He was worried about Cassie as well. Usually, pregnant females would slow down their pace as the days went by to stop themselves from overexerting. But Cassie was not. Not only had she increased the number of classes she taught, but she would come back every day exhausted. And when he had asked her why, she would say it helped keep her demons at bay.
He often found her gait unsteady, and he had recently heard from a few packmates that they found Cassie white faced and gasping for breath. He had asked, ordered, and even shouted at her to take a damn break, but the woman gave the word ‘stubborn’ a whole new meaning.
Today, he was going to tie her to the bed, Luke thought with a gleam in his eye. And until she acquiesced to listen to him, she could damn well stay there.
Luke went outside to meet their visitor.
Bard Red was a greasy looking man. That was the only way Luke could describe him. There was a certain meanness in his eyes that Luke disliked and made him want to keep this man away from the pack. So, he automatically made the decision not to bring the man to their den.
“Luke Claw?”
Luke crossed his arms and nodded, not even offering a hand. “Yeah.”
Bard noticed the gesture of unfriendliness and ignored it. “We’re looking for one of our packmates. She went missing a while ago.”
“We haven’t seen or heard from any of your people.”
The man gave an unpleasant smile. “Oh, she would not want to get in touch with anyone. She committed a crime – murdered one of us – so our alpha wants her back.”
Luke could tell the man was lying. After living alone for so long, his senses had been finely honed. He could smell the lie. The increased heartbeat and the sickening body odor also helped.
So, they were looking for someone, but weren’t going to share the real reason as to why.
Luke shrugged, “We’d be happy to help. If anyone of us sees her, we’ll give her to you. But,” he warned, “if she puts up a fight, our justice is swift. We’ll just kill her.”
“No!” The panic in the shifter’s eyes was prominent. “We need her alive.”
“Why? You just said she killed one of your pack. I’m not going to let my people get injured over subduing a woman you just want dead.”
The sweat on Bard’s face was visible from where Luke stood. “We don’t want her dead. She’ll be punished, of course.”
Shadow Claw’s alpha pretended to look shocked. “You will let a murderer go? With just a light punishment?”
“She will be starved and tortured until she has paid for her crimes. Our punishments are not light, Mr. Claw.”
Luke could smell the man’s arousal and realized with a sickening feeling that the idea of torturing a woman was turning this man on.
He hadn’t heard good things about Black Eye, but to think that this pack encouraged hurting a female was deplorable. Whomever this woman was, Luke would make sure that she escaped from this pack. She sure as hell hadn’t killed anyone, but they wanted her back and they planned to torture her for leaving.
“What does she look like?” Luke’s words were curt, and he didn’t hide his displeasure.
Bard took out a photo and one look at the picture had Luke’s blood running cold.
It was the picture of a young Cassie.
Her hair was different, as were her eyes. She had black hair with a silver streak running through them, and her stunningly exquisite eyes held unhappiness and misery. An older woman stood next to her, her arm wrapped around Cassie protectively. The bruises on the woman’s neck and arms were visible, even in the picture. Her beautiful purple and silver eyes were tainted with fear.
Luke swallowed his rage upon seeing a black and blue bruise peeking out of Cassie’s shirt. She must have been ten or eleven in this picture.
“Which one is it?”
Bard pointed at the younger looking Cassie.
Luke scoffed, “You’re looking for a child?”
The man’s face turned red. “Of course not! She’s older now. Twenty something.”
Luke raised a brow. “And you don’t have a more recent photograph of her? Why not ask this one?” He purposely put a finger on the older woman, because he wanted the man to identify her.
“The mother? That bitch is dead,” Bard sneered.
Luke felt a nudging in his mind. He probed back, but there was nothing there. Wary, he looked at Bard. “I’ll keep this and show it around.”
He wanted this man gone. Cassie was somewhere here, running, and he did not want Bard to catch a glimpse of her.
Bard got back into his vehicle. “I’ll bring something more recent of hers if I find it. I’ll also bring some of our hunters to see if we can track her down on your territory.”
Luke bared his teeth, “Sure, bring them. And I will make it my personal mission to slaughter each one of them.”
When the man flinched, Luke gave him a cold look. “We don’t let outsiders in our territory. Make sure you inform your alpha. If any one of you tries to sneak in here, we will not be happy.”
There was a strange urgency in the back of his mind. Luke watched the man leave, his face set in stone.
Once he was gone, Luke looked at the picture of Cassie and her mother. They both looked terrified. But while the older woman looked defeated and determined, Cassie’s eyes held a defiance in them – a look that was still there.
What had happened to her?
He was going to find out. He tried her cellphone, but there was no answer. Had she forgotten it in their room? His eyes narrowed. But he had seen her put it in her back pocket just as she left.
The urgency building up in his head was giving him a headache, but just then his phone rang. It was Ted.
“Luke! Cassie’s hurt! I’m at the north end perimeter near the Wooden Complex.”
Luke didn’t think. He just shifted. Racing into the woods, he let his animal take charge. The blind panic and fear that filled him made his feet barely touch the ground.
