Awakened by the Wolf (27 page)

Chapter 41

C
assie sat on the edge of her chair and worried the tassel of the honor cord worn over her graduation gown.

She'd done it. She'd finally done it.

In a matter of minutes, Cassie would finally clutch that hard-earned degree in her hands.

The moment wasn't as fulfilling as she had imagined.

At least she wasn't alone. Somewhere in the building sat Hannah and Shane. Friends whom Cassie hadn't realized were friends until a couple of months ago.

Squinting over a blob of faceless people, she searched for Brice, although he'd sent no word that he would come. She simply hoped.

The man next to her stood, and Cassie followed him to the area where the cum laude graduates waited for their names to be called. Moments later, she clicked her low heels across the stage to receive the fruit of her labors and sacrifices. Accepting the chancellor's congratulatory handshake, Cassie wondered if what she'd gained was worth the loss.

I'm so proud of you, Sunshine.

Brice?
Her lethargic heart cartwheeled.
I knew you'd come! Where are you?

Cassie smiled at the photographer, dying for Brice's answer.

I'm always with you.

She walked away, smile still plastered to her face and disappointment clawing in her chest. She wanted him to be here physically. Not just in her head.

There were times she dreamed of his touch, of his loving her, and the dreams were so real that when she awoke her lips were swollen, her muscles were sore, and her skin tingled; but her heart always broke to discover the experience had been only her imagination.

Cassie returned to her seat and unfolded the note she had tucked in her sleeve. She smoothed the edges, frayed from the countless times she'd opened and reread her favorite part,
I love you.

She loved him, too. Over the past three months, Cassie had realized that her efforts to escape the life her mother had given her had come to the same end. No roots, no ties. No worthwhile relationships to enrich her life.

In the short time Cassie had spent with Brice, there had been good and bad moments. And she would still rather have all those than none at all.

When the graduates stood one last time as a class, shouts went up along with a flurry of graduation caps. Then it was over.

Thank God for Hannah and Shane's noses. They found her before the convergence of people swept her away.

“Congratulations!” Hannah squeezed her. “I'm so happy for you. I know how hard you worked.”

“I can hardly believe it.” Cassie stared at the certificate holder that in two weeks' time would bear the official document validating her accomplishment.

Shane hugged her. “For someone who just got her degree, you don't look all that impressed.”

“For a long time, I thought this was the most important thing in my life.” Cassie smiled. “Things aren't important. People are, and you are two of my favorites.”

“Woo-hoo!” Shane twirled her in a tight circle. “It's time to celebrate.”

Shane and Hannah whisked Cassie off to a surprise party at the resort. She drifted through the crowd of coworkers and more than a few pack members. They offered her congratulations, hugged her neck and kissed her cheeks. For all its pizazz, the party seemed surreal.

Slipping into the sanctuary of the employee break room, she sat at the round table where she and Brice had once shared a lunch. Had it been only three months? It seemed like a lifetime.

Maybe it was. She certainly wasn't the same woman Brice had startled from her bed.

“Skipping out of your own party?” Gavin Walker's soft voice lilted through the quiet room.

Cassie lifted her head from her hands. “I needed some downtime.”

“I expect today has been bittersweet. I'm sure you're missing your mother, and mine.”

Cassie bit back her tears. “And Brice.”

Gavin sat in the seat across from her. “I hoped the party would fill some of the void.”

“I don't know most of these people.” She cringed at the strain in her voice. “Why are they here?”

“For you,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because Brice loves you.”

“I didn't let him claim me before he left. A lot may have happened since he's been gone. He may have found someone else.”

“I know my son, Cassie.” Gavin patted her hand with a gracious smile. “Nothing could change his mind or his heart where you are concerned.”

“I'd feel better if he would tell me that in a card or letter. It's been three months and not a peep. What if something's happened to him?”

“Relax, hon. The Woelfesenat would've informed us if Brice became ill or had been hurt. Put your mind at ease. He'll be home soon.”

“And if he isn't? Brice said that he had to claim a mate by Christmas or you'd banish him from Walker's Run.”

“He told you about that?” Gavin swiped his hand over an embarrassed grin. “Brice and I were at odds when he came home. I said some things that I shouldn't have because I was desperate to keep him here. I would never turn him out. Walker's Run is a part of his soul, just like you are.”

“Thanks, Mr. Walker.” Cassie stood to hug him.

Gavin embraced her warmly. “I've always wanted a daughter,” he whispered in her ear. “So I wouldn't mind if you called me Dad from time to time.”

“Let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Cassie said as her heart pinched. “I'm not mated or married to your son.”

“Brice declared his intention, so the rest is just icing on the cake.” Gavin tucked her arm beneath his, twitching his nose. “Speaking of cake, let's go cut yours.”

* * *

Cassie wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror, ignoring the water seeping from her eyes. Brice had missed her graduation and her party. And the cherry pie she baked this morning was still on the counter, untouched.

She'd been so sure that he would show up tonight. It hurt that he hadn't. Without a way to communicate with him, she had a hard time fending off the doubts.

Cassie lifted Brice's jersey from the hook on the back door and slipped it over her head. The soft fabric against her skin always made her feel close to him.

She closed her eyes and hugged herself. “Brice, when are you coming home? I need you.”

After several minutes of silence, Cassie stepped out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway to the bedroom. Climbing into bed, she heard a noise in the kitchen.

A tiny starburst of hope erupted in her chest. Squelching it, she tiptoed into the kitchen, baseball bat in hand—just in case—and flipped on the light.

“Brice?” Cassie's voice faltered.

There he stood, his arm shielding his eyes.

“Oh, God. I'm sorry.” She dropped the bat and reached for the switch.

His hand closed over hers before she doused the light. She wanted to hug him, kiss him, but wasn't sure what he wanted.

