Chapter 3 Three
RHEA
I turned down the street. The way to the train was easy, but I couldn't do it. I shut my eyes tight, trying to imagine life without Cassian. I couldn't do it, not when we had been together for so long. The streets were deadly quiet.
Looking up, I could see a half moon hovering in the sky. A cold gust of wind whizzed past me. Pulling down my hood tighter, I kept to the shadow of the buildings as much as possible.
By the time I walked down the alley to the second building on the right, my heart was already pounding.
Cassian lived on the third block. I asked him why he didn't live in the pack house with the rest of the alpha's men once before. The memories were blurred, but he didn't give me a straight answer. He never did, when the question was about him.
What pack was he from?
Who were his parents?
Why did he have a serpent tattoo on his right arm?
Cassian always gave lame excuses for answers, and eventually I'd stopped asking.
Now, I stood at the doorway, my fingers shook slightly. I lifted a hand and knocked.
One, two, three...
I heard the crash of something, then the door creaked open.
Cassian stood by the doorway, shirtless, a towel draped over his head. Sweat glistened across his bare chest, trailing down his muscles.
He stood there, his breathing uneven like he had been running. The answer stared back at me from behind him—training equipment scattered across the floor, weights dropped carelessly, a punching bag still swaying.
"Cassian, it's the middle of the night..." My eyes met his. The desperate, hunted look made me freeze.
He had been punishing himself. I knew that look. I'd seen it before, countless times when he blamed himself for things beyond his control.
"What are you doing here, Rhea?" he asked, my name coming out rough on his lips. He looked past me like he couldn't really believe it.
I stepped forward before I could lose my nerve. "Escaping."
"Yeah, I can see that," he cut in, his eyes glazing through my ordinary clothes and black hood. He stepped back from the doorway, letting me in, shutting the door hurriedly before turning back to me. "That doesn't explain anything... I mean, what are you doing here?"
"I'm leaving the pack, taking the train like you suggested," I blurted out. "And I want you to come with me."
He clenched his fist. Pain flashed across his eyes. "You know I can't."
"Please." I stepped closer to him, eliminating the distance between us. Up close, I could see his silver eyes clearly, now stormy and conflicted, the tension in his shoulders. I could make out the lines of the serpent tattoo curling up his arm that he never talked about.
"Please, Cassian, I can't do this alone."
My hand moved, instinctively, coming to rest on his bare chest, just over his heart. "You feel it too."
He shook his head repeatedly, like he was fighting something. My heart sank. Was this it? Was this the end? When he chose his duties to my father over me?
"Don't do this, Rhea," he whispered. "You shouldn't have come here. The borders are heavily guarded. You should have gone straight to the train, straight out of the pack..."
I'd had enough.
I cut him off the only way I knew how.
I kissed him.
My lips crashed against his, desperate and completely reckless. For a heartbeat, he froze. Every muscle went rigid. Then something broke inside him.
Cassian's arms wrapped around me, pulling me against his bare chest with a desperation that met mine. Then he was kissing me back, one hand tangled in my hair. His mouth moved against mine, like he'd been starving for this moment his entire life.
I was out of breath when we broke apart. His hands slid down to my waist, pulling me closer. His forehead pressed against mine. His eyes were closed, jaw clenched tight. His racing heart matched mine.
"Rhea." He breathed my name like it was a prayer. "You're killing me."
My eyes caught a faint glow on his right arm. His tattoo, the curling serpent, glowing with an orange light.
"Cassian, your tattoo..."
His eyes followed mine. He shook his head, pulling back from me slowly. "That never happened before."
"Come with me," I pleaded.
His thumb traced my cheekbone gently. "If we get caught..."
"We won't."
"If we do," he continued, his eyes opening, silver eyes meeting mine. "I'd be executed for treason. Alaric will never let you go."
And suddenly, like a bad dream, a howl cut through the night. Then another. My blood ran cold. There was only one other reason why howls would cut through the night without a full moon.
We broke apart.
Cassian moved fast, towards the window. He raised a part of the curtains, peering out. When he turned back, there was a grim look in his eyes. "Pack enforcers."
"No." I stumbled back, nearly tripping over air. No, it couldn't be.
He was beside me in an instant, guiding me hurriedly towards the door. "It's an alarm. They know you're gone. Somehow, they already know."
It was too soon. I shut my eyes as the yells outside got louder. I still had to get to the train station. How did the guards find out?
Thousands of questions filled my mind as I fought to make sense of it. Suddenly, the night seemed futile, with hope so close and yet reality so far from it.
"Spread out!"
"...Search everywhere!"
Cassian shook his head slowly. We weren't going to make it.
I looked up at him. He'd find a way... He always did.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Cassian leaned down, lifting my chin with his thumb. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me again, but his second hand was a blur of movement. Something hard collided with my temple. Then my vision blurred.
"Ca... Cassian..." I stumbled on my feet, straight into his arms before everything went blank.