Chapter 139
ATASHA’S POV
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I woke up on the stone ledge beside the pool, warmth covering my skin and the faint taste of smoke in the air. I didn’t remember getting out of the water, but my first thought was of Cassian.
My hand immediately went to my neck. The skin where he’d bitten me felt normal under my fingers. I didn’t feel any scab or any bruise, nothing. But beneath it, I could feel something faintly moving, like a small pulse that reacted to my touch. It wasn’t a heartbeat, more like a quiet presence that stirred once, as if it knew I was testing it.
I pressed my palm over my chest next. Warmth settled behind my sternum, slow and even, as if something had found a home there and refused to move. It wasn’t painful. It was… solid. And it felt…mine.
Was it my wolf?
No… that can’t be.
I tried to recall the books that I read about mates. They had described the marking ceremony as something magical, something divine. But how could someone like me feel it when I had no wolf in the first place?
I sat up slowly and noticed right away that someone had dressed me. My torn dress was back on, and my cloak was wrapped around my shoulders. A small fire burned a few steps away inside a ring of stones. Beside me were a folded piece of cloth and a waterskin. I frowned, realizing he must have cleaned me up and covered me while I slept.
“Cassian?” I called out, my voice low without meaning to.
No answer, but the mark gave a faint tug to the left, like a thread pulling from under skin. Not a direction I could point to on a map, just a knowing feeling inside me. He was close.
I stood, cinched the cloak tighter, and followed the feeling through the narrow tunnel. The cave widened into a larger chamber near the entrance. He wasn’t there and the tug pulled me farther.
I stepped into the last passage, boots scraping against damp rock, and saw him at the mouth of the cave. He was bare from the waist up, back to me, shoulders broad and still. The night air slipped past him in thin drafts. He was looking up.
“Cassian,” I said.
His head turned. He reached a hand back without looking away from the sky. I crossed the last steps and took it. Then his grip closed around mine before he pulled me to his side and finally looked down at my face.
“Does it hurt?” he asked. His gaze dipped to my neck and back to my eyes.
“No.” I touched the spot again because I couldn’t stop checking. “It should, but it doesn’t.” I thought of everything that had happened. “My body heals fast. You know that.”
He nodded, studying me like he was verifying what he could already feel through the bond.
9:49 Mon, Oct 13
Chapter 139
“Look up,” he said.
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I did. The sky above the ridge was dark and clean. No stain of red. Just the hard white of the north stars and a thin edge of cloud. My breath left me in a rush.
“It’s gone,” I said, almost laughing. “The red moon is gone.” I turned to him, smiling before I could stop it. “The tide is over. We made it.”
His mouth twitched at the corner, not quite a smile, but close. The heat on my neck eased as if it liked the answer. I leaned into him a little, needing the contact to be sure this wasn’t a dream pulled from the bond.
Then I felt it. A strange weight that made my stomach churn. It rolled off him in a way that wasn’t anger or fear. Something heavier. Almost immediately, my smile faded. This was it. I could feel his emotions! It was the result of the marking ceremony.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
He kept his eyes on the sky for a breath longer. When he looked at me, his irises were mostly gray again, with the faintest ring of red that wasn’t there before the mark. He lifted a hand and brushed a thumb over my jaw.
“You will undergo the test,” he said. “When the red moon disappears.”
I frowned, the word test echoing in my head. Right away, I thought of Matron Yara and the promise I’d made back at the outpost. She had insisted that I undergo a ritual test to prove I wasn’t a witch. And I agreed without having second thoughts.
At the time, it had sounded simple enough. I knew I wasn’t one, and I didn’t want to cause any problems for Cassian by refusing. But now that I thought about it, I realized how vague Yara had been about the details. Witches were rare, but the fear of them wasn’t, and anyone who failed the test, witch or not, rarely lived long enough to explain it.
A cold feeling settled in my stomach. It was obvious now that the test had been a trap from the beginning. Still, it was one I had chosen to walk into, hoping it would make things easier for Cassian.
“I’m not a witch,” I said quietly. “I will pass the test.”
Cassian’s jaw tightened. He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing my cheek before he turned his gaze back to the sky.
“I know,” he said at last. Then his tone shifted. “Someone wanted me trapped inside the walls when the tide. began.”
I frowned, trying to piece it together. The memory of the ambush on their way to the northern outpost hit me all at once, the attack that delayed Cassian, the near disaster that could have revealed what Cassian really was. If I hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have made it in time. Everyone would’ve seen his condition during the red moon.
I wasn’t the smartest person alive, but even I could tell something bigger was at play. Someone was plotting behind his back, trying to use him, or destroy him.
Without thinking, I reached for his hand and held it tightly. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll protect you.”
9:50 Mon, Oct 13
Chapter 189
The words slipped out before I could stop them. For a second, the air between us shifted. Then Cassian looked down at me, and a faint smirk appeared on his face.
My cheeks burned instantly. “I–I didn’t mean it like that,” I stammered, words tumbling out before my brain caught up. “I mean, you’re obviously better at fighting. You’ve fought way more than I ever have. But I can heal, so I thought… you know… maybe that counts for something.”
He didn’t say anything, but that smirk stayed, which only made me want to melt into the ground.
“I just meant I can help,” I muttered, staring at the floor. “Not that you need protecting or anything. You’re terrifying enough as it is.”
Cassian chuckled low under his breath. The sound eased the tension between us. He gave my hand a small squeeze, and even though he didn’t say it out loud, I could feel through the bond that he was amused.
It was the first time since waking up that the air between us felt lighter, even if only for a moment. Then out of nowhere, he said. “Then… do your best.”
“Eh?” I lifted my head, blinking. And that was when I saw it… a group of beast running towards the cave.
AD
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