Chapter 50

What was supposed to last a day max for most she-wolves turned into two. Then nearly three days before the pair collapsed into an exhausted heap of tangled limbs. James and Cassidy both were hungry and dehydrated, but far too tired to care. They had spent the entire time lost to the lust the heat brought on. Napping when they were too tired to fulfill the need to mate until the pull was too difficult to ignore.

The heat ended and James was the first to fall asleep. He had kissed her and told her he loved her, cuddling her close and falling asleep with his face pressed into her hair.

Cassidy was battered and bruised. The heat had not been easy on her, not on James either but she had received the short end of the stick. She had submitted to him. Begged him. Called him her Alpha. Obeyed and let him mount her over and over and over again. They had fought at times when the instincts had been too strong. When she would wake from a nap in pain and became aggressive until he could get control of her again to assert himself over her. Claim her completely.

When James told Cassidy he loved her, she had gone still for quite awhile while she listened to his breathing even out when he fell asleep. He was hugging her from behind, spooning her and holding her close to himself like he was afraid she was going to run away screaming from him after what had taken place. Not that it was a bad idea she though, but there was no way she could abandon James. Ever. He voiced out loud what she had been feeling growing between them for weeks now. Cassidy just didn't know how to put what she felt into words and never said anything of it. Love. It was exactly what she felt towards the Alpha of the BlackStone pack. “I love you too James Black.” She whispered in the softest of voices when she was certain he was sound asleep before letting her own mind relax enough for her to follow.

— —

Cool mist of morning fog touched Cassidy’s face, startling her awake. She found herself not in her bed or even with James for that matter but out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. She sat up and looked around in a short lived panic, spotting her wolf who was sitting several feet away. Her brows came together and she took a more careful look around when she figured out it was a dream.

She was not in any of the nightmares she had before. Those always started at her home from when she was younger in one way or another. This one was different. There was no smoke or fire. Sounds of screams and fear. She was not trapped in the body of a child. “What is this?” Cassidy asked, reaching out to touch the misty fog that hugged the ground in the dim morning twilight. Her wolf did not answer her, simply looking in the direction as two large bodies moved between the trees.

Her heart began to race, catching the shadows that seemed to fade in and out and before she could control it, Cassi was already moving in that direction. The two shadows came out of no where walking towards her. One was a hulking, towering mass of a man. Dark hair and eyes so yellow they could have been on any monster in a movie. He was scarred as if he had been put through the blades of a thousand knives and fought thousands of battles. The man felt… like pure evil. The other man had her stopped in her tracks. The second man was not as tall as the dark haired one but equally scarred looking. She was so certain she knew who it was. “Father…” she whispered, reaching out to touch the man on the chest, but the two forms passed right through her and kept on walking.

“There is a time and a place for everything, son. The Blacks have a white wolf. A female. An Alpha female. We cannot allow her to be controlled by them. We have just been playing with them these past few years, but now that I know they have something I want. Something my pack needs. We will take it. Together. Then we will use her to bring down every last remaining pack in north America.” The big one said arrogantly.

“Over my dead body.” Cassidy muttered to herself as she followed behind the to men and her father thought it over.

“Do you believe the legend about white wolves are true? That they can control time and the future?” her father asked.

The bigger wolf nodded, a crazed look in his eyes. “She will give us this victory.”

Cassidy followed the men through the trees for what felt like an hour in her dream state until they finally came to a large, naturally forming cave entrance that reeked of wolves. She didn't go into the darker section of the cave just yet, but she was sure. This must be rogues and the rogue leader. This must be the den James had been warned about before her heat started.

She concentrated and slowed the time in the dream down to a standstill so she could focus on the two men, sadness settling in her heart for the man that was a dead on look alike of her father. He even sounded like her father. But he had died, had he not? When she had memorized what they looked and smelled like, she let the time move again, and cautiously followed after them once they took out bright lanterns to light the way.

What Cassidy seen her the dream disturbed her greatly. Hundreds on hundreds of wolves. Maybe even thousands. Most were guards at first. Warriors who seemed to follow both of the men as alphas. Yet as they went deeper and the cave system opened up into a massive hall lit up by fire and torch, Cassidy got her first real glimpse of what her pack was up against. It was a full on horde of wolves. Some were insane, rabid or feral and were kept in rusted out kennels to keep them from killing people. Some were family groups. Men, women and traumatized children who cowered as the Alphas passed them. Fighters gathered around what looked like a makeshift throne, all bowing to the big wolf as he dropped himself into it.

“Go. Take the men. Take supplies and women to keep them happy. Do not return without the white female alive.”

— —

Cassidy woke, for the first time not screaming in terror or panicking about what was happening in the nightmares. She was calm. As calm as she could be after such information had been revealed to her. She had felt… connected to the wolf finally in the dream. She felt in control and maybe that was what had been bringing her the peace she felt while experiencing it. It was the middle of the night and James was still sound asleep, his arms protectively wrapped around her middle. She let out a sigh and stretched before she turned to face her mate, pressing her body close to his and nuzzling into his chest to try and either figure out what to make of the dream knowing she wasn't sleeping any time soon.

James woke slightly when Cassidy turned in his arms. He hugged her, a hand cupping the back of her head to cradle her to his chest before he relaxed and went back to sleep again. Cassidy found herself drifting in and out of sleep. The dark room and the warmth between their bodies pulling her under in the safe space that was in James’ arms.

Safe at least, until she noticed her bedroom door opening silently from just over James’ shoulder and shutting again.