Chapter 114
Cassian's POV
I pushed open the door to my parents' bedroom. Dad's body felt heavier with each step. His head lolled against my shoulder. The warmth had already started leaving him.
I walked to the massive oak bed and laid him down carefully. The bed frame was carved with wolves under moonlight—Dad had designed it for Mom's anniversary. Twenty years of marriage. Twenty years of love.
Now she'd sleep here alone.
"You need to change," Zero said in my mind. "You're covered in blood."
I looked down. My shirt was soaked dark red. My hands were sticky.
"I know."
I went to the bathroom and stripped off my ruined clothes. The shower ran cold. I didn't turn on the hot water. I needed the shock. Needed something to keep me functioning.
When I came out, I went to Dad's closet. Found a pair of deep gray sweatpants and a black t-shirt. They were a little tight across my chest and shoulders. Dad had been broader than me.
I pulled them on anyway. The fabric smelled like him.
"You should get your own clothes," Zero suggested.
"I'm not leaving him alone."
I walked back to the bed. Dad lay there, his dress shirt dark with blood. His face was pale. Gray. His mouth hung slightly open.
I sat on the edge of the mattress. My hands shook. I pressed them against my thighs.
"I should have protected you," I whispered.
The room smelled wrong. Not just blood. Something else. Something faint and rotting had already started.
My eyes burned. I blinked hard. No tears. Not yet. I couldn't break down yet.
"Cassian—"
"Don't," I cut Zero off. "Just... don't."
I stared at the carved headboard. Two wolves meeting under the full moon. Mom's wolf was smaller, more delicate. Dad's stood protective beside her.
My throat tightened.
I remembered when Casper got in trouble for stealing wine. He did it for Cindy and Elowen—wanted to impress them at some party. Dad found out. Beat the shit out of him.
Casper never told. Never said who it was really for. Just took the punishment.
"He loved you, Dad," I said. My voice cracked. "Casper loved you so much. He always—he always protected everyone. Even when it hurt him."
"Austin knew that," Zero said quietly. "He always knew."
"Then why did Mom—" I stopped. Pressed my hands against my face. "She thinks he killed you."
No answer. Just the ticking of the clock on the nightstand.
I stood up. Couldn't sit still anymore. Dad's clothes were soaked through. I couldn't let Mom see him like this.
I went back to the closet. Found his favorite outfit—deep blue casual shirt and black pants. The ones he wore on weekends when he wasn't being Alpha.
Back at the bed, I started unbuttoning his bloody dress shirt. My fingers fumbled. The buttons were slippery.
"Sorry, Dad. I'm trying to be gentle."
His body had started going stiff. Rigor mortis setting in. I had to work carefully. Had to move his arms slowly.
The shirt came off. I bundled it up with his pants and stuffed them in a black gym bag from the closet. Shoved it in the bottom drawer under old sweaters. Couldn't let anyone see all this blood.
I grabbed a wet towel from the bathroom. Started cleaning him. Wiping away the blood from his chest, his arms, his face.
That's when I saw it.
"What the fuck?" I breathed.
There was only one wound. Right in the center of his chest. Straight through the heart. Clean. Precise.
But there should have been more. Defense wounds. Scratches. Bruises. Something.
"That's not right," Zero said. "A wolf would fight back. There should be—"
"I know." I leaned closer. The wound was almost surgical. Like someone had known exactly where to strike.
I thought about Ethan. His body had been torn up. Multiple wounds. Signs of a struggle.
This was different.
"I can't sense Austin's wolf," Zero said slowly. "At all. Like it was already gone before—"
"Before what? Before someone stabbed him through the heart?" I cleaned around the wound. The edges were too neat. "This doesn't make sense."
The door slammed open.
I spun around. Ella, my mom, stood in the doorway. Her eyes were red and swollen. She looked ten years older than she had this morning.
"Cassian," she whispered. Then louder: "Cassian, where is your brother?"
"Mom, I—"
"Where is Casper?" Her voice rose to a shriek. "WHERE IS HE?"
I stood up. Held out my hands. "Mom, calm down. Casper didn't—"
"You need to ask your brother that question!" She pointed at Dad's body. Her finger shook. "Ask him what he did!"
"Casper didn't kill Dad," I said firmly. "The drugs—the champagne—someone poisoned everyone. Leo just—"
"Leo KILLED him!" Mom screamed. She smelled wrong. The lavender and rain scent was there but buried under something bitter and acidic. Grief and rage mixed together.
"Mom, please—"
"Don't!" She stumbled into the room. "Don't you dare defend him to me!"
Someone appeared behind her in the hallway. A man I'd never seen before. He wore a black hoodie pulled low over his face. Dark pants. Boots.
I narrowed my eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
The stranger didn't answer. Just stood there, completely still.
"He helped me," Mom said. Her voice was hoarse. "Helped me get from the ballroom to here. Everyone outside thinks—they think you boys are—"
She choked on the words. Covered her mouth with her hand.
I looked at the stranger. He hadn't moved. Hadn't spoken. But something about him made my skin crawl.
"I don't like this," Zero growled. "Something's wrong with him."
"Thanks for helping my mother," I said carefully. "But you should go now."
The man tilted his head slightly. Like he was listening to something I couldn't hear.
"I said you should—"
"I don't want to see Casper," Mom said suddenly. "I don't want to see him. I don't—"
"Mom." I walked toward her. "You don't mean that. You're in shock. You're—"
"If you defend him right now," Mom interrupted, "if you stand there and defend that—that monster—I will scream until the entire pack hears me!"
I stopped. My hands clenched into fists.
"The bond breaking is destroying her," Zero said quietly. "She just lost her mate. She's not thinking clearly."
I knew that. I knew. But it didn't make this easier.
The stranger moved then. Walked into the room slowly. Too slowly. Like he was gliding.
I stepped between him and Mom. "Don't come any closer."
He stopped. Looked around the room. His gaze lingered on the photo wall—pictures of our family. Casper and me as kids. Cindy's first shift. Mom and Dad's wedding.
The stranger's hand reached out. Touched the carved bedpost. His fingers traced the wolves.
That's when I smelled it.
Metal. Incense. Blood.
My body went cold. Every instinct screamed at me to run. To grab Mom and get her out of here.