I came out to clear my head a bit. Cassius's words kept ringing in my ears, no matter how hard I tried to shove them aside. I was curious — too curious — about what the King was planning next.
Jesse's Bloodmoon Pack was practically useless now. But it still wasn't so useless that the King would simply kill an Alpha and leave it at that. No. There was something else brewing. I could feel it, thick in the air like a coming storm.
I stripped off my formal cloak, tucked it under my arm, and shifted into my wolf form.
The transformation ripped through me — painful, raw, freeing.
My paws hit the ground hard, the wind tearing through my fur, the cold slicing my lungs. I ran until my muscles burned, until my heart pounded, until my mind quieted enough to think straight.
For a little while, it worked.
For a little while, I almost felt like myself again.
But then I noticed it.
A strange scent on the wind.
Blood.
Fresh. Sharp.
I slowed, shifting back into human form, the cold night air biting into my skin as I tucked the cloak back around my shoulders. I moved carefully now, senses sharp, following the strange trail through the trees.
That's when I saw him.
Cassius.
Collapsed near the edge of the clearing, his body spasming violently.
I ran toward him without thinking. "Cassius!" I shouted. "What's wrong?"
He didn't answer.
Couldn't.
He was shifting — wildly, painfully — between wolf and human and back again.
His bones cracked and snapped with every brutal transformation, blood soaking the ground around him. His face twisted in agony, teeth clenched against screams he couldn't swallow anymore.
My heart lurched at the sight.
It was horrible to watch.
He had no control.
None.
His body fought itself, tearing muscle, snapping bone, rebuilding and destroying in the same breath.
"Cassius," I said again, softer this time, kneeling beside him, trying to catch his frenzied, pain-glazed eyes. "Stay with me. I'm here."
He shifted again mid-sob — fur exploding across his skin, then vanishing. His hands clawed helplessly at the dirt.
I didn't know what was happening.
"Cassius," I said again, louder this time, grabbing his shoulder as he shifted violently under my hands. "Stay with me. Look at me."
He shifted mid-breath, a wolf's snarl ripping from his throat before he was dragged brutally back into human form. Blood streamed from his mouth. His nails tore ragged gouges into the earth.
Panic surged up my spine, but I shoved it down hard.
Think. Think.
This wasn't a wound.
Wasn't poison.
Wasn't something normal.
This was... magic.
Dark magic.
Forbidden magic.
Something meant to tear a werewolf apart from the inside out.
I had never seen anything like it — but I had heard whispers once, deep in the old histories. About spells that forced a wolf to shift uncontrollably, burning through their own body until there was nothing left but broken bone and shredded soul.
It was torture.
It was execution.
It was a death sentence.
"No, no, no," I muttered under my breath, pressing my hand hard against Cassius's chest, feeling the erratic, broken rhythm of his heart.
He shifted again with a guttural cry, his wolf's form barely holding for half a second before it was ripped apart and thrown back into fragile human flesh.
I pressed both hands against him, digging deep into the bond between us — not a mate bond, not even a true pack bond — but the thin, hard loyalty built from surviving the same battles, from standing under the same Throne.
"Cassius," I whispered, pouring all the strength I had into my voice. "Listen to me. Fight it."
He snarled — more beast than man — thrashing violently.
The magic burned hotter under my palms.
I gritted my teeth, focusing harder.
Not fight it.
Suppress it.
His wolf wasn't the enemy.
The magic was.
I closed my eyes, thinking of everything ever said in history book. Then all of a sudden, I thought of something.
I didn't know if it would work.
I didn't have another choice.
"Submit," I breathed against his skin. " Submit to yourself. Pull it inside. Lock it down."
Cassius's body spasmed once, hard enough to knock me back onto my heels.
For a terrible moment, I thought it was over.
That I had failed.
That I would watch him die.
But then—
A low, ragged breath tore from his throat.
And the shifting... slowed.
Once.
Twice.
And then stopped.
Cassius collapsed fully into human form, his body heaving, blood still trickling from the corners of his mouth.
But he was breathing.
Alive.
I sagged back onto my knees, heart pounding so hard it hurt.
For a second, I just sat there in the cold dirt, watching his chest rise and fall in uneven, desperate shudders.
Then finally — finally — he opened his eyes.
And they were clear.
Pain-bright.
But clear.
"You're insane," he rasped, voice shredded from screaming, from shifting, from surviving. "You…uh... storm girl."
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
"Yeah," I said, voice shaking. "That's what I get for helping you."
I shifted closer, brushing the blood and dirt from his face with trembling fingers. "What happened, Cassius?" I asked quietly.
He tried to speak.
His mouth moved.
But no sound came out.
He grimaced — more frustration than pain — and shook his head once, slow and stiff.
I understood without needing him to say it.
He didn't want to stay out here.
He didn't want to talk.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
And for once, I didn't push.
I slipped my arm under his, careful of the deep gashes along his ribs, and pulled him to his feet.
He stumbled once, leaning heavier against me than he probably meant to, but I didn't say anything.
Just tightened my grip and started walking.
Step by step, we moved through the cold trees, the muddy clearing, back toward the black towers of the Obsidian Throne.
By the time we reached the servant's quarters, Cassius was barely conscious.
I kicked the door open with my boot, guided him inside, and half-carried, half-dragged him to the battered cot shoved against the far wall.
He collapsed onto it with a ragged, broken breath.
His eyes fluttered open once — sharp and haunted — meeting mine.
"Thank you," he rasped.
I shook my head. "Rest, Cassius," I said simply. "Talk later."
He managed to fake a smirk.
Then his body gave out, and he passed into unconsciousness.