Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
Cassandra’s lips twitch and I laugh as well. The folder in Cassandra’s hand shakes for a second, but she hugs it to her chest and strides forward with determination in her eyes as she mounts the massive ivory staircase at the front of Benjamin’s packhouse.
“Gamma Nolan.” Ben’s beta, Jordan, greets us at the front door. “Is everything all right with Alpha Wesley and Luna Haven?”
“She forgot her purse in the truck. They’ll be right in,” I say.
“Pregnancy brain,” Jordan says, echoing Wesley’s words and nodding knowingly. “My mate did the same thing almost every time we drove somewhere during her pregnancy.” He gestures down the hall. “You two can go ahead. I will wait for your alpha and luna.”
“Thank you.”
Cassandra follows me down the main hall and around the corner to the large double doors leading into Ben’s office. He has one propped open, so I rap on it with my knuckle, then push it open, standing aside for Cassandra to enter.
Ben sits at his massive oak desk, his head resting on his fingertips, his gray suit jacket draped over the back of his seat, and his sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up to his elbows. But as soon as we enter, he jumps from his fine leather chair, his blue eyes widening as they move from me to Cassandra. She freezes, her face growing paler by the second. My wolf whines, and my stomach twists into a heavy, weighted knot as they stare at each other with the world standing still for what seems an eternity.
Cassandra forces time to move again, spinning away from Ben and rushing towards the door, her eyes clamped shut and her head shaking.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
CASSANDRA
“Wait—“
Benjamin sprints around his desk, lunging for me and grabbing my arm, and Nolan growls, baring his teeth at him in warning. Nolan won’t win in a fight against him—Benjamin is a lycan, after all—but he won’t go down without trying.
Benjamin backs away, though, releasing me as soon as the growl leaves Nolan’s lips. I lift my chin and stare at Nolan, my eyes brimming with tears and my breaths shallow and shaky. He cups my face in his hands, and I relax at his touch.
“I’m fine,” I whisper, even though I’m obviously not.
My heart echoes in my chest, like the pounding of a deep bass or the beating of a timpani. It’s so loud I’m sure everyone in the packhouse can hear it reverberating off the walls of Benjamin’s office. My hands shake, the folder clutched in them flapping against my chest, and my blood rushes in my ears, drowning out any other noise.
Fine is not a word to describe me at this moment.
“Sorry,” Benjamin says from behind me. I glance over my shoulder at him. He stands with his hands on his hips, his brow furrowed. “I just… You seem so… Do I know you?”
I take a deep breath and turn all the way around again, Nolan’s hands falling from my face. I slip one of mine into his, squeezing it as hard as I can. “We’ve never met. But I’m your sister.”
The air leaves the room at my revelation. Both males freeze in place, and no one makes a sound. The fall of a hair onto the freshly waxed floor would be as loud as a dropped platter in a dining hall. Nolan’s hand loosens around mine, and I step closer to Alpha Benjamin—my half-brother—whose hand covers his jaw, his chest heaving harder with every breath he takes.
“This is a DNA test,” I say, holding the folder Wesley kept safe for me out to him. “It was conducted after Wesley—after he—after your father… um…” I swallow and lick my lips, avoiding Benjamin’s eyes and shifting my weight between my feet, unable to bring myself to put voice to his fate, even though he was the worst type of male there is. “After he died, his witch—Gladys—confessed everything to the thirteen crones. And later on, King Malachi had this DNA test done.”
The folder shakes in the space between us, still gripped in my trembling hand, and Benjamin stares at it. His shoulders rise and fall, and he shakes his head at the folder. “I don’t understand…”
“We didn’t know he was my father until after he died. He hid his true identity from my mother, and he used her to find Selene’s daughter. To find Haven.”
Benjamin’s eyes widen, and he meets Nolan’s gaze over the top of my head. “He did say something about an oracle.”
Nolan inhales sharply. “He said he ‘formed a relationship’ with one, and that’s how he knew when Haven was born and where to find her.”
I glance at Nolan. His face is unreadable, his hands hanging loose at his sides. My heart clenches, but I face Benjamin again, thrusting the folder at him. He takes it, but he doesn’t open it. Instead, he sets it on his desk and perches on the edge, his hands on his hips again as he scrutinizes me.
“The proof is right there in the folder if you don’t believe me,” I say, gesturing at it where it sits, unopened and unread by him.
He shakes his head and holds his hand up. “No, I don’t—I don’t need to see it. I believe you. I just—I’m processing this.”
I nod and inhale through my nose, blinking back the tears and folding my hands in front of me. A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow back what feels like one million burning hot pieces of molten silver. My knuckles turn white from how tightly I clasp my hands together.
I expected nothing less than this. I didn’t expect tears of joy and laughter and hugs.
But no matter what I expected, no matter how much I prepared for this to unfold exactly as it is, it doesn’t hurt any less. None of my mental preparations change the truth. I’m still a product of his father’s infidelity, and he’s still the product of the male who used my mother and who was willing to do unspeakable, Goddess-awful things to anyone who stood in his way or he deemed to have outlived their use to him.
Benjamin gives a dry laugh and runs his hand through the blond curls on the top of his head. “I’m guessing Wesley asking to meet with me about the mating ball was a ruse?”
I chuckle with him, even with my boiling anxiety and my sore throat, and nod. “Your absence yesterday made it easier to come up with a reason for us to arrange a meeting with you.”
His lips twitch. “Clever.”
“Haven’s idea.”
He nods and crosses his arms. “Look—um…” He trails off and blows out air from his cheeks, raising a brow at me. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your—“
“Oh Goddess, I didn’t even…” I groan and smack my forehead, then step closer to him, holding my hand out. “Cassandra. Stavros.”
He shakes it firmly—a positive sign—and I breathe a small sigh of relief. “Why don’t you explain everything to me? From the beginning.” He gestures towards the large sitting area in his spacious office, where two large dark brown leather couches sit perpendicular to each other, one facing the windows, and I nod, leading the way to the sofas. “Nolan?” Benjamin flicks his eyes to the door of his office.
Nolan. I almost forgot he was here, too. He’s said nothing beyond recalling something Pierce said to them all those years ago. He stands in front of the door, his face just as unreadable as it was a few moments ago, just as indecipherable as it always was before he kissed me and laid claim to my body.
I wish I could read his mind. I wish I had the abilities everyone always assumes I have.
What is he thinking? How does he feel about all this? Does my being the daughter of the male who ruined Haven’s early life change how he feels about me? Will he still want me? Are we strong enough to survive this, and can I be strong enough if we don’t?
I plead with him with my eyes. I’m too nervous and unsteady to trust myself to verbalize my need for him, too worried anything I say or do will prompt him to reject me.
But Goddess, do I need him. I need his grumpy, stoic personality that balances my smiles and sunshine. I need the fierce, possessive protector, the passionate, dominant male he hides beneath his calm, steely exterior. We’ve only been “us” for a few days, but it’s so natural with him. Despite the initial rocky start with the hot and cold and the roommate war between the two of us, the way we fit together is indescribable, and his reaction to this revelation may be what breaks me.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?