Page 6 of The Reign of Blood

“That was a lot.”

“That feels like an understatement,” I grumble as she drops her hand from my arm.

I press against my temple with my fingers, trying to will the growing pain away, but it’s pointless. Turning to the table that was full of my friends earlier, I find it empty now.

“I told them to leave. That it was pack business and they weren’t welcome.” Janie’s face twists, hating the lie she gave, but she’s only trying to protect them, whether they see it that way or not.

“Thanks,” I mumble, bracing my palms on the table as I take a few deep breaths.

“You might not be pack anymore, Cassian, but you will always be my family.”

I tilt my head to look at my oldest friend, the big sister I never had and, for a big portion of time, never wanted. Yet she’s the purest soul and strongest person I’ve ever had in my corner.Confiding in her has always been easy, and that won’t ever change.

“Seeing all of this makes me wonder if leaving was the best idea,” I admit. It was the first thought to enter my mind when my father declared the woman at his feet to be Queen Reagan, while staring triumphantly at her daughter.

“Why, because you want this dark kind of power like your father?” Janie asks, surprise lilting her voice as I shake my head.

“No, because it’s harder to put a stop to it from the outside.”

She hums in understanding, her hand finding its way to my arm again as she squeezes in comfort. “It seems it’s been happening behind all of our backs for a long time, Cass. If anything, you might be our only savior.”

I scoff, but the softness of her words leaves me a little breathless. She believes it to be the truth, yet I’m filled with more doubt than ever.

“I need to get out of here.”

“Go. Think. Check on your girl,” she rambles, pulling me in for a half-hug that I don’t have time to reciprocate before she takes a step back.

“My girl? That’s not my girl, that’s a fucking princess,” I grunt, and she shrugs like the weight of that sentence doesn’t matter all that much.

“She’s always looked more like a warrior to me.”

I stand with my jaw slack, staring at the empty spot she had occupied moments ago as she takes off toward Jake, who is standing by the tree line. She can’t just say shit like that and disappear into the night.

Addi.

My alpha.

She has been worming her way under my skin, yet the lies, the deceit, it’s all there. I can’t even begin to consider how I feel about it all, but I’m not going to figure any of that out here.

Shifting into my wolf, I take off. He’s eager to go in search of my father, but relents on heading back to the academy.

We’re back on campus quicker than I’d hoped, and I shift back into my human form at the fountain. I take a moment to stare down each path, leading to a different origin building. I start at the fae path first, but the anger that radiates through me has me taking a step back.

I have to trust in my gut that Raiden hasn’t hurt her while I consider whether I care or not.

My cell phone vibrates in my pocket, pulling me from my indecision. Suddenly I hate the fact that I shift back into a human fully clothed and with all my belongings. To shred it all and leave it all behind would have been an excellent excuse to not look.

Raiden:Meeting. My room. NOW.

It’s directlyto me and not in the group chat, which tells me the others are already there. If he has Addi with him, I’ll be at a complete loss as to my feelings, and I need time to figure them out for myself first. She might intrigue me, but right now I can’t see through the fog of information tainting my vision.

I’m not in the mood for any kind of meeting right now. They can discuss whatever it is between the three of them and I’ll wade in with my thoughts tomorrow.

Marching down the pathway that leads to the wolf building, I continue to glance out of the corner of my eye at the vampire building that stands even taller than ours, but every thought that makes me consider heading over there is rebutted with another that tells me I’m doing the right thing.

As I approach the front door, I know I’ve made the right decision, and as my hand wraps around the handle, I sigh withrelief until a whooshing sound echoes from my left, signaling movement, but before I can take action, a sack is shoved over my head and everything goes dark.

4

---