Chapter 1: Jasmine
When would it end?
It’s all I could ask myself as fear ripped through my semi-conscious body. Everything was so vivid that it felt like I was actually there. No matter how much I tried to fight my way out of it, I just couldn’t. The panic weighed on my chest like an anvil and when it all got to be too much, I could hear myself let out a constant, blood curdling scream.
“Jasmine! I’m here. C’mon, wake up for me. You’re safe, here with me.”
I gasped, sucking in a deep breath when Cas’s soothing baritone voice pulled me out of that hellish nightmare. The blackness clouding my vision faded. I was back home, in my bed, in my house, while my guardian comforted me. Absolutely drenched in sweat, my tank top clung wet to my skin as Cas held me close. Shallow breaths coursed through my lungs until Cas rubbed my back, urging me to breathe deep while mimicking his breathing pattern. In and out. In and out. By the fifth or sixth exhale, I was back to normal.
Well... I could breathe again, at least.
You see, nothing is normal about my life. On the surface, I’m a 21 year old girl from Rhode Island who suffers from the occasional nightmare. I have a really awesome guardian, Castellanos (though I’ve always called him Cas) that watches out for me. We live in a cute log cabin surrounded by more log cabins in a small town called Ellsworth. I have some really good friends and neighbors and generally don’t want for anything. But that’s about where the concept of normal ends for me.
Cas leaned over to turn on the light resting on my nightstand. It bathed the room in soft, soothing yellow fluorescent lighting, pushing the threat of my nightmare a little further away. I could see Cas clearly now, his brow furrowed with worry over my well being.
When it comes to the not-so-normal parts of my life, there’s no better place to start than Cas himself. To the town of Ellsworth, Castellanos is the tall, muscular Greek guy who’s good with his hands and can help you out in a pinch.
He’s also a werewolf.
And not just any werewolf. He’s the leader of the Castellanos Pack, thought to be one of the oldest packs in North America. I don’t know much about its history since Cas doesn’t like to talk about his life before he found me, but piecing together tidbits I’d overheard in passing leads me to believe that the pack has been around for decades, if not centuries. And while I’m fully human, he’s raised me to understand and respect the pack way of life, while still keeping me in touch with my human side.
Cas cradled my face, forcing me to make eye contact with him. “You alright?”
I nodded. I lied. The nightmare’s grip had loosened on me and I’d recovered just fine. But staring into Cas’s intense gray eyes as he gently held my cheeks in his hands made an epiphany I’ve been trying to ignore come right back to the surface.
I was in love with him.
I loved everything about him; how friendly and helpful he was to those around him. How he’d sacrificed his youth to raise me and keep me safe. That gorgeous face, angular and almost perfect with his jet-black hair, thick brows and full beard. The insanely fit body I was forced to ignore anytime he worked outside, or when he walked past my bedroom in nothing but grey sweatpants. Sometimes he didn’t fully dry off, so droplets of water trickled down those tight abs that look sculpted from marble.
Just thinking about it made my pulse quicken. And since werewolves have impeccable hearing, Cas picked up on it right away.
“You sure? Can hear your heart beating a mile a minute.”
Because of you. “I’m sure,” I whisper, voice a little hoarse from the screaming. “I just need a minute.”
I double tapped my phone’s screen to check the time -- 3 A.M. The nightmares always happened at 3 A.M., which made getting up the following day a lot harder than usual. I needed to be well rested for the day ahead of me, since I was the resident homeschool teacher for the parents who wanted to keep their kids nearby. I was also responsible for keeping up on housework since Cas spent most of his time outdoors.
Beyond how they made me feel, I hated the nightmares for interrupting my rest, and I could never get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. My choices were to chug coffee and hope for the best, or...
“Gonna run downstairs and get you a glass of water. Then I’ll be back to put you to bed,” Cas promised before leaving the room.
Or if Cas slept with me.
Literally just sleeping, Jasmine.
The rational part of my brain fully understood. Even so, my thighs clenched at the idea of resting against Cas’s hard body while we both laid in my slightly too small for the both of us bed. It’s true that his presence was the only thing that could get me to sleep after these nightmares. And since I had a lot on my plate tomorrow, downing cup after cup of pure caffeine just didn’t sound as nice as catching up on sleep.
Cas’s heavy footsteps thudded up the staircase, the wood creaking beneath his weight. He raised the glass of water in his hand to my lips. “Drink.”
I’ve been taking orders from Cas all my life, but they felt different now. His gentle command sent another pulse of desire through me as I sipped on the water, the cool liquid refreshing to my dry and aching throat. Setting the glass down on my end table, I glanced up at Cas with a slight hint of embarrassment. The attraction I felt for him had honestly gotten out of control lately. I’d been daydreaming about him when he was not around. And when he was around, I felt like an awkward mess. Our relationship was already pretty strained, so this newfound attraction was only making things worse.