“I see you found the pie.” She nodded at the half-eaten dessert on the counter.

“I couldn't resist.”

Finally. His voice—not the one stored in her memory, but his real voice—bathed her ears.

She didn't allow herself to luxuriate in the hum of his Southern baritone. It was too soon to fall back into old patterns. She needed to know if anything had changed for him in the months he'd been away.

She grabbed the coffeepot and went to the sink to fill the carafe to have something to do with her hands. “Everyone will be glad you're home.”

“What about you, Cas?” He slipped behind her, shut off the water and took the glass pot from her shaky hands. His presence wrapped around her in a gentle persuasion, coaxing her down from the peak of her anxiety. “Are you glad I'm home?”

“Of course.” Trying to express the deluge of feelings would turn her into blathering idiot. “Why wouldn't I be?”

“You weren't too happy with me or my kind when I left.” His cheek brushed against her hair. The sweet familiarity broke open the ache she had carried in her chest since the day he'd left.

His strong arms circled her waist. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Missed him so much she thought she might die from the heartbreak. Those first few hours and days, when she felt completely and utterly abandoned, were the worst she'd ever known. Then one day a profound sense of Brice had electrified her being. Inexplicably, she had felt his relief, then pure, unadulterated joy. He passed one thought before the connection faded.
I love you.

At the time, she hadn't known if the moment was real or imagined. She still didn't know.

The tenderness in the whisper-soft kisses he planted along the curve of her neck was a salve to the rawness she'd lived with for the last few months. But she didn't want simply to cover it up, pretend it wasn't there anymore until it festered into a poison that infected her body, mind and soul. “You left me.” The words burned her throat. “You promised never to do that.”

She might not have believed him at the time he made the oath, but she remembered it every single day he was gone.

His warm sigh scraped her skin, and her body responded with sweeping masses of chill bumps. He gave her enough room to turn in his arms, but he didn't step away. Brice's brow wrinkled beneath a tumble of hair. His eyes peered at her, sharp, guarded. “I said I wouldn't leave you to fend for yourself, and I didn't. I made sure you had a home and reliable transportation.”

“And the promotion your mother offered me?” Cassie fingered the edge of his cable-knit sweater.

“I'm not involved in the resort's management, Sunshine. My mother wouldn't put someone in a position if she didn't have every confidence of success. Not even if I asked for a favor. Whatever she offered, you earned. But if you aren't happy with the additional responsibilities or aren't getting the experience you wanted, we can look for other alternatives. I want you to be happy, Cas.”

“Even after what I said to you?” She couldn't look at him for an answer. Already teetering on the edge, if she lifted her gaze from her feet she just might fall.

“Did you mean it?”

“No.” Cassie pressed her cheek against his chest. The horrible, shameful things she'd fired at him had come from fear and confusion.

Brice held her, tight and secure, and her fears of falling into oblivion subsided in the safety of his arms. “Baby, you were frightened and overwhelmed. Probably in a state of shock, as well.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“You needed time to sift through your feelings, time to learn to trust yourself and to trust me.”

“Do you still feel the same for me?” She held her breath, knowing her entire world rested on his response.

“No.”

Cassie's stomach dropped to the floor, yet everything she'd eaten seemed to rise in her throat. She struggled to break free of Brice's hold before she threw up.

“Easy, Cas.” Brice gently pushed up her chin, but she wouldn't open her eyes. “What I feel for you grew stronger every day we were apart.”

His words soothed Cassie's tumultuous stomach. His long fingers curled around her hand and he placed it over his heart, beating a strong, steady promise. “Didn't you sense me? Hear me? Feel me, whenever I thought about you?”

“I thought it was my imagination.” Brice's mother had tried to answer Cassie's questions about the phenomenon. The explanations fell short, not because of any lack in Abby's attempts to encourage her. What Cassie had needed, wanted, was Brice's assurance.

“The mate-bond kept us connected.” He kissed her knuckles. “It will always keep us connected.”

A thrill replaced the ache in her chest. “I heard your voice in my head at my graduation.”

Brice gifted her with a devilish smile. “You were the most beautiful graduate I've ever seen.”

“You were actually there? Not in my head?”

“I wouldn't miss one of the most important days of your life. And I have no intention of missing any of them, ever.”

Emotion nearly overwhelmed her. Even though she didn't see him at the ceremony, to know he watched and supported her as she accepted her degree almost made up for the months of separation. “Why didn't you come to me after the ceremony or at the party?”

“Today was all about you. If someone had seen me, we wouldn't have had a moment's peace, and the magnitude of your accomplishment would've been lost in the chaos.” Hands on her hips, he drew her close, brushing a light kiss over her mouth. A tease, a test, a temptation.

She had one last doubt to extinguish before giving in.

“The full moon,” she began.

“Rises tomorrow night.” He wound her hair around his finger, rubbed the strands against his cheek.

“You've been gone for three.”

His gaze locked onto hers. Those blue and green eyes clear and true.

“I understand you needed a partner during the full moons, but I need to know if there were any other times.” She dropped her head. “I don't want to wonder.”

“There hasn't been anyone but you, Cas.” He paused until she looked back at him. “I swear.”

“I thought you had to have sex during a full moon.”

“If you had completely closed yourself to me, I would've gone berserk because I want you. No one else can give me what you do, and when I finally reached you through the mate-bond and you let me in, that opened a whole new level of intimacy for us. Those nights you thought of me touching you, loving you, those weren't dreams, baby. That was our mate-bond, and what we shared is real as it gets.” He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a velvet box.

“I love you, Cassidy Albright.” Down on one knee, he flipped opened the cover to reveal an exquisite solitaire diamond in a platinum setting. “Will you be my mate? Through good times and bad? From now until we are no more?”