Page 60 of The Alpha Wolf's Pregnant Bride

“Alpha Cyrus? Where are you?”Jarrod asks, his voice full of worry as it enters my mind.

Closing my eyes and sighing discontentedly, I reply to the Beta and inform him I’ll be on my way soon.

For a moment, I had forgotten all about the Council’s plans for tonight.

We’re about to infiltrate the rogue headquarters in Wichita Falls.

I open my eyes to find Cassandra staring at me with worry.

“What’s wrong?” she asks. I go on to inform her about everything that’s been going on with the Council ever since she successfully located the warehouse.

“... We’re moving in tonight.”

Cassandra’s eyes bear the weight of my own concerns, and she sets her cutlery down and lifts her bag off the side of her chair.

“Let’s go,” she affirms with a curt but determined nod, rising to her feet.

Confusedly frowning, I stare at her while I remain in my seat. “You’re coming with me?”

She nods again, taking a deep breath. “We have a lot to discuss, but I know that tonight is important for you. For all the Alphas. I’m willing to hear you out, but for now, you must go and do what you need to.”

I almost can’t believe it; I am only aware that this is happening when Cassandra follows me out of the restaurant once I’ve paid the bill. She’s right—we have a lot to discuss. I have so much to do to make up for all my mistakes.

Her valiant conviction remains unwavering, and it only serves to confirm that I’ve made the right decision in choosing her as my mate.

My Alpha duties come first, but she won’t let me go without giving me the hope I need to see this through. It’s almost like she knows that leaving unfinished business between us would only weaken my resolve.

Cassandra Chikara will be perfect as the Luna of the Moon Shine Pack.

Chapter 17 - Cassandra

“Gah!” I exclaim, scrambling to an upright position as my hand flies up to my throat. Clambering for air, it takes me a few moments of taking deep breaths until I feel stable enough to recognize what is real and what is not.

Pressing the back of my hand on my forehead, the stickiness of cold sweat bedewed on my brows has me frowning.

It must have been a bad dream, with nightmarish visions of blood and gore and horror that had me breaking out in a cold sweat. I don’t remember much, except that the terrified screaming and desperate howls that filled my ears a second ago are what woke me up abruptly.

I take account of my surroundings, recalling everything that happened since I decided to come back. Cyrus dropped me off at home after failing to convince me to go back to his place for the night.

I’d been determined to exercise my boundaries, at least until he came back from tonight’s mission. I came as far as coming back to Mysthaven, only so that he doesn’t have too much on his mind.

His head needs to be clear; I knew that much. Once he returns, I’ll have to cross-examine his motives for claiming that he wants me as his mate.

Perhaps he’d been as impulsive as I was when I left. Deep down, I can only hope that what he said was true. However, the acrid aftertaste of my nightmare swirls on my tongue, leaving me wondering if I’d made the right decision. Frowning, I get off the sofa and head to the kitchen, my bones raging from dosing off in the living room.

It’s not like I was planning on falling asleep. When I watched Cyrus leave for his mission, I was hoping that I’d stay awake and await his return.

Stretching my arms over my head before reaching for a glass, I’m gripped by a montage of the scenes of blood I just woke from. Panic sets in, freezing my fingers around the glass as I stare into the horizon outside the kitchen window.

Something’s wrong. Something is terribly wrong, my heart knocking against my ribcage while the panic rises like bile in my throat.

Everything that’s happened tonight seems to fade into the recesses of my mind, overwhelmed by a foreign, nagging sense of alarm. My gut instincts kick into overdrive, and I surrender to the motions of what feels like my inner wolf as it spurs my feet into movement. I’m pulled outside, but I have no control over what I’m doing until I find myself in the forest, in a clearing between the pine trees.

My brows knit together as I wonder what I’m doing here. Drawn to the woods, the scenes of blood and horrors flash in my mind’s eye, the alarming panic only intensifying.

What’s going on?

Suddenly, the urge to be near Cyrus is back, even in his absence. It confuses me since this aching need is something I’ve only ever felt in his presence. As if my heart is being magnetized forward, a gravitational field that only emerges when he’s near, I walk forward while the owls in the trees hoot to encourage me.

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