Chapter 13
ATASHA’S POV
“Oh?” Cassian smirked, voice dripping with mockery as he lounged in the chair like he had all the time in the world. “I didn’t know the Alpha cared so deeply for his daughter. Enough to come knocking while his warriors are being shredded by Demon Fangs just beyond the ridge.”
“My lord-” Alpha Collin started.
“My consort is safe,” Cassian cut in, tone clipped, his gaze flat. “But then again, shouldn’t your priority be the enemy at your doorstep, Alpha? Or has your attention shifted to more personal
matters?”
I stood quietly behind him, head bowed, cloak pulled tight around me. From the outside, I must’ve looked like one of his servants–silent, obedient, forgettable. But inside, my heart slammed against my ribs. I shouldn’t have been here.
I wasn’t meant to hear this, let alone be part of it. Every word they exchanged made the space feel tighter, the heat between them sharper. Still, Cassian had told me earlier, “You’ll be fine. Just stand behind me. Don’t speak unless I tell you to. Let me handle them.” I repeated those words like a prayer.
Alpha Collin didn’t acknowledge me. Not even a glance. His eyes were locked on Cassian, his jaw clenched. “My wife has been refused access to our daughter,” he said. “She only wants to see Atasha. That is not an unreasonable request.”
Cassian leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “No.”
Silence dropped like a blade.
“No?” Collin’s voice edged with disbelief.
“You heard me,” Cassian said. “She’s resting. She doesn’t need chaos at her bedside, or questions disguised as concern.”
Collin’s nostrils flared. “Are you hiding something, Lord Valemont?”
Cassian’s smile returned. “I’m not hiding anything. I came here under the King’s direct orders to eliminate the Demon Fang threat.” He paused, then tilted his head. “But if you no longer need my assistance, I’m more than willing to ride out with my men and let Nightfall handle it alone.”
The temperature in the tent dropped. Collin took a step forward. “Don’t twist this into something it isn’t. Don’t be unreasonable. Atasha is my daughter! Of course I’m concerned.”
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Chapter 13
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Cassian chuckled. Not loudly, but the sound was sharp enough to grate. Cassian’s arrogance made my blood boil. But no one challenged him. No one ever did. That was the worst part. He was untouchable. And even when he was being insufferable… he was always right.
“Let’s not fool each other, Alpha,” he said. “If you were truly concerned about your daughter, you would’ve married her off years ago, not shoved her at me like a broken trinket. If this union was meant to secure an alliance, then perhaps you should’ve given me Celeste instead. Or is that still your intention? Let me marry a second wife?”
Collin’s eyes flared with rage. “Preposterous! How dare you suggest something so vulgar while my daughter is bleeding, possibly dying, as we speak!”
Seeing my father this emotional stirred something unfamiliar in me. I found myself looking at him differently, almost warily.
Alpha Collin never showed his emotions, least of all in the presence of other Alphas. He was always composed, calculating, cold to the point of cruelty. And yet here he was… seething with fury, his composure cracking, not because of me, but because of Celeste. His anger wasn’t quiet or strategic. It was raw. It was the anger of a father who wanted to protect his daughter.
Despite this, I just stood there, silent as a shadow behind Cassian.
“If I didn’t know any better,” Cassian said. “This performance would’ve almost convinced me, a father so desperate to protect his daughter, he abandons the battlefield to plead for her life.” He let out a sharp sneer, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement.
For a moment, I couldn’t understand what was wrong with that. My father had come to check on me, wasn’t that normal? But Cassian wasn’t finished. And I’d learned by now that when he spoke like that, something was coming.
Without a word, Cassian lifted his hand in a subtle motion, and Physician Mendez immediately stepped forward. He crossed the space and handed my father a folded parchment.
Alpha Collin frowned. “What’s this?”
“A comprehensive list of the poisons used in tonight’s attack,” Cassian said. “And it’s still growing.”
My father unfolded the parchment, eyes scanning the contents line by line. The deeper he read, the darker his expression became.
“This…” he muttered, anger flickering in his tone.
“Exactly,” Cassian cut in smoothly. “Demon Fangs are savages. Crude and unpredictable. They don’t use tactics or strategy, let alone calculated methods of poisoning. And yet“—he gestured
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toward the list-“Here they are, striking my men with toxins engineered to kill wolves with Alpha blood.”
My breath caught. He was right. I’d seen the wounds with my own eyes, felt the depth of the poison that coursed through their veins. Those weren’t makeshift concoctions mixed in the woods. No, they were precise, effective, and powerful enough to bring down warriors like Rio, wolves whose strength rivaled my father’s.
Something about that didn’t add up.
“You’re suggesting…” Collin’s voice slowed as he looked up from the page. supplying the Demon Fangs with poison?”
“That’s for you to find out.”
“Someone’s
“My Lord… this information… ” Alpha Collin frowned. “Someone wanted to destroy my Nightfall Pack!” His face darkened at the realization.
“Perhaps…” Cassian casually answered. “I believe you will be very busy from now on… I won’t see you out.”
“Then my daughter- ”
“I’ve answered your question, Alpha,” Cassian said, his tone sharpening like a blade. “Don’t make me think this little performance is just your way of distracting me from the real threat we’re facing.”
“I-” Alpha Collin faltered, his eyes dropping back to the list in his hands. His jaw tightened. After a tense pause, he gave Cassian a stiff, shallow bow. “I’ll take my leave.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. Without another word, he turned, and I watched him strode out of the tent.
“Say…” I heard Cassian say. Immediately turning my attention towards him, I found him grinning evilly towards where my father left. “When will he notice that the list was fake?”
Cassian’s grin lingered as the tent flap swayed from my father’s exit, the flames in the lanterns casting flickering shadows along his sharp jaw. I stood frozen behind him, unsure if I’d misheard him or if that last line was just a joke said under his breath.
But then he turned to me.
And smirked.
My stomach turned. “You… you lied to him?”
“Not exactly, no.” Cassian leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head,
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Chapter 13
looking far too pleased with himself. “I told him exactly what he needed to hear.”
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I wanted to ask him why, but I hesitated. As if reading my thoughts, he chuckled. “Your father’s not here out of love, Atasha,” he said. “He came to make sure you’re dead.”
Dead? I blinked and watched as he stood.
“If he truly cared about you, his daughter, his blood, he wouldn’t have left this tent without insisting on seeing you with his own eyes. Not once did he ask for proof of life. Not even when I hinted that you were resting. Funny, don’t you think?”
The space between us disappeared in three steps. He stopped just short of touching me, his presence enough to fill the air with tension.
“They already think you’re dead,” he said, voice low.
My heart pounded. I wanted to argue. To deny it. But I recalled what I heard the other night. Celeste and Mother wanted me to marry the Tyrant Lord. It had been their plan all along. My lips trembled. “Are you telling me that… it was them who sent that assassin?” I asked.
Cassian’s smile twisted. “You already know the answer, don’t you?” he murmured, reaching up to brush a damp strand of hair from my cheek with a touch far too intimate for the weight of his words. His fingers lingered, like he owned even that small piece of me.
“So… how about this?” His voice dropped lower. “Since they’re all expecting you to die, since, in their minds, you’re already dead… why not make it real?”
AD
