Choosing the Pack

**Cassia's POV**

My scream tore through the stifling darkness. The icy terror of that unknown touch triggered a meltdown in my veins. That shadow vanished just as the infirmary doors banged open, crashing against the walls. Harsh fluorescent lights flickered on, blinding me.

Doctors rushed the bed. My bones felt like melting lead, liquid and burning. The bite mark on my neck radiated pure, white-hot agony. I thrashed against the crisp white sheets, suffocating in my own fever.

“The elixir! Inject her with it!” a doctor shouted, his voice thick with panic.

“Doesn’t she have a mate?” another woman yelled over my ragged breathing.

“If I knew, we wouldn’t be standing here!” the first snapped.

My vision blurred, the sterile white ceiling spinning out of control. Heat rolled off my skin in suffocating waves. My mate. He was out there. I could feel the faint, muffled hum of his existence lurking somewhere on the pack grounds. He was close, but he didn’t care enough to check on me.

“No,” I gasped. I kicked out, shifting away from the nurse rushing toward me with a thick, metal-tipped syringe. “Don’t do it.”

I didn’t want the medicine. I didn’t want to heal. Living felt worthless. The man meant to cherish me had left me to rot, ensuring I would become the laughing stock of the entire pack. I preferred death over this agonizing humiliation.

“Pin her down! She can’t last without it much longer!” A heavy hand clamped over my knee, locking my leg against the mattress. Another set of hands grabbed my shoulders, pressing their body weight into me.

I fought, but my fever-weakened muscles betrayed me. The needle pierced the swollen, infected flesh right over my mark.

Ice flooded my system. It felt like plunging into a frozen lake after burning alive. My lungs expanded, pulling in a ragged, shivering breath as the fire in my blood receded.

“She’s stabilizing,” the first nurse said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “We need to alert the Alpha. Whoever her mate is, he needs to come forward before it’s too late.”

“Don’t bother,” I croaked. The taste of bile and spite coated my tongue. “He isn’t going to come.”

“We will send out the message,” the second nurse insisted, checking my pulse and ignoring my words. “Her mate will hear it, and come over.”

I closed my eyes, letting out a defeated sigh. Trying to reason with them was pointless. They didn't know. The Alpha they wanted to alert was the very bastard breaking me.

I lay there, trapped in my own spiraling thoughts. What was he doing right now? Was he tangled up in her sheets? Was he whispering those same soft promises to Valerie that he used to whisper to me?

The thoughts were toxic. I forced myself to sleep, seeking out the empty black void to quiet my mind.

I woke up to shadows stretching across the floor. Evening again. My days were slipping away into drug-induced hazes, waking up only when the sun went down. The stifling air of the infirmary pressed heavy against my chest. I pushed myself upright. A wave of dizziness tilted the room, but I fought through it and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I needed real air.

I dragged my feet to the heavy wooden door and pulled it open.

Brina stood on the other side, her fist raised in mid-air.

“Hi,” she breathed out, forcing a stiff, awkward smile. “I was just about to open it.”

I stared at her. A thin sheen of sweat clung to her forehead. Her eyes were bloodshot, the rims puffy and swollen. She had been crying. Hard.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my own misery taking a backseat to the raw distress rolling off her scent.

She gave a jerky nod, shoving a woven basket against my chest before I could get another word out.

“Went for a run. I brought you these.” Her words rushed out in a frantic, breathy jumble. “I thought you might be hungry. I... I have to go now. I’ll see you later.”

She spun around on her heel and sprinted down the hall as if the hounds of hell were chasing her.

I stood in the doorway, staring at the empty corridor. My grip tightened on the basket handle. Something was very wrong, but my own exhaustion held me back from chasing her down.

I retreated into my room and let the door click shut. I set the basket on the bedside table and peeled back the cloth covering the food.

Then, the air pressure shifted in the room.

The hairs on my arms stood on end. That shifting, unnatural energy returned, crawling over my skin like static electricity. The presence was back.

It lingered in the corner, keeping its distance this time. It wasn't rushing me.

“Who is there?” I demanded. My voice echoed into the empty space.

Silence.

It probably wasn't the wisest move to provoke an unseen intruder, but my fear was morphing into blind anger. “I swear to Goddess, answer me!” I screamed.

The entity shifted. The temperature plummeted. It felt like an invisible force shield brushing against my cheek, weightless but freezing.

