by C. D. Gorri
“Uh, I’m not sure, Rayne gets tired so easily these days.”
“It’s to be expected, Daddy,” David smiled at Cael’s sudden paleness.
“Whoa,” realization dawned on him and he cursed himself a thoughtless fool, “Easy man, we are not our father, and you and Rayne will make amazing parents.”
David felt the tension in his brother ease through their familial and Pack bonds. Both brothers had been affected by their father’s abuse, but he knew in his heart and soul that they were nothing like that pitiful excuse for a human being. Just like David knew without a doubt that Cassie would be an amazing mother and mate. Mine.
Cael nodded and left not too long after. The brothers had always shared a special relationship. Their traumatic childhood brought them together in ways others could only imagine. When Cael had been falsely accused of stealing from the hospital a few years back it had almost destroyed his younger sibling. Rayne had helped bring Cael back from his forced isolation and with a little help, they’d cleared his name.
He trusted Cael implicitly. If his brother said someone was spreading a rumor about him and some nurse, it was probably true. David tried to recall exactly what his brother said, but he couldn’t. At the time, his mind had wandered to Cassie and he’d missed most of it.
He didn’t have time to call his brother now. He needed to get ready for the ball. And for Cassie.
Mistletoe, here I come!
CHAPTER 16
Cassie entered the “Singles in Maccon City Annual Holiday Ball” wearing the ridiculously high heels that went with the deep red gown her stepmother had gotten for her.
The dress was off the shoulder with a tight bodice and a long flowing skirt made of silk and chiffon. The blood red color looked spectacular with her ivory skin and reddish-brown hair done long in a fifties-style do.
She even wore a sprig of mistletoe attached to one of her hair combs. She loved the way it added to the holiday theme of the evening. Cassie always loved Christmas, and she couldn’t wait to share the evening with David.
She’d taken special care with her appearance. Grateful for her years on Broadway and her many friends who were wizards when it came to cosmetics, she’d learned how to use them to enhance her features. She didn’t wear a lot of make-up generally, but tonight was special.
Her hazel eyes glowed with a touch of shimmery eyeshadow. She used brown eyeliner and mascara to accentuate their shape and size. Cassie wore a deep red lipstick that matched her gown and little hanging diamond earrings that her father had bought her when she’d turned sixteen.
She felt beautiful. She was aware of the appreciative glances men at the ball threw her way, but she was only interested in one man. And David was late.
He hadn’t texted her or anything, but she’d just assumed he was running late. Cassie made her way through the crowd, greeting the people she knew, and nodding at the ones she didn’t.
She was nervous, happy, scared, and excited. She wasn’t used to events like this. Sure, she’d spent years in New York City, with the theatre scene, but most actors had little money and their idea of holiday parties included regular clothes like t-shirts and jeans, cheap booze, and loud music.
She’d spent many a Christmas Eve alone in her apartment while her boyfriend at the time went out and got loaded with his friends. This was something else. She was enchanted with the decorations. Stephanie had truly outdone herself with the floral arrangements.
The holiday theme was evident, but far from tacky or overdone. Twinkle lights glittered from everywhere, red velvet ribbons and thick evergreen branches, winter roses, and mistletoe were abundantly displayed. The smell of pine trees and cinnamon infused the air making Cassie grin.
This was the first Christmas in a long time that she wasn’t overcome with grief since the loss of her father. Miss you Dad, she said in her head, but for the first time in a long while, her heart swelled with love instead of sadness. David again, she thought.
Cassie reached for a glass of champagne from passing waiter as she wandered through the room swaying with the sound of Christmas carols that were being played by a wonderfully talented band. She knew her music and could tell they were extremely skilled. The singer was a large man with long black hair bound at his nape.
They all wore matching black on black tuxes and were big as houses. Werewolves. Her inner sense told her, and she wasn’t surprised. In fact, there were very few normals there tonight.
