Soon, Mason and Cassie returned, my daughter full of laughter, her face pink with excitement. I couldn’t stop thinking of the prophecy and her future. Not when she giggled with Mason over an inside joke I didn’t hear, and not when she helped him stick a bunch of wildflowers into a vase before they both presented it to me, and not when he asked me to braid a crown of sorts into Cassie’s hair for the ceremony, weaving flower petals into it.
“It's taking place tomorrow night,” Mason told me as Cassie spoke with June, eager to know more about the constellations. “Nate told me there’s a full moon. One of the pack went out to find Jackson to tell him, but they said he wouldn’t shift to speak with him. But he knows about it, so whether he’ll show or not, I don’t know.”
“I’m grateful that you tried,” I murmured. “How was it? Being with her?”
“Bryce, I know you think I’m this flaky guy who’s going to think that having a child is all laughter and the prestige of having a cub of my own as an alpha, but I know there’s a hell of a lot more to it. I’m not stupid. I always swore to never be like my parents—pressuring, giving up when things were tough, only wanting a son when they were priming me to be the alpha. Cassie could have a proper family. I’ve let you down, I know, but I think I deserve a chance.”
“I know what you’re saying, but… I mean, Mason, you ran out on me in that cave. Who’s to say you won’t abandon her the minute she keeps a secret from you? She’s bound to. A child isn’t obliged to tell their parents everything. I won’t have her grow close to you, and I want a connection with you, only for you to turn your back on her the second you don’t like something when she’s older.”
“What can I do, Bryce, to convince you I won’t do that? You kept my child a secret from me, and I couldn’t think straight. My best friend betrayed me in his loyalty to you, and I could only hate myself for it all. I just couldn’t think straight in that moment.”
“And if you do it again?”
“Bryce,” he groaned. “Please. Please, just tell me what I can do.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. But deep down, deep down, I did. The ceremony was a commitment—it was a public display of swearing loyalty and endurance through any time. He was formally and publicly acknowledging his bond with his daughter by choosing to have it.
If you go through with it, I thought.Then I’ll take the risk. I’ll be able to know I can trust you… maybe even enough to have you in my life, as Cassie’s true parents, together, sworn to one another.
Chapter 22 - Mason
Beneath the full moon, my pack gathered at the ceremonial site deep in the woods. It had been shown to me by my father, and his father before him, and down the line of my lineage, every alpha had sworn in new pack members right there.
As I brought Cassie into that clearing, facing down my pack, who all bowed their heads as we passed, I felt powerful. The full moon shone down on us, highlighting the ceremonial dias, a wide, thin, circular tree stump where Cassie would stand to be initiated. Surrounding it were two conjoined trees, their knot forming in the center.
My daughter’s hair was loose, and she wore a loose, black dress that I’d bought for her. In the cool, night air, she shivered.
“I’m a little scared,” she whispered when I gestured for her to be on the stage.
“You’re going to do amazing,” I told her. “And if it gets too much, I’m right here beside you, and your mom is just over there, okay?”
I nodded to where Bryce stood at the front of the pack, but slightly apart from them. Her own hair was loose, a vacant look in her eyes. Not one of a vision, but thought, and I couldn’t help wondering if she was envisioning her own ceremony that she never got to have because of me.
There’s still time, I thought.
But for now, it was my daughter’s turn. I stepped back, facing the pack.
“As a pack, we are to welcome Cassandra Calloway into the fold. Honeycreek has seen many great alphas, manyfirstborn sons take up the mantle, but my own firstborn is a girl, and I will have her accepted as much as any son. Cassandra was born seven years ago, on a spring day. To us, this can signify the new life she will bring with her from now and onwards.
“I was not there for the first seven years of her life, but I stand before you all, before Cassandra, as her father, and swear to be there for every single day of it from here on out, if she accepts me. Being an alpha means nothing if I cannot support my own.”
My eyes cast over Bryce, knowing she was included in that.
“For years, the pack has protected this town. I want my daughter to grow up in a pack that shows a good example. That presents kindness instead of judgment, patience instead of anger, and embraces instead of turned backs. These are all qualities I’ve had to learn as both an alpha, a father, and—” I almost saida mate, before I reminded myself that Bryce had not yet accepted that. I continued. “And I will have her grow up with all those qualities. I will have her respected and accepted, and should I ever find out that she has been hurt by one of you, that she has ever crossed danger from anyone in this pack, that man will find himself no longer part of us. My daughter will always have the pack’s protection. As the alpha, and as her father, I swear she will always havemyprotection.”
I looked at each and every man who stood before me, daring any of them to challenge me, but their faces were open, welcoming, and I knew some of them feared Cassie’s and Bryce’s presence regarding the djinn, but I would never, ever turn my back on my family. Not now that I knew they existed.
“Cassie, you want to say a few things?” I asked.
Her hands shook at her side as her wide eyes took in the pack. She nodded. Clearing her throat, her small voice broke the silence of the night.
“I know I’m small, and I am not a boy,” she began, “but I’m fast, and I like the woods. And I like knowing that the wolf man is the alpha and that he’ll take care of me and my mommy. I don’t know anything about being a wolf, but I have been promised that I have many uncles to show me the way. To show me how to be a good wolf but also to be a good person.” She stood awkwardly and giggled. “Um, that is all. Oh! And I also hope that I will have pretty color fur when I become a wolf.”
Ripples of surprised laughter actually went through the pack, and I was caught off guard. I gestured for Cassie to step down. Usually, a new pack member would be bitten and sworn in, but I couldn’t do that for my daughter. Instead, Bryce had suggested the pack swear their protection to her, one by one.
But before Cassie could come to my side, something beyond the pack moved. I barely caught the shadow a moment before a bright, green blaze split the dark night, and a ball of fire hurtled towards us. I dived onto Cassie, sending us both to the floor as the fire whizzed over my head, hitting the ground where it sizzled out.
It was a direct attack on Cassie, not a fireball intended for an inferno, as they had been.
