The Other Part of Me

Cassie Braden had spent the morning training with the pack. After breakfast, Cassie had sought him out and tagged along with him until after lunch. He had informed her she would have to be combat-ready herself, especially if she was to be his Luna - which she had found out meant she was to lead by example since she would be the highest ranking female wolf. Everything the pack did, he expected her to do, what's more he expected her to practice gracefulness and humility every time it was warranted but he also expected her to be fierce and unrelenting when it was deemed.

It wasn't the way of all packs, but it was the way he liked Bloodstone Pack to run. Titles on paper were necessary, but he explained he preferred to lead in a way where every wolf's opinion was just as important as his. He cited the demise of the original pack as to why the old ways didn't work.

A little less encouraging was when he pointed out her human-half would be viewed as a weakness by many, which meant she would have to work twice as hard to win them over.

Those were the words that had made her want to quit and leave now, but her mind quickly drifted back to Eva and everything they had shared together. Had it not been for Eva, Cassie would have gone insane, and she had been right about everything after all.

Including Braden.

Even now, Cassie had doubts about ever being able to leave Braden's side.

Their bond made no sense to her human brain, but her wolf synapses told her it was the only way.

After lunch, Braden was going to return to the combat training area, he had asked Cassie if she wanted to join him.

She had said yes at first but as soon as they arrived to the enclosed gym, Braden removed his T-shirt, and Cassie began feeling flush. Her eyes drifted to his beautifully golden chest, sprinkled with a smattering of dark hair that she knew would really bring her bare breasts to life, given the chance. For the first time, she really let her sight take in the detail of his bared flesh's surface; he had scars of different lengths and textures down the expanse of his impressive abdominal muscles. Without thinking, Cassie reached over to touch them, running her fingers ever so lightly against them.

God, they made him even more perfectly masculine. She wanted nothing more than to use her saliva as a healing salve and her tongue as the applicator to make him feel better. She walked around him, never releasing the contact of his skin, she skimmed her hands across his back.

His muscles tensed under her fingertips.

Oh, that scent. Lemongrass and rainfall. She moved closer to him, pressing her covered breasts against his back, inhaling the sweet nectar emanating from his delicious skin.

He turned to face her. His cobalt eyes stared into her own. "You're in the beginning stages of heat." He communicated to her through their mind link. "The scent of your arousal is driving me mad, Cassandra. It's mine, and only mine. If I see another wolf come near you, I'll break his neck with my bare hands. You need to go now."

Cassie gasped.

She quickly turned and ran away, if she was being honest with herself, she was half turned-on and half embarrassed. The sooner she got used to this new world, the easier her life would be.

She wanted Braden, it scared her to realize how much her body longed for him to fill her. She felt herself craving, actually CRAVING, his seed.

"Cassie, fight it. Oh my god, fight it!" She demanded of herself. She continued running around the grounds in search for the one person who could help her.

Thanks to her sense of smell, she found Bridgette in the hospital's pharmacy. "Bridgette, please help me. I need wolfsbane now!"

Bridgette flinched at the calling of her name. "Cassie! You frightened me."

Feeling herself being buried by the last few sands of the hourglass, Cassie rambled. "I'm sorry to barge in like this with demands, but apparently I'm going through my first heat and I need stay in complete control of my reproduction." She whispered, "I don't want my wolf getting frisky with Braden's wolf just yet. I can feel she's still asleep which is why I have to get it now, so she doesn't catch on to my plan."

Bridgette laughed and nodded. "Okay, don't worry. We'll get you sorted out." She turned to the shelves where the herbal remedies and medicinal drugs were stocked. "I just got an order of powdered wolfsbane in, let me prepare you a treatment."

Cassie nodded. "I should probably also tell you I'm half-human, in case that affects the dosing. I certainly don't want to kill Eva, my wolf, and I don't want to accidentally overdose my human part either."

Bridgette nodded. "I've never treated anyone that was genetically half-and-half before, so I'll start you on a relative lower dose, just to be sure. Take it as soon as you can, but be sure to keep checking in on your wolf periodically to make sure she's still asleep."

"I can do that," she paced around the pharmacy. That wasn't too hard to do; if she felt Eva stir, she would take another dose. She would time the dosages to be prepared for future fertile periods. Cassie suddenly stopped and looked at Bridgette. "Why aren't you shocked that I'm half-human?"

Bridgette didn't look up as she titrated the powdered herb. "We're wolves, Cassie, we can smell it on you." She poured the powder into a plastic capsule. "And for those that aren't familiar with the scent, that bitchy waste of a wolf, Elsbeth Vapid-Ass isn't wasting time on letting every wolf know."

Cassie frowned. "Why should she care?"

Bridgette shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that when mom was alive, she didn't like her and the sentiment doesn't fall far from the tree, either." She grabbed a small brown bottle and placed a few capsules in them. "By the way, if your wolf dies, you die and vice versa. You're the same being."

Cassie leaned forward on the counter and explained, "I'm afraid that if the wolves mate and create life on their romp, a little hairy wolf will come shooting out of me within nine months."

Bridgette did not bother sparing Cassie's feelings. She released a seemingly never-ending fit of laughter. "You're such an idiot. That's not how it works."

Cassie felt herself blush. "Are you one-hundred percent sure?"

Bridgette choked out a 'yes' as she tried to regain her breath. "Oh, my uninformed little Luna, yes." Bridgette moved to the front of the pharmacy. She grabbed Cassie's shoulders and led her to the chairs, inviting her to sit. Cassie was extremely relieved there were no customers around to witness her shame.

"Physiologically," Bridgette began, "the cells, yours and his and that of your wolves are human-like. The wolf genes will lie dormant until puberty awakens them. If his wolf and your wolf were to mate and create life, the pup, despite its descriptor, will be human-like during the entirety of childhood." She paused and went still.

When she reanimated, she stood and grabbed the pill bottle she produced for Cassie. "My mate needs me to take medicinal herbs to a patient in the hospital, so I must go." She handed off the little brown bottle. "By the way, I would recommend you lock yourself in your room, away from other wolves. Wait for Braden to get back. If he doesn't return before you start feeling discomfort, take a cold shower. If you feel pain, perhaps relieve some of the pressure with self- touch." Bridgette looked at her squarely in the eyes. "Since you're not familiar with our ways, please accept this bit of personal advice; you're going to need him. Give in."