She’d learned from her stepmother that many local clans and branches of the Macconwood Pack were using the ball as a meeting ground for potential mates. Cassie smiled and bit her lip. Her stomach quivered at the thought.
Was she David’s mate? She could only hope. After all, it was too late for her heart. Cassie turned her head as the singer finished his song and introduced the staff of Macconwood Memorial. Cassie scanned the people on stage, then suddenly stopped dead.
David was standing with them. Hospital board members, doctors, and, wait, was that the nurse from hell clinging to his arm? Cassie stood straight, her eyes riveted to David. She willed him to look at her, but he didn’t turn his head or meet her gaze. He was a Werewolf, surely, he could scent that she was there. The stage was only twenty feet away from where she stood! He had to have smelled her if not seen her!
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for coming here tonight and supporting Macconwood Memorial. As you know, the hospital is like our home away from home and, therefore, the staff is more than just co-workers, we are like one big family.”
“Now, it is my pleasure to introduce two very special people from our hospital staff, David Evangelos, our Emergency Department Chief, and Nurse Madison Rothschild, for those of you who don’t know my niece has recently moved here from upstate New York, when she told me David was escorting her to the ball tonight believe me I was more than pleased, though David, I assure you I have all the sections with the mistletoe off-limits to you, my boy! Now let’s hear from him, shall we?!”
Cassie could hardly believe her ears. Nurse Madison was there with David. Like with with him? She couldn’t handle this. She turned on numb feet and walked as quickly as she could to the exit.
How could he? Heart around her ankles, Cassie moved like a zombie through the crowd. She wanted to scream out loud. She’d finally found some self-confidence and decided to trust in a man again. Not just any man, but a drop-dead gorgeous Werewolf doctor. Uh huh. And you wonder why he dumped you?
No. Fuck that! She was not taking the blame here. Clearly there was a side to David she simply did not know about.
Whatever it was, it was his problem. She was no one’s side piece and she wasn’t about to start now. No matter how much leaving the city had made her feel like a loser at first, Cassie knew she was worth a whole lot more.
She thought she could find that more with David. Well, she’d made a big mistake, but hey, they’d had great sex! At least, he gave her that! Jerk!
She wiped away her tears as she trudged outside. It was snowing again, and she could hardly see her way through the parking lot. Perfect.
There was no way in hell she’d be able to get Stephanie’s van out in all that white stuff! Besides, her stepmom was still in there. Fuck it. She didn’t care. She was not going back inside. Hell, she’d rather walk.
CHAPTER 17
David cursed silently as the idiot trustee, and one of the wealthiest benefactors the hospital ever had, introduced him and Nurse Madison as if the two of them were an item!
The she-Wolf was a damn nuisance! She clung to his arm in her ridiculously low-cut gown like a parasite. The flowery perfume she wore made him want to scrub his nostrils! How the hell did she breathe with that crap on?
Movement to his right had him turning his head. Oh fuck no. Cassiopeia. His Cassie had seen his entrance and heard what this ass-wipe had said! She would think the absolute worst! For fuck’s sake!
He moved to chase her, but the she-Wolf tightened her hold and smiled up
at him, motioning for him to walk towards the microphone.
“Thank you, ladies and gents, I want to welcome you all here tonight. Please enjoy yourself and remember to drink and drive responsibly! I am sorry, if you will excuse me a moment, I think my real date just walked out the door. Cassie!”
Cassie got down the stairs without injury, but after five minutes with ice and snow covering her high heeled feet and her skirt up around her thighs, she regretted her decision to walk out.
“I should have called an Uber!” She muttered to herself and ignored the faint sound of someone calling her name. Great. Now, she was hallucinating. No doubt, the cold was affecting her mind!
She walked on through the snow, shivering as her exposed skin made contact with the heavy fluff falling from the sky. She could have sworn she heard her name being called again. Wishful thinking, Cass.
