CHAPTER7
1227 Words
Cassien POV
I have seen friends slaughtered right in front of my eyes.. people burned alive.
Before I was Alpha I was the lead ranked warrior…so I had seen my fair share of things.
I have also seen the Blood River reject false heirs, melting flesh from bone until nothing remained..
But what I saw today.. I had never seen before.
The river…it bowed for her. It obeyed her?!
The entire yard exploded into chaos the moment Ellia collapsed.
Loud voices came from all sides, shouting, screaming…demanding answers no one had.
Impossible.
Fraud.
Dark magic.
Prophecy.
I heard every word and none of them.
My gaze remained fixed on the river and that golden light oozing from it.
What had I just seen?
The Blood River had acknowledged her.
No.
Even using acknowledged sounded tp weak compared to what I just saw…
It had submitted.
That had never happened, not in any record.
Not to the greatest Alphas to ever live, even her own father.
My wolf continued to pace around violently inside me.
It had been restless and agitated since her arrival… focused on one thing.
Her.
Mate.
The word came like a growl inside my skull.
I shut the bond down with force.
No.
Absolutely not.
Of all the cruel jokes fate could play, this had to be the cruelest.
Her.
A half-human.
A girl raised among the very species I had spent half my life learning to hate.
It must not be…
I returned to my chambers to take in the silence as Ellia was taken to heal up in her room.
When silence returned, so did clarity.
Ellia Estrada…a half human meant I was supposed to hate her automatically—
Their species has left a mark too big, it couldn’t be cleansed.
The best day of my life was fifteen years ago when my father came home to tell me we would be visiting the human world.
It’s a place that I had only heard of in stories…how modern it was…how complex the cities were.
It felt like an adventure I was about to embark on.
The weeks passed by until the day… the day thah the human world turned from a dream place to a nightmare.
I remembered the day vividly… I waited at the hotel, the hours ticked by but my father didn’t come.
When I stepped out to search for him…what I saw changed my life forever.
I watched from a distance as a squad of humans gathered around him, chanting names like witch…
Then, a large pool of fire was set out.
The tears weee streaming through my eyes as I dashed theough the crowd.
When I reached the front row…my father locked eyes with me and smiled.
That smile broke me completely.
Then he muttered so low only I could hear it. “Run and don’t look back..”
I wanted to fight for him…to stop them, but I looked around the crowd, the number of them..and just me.
So I did the only thing I could have done—run…
I ran and kept on running, refusing to look back now matter how loud my fathers scream became—
Since then..I have vowed to hate humans pf all forms, both man and woman, and kill anyone on sight.
“Alpha..” a voice came from behind me. I turned to see a guard by the door.
“What is it?”
“The council…they want you’re presence.”
Of course they did…
But after what we all witnessed today. I couldn’t say I blame them.
I turned sharply and marched out—
The moment the chamber doors of the council room closed behind me, the shouting began immediately.
“She cannot be allowed near the throne.”
Elder Marcus slammed his fist against the table. “The ritual was corrupted.”
Another elder joined in, very quickly… “The river accepted her.”
Marcus shot back just as fast. “Accepted? It bowed to her…that is an abomination."
Abomination.
That word hit hard…
For a while no body spoke, because we all knew that was exactly what it was…
Then the arguments picked up again. I didn’t bother to cut in..just let it play out..
Serena, who sat beside me, then asked. “You’re quiet today Alpha..”
I met her gaze sharply. “I’m thinking.”
Marcus scoffed and turned to me.
“We do not have time for thinking Alpha!”
I said nothing as he stepped forward to me.
“I say…we kill her.”
The room froze when he said that.
My wolf exploded inside me…
I felt a savage snarl tore through my mind..and the only thing I could think of was to protect Ellia, to kill any threat to her...
I crushed the instinct so hard pain shot behind my eyes.
No.
That was the bond talking.
Nothing more.
Marcus continued. “She is unstable, untrained and she was raised by humans..”
He then turned to the entire room as his voice went cold. “She is dangerous.”
Arguments continued from there again, until—
“What do you think Alpha?” Selene asked me again.
The room froze this time..all eyes turning to me. I had the final say in this.
After all, I was till acting Alpha.
I let the silence drag on, rhen—
“She did pass the trial…regardless of how she did it.”
“What she did was not—“
“She did not die.” I cut Marcus off. “That was the basic essence of the trial…it proves she is pf royal blood at the very least…”
“She is much more than that. And we all know it.” Marcus continued to argue.
I didn’t argue with this this time, but said the last and final words. “Trail Two will proceed tomorrow as planned.”
With that, I turned and left…
I was walking down the hallways, taking in the quiet now.
But inside…it was anything but—
I could feel the bind between us pulsing, like it was awake.
I could feel the fatigue, the fear…the anger she felt, all of it.
It was like a tiny thread, linking the two of us.
Then—
My feet stopped outside her chamber before I consciously realized where I was.
I stared at the door.
Why am I here?
I didn’t know why… but someone I was here.
Slowly, I pushed the door open…
She was asleep now.
I stayed near the entrance and watched her.
She looked… smaller, tiny and innocent.
She didn’t look lik the threat to the kingdom most people have already painted her as…
I still remembered her eyes at the river earlier, the hurt behind them as well…
I had a home. A future.
Then you people dragged me here.
My chest aches as I recalled it, just like it did then….
I hated that reaction.
Because she was right.
She hadn’t abandoned us.
She hadn’t chosen humans over wolves.
She never knew. She was just a victim as everyone else.
I exhaled slowly, ready to turn when I scented if—
I froze instantly….like my body went still.
A sharp and bitter scent was in the air—
POISON!
My eyes snapped toward the tea near her bed.
No! She was poisoned!
- Writer