Had Bard gotten to her? Had he been duped?
When he reached the site, he forced his animal aside and shifted back. Naked, he leaned over Cassie’s unconscious body. Ted was pale, and looked fearful.
“She’s alive, but we need Jude to look at her. I’ve called him over, and he’s bringing one of the healers.
Luke just nodded. “Good work.”
Now that he could see she was not in any fatal danger, he calmed down. He lifted her up as he heard the car approaching and watched Jude jump out and rush towards them.
Luke let the man run his healing magic over Cassie as she lay limp in his arms.
“She needs bed rest. And a lot of it.” The healer looked Luke in the eye. “But she cannot do any strenuous exercise. For some reason, her body is weaker than a normal female shifter when it comes to carrying a child.”
Luke carried Cassie in his arms towards the car and let Ted drive them back.
Jude explained, “Any other woman wouldn’t have had a problem, but Cassie refuses to let me run any tests on her. There is something very odd in her body structure. Not only is the pregnancy advancing very rapidly, her body needs to rest and be nourished. No more teaching for her until she’s had the baby. She can’t be on her feet at all. She’s lucky her body gave out right now while we were around.” Jude’s expression was grim. “Any further stress and she would have put both herself and the baby in harm’s way.”
Luke said nothing as he watched her. He had felt that something was wrong. How was that possible?
It seemed that he had quite a few things to discuss with Cassie once she woke up.
Chapter 9
Cassie woke up with a groan. Her back hurt, as did her shoulders. She opened her eyes and blinked, trying to get rid of the blurriness in her vision.
A hand touched her forehead, “How do you feel?”
Luke’s face swam into her vison. He looked furious but she didn’t know why.
“Like a truck ran over me.”
“That’s goo
d. Here.” He helped her sit up and gave her a glass of water. Cassie’s hands trembled as she raised the glass to her lips and Luke steadied them.
“What’s wrong with me?” she asked, fearfully. She had never felt this weak in her life. She felt exhausted and leaned against the headrest.
His voice was curt as he moved into her line of sight to sit on the bed. “You nearly put yourself and the baby in danger. I told you that you were overdoing it. But you had to be stubborn and not listen.”
Cassie paled, but Luke continued ruthlessly. “Jude ran some tests on you. You need to rest for the rest of the pregnancy. No more classes. You can move about, but that’s it. And you’re not going running alone. I or some other packmate will go with you.”
Cassie’s fingers clenched the bed sheet, but she kept her mouth shut.
He took out the picture from his pocket and put it in front of her.
Any color that Cassie had in her cheeks disappeared. Her voice was strangled, “You said you would not–”
“And I didn’t,” Luke bit out. “I didn’t consider your past, and I didn’t pry. I kept my word. This picture,” he pointed at the photograph lying in Cassie’s lap, “was given to me by an envoy from Black Eye.”
He saw her flinch and schooled his expression. “You are a wanted woman. They were looking for you.”
Cassie’s expression was shuttered. “I will not go without a fight. I will not let them get their hands on me or my child. And if you think–”
Luke was in her face in a heartbeat, snarling, furious at her assumption, “Do you think I will hand you and my cub over to them?”
His beast was angry. He had been angry since he had realized that Cassie was being hunted. And the idea that his woman had thought that he would be so callous as to hand her over drove the beast into a rage he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Cassie’s eyes widened when she saw the animal in his eyes. “They will not touch you. You are mine.”
She shuddered and pushed him away with what little strength she had left. Pulling her knees toward her, she ran a hand over her face and then looked up at him. He saw the despair in her eyes and a hopelessness that hadn’t been present in the photograph. His demeanor gentled. She looked so scared.
“Cassie,” he said, covering her cold hands with his, “I’ve respected your wish to hold onto your secrets, but enough is enough. I will protect you whether you tell me to or not, but this secret of yours is endangering our child. So, it’s time you come clean.”
“I’m an omega.”
Luke stared at her, not understanding. “What?”
Cassie glared at him, and he saw the angry tears in her eyes, “You heard me. My mother was also an omega. Our pack was not like yours.” She tugged her hand away.
“In old times, omegas were considered slaves. They were at the lowest level of the food chain, even lower than submissive. In your pack, dominants and submissive are all treated equally. They have their own roles, but nobody looks down on a submissive. It wasn’t–” she took a breath and looked into Luke’s eyes. “Omegas were there for the enjoyment of the pack. You know that omegas can be impregnated by anybody. They don’t usually have mates because they aren’t accepted. Their biology doesn’t work that way. In my old pack, being an omega meant that you had no identity of your own. You were born for the pack to use. They were given small cells. Torture chambers. That’s what everyone called them.”
Cassie laughed roughly and continued. “There were set up all over Black Eye territory. My mother lived in one of them. My father was Corrigan. He was the alpha – is the Alpha. He forced my mother into mating against her will, and she was moved into his quarters. He made her wear a collar and chain to show her status, and she had to sit at his feet wherever they went.