She was no heroine, and her life was certainly no romance novel where the big, muscular hero swept her off her feet and professed undying love after a huge misunderstanding! Ha! She wouldn’t even buy that book! Liar. You own dozens just like it.
“Oh, shut up,” she muttered to herself.
“Cassie!”
Wait. That was her name. Someone was calling after. Cassie froze and turned around. Her eyes narrowed. She did the only thing she could think of. She bent down and grabbed a handful of icy snow and threw it in a perfect arc towards her pursuer.
“Ouch! Cassie!” David wiped snow out of his eyes and she reloaded and flung another one at him. This one hit him square in the chest of his otherwise immaculate tuxedo.
“You bastard!”
“Cassie, please, there’s been a mistake,” he tried to speak, but she was on a roll. He dodged two more snowballs, but the third clipped him in the ear.
“Ow! Fuck, that’s cold, Cassie, please, just hear me out,” he begged, hands held up in surrender.
He looked delicious in his tux. It was clearly tailored to his tall, wide-shouldered, muscular body, the thing fit like a glove. His blonde hair was damp with snow and his eyes glowed gold as he looked her over from head to toe.
“You look beautiful,” he said, eyes eating her up where she stood. She shivered, but ignored the cold, caught in his stare.
“Oh really? And how about your date, did you tell her how good she looked too? What were the two of you dating before we met? Explains why she flipped out and warned me off you at the hospital!”
“What? When did she do that?” he growled.
“What does it matter? Clearly you two have a thing! I made a mistake, now just leave me alone,” she turned to go, but found herself swept up in a pair of warm muscular arms.
“Put me down!”
“No.”
“What do you mean no? You can’t do this!”
“You and I are going to talk dammit, and we’re going to do it someplace warm and quiet,” his long, powerful legs ate through the snow quickly.
Soon, they were both encased safely in the warmth of his Mercedes. David turned around and grabbed something from the backseat.
“Here, put this on,” he said and handed her a coat. Cassie was too cold to refuse, so she shrugged into the soft leather jacket and had to bite her lip to keep from sighing. It smelled just like him.
“David-”
“Not till we get inside,” he said in a clipped voice.
Cassie fumed in her seat. Oh, he was mad, was he? Well fuck him! The jerk! Who did he think he was anyway? Just because he was a doctor, gorgeous, rich, and educated, oh, and the fact that he fucks-like-a-god, didn’t mean he was better than her! He was a cheater and a liar!
That last part did not sit well with her. He’d been so kind and open. Well, except for not telling her his whole ‘I’m a Werewolf’ secret.
She tried to pretend that didn’t bother her. But the truth was, it did. He’d lied by omission. Cassie quickly wiped her eyes before he’d notice she was crying over his stupid ass.
Her heart squeezed in her chest as David pulled into his driveway. Oh God, not here.
“Look, I’m not going in there with you-”
CHAPTER 18
“Cassie, let me get you warm and dry and we can talk this out, please,” his brown eyes bore into hers and Cassie could swear the temperature went up ten degrees.
“Fine,” she said and got out of the car before he could open the door.
He started a fire and went to get her a throw blanket before he sat down next to her. Cassie stood up.
“David, I don’t know what more there is to say. Your date is waiting for you-”
“Is that so? Cause from where I am sitting, my date looks like she’d like to maim me,” he smiled, but it was tinged with a sadness that pulled at her heart.
“Stop it, we both know, this, us, wouldn’t work. We are too different,” she said and turned her back.
It would be easier if she didn’t have to see him while she did this. At least if she broke it off, she could always fall back on that. Yeah, that will help your heart when it’s broken into a million pieces.
“Please, Cassie, do you think so little of me that you believe I could have made love with you and had some other woman on the side?”
How did he get so close to her? Oh yeah. He was a Werewolf, he just hadn’t shared that with her either. Just another lie. His voice tickled her ear and she shivered involuntarily. His arms wrapped around her and she fought to hold in the sob that was desperate to come out.
