The Gift chronicles novel Chapter 1

Book 1 Chapter 35

One Month Later

One month had gone by, and Alpha Cain and his Pack Leaders had not discovered any leads on who had poisoned me. Luckily, whoever poisoned me didn't use a strong enough dosage, and I recovered within days.

On the night of the poisoning, Cain was mindlinked by Beta Jax because him and a few other men on patrol had captured two rogues trying to sneak into their territory.

Alpha Cain went to the prison to question the rogues, and it wasn't too long after that he felt my pain through our mate bond, and came rushing back. He found me nearly dead on the floor.

When I recovered, he told me that he found the note, and informed me that he did not write it. Whoever left the note left no scent or traces that could be linked back to them.

When I suggested to Cain that it may be one of his pack members who poisoned me, he went into a rage, telling me that no one from his pack would ever harm their Luna. The way I saw it, only a pack member could have snuck into his Pack House undetected and leave the note. Alpha Cain and his Pack Leaders disagreed. They thought it was related to the two rogues they caught sneaking on to their territory.

Even though they tortured the rogues in every way imaginable, neither of them confessed until the day they died, about two weeks after my poisoning.

Cain was smothering me in attention and affection since the attempted assassination. He rarely ever left my side, and when he did, he assigned 3 guards plus a Pack Leader to watch over me. Typically, the Pack Leader was Gamma Axel, because Axel was not only the third strongest in the pack, but swore to the Alpha that he would rather die before letting anything happen to me. I suspected he felt guilty about my whipping, and wanted to make it up in this way.

I could tell that Cain felt extremely guilty for the poisoning, and blamed himself for leaving me alone in the Pack House. I knew I would never be without a guard for the rest of my life because of the incident.

In a way, the poisoning changed things between Cain and I. We had somewhat bonded due to spending so much time together, since he would take me with him almost everywhere. I typically sat in his lap as he worked on paperwork, and he even would explain what he was doing, not keeping me in the dark about pack matters. I wouldn't say I liked him, but I had learned to tolerate his presence.

Cain and I even woke up early and spent two hours every morning training. Most of our training was sparring, both using powers and not using powers. Initially, Cain was hesitant about fighting me, worried that he would hurt me. After I (nonlethally) injured him by sending a dagger into his gut, he was much more willing to be rough during our trainings.

I had taken a few hits of fire as a result of the fighting, but I reassured Cain that it was fine, and part of the training. Eventually, I got better and better at dodging the flames until he couldn't hit me with them if he tried. He always succeeded in pinning me down eventually, but I could tell that it wasn't easy for him to.

I convinced Cain to let me train with his pack warriors for extra practice after a combination of begging/ guilting/ threatening him. This morning would be my first session, and I could hardly contain my excitement.

I threw Cain's heavy arm off of me when I woke up, and leaped out of bed to get dressed. Cain grunted half asleep, and said in a husky voice, "Has anyone ever told you that you're extremely gentle?"

Immediately, I ran back to the bed and jumped on his waist, holding a knife to his throat before he could open his eyes. Gentle, huh? I teased.

His eyes sleepily blinked, but he nonetheless played along, flipping me over on the bed so he was on top. He plucked the knife from my hand and sent it clattering on the floor.

"Like a little bunny," Cain smirked, and I growled playfully, snapping my teeth at him. "You're in a good mood," he remarked.

I shrugged, I get to beat people up today, why wouldn't I be happy?

Cain rolled his eyes. "I forgot who I was talking to. Should I be alarmed that you're so ready to harm my pack members?" I squirmed underneath him until he got off of me and I went to get dressed.