When I was born, she managed to escape. One of the male omega’s, Dorian, helped he. Corrigan had him killed in front of us when we were captured a few years later. We were with the pack for two years. When I was twelve, my father handed me to his best lieutenant for the night. He said that this would be my initiation as an official pack breeder.”
The glass in Luke’s hand shattered. Cassie jumped and stared at the shards sticking out of Luke’s hand, “Call Jude! He’ll–”
Luke’s thunderous expression conflicted with his gentle tone. “Finish it.”
Cassie’s eyes closed. “We escaped that night. My mother killed that man, and she took me before he could do anything. We were safe for two years until we were tracked down.”
Luke saw her lips tremble. “Mom got injured in her abdomen, and I couldn’t stop the bleeding. I got her away and took her to someone she knew. She died a few months later. The wound had gotten infected and she couldn’t make it. So now they want me.”
Luke plucked out the shards in his hand with a viciousness that made Cassie wary.
“You should have trusted me.”
She looked away. “Trust isn’t easy to come by when you’ve been on the run your whole life.”
“Is that everything?”
Cassie hesitated, and said, “No.”
Luke looked at her, but she shook her head. “I told you that much. Just take that for now. There are a lot of things that I will tell you eventually. But give me some time, Luke. I won’t be forced.”
Luke didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded. “You must trust me one day, Cassie. I will never let anyone treat my cub like that, nor you.”
Cassie did not get the chance to say anything because Luke’s phone rang. His expression turned thunderous at what he heard. “Hold him there! I’m on my way.”
Cassie looked up in alarm when he told her. “Bard entered the den without permission. Stay here and lock the door.”
He was on the phone, barking instructions at someone and Cassie shuddered. She couldn’t believe she had told Luke. Perhaps she had omitted a few things, but she had told him so. The mating bond pulsed and she held her grip on it.
She could trust Luke with this secret. But what about if he knew how rare she was. White omegas were a rare breed in of themselves. Aside from their unique markings, a white omega had one unique trait to them. Unlike an omega who could be impregnated once a year when they went into heat, white omegas could be impregnated at any time. Over time, they had been hailed as pack breeders for those packs whose numbers had been falling. If a white omega were to ever find a true mate, that male would be killed off by the pack.
Cassie’s grandmother, Layla, had managed to find her mate and their Alpha had killed him in front of her to teach her a lesson. Luke was her true mate. But Cassie was too scared to reveal the bond. He wasn’t the type of person to use her so ruthlessly, but what was she basing that on? His kindness?
She buried her face in her hands and let herself scream. She hated this. She hated guessing everyone’s motives. She despised being forced to analyze every action of the people around her. She wanted to believe in Luke. She wanted to hope that he held feelings for her. She wanted to have a family and to be normal. But aside from the baby, why else would he want her?
To protect them from predators, white omegas were very ferocious by nature. Their submissive nature aside, they were strong and could protect both their young and themselves.
Cassie sighed and rubbed a hand on the bump in her belly. “I’ll protect you, kid. I promise.”
****
Luke’s animal was crazed with rage. How dare Bard enter his den? Who had shown him the location?
He walked into the common room where the bear stood, looking nervous and angry. He was surrounded by the high-ranking soldiers – men, women, and some of the elders – who had their weapons at the ready. The children and other women were not there. They had been moved to the safe houses immediately.
Luke saw some of the adolescents holding their weapons with their teeth bared in a snarl. These were Cassie’s students. He saw a glimpse of a white-faced Fiona with two other females, and he growled at them. They should have left with the other females.
“What is this?” Bard shouted when he saw Luke, “I came–”
Luke did not listen to a single word. Instead, he picked Bard up and tossed him against the wall. “How dare you enter my den?!”
However, Bard was determined to have his say. His greasy looking face was red with both fear and anger. “You have the woman! We know you do. She is ours!”
“Cassie belongs to me!” Luke roared.
His people did not hesitate and nodded in agreement. They were not going to give up their alpha’s mate. They might not know the whole story, but they would stand by him, and Luke knew that.
“She belongs to my alpha! She is his property!” Bard growled. “Give her back!”
Luke bared his teeth in a snarl. “I’m not going to hand over my mate to the likes of you.”
The man became pale and all the color flushed from his face. “Your mate?” He looked horrified, “You mated Cassie? Do you even know what she is?” He spat out, “A dirty omega. Mate or no mate, I will take our pack breeder back with us.”
Pack breeder.
‘He said that this would be my initiation as an official pack breeder.’
Cassie’s pale-faced words resurfaced in Luke’s head and he snarled, shifting.
Charging towards the stricken Bard who was attempting to shift, Luke landed a furious strike with his paw, sending Bard crashing into the nearby wall. He roared as his packmates watched silently. Shifting back, he stood in all of his glory, and snarled, “Take him outside. We’re going to find out how he tracked Cassie here. Spread out, and make sure there aren’t any more.” He barked at the sentinels who nodded and rushed out.
Chapter 10
Cassie heard the knock on the door. She got up and scented the air before opening it. It was a pack member. Perhaps somebody Luke had sent to watch the door.
Saved by Alpha Bear (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Shadow Claw Book 1) Page 6