“Please, let me go, this won’t work. I can’t stand liars.”
“No. I can’t let you go, Cassie, I won’t, you’re mine,” he said holding her back flush against his chest.
He inhaled deeply at her nape and Cassie struggled, but he held strong. They sank to their knees as she cried and struggled, but still he hung on. Finally, she sagged against him. Emotionally and physically exhausted.
“Cassie?” His voice was deep with emotion and he loosened his hold, turning her on his lap to face him.
“Cassie, listen to me, I have never dated that woman. I have never wanted to date her.”
“But she’s beautiful-”
“No, you’re beautiful, you’re everything Cassie, I love you-”
“Oh God, please don’t say that, not when you’re still lying to me,” she slid off him, surprised that he allowed it. She looked up and saw shock and hurt cross his face.
“How? When did I lie to you?”
“I know you’re a Werewolf, David. I know you are all looking for your fated mates. But you kept both things from me. Don’t you see? It’s because it’s not me, I’m not the one for you, so please just let me go,” she moved to stand, but David grasped her hand and tugged her down to face him.
“You’re right, I lied by omission, but I swear to you I was going to tell you everything tonight. I don’t know how you know that I am a Werewolf, but it is true. My brother Cael and I inherited the gift. It has been a long struggle, and with new events occurring among our kind, old instincts are surging, Cassie. You are right, I need a mate, but I don’t have to find one.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’ve already found her. You, Cassie. My Wolf and I choose you,” he reached out with his hands and brushed the tears away.
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because I’d rather die, then let you walk out of my life. I know this is fast, but you are the one for me Cassie, only you,” he grasped her by the neck and brought her body flush against his.
Cassie sighed against his touch. He had the power to turn her into a mass of nerve-endings, desperate for his touch. She couldn’t help herself, she reacted to him like no other.
Cassie leaned forward and grabbed him by the lapels of his damp jacket. She slammed her mouth against his, swallowing his grown. He tasted like those little pink wintergreen mints her stepmother always bought around the holidays. Cool and sweet, like coming home.
“Mmm, Cassie, my Cassie,” David whispered against her mouth while she pushed his jacket
down off his wide shoulders. She needed to feel him. Her skin was burning for his touch.
She didn’t have it in her to deny the passion that was already building between them. From zero to sixty, that was how she felt whenever he was near her. Cassie trembled with desire.
“Baby?” he said again, helping her remove his cufflinks and finally tearing them off when the damned things got stuck. He reached for the zipper of her dress, while kissing his way from her chin to her shoulder.
“What?”
“I said I choose you as my mate, Cassie, but you need to tell me you want this too,” his eyes went from dark, espresso brown to a deep glowing amber as he trailed his fingers from her cheek to her abundant cleavage making her writhe beneath his teasing touch.
Sex, she could handle. Declarations of love, possibly. Promises of forever, well that was kind of difficult. Could she dare believe him?
“David, I want you,” she said and tried to bring his attention back to her needy body. She moaned and pressed against him, thigh to thigh, they knelt together in front of the glowing fire. His tongue snaked into her mouth.
“I want you too. Baby, I want you, us, forever. Be my mate, Cassie?”
“But why? Why me?”
Her question hung between them like a lead curtain. Cassie bit her lip, afraid she’d ruined the perfect moment. Stupid!
“From the second I saw you, got a whiff of your tantalizing cocoa butter and vanilla scent, I knew you were mine. Then after I talked with you, got to know you, I fell in love with your heart, Cassie, your beautiful, big heart,” he kissed her tears away as he continued, “Memories of making love to you have haunted me the past thirty hours that I’ve been away from your side. Your taste, your touch, you are everything I’ve ever wanted. My sweet and sexy, beautiful asteri, will you have me? Be my mate?”
“Oh David, yes, please, I want you so badly,” she moaned. Heat pooled in her abdomen and her heart swelled with love for him. She wanted him so damn bad.