I stumbled backward, hitting the edge of the metal bed frame. My wolf snarled in the back of my mind. She recognized this energy. It was the exact same terror from before.

“I swear I will scream if you don’t show yourself right now.”

Still nothing. Just the deafening hum of static pressure in the dark room.

I opened my mouth to yell for the pack guards.

Before the sound could leave my throat, an invisible hand clamped around my neck. My air supply severed. I clawed at my throat, my nails scraping against my own skin. Nothing was there, yet the relentless pressure was crushing my windpipe. Choking, pathetic gasps tumbled from my lips. Black spots danced in my vision. I kicked out, fighting a monster I couldn’t even see.

The heavy wooden door smashed open.

Torin stood in the threshold, frozen in shock.

The moment he stepped inside, the phantom grip vanished. The crushing weight evaporated into thin air like it was never there. I collapsed against the mattress, sucking in greedy, burning lungfuls of oxygen.

“Cassia!” Torin boomed. He lunged across the room, grabbing my legs and hauling me into his chest. He wrapped his massive arms around me, holding me in a vice grip. “You’re safe now. I've got you.”

The familiar scent of pine and rain flooded my senses. I buried my face in his shirt, my hands clutching the fabric of his jacket.

“What are you doing here?” I choked out, my voice muffled against his chest.

“The doctors sent word about looking for your mate,” Torin murmured, his jaw resting on top of my head. “I had to come as soon as I could.” He pulled back just enough to look at my face. “Is anything wrong?”

I stared at him. The sheer audacity of his question knocked the wind out of me all over again. The medical crisis had happened over two hours ago. He was the Alpha. He was my mate. And he was just now showing up to play the hero?

I forced a deep breath into my aching lungs. Fighting him felt exhausting.

“Nothing,” I lied, the word tasting like ash. “You did nothing wrong. I’m just overwhelmed. That’s all.”

He nodded, taking my word for it. To say I was annoyed didn't even scratch the surface of the simmering rage under my skin.

“I know, it would have been scary. I’ll get to the root of this, I swear it,” he said, patting my head in a soothing manner that felt like a slap to the face.

Before I could push him away, the door cracked open. One of the pack guards peeked his head in, his eyes darting to the floor.

“Alpha. Valerie,” the guard said.

Just hearing her name made my blood boil.

Torin shot the guard a glare, shushing the man with a wave of his hand. But the damage was done. The warmth of his embrace vanished, replaced by the heavy burden of his precious title.

“I have to go now,” Torin said, his voice tightening. A suffocating weight crashed onto my shoulders.

Panic, raw and pathetic, clawed its way up my throat. I couldn’t be alone in this room again. Not with that invisible thing hunting me in the shadows.

I gripped his shirt, my knuckles turning white. “Stay... please,” I begged.

The words tasted like defeat. I wanted to be selfish, just this once. I abandoned every shred of my pride to beg the man who was breaking my heart.

“She needs me, Cas,” he sighed, glancing toward the hall.

“I need you more.” The tremor in my voice disgusted me, but the terror overriding my logic won. “You told me she didn’t mean anything. You said it was just for an alliance. I need you more, Torin. Please.” I pressed my face into his chest, desperate for my mate to hold on.

Torin groaned. He gripped my waist, hugging me flush against his body like his life depended on it.

“Cassia,” he breathed out. The sound of my name on his lips felt like a breath of fresh air.

My heart skipped a beat. For one fragile, brilliant second, I thought I had won. He chose me.

Then his hands moved to my wrists.

The feeling was short-lived as he pried my fingers off his shirt. He peeled me away, putting physical distance between us.

“I’m sorry. I have to make sure this goes well.”

The temporary relief shattered, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole in my chest as reality sank in.

“You’re choosing her over me?” I asked, my voice dropping to a hollow whisper.

“I’m choosing the pack,” Torin corrected. His steely blue eyes swept across my face, hard and unapologetic. “I’m an Alpha now. I can’t afford to choose just you.”

I stared at the man I thought was my destiny.

“Why? Everyone chooses their mate first!” I exclaimed, the frustration erupting loud and desperate.

“They don’t have the responsibility that I do!” he barked back, his alpha tone bleeding into the cruel words.

I looked at him. The man standing there wasn’t the boy who used to love me. He was a stranger wearing my mate’s face.

I took a step back.