“Make room for me,” Cas said, asking me to do the impossible. I turned off my lamp and moved over, leaving a tiny sliver of bed for him to rest on. My room was once again drenched in moonlight, the brightness illuminating the several dozens of books, pictures and other belongings that meant the world to me.
One photo from about five years ago caught my eye. I had just turned 16 and only had one birthday request: a gift card for a local bookstore. The photo was the aftermath of my haul, me sitting at the dinner table with a gigantic pile of novels. It was hard to get Cas to smile, let alone chuckle, but he laughed so hard at my excitement that the photo is blurry and has his thumbprint in the upper right corner.
I missed those days when Cas and I were more like best friends than guardian and ward. We were closer than ever, there for each other no matter what. Before I knew I loved him. Before I was kidnapped and learned the truth about what he’d done.
Remember when I said nothing in my life is normal? My recurring nightmares aren’t the result of staying up too late with a horror novel or falling asleep while watching a slasher movie. It’s the instant replay of my kidnapping at the hands of Cain Yun, another werewolf leader who stole me from my bed in the middle of the night -- 3 A.M, to be exact -- and held me hostage for several hours until Cas saved me. All I know about Cain is that he was once part of the Castellanos Pack but left not long before Cas found me.
For some reason, he also shared with me that he, too, was orphaned as a baby. What really shattered my world was the story of how I became adopted in the first place.
As Cas wrapped those big arms around me, I settled into his chest and closed my eyes. I didn’t know Cain, but I hated him too. For ruining the perfect relationship I had with Cas.
For telling me about my biological father, and the cursed gift he gave me before we parted.
For stealing the carefree life I had before he showed up.
For…
I couldn’t quite finish the last reason because sleep enveloped me. And even with Cas keeping me safe, I know I’m being sent right back to the night in question, to feel panic and fear and betrayal all over again.
Five Years Ago
June 2016
Unknown Warehouse, 3:45 a.m.
The thick rope cut into the skin of my wrist as I wriggled them around, testing to see how feasible it was to slip out of my bondage and make a run for it.
The nameless, faceless thug who’d dropped me on the rickety wooden chair and tied me up did an exceptional job. No matter how hard I fought, I wasn’t going anywhere.
Even if I could, I had no idea where I was. I was sleeping peacefully when I heard the glass of my bedroom window shatter, felt the sting of my bare feet scraping against the jagged glass on the windowpane as someone took off with me. I glanced down at the foot in pain, wincing from the blood that had trickled onto the floor. At least it didn’t seem serious.
Being held hostage in a giant, crumbling warehouse however, was very serious. Were it not for the windows that lined the top of the giant warehouse walls, the place would be pitch black. I couldn’t see much beyond ten feet around me on either side. Ambient chatter echoed out from the distance in various corners, but there was no one immediately around me. No one had told me why or where they’d taken me, or if they wanted something in exchange for me. I was totally in the dark, nearly in more ways than one.
“You’ll be fine,” a male voice sang out to me, dripping with sarcasm and irritation. “I know you aren’t a true Castellanos but I expected something a little more... tough. Gritty. Not someone fretting over a flesh wound on their foot.”
The voice came from behind me, slightly to the left. I craned my head behind me, trying to catch a glimpse to put a face to the voice. Nothing.
“I’m not in the habit of getting kidnapped, so sorry I’m not handling it better,” I spat back at him.
The laugh that followed sent an icy cold chill down my spine. Whoever this was, kidnapping a 16 year old girl was all a game to him. I’d managed to keep the panic at bay until that point, but adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I knew Cas would save me. He’d always keep me safe. I’d just have to stay alive until he found me.
“Now that’s what I was looking for! The misguided bravado that means absolutely nothing, especially when you have the deck stacked against you. Knew you couldn’t spend your whole life around him without picking up some of his ways. You would have been better off being raised by that werewolf hunter.”
I froze. Werewolf hunter?
“Oh, don’t tell me he hasn’t told you. That would just be delicious, but so like Castellanos to leave a little girl in the dark about her fate.”
Light footsteps ascended behind me, one after the other. The pace was slow, gradual; despite my thumping heart and anxiety, this guy was in no rush to get to me.
And when he did, it was not what I was expecting.
He was tall, a little shorter than Cas, with short, spiky black hair and equally dark eyes. He was as handsome as Cas -- not that I’d look at Cas that way -- with high cheekbones and pierced ears. He had a leather jacket draped over his shoulder, the tank top and jean outfit showing off a few tattoos on his forearms. They were so colorful and intricate that I could only make out one, which looked like a giant infinity symbol.
In literally any other scenario, I’d be writing about how hot he was in my journal the second I got home.
He leaned forward, his mouth brushing against my ear, making me tremble.
“I think it’s time for Uncle Cain to tell you a story.”
