Cassy pov

“Zan! Zander! It’s him!”

I was flabbergasted. Was he talking about my crazy cousin? The one who had kidnapped me and lied to my father about throwing me into the river, while in reality, he had left me in the woods where several wild animals lurked? He left me while I was a helpless baby to die.

“What the hell! I can’t believe this!” Izzy exclaimed in my mind.

“What!!?” I cried. I didn’t know what to say. Who would think that the person who had put my life in danger in the first place would still be around to cause troubles in our lives after all those years? Especially after he had been beaten up by the king, one of the strongest lycans in the kingdom. I shook my head, furrowing my eyebrows.

I couldn’t understand. Wasn’t Zander supposed to be dead?

“No!” Mom’s eyes were wide with fear. “But I thought….. how?……” she trailed off.

“Looks like someone has come back from the dead,” Elliot muttered, looking at us, as he turned away from the computer screen.

“But…..I’m …. speechless…how?” My father stuttered, baffled by what he had realised.

“Our cousin is hella crazy! He needs to be locked up in a mental asylum!” Izzy grumbled.

“Honestly Izzy, I think it is best that we just kill him off!” I replied, gritting my teeth.

“Oh, I’d love to rip his pathetic head off his body. His head is full of s**t!”

Just then, Elliot’s father entered the office and looked at our faces one by one.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

“Zan….the number belongs to Zan Tao.” My dad whispered, holding his forehead in despair.

“Zan?” Elliot’s father furrowed his eyebrows, as though he was trying to remember something.

“Tao….. where have I heard that name?” He murmured, frowning deeply.

“Zitao…Tao…” my father sighed and looked at Sir Harold, the colour of his face now completely drained.

“Isn’t that a Chinese name?” Sir Harold commented, still frowning. I continued to watch their expressions. Dad looked as though he had encountered his worst fear while Sir Harold’s confusion seemed to slowly change as realisation hit him. The creases on his forehead cleared, while his eyes widened as he took in a sharp breath.

“Chinese … Zitao…… Zander!” He gasped, making me frown in confusion.

“Was he Chinese?” I asked, bewildered. If he was my cousin, how come he was Chinese?

“Wasn’t he a relative to us?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, he is.” Dad sighed. “He is my sister’s son, my nephew. And he wasn’t Chinese. His real name was Zander Barton, however, as he grew he started to call himself Zitao, saying that he liked that name better. We didn’t take it seriously, I mean teenagers always do weird things anyway. And he was obsessed with Chinese culture anyway. He liked everything about China. Their names, their everything.” He said.

“Oh,” I muttered.

My father shook his head. “It is okay. Being obsessed with China and loving its culture is not the problem. I have seen a lot of good things in it. But the problem was that he chose to be a bad person, and I am sure it has nothing to do with any culture. It is just…. who he chose to be. He wanted to snatch something that wasn’t his in the first place. And in the process, he didn’t hesitate to hurt his little cousin who was just a baby. That is something that came right out of his rotten self. I cannot understand why though. His mother, my sister, was the sweetest person. She was caring and loving. She tried her best to teach everything well. His father also was a respectful warrior, who had died as a martyr. I was a hundred per cent positive that their son would be among the best.” He explained, his eyes glossing with tears.

“I guess greed made him forget who he was.” He added silently, as he sighed sadly.

I nodded, showing that I understood what he meant. It must hurt him that his beloved nephew had turned out to be the worst person he had ever met. My cousin was the only memory he had of his beloved sister. It was apparent how much he loved my aunt, from the way he spoke about her. He must be heartbroken that Zander wasn’t someone he could be proud of.

“What I can’t believe is that he escaped. He didn’t die that night. I….I am at a loss for words. He…he seems to be invincible if it is the case.” My father stuttered, apparently shocked beyond words could describe.

“Maybe someone nursed him back to health,” Elliot muttered. “He didn’t die.” He added and turned towards his father.

“So did you find the camera?” He asked.

“Yes. And I’ve sent the men to look around the other rooms too. The kitchen, dining room, and other areas where we would spend the most time. Even though we were told that there was only one, I just couldn’t let it go without checking it out.” He said.

“That’s good.” My father replied.

Just then the phone in the office started to ring. Elliot glanced at me and picked the phone when I gestured to him.

