THE AWAKENING

Cassandra awoke to Serra sitting beside her. It was disconcerting to find the woman who openly hated her had been watching
her while she slept. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving,” Serra said, her expression curiously flat. Cassandra expected tears or venom but Serra offered neither. “It seems I
underestimated Tieran’s affection for you. I was mistaken in believing I was his True Mate. In our kind, we mate for life. I’d been
raised believing that I would be the one to stand by his side. But fate had a different plan.”
“I’m sorry,” Cassandra said, empathy lessening her animosity. She could understand Serra’s feelings at the very least. She
shifted, putting more distance between herself and Serra. “Where will you go?”
Serra, who had been staring at her hands, looked up. “Does it matter?”
“Well, yes. I know you think I’m some terrible person but I never meant you any harm. I didn’t even know about my heritage,
much less your relationship with Tieran. We don’t have to be enemies.”
A small smile lifted the corner of her lips but her eyes remained cold. “You share our DNA but you know nothing of our ways. We
cannot be friends. Tieran was right to send me away. I cannot make a life here with you and Tieran playing the happy couple.
While his heart is closed to me, my heart still beats for him. It will take time and distance to heal that wound and I cannot do that
here.”
“I understand,” Cassandra said quietly. “I love him. I will be a good mate for him.” Serra’s lack of response felt like a cold slap but
Cassandra didn’t blame her. It was a difficult situation all the way around. “For what it’s worth...I’m sorry for everything you’ve
lost.”
Serra attempted a half smile but Cassandra could tell it was all she could manage. Serra drew a halting breath and stood,
gesturing to the plate of cookies on the nightstand.
“The cookies are from Hannah,” she explained, as if knowing she needed to explain that they didn’t come from her.
She didn’t offer any niceties or pleasantries, or even a polite inquiry as to the babies, and frankly, Cassandra was grateful.
She didn’t think she could successfully make small talk with Serra after everything that’d happened.
Maybe someday, after things had settled...Cassandra watched as Serra closed the door behind her. How awful. She could only
imagine the pain Serra was in.

Cassandra sighed and rubbed her belly just as it grumbled. “Hungry again? If I didn’t have the metabolism of a hummingbird I’d
be a two-ton cow by now,” she said to her stomach as she reached for the largest chocolate chip cookie on the plate. Hannah,
the clan cook, was a dream in the kitchen.
It was no small tragedy to wolf the cookie down in two big bites. However, by the third cookie, Cassandra began to feel sick.
Sweat dotted her hairline and a general nausea rolled across her belly, cramping her gut until she doubled over in pain.
Her babies squirmed frantically in her womb and Cassandra was gripped with the knowledge that something was terribly wrong.
Tieran!
She stumbled from the bed and crumpled to the floor, her last thought a desperate attempt to shove her fear into Tieran’s brain
so he would come running.
But as she began to lose consciousness, the door opened again and Serra slipped in, silent as the grave. She picked up the
plate of left-over cookies and stared down at Cassandra with open contempt and every ounce of hatred she’d been holding back
only moments earlier.
Serra bent down to whisper in Cassandra’s ear. “If you were one of us, you’d know that the Alpha always feeds his True Mate.
Hannah would never send a plate of cookies to your room. You’ve taken everything from me. It’s only fair that I repay the pain in
kind. You are his True Mate but you and your babies will die and Tieran will spend the rest of his life grieving for you. Goodbye
and good riddance, Cassandra.”
“Why?” she gasped, clutching her belly as waves of agony gripped her muscles in spasm. “Tieran will never forgive you! He will
hunt you down without mercy. Why would you destroy a man you say you love?”
Serra shook her head as if Cassandra was truly stupid. “He deserves to know the pain he’s given me for allowing me to fall for
him, knowing we could never be truly one. He deserves to know the wretched misery of loss. I will never love anyone like I loved
Tieran. He stole something precious from me. It is our way to repay that cruelty in kind. If he were truly a worthy Alpha, he never
would’ve let me return but you’ve made him soft and weak.”
“But my babies, they are innocent!”
A wrinkle of disgust marred her pretty face. “Only one in your cursed belly is innocent. The other is an abomination. I weep for
Tieran’s babe, but I rejoice in the death of Ulster’s. Clan Janus blood should never be welcome at the hearth of Clan Barrachius.”

“Please...” Tears stung Cassandra’s eyes as she pleaded. “Don’t do this. If you help me, I promise to leave. Just don’t hurt my
babies!”
“Foolish woman. Tieran would follow you to the ends of the earth. He no longer sees me. His soul no longer recognizes mine.
Your death is the only salve my broken heart will accept.”
With one final sweeping look of disdain, Serra silently removed herself from the room, taking the poisoned cookies with her.
Tieran! Oh God, please come!
And then Cassandra was aware of nothing more.