THE AWAKENING

A figure emerged from the house that immediately set her ears back in warning. Her hackles rose and she moved into a
defensive posture without thought. Who was this man? Enemy or friend? She couldn’t tell. After the night she’d had, she wasn’t
about to take any chances.
He broke free from the shadows and stood watching her with hard blue eyes that glittered in the night air like azure diamonds.
Like Ulster, he radiated power but unlike the sickly red that ebbed and flowed from Ulster like a fever, this man shone with a
bright energy that crackled like a live wire and was just as dangerous.
He was the Alpha of Clan Janus. She could sense the truth of her sudden knowledge and there was no need to question what
she knew.
He regarded her with open consternation, as if her arrival was neither a surprise nor welcome, yet he didn’t try to chase her
away. She bared her teeth in a subtle warning, refusing to cow before him.
She didn’t care who he was.
On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, the last few days had wavered at the tipping point of fucking awful and he was the
final straw.
A low growl erupted from her throat and he lifted his brow in surprise at her audacity, even as he continued to watch her every
move.
“My brothers tell me that you are the Prophesied One. I didn’t want to believe them. But here you are in all your glory, white pelt
and all, and I have to believe they were right. You are female and yet you changed into a wolf form. My brothers tell me it’s our
job to shelter you, to put our pups into your belly to cement our claim to the Prophecy but if they have that thought then it’s fair to
surmise that every clan from here to creation will want to do the same.”
His lip curled ever so slightly.
“And you already smell of sex and blood, which means you have taken the enemy into your body. How do I know you are not
carrying the poisoned seed of Clan Barrachius in your womb?”
His mouth pursed as a tense moment passed before announcing with grim finality.

“The risk is too great. Logic tells me to kill you and be done with it — fuck The Prophecy. If there is no Prophesied One, there is
no Prophecy to fear.”
Cassandra’s vision narrowed as his energy rippled around him, momentarily causing him to frown as if taken aback by a sudden
surge of unpleasant sensation.
He bowed against the onslaught and grunted as if he’d just been jabbed in the gut by an unseen force.
Even with her superior senses, she could see nothing aside from the man arrogantly deciding her fate but something beyond her
understanding had just happened and it was significant enough to cause him to stiffen with open agitation as he barked, “It
seems your power extends farther than you realize. The Gods will see their game played out, it appears. Come and wash the
stench from your fur before I puke.”
Cassandra glared at the man, hating him intensely. It wasn’t her fucking fault that she stank of the seed of her captor!
Since she’d become aware that she was some freak show with a magical womb, all she’d done is get captured and screwed
because of the damn Phase.
If she had her druthers, she’d rather be simultaneously studying calculus while getting a root canal!
She followed the man, who still hadn’t shared his name so Cassandra had decided to dub him, “The Prick,” into the house and in
spite of her less than welcome admittance, she was relieved when the doors closed behind her.
This elegant house was a fortress, built to withstand an army. The house was dimly lit by recessed lighting strategically placed in
the ceiling, but she could tell immediately that Clan Janus lived by a different standard than Barrachius.
For one, nothing smelled of rot and death. The furnishing gleamed as if polished by a studious hand each day. Not one mote of
dust drifted on the air.
The hardwood floors were waxed to a fine sheen. She could smell the beeswax and lemon as it lingered within the grain of the
wood.
A great shudder coursed through her and her vision shimmered and blurred. She had a heartbeat to realize that she was
changing again as her bones went through the painful transformation from beast to human.
The damp crunch of bone and snap of sinewy made her nauseous but within moments, she was lying dazed and sweaty on the
hardwood floor, nearly unconscious as her body struggled to reorient its physiology.

Two sets of strong, yet gentle hands lifted her from the floor and she found herself between the two men she trusted the most:
Jandin and Koris.
However, the voice of another surprised her most.
“We must talk.”
“Cristophe?” she said weakly, focusing her blurred vision on the tall, lean figure of the vampire who’d alternately captured her
from the twins, yet lost her to Ulster.
She didn’t know why she was happy to know he was here — his original intent had been to let her Phase out and die until
somehow her magic had leaked onto him and they’d made love like rabid bunnies in a dank cave — but somehow she knew he
was needed in this coming battle against Ulster.
Somehow she knew that they all had to work together to prevent Ulster from taking control of the world through her.
But Cristophe’s curt statement wasn’t directed at her. He was looking at The Prick, who simply nodded and gestured for Jandin
and Koris to take her away while he dealt with other matters.
Feeling summarily dismissed but too groggy and weak to do much more than glare impotently at his retreating backside, she
sank into the arms of the twin wolves who had taken her virginity only seventy-two hours ago.
Well, they said you never forget your first, she thought muzzily.
Particularly when your first is with two massive werewolves who not only broke through your hymen but breached your ass as
well. Talk about overkill. In a very short amount of time, she’d become a raging werewolf slut.
On the heels of that vaguely hysterical thought, Cassandra finally blacked out.