“Hello” He paused to listen and passed the phone over to me.

“Hello?” I spoke.

“Your majesty!” It was Alpha Sam, Miles’ father.

“Oh hi, alpha Sam, hope everything is going well in the pack,” I spoke hoping to hear positive news about Miles’ condition.

“Of course your highness.” I could hear the excitement in his voice. “Miles had fully recovered!” He exclaimed.

A smile spread across my face involuntarily. This was the best news I’ve heard lately. At least one headache was now over.

“Really! That is great news!” I exclaimed. “What did you do?” I asked, eager to know what strategy he had used.

“I followed your advice and let the little omega pup, Cade, meet him. You were right. He was able to make Miles smile. But what woke him up was meeting his second chance mate, who is Cade’s sister.” He told me.

“Wow. Really? And?” I questioned. “I mean, how did it go? Were they willing to accept each other?” I further explained.

“Yes! They accepted each other and we left them to talk in private for some time.” He told me. I felt as though a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. After letting out a deep sigh of relief, I grinned from ear to ear.

“That is superb Alpha Sam. I am extremely happy for you and your whole family. I hope your son will lead your pack with wisdom. Now that he has his Luna beside him, I’m sure he will do a great job.” I said, smiling at my parents.

“Oh… your highness, he is here. He just came into the alpha office with his mate, would you like to speak to him?” Alpha Sam asked.

“Of course,” I replied.

“Hello.”

“Alpha Miles, congratulations. I am very happy for you that your life is finally going the right way.” I congratulated him for meeting his mate. “Second chances are extremely rare, I hope that you would keep it in mind,” I added.

“Thank you, your majesty.” He humbly replied.

“And I am extremely sorry about what had happened. It shouldn’t have. We should have been more careful.” I apologized.

“It is okay, your highness. I think it was the effect of silver and wolfsbane in the cell. I was afraid that it might do something bad to me until I lost consciousness.”

“Wait….wait. wolfsbane?” I asked, now finding it bizarre.

“Yes.” He replied, making me frown in confusion.

“Are you sure?” I questioned.Original content from .

“Yes!” He replied firmly.

“But where was it kept in the dungeon? Dad, do we have wolfsbane in any of our cells?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

“No.” He answered. I scratched my head.

“It was growing in from outside. And a vine was growing in through the cracks in the wall.” Miles explained.

“Oh, okay,” I said, sighing.

“Maybe we should do a thorough inspection of the dungeon,” Izzy mumbled.

“That we should.” I agreed.

“Thank you for letting me know. We have a lot of work to be done right now. Hope to meet your luna soon.” I spoke.

“Of course your majesty.” He replied and the call was cut.

I faced my parents and Sir Harold.

“He says that there was a vine growing in the cell. We better upgrade our dungeons.” I told them.

“Yes. Maybe we better check it out for ourselves.” Elliot suggested.

I sighed as I nodded in agreement. So much was happening all at once. I just hope we manage to have some peace soon.

“You and Elliot go and inspect the dungeons. I still need to think about Zander for some time.” My dad said.

“We all need to.” Mom sighed, placing her hand softly on his. “Harold will stay with us, right?” She asked.

“Yes. We need to discuss and find out his next move before he strikes again. At least now we have found out about the driver. I just hope he doesn’t have another pawn in here.” Sir Harold stated.

“Let’s go,” Elliot said, tugging at my arm.

“We will be back,” I told them and walked towards the dungeons with my mate. We walked side by side, silently. Both of us were disturbed by the recent events. So much was happening and the dangers of the storm in front of us were not over yet. We still had a lot to do.

“I swear to God that the master will kill you. He wouldn’t care if you’re locked up or not.” We froze on our steps when we heard the menacing threat. It was a good thing we were well hidden behind a pillar. Elliot grabbed my arm as my heart raced and I leaned forward to listen to whoever that was.

“I don’t care. I will not be on your side anymore.” The driver exclaimed. I looked into Elliot’s eyes aghast.

“Don’t say that we didn’t warn you!” The person who spoke before growled and then we heard the sound of metal clanking.

“Is he opening the dungeon gate?” I mind linked Elliot.

“Hey! What are you doing? No!” The driver screamed.