Chapter Nine

Jeremiah

As I drive to the Kayes' estate with Eric, my anger boils hotter.

When Eric had come asking for my help to refill Cassie's pills, I was happy to help. Anything for sweet Cassie.

However, what we had found out wasn't what we thought. The pills are poison.

Eric is equally angry… but we were both more concerned about Cassie's well-being.

We have to see her. I need to see her. To be sure she is safe.

We get to the gate and I park outside. We often come around to see Cassie and her mom, so the security team knows us enough to let us in. We just can't drive into the compound since we aren't Kaye family visitors.

We hurry to the little house where Cassie and her mom live. Eric knocks and we wait. A few seconds later, the door swings open. I want itto be Cassie, but it is hermom.

The sight of her increases my anger

"Oh! Jeremiah, Eric, what a pleasure to see you both," she chirps, delighted. She looks behind us as if she is expecting someone else to be with us.

She frowns when she sees that we are alone. "Oh. You came alone?" she asks.

We are both quiet.Who would we come with anyway?

She faces Eric fully. "Sweetie, don't you…"

My brother cuts her off before she can finish speaking, though. "Don't talk to me. Where is Cassie?" he says angrily.

Cassie's mom is taken aback by Eric's rude statement. Eric has always been polite to her. His rudeness is out of character.

I do not approve of his approach, but I say nothing.

I feel Cassie isn't safe with her mother anymore. This sweet, kind woman smiling at us has been feeding Cassie poison all these years.

The same pills she gives to Cassie for her "illness" are the reason that Cassie is sick. Her mother is harming Cassie.

What kind of mother would do that to their child?

Frustration wells in my belly, adding to my anger.

I want to take a page out of Eric's book and yell at her. Instead, I take deep breaths. Nothing will come out of yelling.

How can she be so sweet and kind to us and also be poisoning her daughter?

This doesn't all add up.

Maybe she made a mistake, or was prescribed the wrong drug.

As I stand there, my head swirls with questions I can't answer. Questions that only Cassie's mom can answer.

No matter how hard I try, I can't see her in the same light anymore. I'm trying to be polite, but I feel my anger rolling out in waves.

Even as a recessive Alpha, I still have pheromones that tend to leak out when I feel intense emotions. I can't help it as they leak out of me now.

Cassie's mom flinches back at my angry pheromones, unable to bear them. She is an Omega, after all.

I take deep breaths.

In my mind, Cassie is already a part of my family unit. She's one of the people I protect and care about. I only have her and Eric.

If anything should happen to Cassie, I don't know what I woulddo. I would be a mess for sure.

Cassie is the sweetest girl I know. I fell in love the day I saw her sacrifice herself to save another kid despite how sick she always was.

I'd been in my shop, smiling as I watched her wait for the crosswalk lights to go green so she could cross the road. A younger kid had dropped something. I don't know what it was, but I sure hoped it was important with how they ran into the road to get it.

Cassie could have just stood there. She had every excuse. She was probably weaker than that kid. But she had pushed the kid out of the way and almost got run over by a motorcycle.

Thankfully, the rider was a witch who used magic to make Cassie levitate so she wouldn't get hit. She'd fallen back to the ground, though, and broken her wrist. The witch hadn't known that Cassie would be so weak.

Luckily, the witch also knew healing magic and although Cassie had passed out, she had fixed her wrist right away. I was never able to keep my eyes off Cassie again from that day onward.

She touches my heart in a way no one else can. It always hurt to see her in so much pain when I knew she would go out of her way to make sure no one else is hurting. I am glad that I'm one of the few people she turns to for help and comfort.

Not a week goes by that I don't get to see her. She always visits with a smile on her face, even with the pain she endures.

Eric is also enchanted. Cassie brings out the light in him. She makes him smile. And he loves it. Craves it.

He goes all out for her. He protects her and makes her happy.

There is no denying that he is in love with Cassie.

Cassie is such a sweetheart. It is hard not to love her.

That's what I tell myself. Even if I know it is deeper than that.

I am equally as hopelessly in love with her as my little brother. I want to love her. And I want my brother to love her along with me.

Sharing Cassie with Eric is something I will love.

She will get to have more protection and love if she is with the two of us. She deserves all we have to offer and more.

That's if she will take us.

Seeing and sensing Eric's emotions earlier today got me worked up. If anything happens to Cassie, I will not be the only one to hurt. Eric will hurt, too. We will be miserable together.

We can't afford to lose her. She is our light.

This is why I can't hold in my anger.

"Let's not stand around here. Come on in boys." Cassie's mom tries to continue smiling at us, but her smile falters.

I frown.

How can this woman be a walking contradiction?

Has she been playing nice all this time just to trick us?

We go into the house. She directs us to the kitchen, where Eric pulls out a stool and sits. I remain standing. I still haven't said a word to her.

"Why don't I make you boys tea?" she offers.

There she goes again! She's being sweet to us.

No! Something isn't right here.

How the hell is someone so sweet hurting her one and only child?

"We don't want any tea," Eric replies

She turns back to us. She seems sad at the rejection and annoyed at Eric's continuous rudeness.

I can't take Eric's rudeness anymore, either. I understand his anger. But being rude will amount to nothing. It will only make Cassie's mom less open to us.

So, I finally speak.

"Eric! Calm down," I scold.

I pull another stool out from the kitchen table and sit. I indicate for her to do the same. She quickly complies, positioning herself to face only me.

"I don't understand. Why are you boys so angry? What did I do wrong?" She looks confused and lost.

