connection do you feel towards it?" I asked her curiously. 

She was silent for a moment before she tucked the necklace back into her shirt. 

"I was born on the blood moon." She stated finally. 

    My eyes widened in surprise. It was extremely uncommon for wolves to be born on the blood moon. Legend says that once every 10,000 years a special wolf is born on the night of the blood moon and is gifted with special powers. It never specified what type of powers they inherited but they were blessed by the moon goddess herself the minute they are born.

    I looked at her with curiosity. Did she have powers? But that couldn't be. She was wolf-less according to her father. Not to mention, if she was this powerful wolf, then he would've never traded her away for a peace alliance. But a thought did pop into my head.

"Cassidy, how old are you?"

She looked at me with suspicion in her eyes. "19...Why?"

I shook my head at her. "Oh, no reason. Your father never told me which was odd, so I meant to ask."

"Mm" Was all she responded back with.

    Silence embraced the truck one last time before I saw her sit up and look around. 

"We're here." She stated.

    I nodded my head happily as the pack house came into view. It was a magnificent structure, built out of black stone. It gave it a sort of medieval look without the evil aura part. We pulled up gravel road, stopping in front of the dazzling, white quartz stairs. The bushes alongside the walkway were perfectly manicured and brought a sophisticated air to the glorious pack house.

    One by one, warriors and servants exited the house and descended the stairs to the awaiting truck. I watched as Cassidy nervously eyed everyone of them. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.

"It'll be fine. Just take deep breaths."

    She nodded her to me but kept silent. I opened up my door and walked around to help her out of the truck. As I shut the door, I felt my heart sink as I saw a woman running down the steps towards me. A brilliant white smile lighting her face. As soon as she got to him she pulled him into a warm embrace and gave him a long slow kiss.

    A low growl rang out, freezing everybody in their tracks. Elise let go of my neck and glared at the source of the noise. Anger blazed in her eyes as she turned to me.

"Xavier, who is this."