Page 45 of Shapeshifter's Vengeance

Her eyes flash with anger. “How could you dare to move on after I waited for you all those decades? You forgot me. You never came for me.”

I frown, genuinely confused. “We thought you moved away to stay with your aunt. That’s why I never looked for you. I was hurt because I thought you didn’t say goodbye.”

“Liar!” she spits, her rage palpable. “You never cared. You would have burned down the world to find me if you did. But you didn’t.”

“Why did you kill those people?” I ask, needing to understand her twisted logic.

“To get your attention,” she says, a bitter smile on her lips. “I made sure to let each one of them know I was doing this because of you. They died knowing you caused their death. Don’t you get it? This is how you are paying for breaking my heart! I knew the witches would turn against you if I started there. And they did.”

“What do you really want, Cassandra?”

She pulls out a dagger, its blade glinting ominously. Something about the dagger screams dark magic, and knowing the lengths she will go to for revenge makes it very scary.

“I want us to die together. To be together in the afterlife. I just have to stab both of us with this, and it’s done.”

I shake my head, feeling sorrowful for the girl she used to be. “If you want to kill me as punishment for those years, go ahead.But I don’t want to spend my afterlife with you. I don’t know you anymore; we are both grown now. We are both different people who barely know each other.”

Her face contorts with rage. “You still don’t understand!” she screams. She lunges at me, and I brace myself, deflecting her attack.

We struggle, and our movements are a violent dance. She’s stronger than I anticipated, her fury giving her an edge. She finally pins me to the ground, her face inches from mine, smirking.

“You underestimated me, Alexei. Just like everyone else who always sees a little girl in me,” she whispers. “Now I’ll kill you, and then I’ll go after your fiancée and your sister.”

My heart is in my throat, and knowing how close that dagger is to my heart, any wrong move could get me killed. That will give her exactly what she wants, and I don’t think I want to do that.

“Do it then. What’s stopping you? You have me exactly where you want me, pinned under you and a dagger to my heart. All you need to do is push it in to get what you want. What’s stopping you? The Cassie I knew would never chicken out like this,” I taunt her; I know I am treading a dangerous path here, but I want to distract her enough to let the warriors invade our meeting without catching her attention.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore, you son of a bitch! The little naive Cassie you knew is long gone, dead and forgotten,” she grits out, and I scoff.

“You can say that to yourself for as long as you want. It doesn’t change that you are still that little girl to me. That’s the only reason you’d be killing people for my attention like a little girl.” I retort, and that seems to hit a nerve.

“Fuck you, Alexei! I will make your life hell,” she smirks, and she doesn’t see my next action coming. I muster my strength and shove her off me. I manage to knock the cursed dagger out of herhand. We both lunge toward the dagger, and I pick it up first. She reaches for it just as I stab her in the abdomen.

She freezes for a second, now holding the dagger to her abdomen, and she moves slowly away from me. I didn’t realize how powerful the dagger truly was until I saw how pale she was becoming. I whistled to alert the warriors that it was time to move in.

They rushed towards us, and Cassandra smiled darkly at me before vanishing into thin air. Her departing smirk told me all I need to know: this is far from over.

The warriors looked around for her, and I shook my head. She was gone, and I knew searching here would solve nothing. She must find a way to heal whatever the dagger was doing to her, , which just might give us the time we needed to regroup and figure out a way to finally get the drop on her.

Ana rushes to my side, her face pale. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I say, standing up slowly. “We need to find her.”

Evelyn joins us, her eyes wide with concern. “We will,” she says firmly. “She won’t get away with this.”

“She’s more dangerous than we thought,” I say softly.

“We’ll handle it,” she replies, determination hardening her features. “Together.”

As we move through the forest, I can’t help but feel a mix of emotions. Cassandra’s betrayal, the memories of our past, and the reality of the present all collide in my mind. None of this makes any sense to me. She was the one who had left town, not me.Why does she hold me responsible for breaking her heart?

The warriors continue their search, their movements precise and coordinated. The forest is vast, but we have the advantage of numbers and experience. I stay close to Evelyn, my mind still haunted by the past and the events of today.

Chapter 20: What’s Next?

EVELYN

Back at the department, the team gathers around Alexei, checking for marks or any signs of injury. He looks visibly shaken, and I can’t help but keep asking him, “Are you alright?”

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