Chapter 72 Chapter 0072
•CASSANDRA•
I was on my last shift, preparing to go home and see my daughter, when I caught sight of something or someone in the reception area.
I knew I wasn't dreaming, but the thought of seeing them here was the worst feeling I had ever felt.
My stomach sank and for a moment, I almost fainted and fell on the floor.
I turned around to walk back to my office and change to knock off early when the director called me over.
I wished I had left earlier before he spotted me because I didn't want to be there.
"Dr. Frost," Dr. Langford called out to me. "Wait, I want you to meet someone."
I stopped and smiled as he approached with my brother, Damon. He didn't look as if he had aged a day, but he was a wolf, after all, and our aging had always been backward.
"Please meet Damon Drake," he answered. "He is our new medicine supplier. He will be working closely with me, and I want him to familiarize himself with the place and all our colleagues."
Medicine supplier? I wanted to laugh, but it suited Damon's line of work perfectly. But I knew his position came with exploiting the pack medics.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Damon Drake," I answered, smiling at him. "We hope you will enjoy working with us."
"I am looking forward to making this place and the medicine a turnover for all of us," he answered.
And I nodded, wondering why of all places he chose to come here. The last time we saw each other, he denounced himself as my brother and told me to never associate with him.
He broke my heart because he was my older brother, someone I thought would do anything to protect me.
"You can get back to work, Dr. Frost," Dr. Langford said when he spotted another doctor. "We will discuss this partnership further during our morning briefing tomorrow."
As soon as I turned my back on them and walked to my office, my chest tightened painfully.
For a moment, I felt as if my airway was closing up, and it was difficult for me to breathe.
Damon and I were very close, so for five years I never understood why he lied and betrayed me. He even denounced me as his sister and looked at me as if we didn't share the same womb.
I took off my scrub coat, took my handbag, and knocked off from work.
Alena was already bathed and in her pajamas when I arrived home, sitting on the living room floor with her green dinosaur in her lap while Dante read something on the couch above her.
The television was on low in the background and the house smelled like the soup Dante made on days when he knew I needed something warm waiting for me.
He looked up the moment I walked through the door.
One look at my face and he set the book down.
"Alena," he said gently. "Go and pick which story you want tonight and we will come and say goodnight in a few minutes."
She looked up at me with those wide eyes. "Are you sad, Mama?"
"I am just tired, sweetheart," I replied, managing a small smile. "Go and pick a good one."
She studied me for one more second in that serious way of hers before she picked up her dinosaur and padded down the hallway to her room.
Dante was beside me before I had even set my bag down. "What happened?"
"I saw Damon today," I sighed as I sat down on the couch. "Dr. Langford told me he is the new medicine supplier."
"What? How is that possible?" He gasped. "Your brother is working with humans now?"
"That's not the point, Dante," I groaned, rolling my eyes.
"I know," he answered. "I am just surprised that Damon is here and doing business with humans. I remember how he condemned us to any interactions with them."
"That's not the worst thing he has done," I sighed. "He was the reason I was banished from Silvercrest. He lied and told Mason and the elders that I talked with him about killing Mason."
"You never told me—"
"Damon and I lost our parents when we were young," I said, cutting him off. "Damon was everything to me after that. He used to say that as long as we had each other, we had enough." I swallowed. "And I believed him."
Dante reached over and took my hand.
"He was like a father to me more than Alpha Holland was," I answered, my voice breaking. "I never once thought he could do anything to hurt me."
"Did he know he was talking with you at the hospital?" He asked, and I shook my head.
"He came here, Cass. Of all the places he could have gone, he ended up at your hospital."
"That means nothing," I replied, scoffing. "It could be a coincidence, and besides, he's here because he's using the medicines of the medics."
"You're right, but he's your brother, and the moon goddess might have a plan for bringing him here of all places."
I looked at him and didn't answer.
"He might be carrying more regret than you know," Dante continued. "It doesn't excuse what he did. But it might explain why he ended up near you."
"Or he's here because of Damon's reasons that have nothing to do with me at all," I replied. "And I am sitting here giving him credit for a conscience he already proved he doesn't have."
Dante didn't argue with that.
I leaned my head against his shoulder and hoped that he wouldn't bump into Mason. I trusted Dante to keep my identity a secret, but Mason would ruin everything for me.
"You know what the strangest part is?" I asked.
"What?"
"I don't want him back," I answered. "I thought I would. I thought seeing him would make me desperate for an explanation or an apology or some version of the brother I used to know." I shook my head. "But standing there today, I just felt tired. Tired and completely certain that I don't need anything from him."
Dante pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
"You and Alena are my family," I said. "And Rowan, wherever he is and whatever Mason has told him about me. The three of you are the only family I need."
Dante tightened his arm around my shoulders.
"Then that's enough," he muttered. "You are enough, Cass. Everything you have built here is enough."
I closed my eyes and let myself believe that I didn't care for Damon anymore, even though my heart ached for closure.