Threads begin to Tighten
1388 Words
Chapter Four: Threads Begin to Tighten
After Four Years
Christmas in Crescent Bay always began the same way. Salt on the wind, warm lights strung across beach houses, and a moon that rose larger than anywhere else in New York. But for Jason Hale, Alpha of the Hale Pack, this December felt different. It was charged, restless, as if something old and unfinished had returned to stalk his steps.
It started with the necklace.
The small crescent-shaped pendant recovered from the woman he had delivered four years ago. The woman whose face he never saw, but whose scent... gods, that scent...still haunted his dreams. He’d kept the necklace hidden, locked away, but lately, something about it called to him. A tug. A memory refusing to stay dead.
And so he followed the trail, medical logs, admission records, anomalies.
Which led him straight to her.
Dr. C. Voss.
A brilliant young doctor recently employed at Maxwell Grant’s medical facility. No photo on file. Odd. Suspiciously odd.
Jason had been trying to see her for weeks now, but Maxwell’s hospital had security tighter than a military base. It didn’t help that Maxwell himself had been acting cagey lately, protective, secretive, dismissive.
Jason hated secrets. He had his own, a thousand of them, but he despised when others kept theirs from him.
Today, though, was unavoidable as he was being summoned to a public dinner by his parents, and they had brought along a woman they insisted he needed to “give a chance.”
Lyra.
*****
LYRA
Lyra Arkwell was everything an Alpha heir was supposed to want, tall, graceful, perfectly bred from one of the wealthiest families in the pack. Her beauty was symmetrical, her voice polished, her manners flawless.
And Jason felt absolutely nothing.
“I’ve heard so much about your leadership, Alpha Jason,” she said, offering a dainty smile across the candlelit restaurant table. “Your parents speak highly of you.”
He nodded politely. “I’m sure they do.”
He wasn’t listening. He was thinking of the medical records he’d found. Of a woman’s blood pressure spike minutes before he’d rushed into that delivery room. Of an unidentified newborn boy with strong lungs and a wolf’s aura, rare for a human birth.
Lyra reached forward, touching his arm lightly.
“You seem distracted. Am I boring you?”
“No,” Jason said truthfully. “But I’m preoccupied.”
“Is it pack business?”
He hesitated.
“Something like that.”
She leaned closer, eyes bright. “I hope, with time, I can be a part of that world.”
Jason swallowed a sigh. She was trying. She was kind. Beautiful. Perfectly suitable.
But she wasn’t her.
The woman he’d delivered. The woman who’d left something inside him, an ache, a yearning he couldn’t name.
*****
Meanwhile, Alpha Maxwell Grant slammed a hand against his office desk, causing the coffee mug to jump.
“Julie, for the last time, I didn’t invite you on the Christmas holiday.”
Julie pouted dramatically, flipping her glossy brown hair over her shoulder.
“I am your fiancée, Maxie.”
“You are not my fiancée,” he bit out.
Julie smirked. “Your mother says otherwise.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “My mother lies. Often.”
Julie sauntered to him, placing her palms on his chest. “Let me come with you. It’ll be fun. Sun, sand, and us.”
Maxwell stepped back sharply.
“I’m not going alone. Cassandra’s coming.”
Julie froze.
“The slave girl?”
“She’s not a slave, but a fully qualified doctor!"
“Oh please,” Julie sneered. “She’s a human your pack bought and released.”
Maxwell’s eyes flashed.
“Watch your mouth.”
Julie huffed, then muttered something under her breath.
“She’s nothing. I’m everything.”
Maxwell’s wolf rumbled, wholly unimpressed with her tantrum.
“Julie, we’re done. And you’re not coming.”
Julie wasn’t just angry, she was terrified. Of losing her place. Of losing Maxwell. And in her desperation, she did what desperate people always did.
She looked for leverage.
She found Bosco.
*****
BOSCO
The Mafia Don was stocking the kitchen pantry when someone cleared their throat. He turned to see Julie leaning in the doorway, arms crossed.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Julie smiled. Too widely.
“You’re close to Cassandra, yes?”
Bosco’s hackles rose immediately. “Why?”
She sauntered in, tapping a polished nail against a jar. “Because I’m wondering why Maxwell protects a nobody human so fiercely. Almost like she’s… special.”
Bosco stiffened.
Julie’s eyes gleamed.
“He cares about her way too much. And that child she keeps? What is he, her little charity case?”
Bosco moved so fast she didn’t even see it, one hand gripping her arm, eyes flaring.
“You stay away from Cassandra. And the boy.”
Julie swallowed but didn’t back down.
“You’re hiding something.”
Bosco shoved her out of the pantry.
“And I’ll hide it with my life.”
******
THE CHRISTMAS TRIP
Crescent Bay Resort was a long stretch of moonlit sand, turquoise water, and modern villas built into the cliffside. Cassandra had never been to the ocean before. Jay, however, took one look and screamed with pure delight.
“Mommy! Water!”
Cassandra laughed, breathless. “Careful, baby, don’t run too far!”
Maxwell stood behind her, watching them with an expression no one had ever seen on him before, soft, reverent, hungry in a way that wasn’t lust but something deeper.
“You did good with him, Cass,” he murmured. “He’s bright. Curious. Kind.”
Cassandra smiled faintly. “He’s everything good in my life.”
“And you’ll have more good things,” he said quietly. “I mean it.”
She turned to look at him, and for the first time, he didn’t look away. Something flared between them, warm and terrifying.
But fate, as always, wasn’t done complicating things.
*****
JASON ARRIVES
Jason’s car pulled up to the resort entrance just as night settled over the ocean. Lyra stepped out gracefully behind him, gushing at the view.
“This place is gorgeous!”
Jason barely heard.
His wolf abruptly lunged inside him, alert, as if it sensed something that made its entire body twitch.
A scent.
Warm. Sweet. Familiar.
Impossible.
Jason’s heart slammed against his ribs.
“No,” he whispered. “It can’t be.”
He followed the scent across the sand and, stopped.
There she was.
A young woman in a simple sundress, her hair tied loosely, laughing as she chased a little boy who ran circles in the sand. She was radiant, glowing, alive in a way that punched the air from his lungs.
Cassandra.
His hands trembled.
He didn’t remember her face, but his wolf did.
His soul did.
Then the boy turned. Jason saw his eyes. Deep blue, the exact shade of his own, and the world tilted.
“What…” Jason whispered. “No. No, that’s ..!”
Lyra touched his arm. “Jason? Are you alright?”
He couldn’t breathe.
Maxwell appeared behind Cassandra, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Jason’s wolf roared.
Jason took a step forward before he realized what he was doing.
Cassandra looked up.
Their eyes met.
And Cassandra froze so completely it was as if the earth had stopped turning.
“Mommy?” Jay tugged on her dress. “Who is that man?”
Maxwell stepped in front of them instantly, jaw clenched.
“Jason. You’re early.”
Jason’s voice shook.
“Maxwell… who is she?”
Maxwell’s body shifted, subtly blocking Cassandra. “A doctor. My employee.”
“The boy?”
“My godson.”
Jason’s fists clenched.
“You’re lying.”
The air thickened. Tension crackled like electricity between all four of them.
Cassandra’s heart hammered violently.
Jay’s small hand gripped hers tighter.
Maxwell’s wolf stood at the brink of war.
Jason burned with recognition and a dawning terror he didn’t understand.
Lyra watched them all, suspicion darkening her perfect features.
Far away, Julie watched from a balcony with eyes sparking with malicious satisfaction.
And Bosco, stepping onto the sand behind them, knew that everything was about to unravel. Unless he did something.
- Writer
