Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Six

It took everything in James to leave the room, to leave Cassidy in there alone and not just give in to his instincts and take her down to the bed and fuck her until she howled his name over and over. He stood at the door after he closed it, his hand on the knob, just a muscle twitch from going back inside and doing what the wolf wanted him to do… the very thing he had fantasized about nightly since that very day down in the prison where he had her responding so eagerly to him. It was far too dangerous. Not because Cassidy Roan was dangerous, no. The danger was he would drive her away. He refused to let that happen. He had stubbornly ignored his wolf and even hers, rejected her on the basis of his own misunderstanding and fears and now he knew there was a battle ahead of him. He had to make her see he was not the wolf that kept her pinned up. He had to show her who he really was, not the alpha hellbent on protecting his pack.

James looked up when there was a small clearing of a throat, Jett standing at the end of the hallway looking anxious. “Is she okay?” he asked in worry for Cassidy. He didn't expect her to be so angry with him for making the choices he had made.

“Miss Roan is as well as can be expected. She has agreed to come into the Packhouse as my guest.” He said and when Jett started to walk towards the room, James was there in front of him in seconds, a low but dominant growl rumbling from him. He and Jett did not always get along, especially when it came to Cassidy. When he and the she-wolf fought outside of the prison and Cassidy blacked out from her wounds and trauma, James had to go out of his way to make Jett submit to him right then and there when the male went crazy trying to protect her. “You will stay away from her. She is mine!” he said with a snap of his teeth together in a hushed voice that held enough aggression in it Jett was already backing away. “Remember who your alpha is now and the loyalty you pledged… Do not disobey me.”

“Yes Alpha.” Jett whispered before he turned around and quickly left the building, not wanting to push James’ temper further.

James gave one last look back to the door he had shut and then down to the other end of the hall where a guard was sitting, his sole duty to keep track of the female alpha if she left her room. He gave a little nod to the wolf and left the same way Jett had gone.

Cassidy had not moved from where she sat cross legged on the bed, looking down at the little bundle of wild flowers that was tied together with string. She picked them up when she noticed a little folded up paper tied up with them, slipping the paper free and unfolding it. Colorful crayons were scribbled all over the paper with a child's drawing of a woman in a bed, several scribbled names marking the paper with a womans writing at the top saying ‘get well soon!’ Cassidy couldn't help but smile at the children's efforts to try and cheer a stranger up. She lifted the flowers and smelled them, closing her eyes, the scent taking her back to when she was a child herself and napped out in the fields that dotted the woods around her old pack house. She sighed and folded the note back up, tucking it into the ribbon so it wouldn't be lost and her mind turned back to James and his visit.

Her smile faded and her brows slowly drew together. She wasn't blind, she knew James was being sincere with her and could hear it in his voice. It was hard for a proud man to humble himself and say he was sorry even in a situation like this where he had been in the wrong so deeply. But could she trust him at all? She had told him she would think about it over a few days. It was the best answer she could give at the moment when he was sitting in front of her. The best and quickest response she could come up with to avoid any kind of confrontation if she said the first thing that came to her mind, which was a big ‘Fuck you’ and ‘Go to hell.’ She had to be smarter this time around. Take a few days to recover, convince Jett he had to leave with her, and then get the hell out of there when the alpha wasn't looking.

He was insane if he thought for a minute she would want to stick around after everything he did to her. The weeks and months of torture she and Jett went through just because he was not confident enough in his own security of his pack. Cassidy snorted a little in disgust. “Should have just told his ass no.” She complained but got the silent sad whine of her wolf in her mind reminding her about a fresh start. “Nope. You get second chances if you maybe say something mean or have a small misunderstanding. He tortured us… He starved us… He was going to kill us. He doesn't get forgiveness.” She said in a bitter cold tone. “He is no better than the rogues… if not worse.” She said to herself, already making up her mind. James Black could not be trusted.

Cassidy managed to get up out of the bed and went to the bathroom where she relieved herself, washed her hands and looked over herself in the mirror for the first time since her shift. She stared, dumbfounded for a second at her reflection. It wasn't uncommon for transitioning wolves coming out of their younger teen years to fully shift into a near adult body when they had their first shift back from their wolf. Cassidy had lived without her wolf for so long, it was never something the thought about or considered.

For everything that had happened to her in that prison she looked hardly untouched. Her hair was healthier, a little longer. Her honey gold eyes were a little brighter. She must have grown an inch or two but she just looked… healthy. Very healthy. She surprisingly felt healthy too. She admired herself for a few minutes longer before she left the bathroom and went to the open windows to peek out of the light curtains. Across a road there was a playground where children were playing tag and others were playing on the equipment. She watched them for only a few seconds before there was a knock at the door and a woman about the same age as her, maybe a little older but strikingly beautiful with pale skin and ink black hair came in with a strained smile and a wheelchair.

“Alpha requested I bring you to the pack house. He insists that for your first trip out of bed you go in a wheelchair.” She said in a tone Cassidy was sure the woman was trying to make sound sweet, but she could pick up the undertones of emotions that left a bad taste in her mouth. Or maybe she was smelling it from the woman? She didn't know…

“I will walk. I don't care what your alpha ordered you to do, He is not my Alpha and I do not have to obey him.” Cassidy said firmly as she and the woman faced each other.

The other woman looked Cassidy up and down for a moment and then shrugged before she stepped out of the door. “Follow me then. I will take you to the Pack house.”

Cassidy frowned and followed after the woman that said she was going to take her to the pack house. Nearly every single soul they passed by stared at her like she had three heads as they passed open doors, nurses and the entrance desk. She held her hand up to shield her eyes when she stepped out of the building, the sun seeming to be a hell of a lot brighter than she remembered. She had paused for only a second to let her eyes adjust, but quickly ran down the steps to keep up with the fast moving she-wolf that was leading her. “My name is Cassidy…” she said, offering out her name to try and make some friendly conversation, but that backfired quickly.

“I don't give a shit what your name is.” The other woman said with a growl and turned sharply to face Cassidy, her eyes going down and back up the rogue she-wolf that had somehow spelled their alpha into inviting her into the pack house. She let her eyes linger on the short shorts and form fitting teeshirt Cassidy had been sleeping in. “How is it… someone like you… convinced him to let you out of the prison and into his home? How many dicks did you suck and fuck to get out of the prison after you attacked us?” the woman spat at Cassidy.

Cassidy was shocked at first. Completely floored by the Venom in the womans voice and the hatred in her eyes. She was unaccustomed to big packs and their inner workings. Hell, her small pack had always been like a family to her and she had never experienced jealousy from other wolves. Her mouth came open to speak, but no words would form.

“Yeah. Thats what I thought.” The woman said with a triumphant smirk as if she had figured Cassidy all out from the silence. “The alpha is already taken… So don't get your hopes up.”

The last sentence from the woman had Cassidy growling before she even knew it. “Taken?” she asked, now realizing that scent and bitter taste in the air was that of jealousy from the other female. It happened in slow motion, Cassidy felt her wolf rise up in aggression at being confronted in such a way. A different kind of anger burning through her. Possessive and jealous, the wolf wanted the other she-wolfs blood and now. Cassidy bared her teeth and much like the wild rogue she had been accused of being, she stepped towards the woman with malicious intent. “Listen here bitch…” she got out before a hand gripped her arm painfully tight and gave her a swift jerk backwards, breaking that intense focus she had on the other woman.

With her focus broken on the jealous woman, that anger turned to whoever had grabbed her and she turned, swinging her fist without warning only for her hand to be caught in a crushing, squeezing grip. “Thats not nice…” a deep voice rumbled.