Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Eight

The next few days in the city passed by without drama. Cassandra rested and healed, and thanks to the superior healing ability of shifters, she was nearly back to normal within a fraction of the time that it would take a human to be able to get out of bed again. Aeron warned her to make her movements slower and to seem weaker than she felt for a few days longer so as not to raise further suspicions of the humans. She hated having to lessen herself just so they wouldn't see her as a threat. It all seemed so backward to her. How could such an easily threatened and fragile species be so quick to rise in power over the shifter world enough that they needed to hide for fear of being hunted?

Rumors had spread within the city, and even within the castle walls, despite Aeron’s attempts to quell them. He had at least been able to do enough damage control that the rumors were listened to by only a small few, and the majority of the humans simply dismissed the gossip as absurd. Even so, the presence of the rumors, no matter how small, had been growing. Some of the humans were saying that Cassandra must have been a witch, because why else would she have tried to save the life of a wolf?

When the whispers were inside the castle itself, that bothered Cassandra most. Not only was she trapped inside the confining feeling of four walls, but she was now also unable to get away from the gossiping tongues of servants in her own home. She decided to take another walk in the city again, this time alone. She didn’t want to have to keep track of Theo. She just wanted to get away and be left in her own thoughts as she wandered the marketplace streets and listened to the lull of the crowds. Aeron had already talked to Theo about the commotion that he had caused, the problems that his father was still trying to clean up, and the injury to his mother. Theo felt several shades of remorseful and saddened, so he didn’t argue at all with his mother when she told him he was to stay behind this time while she went on an outing alone. She had also learned her lesson enough to know that she would make sure he was watched over at all times if he wasn’t within her exact field of vision. Twice he had carelessly gotten himself into trouble, and she would make sure there wasn’t a third.

When she got down into the city, the streets were bustling, and the vendors crowded their stalls of fresh herbs and vegetables as the people wandered around browsing the goods for sale. Cassandra didn’t feel much like stopping and talking to anyone, so she veered off the main streetways and walked along some of the dirt paths that ran between the city buildings.

She thought to herself about everything, and nothing, at once. She thought about Aeron’s idea of merging the humans and the packs. She thought about how Rubius carried her back to her bedroom, and how close they were to doing something that they wouldn’t be able to undo. She thought about her son, and how Theo’s future birthright may not be something that he wanted at all. But then she also let her mind wander to the point of blankness, where all she could do was stare at the city ahead of her and think about the feel of Rubius' hand on the side of her body. While she walked and got lost in her thoughts, Cassandra didn’t pay mind to what was around her, or more importantly, behind her.

She didn’t see or feel it coming. The sight of the city was simply there in front of her eyes one minute, and then it was gone, replaced by a dark fabric thrown over her head that blocked her view and sucked-up against her mouth as she tried to breathe. She struggled against whoever had a grasp of her and tried to pull free from the arms that were painfully wrapped around her and digging into the front of her ribcage, which was still sore. But then, just as quickly as she had been grabbed, she was let go. She stumbled forward, and she heard a scuffle behind her as she tried to unwrap the cloth from around her face so that she could see what was going on.

Rubius stood there, pummeling a final hit against the man who had grabbed Cassandra and attempted to kidnap her. It was the same young hunter that had sent the arrow spiraling into her body. As soon as the man had been knocked unconscious and sprawled across the ground, Cassandra quickly got to her feet and raced toward Rubius, who hovered over the fallen man’s body. Rubius was at least three times the man’s size, so he hadn’t stood a chance against the powerful shifter.

“What was that about?” she asked, flustered.

“He had been following you, Cassandra. He attacked you and was then going to kidnap you. He knew,” Rubius said with a serious expression on his face.

“What do you mean he knew?”

“He knew you were a shifter. He was going to kill you.”

“How did you know that man was following me unless you were following me too?” Cassandra asked.

Rubius looked caught off guard and shifted his weight nervously between his feet. Then he reached forward and gently grabbed her by the arm, leading her out of the street and down a nearby alleyway to a vacant church building.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

“We need to get you off the streets,” he said. “There are too many eyes upon you now. You’re not safe out here alone.”

Rubius pulled Cassandra into an abandoned cathedral to get her off the city streets to safety.

“But I’m not alone,” Cassandra said as they both fell in through the doorway quickly and Rubius shut the door behind them. “I’m with you.”

Something about that moment broke through her defenses. The tone in her voice, the urgency of bringing her to safety inside the empty cathedral; something about that moment, and all the other moments of restraint combined—broke something. Cassandra’s back was against the wall of the church as Rubius stood in front of her, close enough to touch her. He saw her chest heaving beneath her bodice, and his shifter senses heard her racing heart and the push of rushing blood in her veins.

When she looked at him in front of her, the minuscule amount of space between them suddenly seemed like a vast and unbearable distance to breach. His mouth opened, but no words came out. It was inevitable and undeniable – this force that pulled them together. They couldn’t resist each other any longer.

Rubius lunged forward and put his mouth over hers. Instantly, she felt his tongue push into her mouth and circle around her own.

Rubius’s body pressed against hers and the rising and swelling heat between his legs began to push against the fabric of his pants to the point of bursting the seams open. Cassandra tangled her fingers in his hair as their heads tilted and their teeth clashed against each other. There was no hesitation, no ability to pause. There was only the insatiable demand that needed to be met between them.

Rubius lifted Cassandra up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her further into the cathedral and laid her down on her back against the wooden floor. The colored light shone in through the stained-glass windows and made her body look as if it were a glistening landscape full of promise as Rubius pulled the dress from her body. No sooner was she lying naked beneath him than she pulled his shirt over his head and he nimbly pulled his pants from his hips, kicking them off once they had reached his ankles. The massively engorged cock that hung down onto her as Rubius crawled over her body made Cassandra squirm with a tantalizing anticipation. When she parted her legs and reached her arms up around his shoulders, Rubius pushed himself into her with such a burning pleasure that they both moaned with an overwhelming rush of sensation. He filled her until there was no further he could go, and then he started to move within her.