Cassidy
The room was suffocating.
Not because it was small—no, it was larger than the entire kitchen I used to work in. But because it wasn't mine.
I was drowning in luxury, wrapped in golden chains I couldn't break.
And worst of all…
I could still feel his eyes on me.
Even though Kieran had left, his presence clung to the air like a storm waiting to break. The way he looked at me in the council room, the way his gaze darkened when I lied, the way his voice wrapped around me like an unshakable command—mine.
No.
I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my trembling hands to my face.
I had to get out of here.
I didn't care if the doors were locked, if the halls were filled with his wolves, if running meant death—I would rather die free than live as some werewolf's possession.
A sharp knock at the door made me jolt.
"Open up," a gruff voice ordered.
I swallowed hard, my heartbeat roaring in my ears.
Slowly, I moved toward the door, pressing my hands against the cool wood.
"Who is it?" My voice came out hoarse.
A sigh. "Damon."
Kieran's second-in-command. The one with sharp golden eyes, the one who had watched me like I was something inconvenient but important.
I hesitated. Then, slowly, I opened the door.
Damon stood in the doorway, holding a tray of food. He arched a brow. "You look like you saw a ghost."
I didn't answer. I just stepped back, letting him inside.
He placed the tray on the table, then leaned against the wall, watching me with lazy amusement. "You gonna eat, or just stand there shaking?"
I glared at him. "Why are you here?"
He smirked. "Babysitting."
I stiffened.
"I don't need a babysitter," I snapped.
He tilted his head, studying me. "Right. Because you definitely look like someone who isn't planning to do something stupid."
I clenched my fists.
He wasn't wrong.
His smirk faded slightly, his sharp gaze narrowing. "Look, I don't know what you're thinking, but listen to me carefully, human. You're safer here than anywhere else."
I let out a hollow laugh. "Safe? You think being locked in a room, trapped with a man who thinks I belong to him is safe?"
He sighed, rubbing his temple. "Shit. I hate mate bonds."
I froze.
"You… believe him?" My voice barely rose above a whisper.
He gave me a look. "I don't need to believe him. I can smell it."
A chill ran through me.
No. No, this wasn't real. This wasn't possible.
I backed away, shaking my head. "I don't care what you smell. I'm not his mate. I'm just a human."
His expression didn't change. "Tell that to your scent."
I sucked in a sharp breath.
My scent?
His eyes flickered with something unreadable. "You're terrified. But beneath that, there's something else. Something you don't even realize yet. This is going to be fun."
I swallowed hard, gripping my arms.
I didn't want to hear this.
I didn't want to believe it.
-------------
Hours has passed and the sun has set but no one came into the room after Damon left.
I sat on the massive bed, staring at the untouched tray of food Damon had left hours ago. My stomach twisted with hunger, but I couldn't bring myself to eat. Not when my mind was drowning in the weight of everything that had happened.
Kieran Duskbane. The Moon Warden of Canada.
My mate.
I curled my fingers into the sheets, squeezing my eyes shut. No. I refused to accept it.
Mates were supposed to be between wolves. Supernaturals. Not humans. Not me.
It had to be a mistake.
A cruel joke played by whatever gods still lingered in this world.
A soft knock at the door jolted me.
I stiffened, my heart lurching in my chest. Had he come back?
I didn't think I could handle another moment under that unreadable gaze, his presence filling the air like a storm I couldn't escape.
But when the door creaked open, it wasn't Kieran.
It was my mother.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my body locking in place.
She stepped inside hesitantly, her eyes darting around the lavish room before settling on me.
I barely recognized her.
Her dark apron was gone, replaced by a simple gray dress. Her hands—so often dusted with flour, raw from years of kitchen work—were clasped tightly in front of her. But it was her face that shook me the most.
She looked afraid.
"Mama," I whispered, my throat tightening.
She rushed forward and grabbed my hands, squeezing them so tightly it hurt. "Cassidy, are you alright?"
I nodded stiffly, though nothing felt alright.
She exhaled, her grip loosening just slightly. "They wouldn't let me see you at first. I had to beg Mistress Renna to convince the guards."
Of course.
The moment I had been dragged from the kitchens, I had stopped being a servant. I wasn't even a prisoner.
I was something else.
Something dangerous.
Something his.
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. "How did you know where I was?"
She hesitated. "There were… rumors, you and the resistance."
I stiffened.
Of course there were. I had stood in that council room, bound and humiliated, in front of the most powerful beings in the country.
And Kieran had asked me to be taken to his room, the way he had commanded them to unbind me, in the way he had taken me.
It didn't matter that I hadn't agreed.
Everyone had already decided.
I was a spy.
I ripped my hands from hers, standing abruptly. "Mama, you have to get me out of here."
Her eyes widened. "Cassidy—"
"I can't stay here." My voice cracked. "I won't."
Her expression twisted with something I couldn't place. Sorrow. Fear. Resignation.
"Baby," she whispered, her hands trembling. "I don't know if you can leave."
My breath caught.
No.
No, I wouldn't accept that.
I shook my head violently. "You don't understand. I have to. I don't care if I have to run, if I have to—"
Her hands gripped my shoulders, firm and desperate. "Cassidy, listen to me."
I did.
Because I had never heard that tone in her voice before.
Not when we were starving. Not when the enforcers raided the kitchens. Not when we watched friends disappear into the night, never to return.
She had always been strong.
But now?
She looked defeated.
"You can't just run from this," she murmured.
I recoiled. "This? You mean him?"
Her jaw tightened. She hesitated, then spoke carefully. "I don't understand what's happening. But I know that if he really… if he truly believes you're with the resistance, then he won't let you go. You need to fight and prove to them that you're innocent"
"It's not just that mama, he says I'm his mate!" I practically scream at her causing her to stumble in shock.
"That's not possible, how can you be his mate?" She asks shaking.
She seemed even more terrified than me. Why? What did she know that I didn't?
A tremor ran through me.
"Mama, I don't know. What do I do?" I say walking to the bed.
"We need to be smart Cassidy, if he claims you're his then be his." She replies walking to me and grabbing my hands again.
"Mama, how can you say that?" I ask her in disbelief.
"It's safer to be his."
She wasn't saying it to be cruel.
She was saying it because it was true.
Because she knew what I hadn't yet accepted.
Kieran Duskbane was not a man who lost things.
I turned away, wrapping my arms around myself. "So what? I just… accept it?"
"I don't know," she admitted softly.
The weight of her words pressed down on me like stones.
I wanted to scream.
To fight.
To do something.
Instead, I forced myself to breathe.
"You should go," I whispered.
My mother hesitated. "Cassidy…"
"Please." My voice wavered. "Before they decide you shouldn't be here either."
Silence.
Then, slowly, she stepped forward, brushing a trembling hand over my hair.
"I love you," she murmured.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"I love you too."
The door creaked open.
And then she was gone.
I stood there, staring at the floor, my hands shaking.
The walls of my prison had never felt so permanent.
But I refused to be caged forever.
If Kieran thought he could just take me, claim me like I was some object for him to own…
Then he had no idea who I really was.