Chapter 81
Drake's POV
My fingers wrapped around the crystal champagne flute as I flashed a practiced smile to a passing elder from the pack. My tailored suit felt suffocating tonight, like my skin wasn't my own. The chandelier light bounced off the polished marble floors, making everything too bright, too exposed.
"You failed to make him lose control completely earlier, this time you must push him over the edge," Ragnar, my wolf spirit, growled in my mind.
"I'm thinking," I replied silently, scanning the decorated hall filled with celebrating wolves. "This time will be different."
"You're too soft," Ragnar sneered. "We need to be more creative with our approach."
"Shut up," I hissed internally, watching Cassian across the room. He stood tall in his suit, scanning the crowd with those irritating ice-blue eyes. There was something different about him now - he seemed more centered, controlled. And was that... satisfaction I smelled on him? The scent of arousal hung around him like an invisible cloud, but it was faint, mixed with something else. Not the usual scent of a recent coupling.
What the fuck? Who had he been with? Elowen? No, she was with Casper. Where was this damn scent coming from? Mr. Hair-trigger temper suddenly had perfect control?
Alpha Austin approached me, his powerful presence causing guests to instinctively step aside. "Reid," he acknowledged, his voice low and authoritative. "Have you seen my son Casper and Elowen?"
I caught the slight displeasure in his tone and calculated my response. "I'm afraid not, Alpha," I replied respectfully. "Last I saw them, they were... deeply engaged in conversation." I let the implication hang in the air, watching his reaction.
Jessica quickly chimed in: "Yes, Alpha. Casper seems to have quite an influence over my daughter. I'm concerned."
Cassian stood nearby, his posture deceptively relaxed but eyes alert. "Elowen has the right to choose her own company, Jessica," he stated calmly, but I heard the steel beneath his words.
"Cassian, with all due respect," Jessica's expression hardened, "you may not understand the full situation. My daughter might be reconsidering certain... decisions."
"First," Cassian replied coolly, his eyes flashing blue, "I understand perfectly well. Second, Elowen is stronger than you give her credit for. She knows what she wants."
Luna Ella tried to diffuse the tension: "I'm sure it's all just—" But Alpha Austin silenced her with a gesture.
I observed this exchange, feeling the tension build. Exactly what I needed. This was my opportunity to push Cassian over the edge after my earlier attempt only made him partially shift. I drained most of my champagne, still clutching the glass as I made my way directly toward Cassian.
"Thornwood," I called out loudly enough for nearby guests to hear. "We never finished our conversation."
Cassian's eyes narrowed as I approached, but his features remained as still as carved stone. Several pack members turned to watch, sensing the brewing conflict.
"Reid," he acknowledged coldly. "There's nothing more to discuss."
I stepped closer, invading his personal space with a smirk. "Oh, I disagree. We were just getting to the good part about Elowen."
His jaw tightened marginally—the only visible sign of his irritation. "This isn't the place."
"Why not? Everyone here knows about your... arrangement with her," I said, loud enough for those nearby to hear, then lowered my voice and established our mental connection. "Remember how Elowen complained about your family when we were dating? Especially you, Cassian. She hated your coldness, your need to control everything."
Cassian's expression barely changed, just a slight furrow of his brow. "That's bullshit and you know it. Your lies can't touch me," he responded through our connection.
Frustration burned in my chest, spreading like wildfire through my veins. His composure was like a personal insult, each second of his restraint a needle under my skin. I needed to push harder.
I stepped even closer, speaking quietly but intensely while maintaining eye contact.
"You know," I said aloud, "Elowen and I were quite close once." Then through our mental link: "She told me she was only using you brothers for your status. You should have heard how she laughed about you in my bed. How easily manipulated you both are."
A few onlookers edged closer, sensing drama. Just right—witnesses to Cassian's inevitable explosion.
I described increasingly intimate false scenarios through our mental link, claiming Elowen still longed for our relationship. Aloud, I said, "She has... specific tastes that I understood perfectly." Cassian's knuckles whitened around his glass, but those ice-blue eyes remained undisturbed as a frozen lake in winter.
My teeth clenched so hard I could hear the enamel grinding. The muscles in my neck strained with each passing second of his control, a vein throbbing visibly at my temple.
"She'll never truly belong to you, especially you, Cassian," I taunted mentally. "Your ex Irene still wants you, you know. She asked me to help get you back. Isn't that funny? Both your current mate and your ex-girlfriend have been in my bed. How does that make you feel?"
"I don't give a fuck about Irene anymore, dumbass," Cassian's voice was infuriatingly steady in my mind. "Elowen is the only one I care about."
I felt a tremor start in my fingertips, rage seeping through my pores like cold sweat. The control he maintained was unnatural, maddening. I wanted to smash that mask of indifference from his face with my bare fists.
"Tell him what she liked," Ragnar suggested, his voice thick with malice.
I smirked, feeling Ragnar's vicious ideas flood my mind. This is it.
"When I found her with your brother in the garden that day," I said softly but venomously, leaning in closer while projecting the thought directly to him, "I told him she likes it rough. She lifted her dress up to her ass and offered herself to me like a whore!"
I pushed the false image into Cassian's mind, emphasizing my desire for her. His eyes locked onto my face, but the anger remained hidden beneath that unnatural stillness. The champagne glass in my hand cracked slightly under the pressure of my grip, a thin line appearing along its crystal surface.
"I mean," I continued, both aloud and mentally, "maybe we could all go out together... I'm sure she'd let both of us have her! We could take turns! That slut must be completely used up by now, don't you think?"
Now for the killing blow. Time to end this charade of control.
"Maybe I should kill her first," I projected with vicious intent, whispering it close to his ear so no one else could hear. "If she fights back, I'll teach her what real pain feels like."
Finally, a reaction. Cassian's eyes filled with rage, his body tensing like a predator ready to pounce. The satisfaction that flooded me was almost sexual in its intensity.