I momentarily feel pity for her. Our anger is overwhelming. Eric's anger is brash while mine is silent and choking.

"Calm down, Miss Munt," I start. I do not want her shaken, even with how angry I am.

She does as I say.

"Cassie dropped her pills," I tell her without a preamble. "They spilled and got stepped on."

A gasp escapes her. "What?"

I watch as she fidgets in her seat. She places her hands on the table. I notice them shaking.

"What? Where is she? What happened?" she blurts in one shaky breath.

"Eric decided to help her refill the pills. We had gone to a pharmacy together to do this." Itake in her expression as I speak.

Her face turns ashen, and her eyes widen. She holds on tight to her hands as they shake uncontrollably. She is undeniably horrified.

That is all it takes for me to know that it wasn't a mistake.

She knows! She knows that the pills are not good for Cassie.

There is no other reason for her to react this way. If she did not know about it, she wouldn't be this scared.

All of a sudden, I want to hurt her. I reel in the urge, but my pheromones are leaking out uncontrollably.

Miss Munt jumps from the stool and rushes to the kitchen corner with wide and terrified eyes.

"Brother!" Eric calls.

Eric can't feel my pheromones, but he can tell what's happening from Cassie's mom's reaction.

I take deep breaths to calm my nerves. A few seconds later, Miss Munt gasps for air, finally breathing again. Eric pats my shoulder comfortingly.

Cassie's mom gazes at me in fear. How things have changed in such a short time. The usual smile she has for me is gone. A pang of regret tugs at my heart. Is this how things would be now?

"Miss Munt, we were told that the pills are banned pheromones blockers. Why do you have them? Why are you using them on Cassie?" My voice is tired… almost pleading.

I wait, hoping for a good reason or excuse for her wrongdoing, but she stays quiet, looking mortified. Her hands start to shake again, and she bursts into tears. She covers her face with her hands and sobs uncontrollably.

I did not expect that. It puzzles me.

I feel bad for making her cry. I even want to console her. But I remind myself of the pain she has been making Cassie go through.

"It's not my fault. It's not my fault." She keeps wailing and sobbing words we can't make sense of.

Whose fault is it if not hers?

We watch her as she sobs for a while. Her cries slow down and she speaks clearly. "Does Cassieknow?"

Of all the things to say after weeping for so long. It shows that she is more concerned about Cassie finding out the truth than any other variable in the situation. It strikes me that she still hoped to hide this from Cassie, even though we have found out.

"She doesn't know," I say. "Where is Cassie?"

"Where is she?" she asks back. "Where is she? I don't know where she is. I thought she was with you."

My annoyance gives way to panic.

"We thought she came back home. I told her to get a cab to go home and we left to get her pills. She should be home by now," Eric speaks up.

"I have been home all day. She hasn't come back to me. If she is not here with me or with you, then where is she?" she replies.

Panic seizes us all.

Miss Munt grips the table till her knuckles turn white. She mumbles some incoherent words and suddenly takes off running out of the house.

Wait, what?

It takes me a second of shock to react, but then I chase after her. Eric follows.

We get outside to see her heading for the main house. She is going to the Kayes. We follow her to the metal gate separating her home from the main compound and wait. We can't just go off into the main grounds. She works there, however, so she can.

We watch as Miss Munt runs up to a maid who is walking past. She grabs the poor girl by the shoulders and shakes her.

We are some distance away, yet we can hear clearly from where we stand,thanks to our wolves' hearing.

"Miss Munt!" the girl exclaims in shock. "What's wrong?"

I pity the girl.

Every staff member at the Kaye estate knows Cassie's mom. She is probably one of the oldest maids.

All the other staff members come from their homes to work at the estate. Some staff members stay in quarters in the main house when they are on duty at night. No other employees live permanently on the estatelike Cassie's mother.

Cassie told us that the Kayes were kind because her mom had begged them for accommodation since she was so sick.

Knowing this now sours my belly. She got a free house because her daughter was sick. She said she was poor since she bought medicine for Cassie, so I used to give her groceries. How could she take so many free things from people when she was the one poisoning her daughter?

"Have you seen Cassie anywhere on the estate today?" she asks the girl she has grabbed. "Did she come home today?"

"Ow! I'll answer you, just stop shaking me!" The girl pulls herself from Miss Munt's grip and rubs her arms, pouting. "It's been a busy day today, but yes, I think I saw her going into the garden."

"The garden?" she asks, scared. Her face goes white as if she has seen a ghost.

"Yes, yes. It's not a big deal, though. Is everything all right?" The girl seems slightly concerned.

"Oh yes! Everything is fine. Thank you, Mary." Miss Munt jumps back from her and acts calm again.

She starts to come back to us, and I can see the fear on her face. We now know Cassie came home. Why was she still panicking this much?

But then again, if Cassie came back here, why isn't she at home? Could she be in the main house?

I don't trust Cassie's mom right now. However, I call out to her as she starts to head toward the gardens. "Miss. Munt! What should we do?"

She turns to face us, eyes unfocused, like she had forgotten we were there.

"Please go home," she says in a shaky voice. "I know it must be confusing right now, and you will get your answers, but for now, please go home."

With that, she goes off in search of Cassie, and we are forced to stand there watching at her leave. We can't cause a ruckus on the Kaye family estate and go after her to help look for Cassie.

This is frustrating. Eric looks like he wants to jump the gate and follow her.

I grab my brother's arm. "Let's go home. We will wait until the end of the day, and if we don't get any new information, we will go to the police."