There was a sharp knock on my door, and I groaned while I stirred "awake," lying in a pool of my own blood on the carpeted floor beneath me.

Groggily, I lifted my head and stared at the door, blinking rapidly to get my vision used to the morning sunlight that filtered through open blinds. "Go away," I called, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and kept myself in the tight ball that I found myself in, the pain not leaving me as fast as I would like. "I don't want to see anybody."

Again there was a sharp knock on the door, and I again groaned and let my head fall to the floor. "It's me," her voice said, and if it had been a little later in the day, then I would have gotten up and tried to clean up my mess, but I was stuck, too tired to get up and clean everything and in too much pain to even care about what she sees. "Let me in, or else I am coming in, anyway."

I closed my eyes, my muscles aching and the thought of a cold bath, or even a shower, filled my senses to numb this pain, but I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything, not even tell the female at the door to leave me alone and not come in.

The sound of the lock turning filled my ears, but I could care less while I tried to push past the pain that I was under. Finally, the door opened, but I was only met with silence by the female that became my mother.

"Hmmm," she said, finally stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She didn't walk over to me like I thought she would but made her way to the bathroom, her footsteps silent that I could barely hear them.

I cracked my eyes open a small bit and stared at the light that came from the bathroom. I didn't move from my spot and the thought of moving filled me with dread and grief. I was too sore, too much in pain from fighting with myself all night long.

"Can you move?" my cousin called from the bathroom while she turned on the water to fill the tub with it and maybe something else. "Or are you just going to lay on the floor with no regard that there is someone else in the room?"

I closed my eyes again. "Haha, very funny," I said sarcastically, earning a chuckle from her. "Why are you even here?" I asked, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and licked my lips, tasting my blood and cringed, not liking the taste of it.

"To help, of course, before you have succumbed to the insanity of being a descendant of Shilan," she replied. She turned the tub off and walked towards me, her steps still silent against the carpeted floor. "It's why your wolf is pushing you to harm those that have wronged you."

My heart stopped before it started to pound, this time faster. Blood rushed through my body, followed by anger, while I opened my eyes and stared into the familiar gray eyes of my cousin. "You knew." It was a statement, not a question, because I knew that she knew I had been going through this for Goddess knows how long.

Cass nodded her head slowly, not taking her eyes off of me. "I did," she confirmed.

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth while I pushed myself into a sitting position. Sweat gleamed on my forehead, and I panted before I opened my eyes and looked at her. "You knew."

"Didn't you just say that?" she asked, cocking her head. Her whole body was relaxed as if she wasn't worried about me trying to attack her. She studied me, searching my face for answers that I didn't give her.

"You knew, and you didn't do anything," I said, ignoring her question. "Why?" I clenched my hands into fists, and anger pumped through my body, and my wolf lifted its head and growled. The urge to attack her was strong; the curse from the night still had me in its grasps. However, I didn't attack her. I couldn't, not after all she has done for me, all the sacrifices she had made.

"Because I was told not to," she replied. She shifted until she was standing straight at attention and waited for something, anything, to happen. "Shilan had told me not to do anything until you had told me yourself. However, after last night, I told him to go fuck himself and came here against his orders."

I slowly nodded, forcing myself to flex my fingers and relax. "How long?" I asked, wondering how long she knew about this, what was happening to me every night for as long as I could remember.

Cass set her jaw, and anger filled her eyes. Gold speckled through them, the annoyance clearly visible at the man we shared blood with. "Just before you were eight," she replied.

I raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, knowing that my cousin had more to say. I was glad that she kept her distance from me because I still felt the urge to attack, knowing that my wolf was pissed at her, no matter what reasoning she had and why she hadn't helped me at all.

"When you woke up the first night screaming in pain, I knew that it had started. Shilan had warned me a week before your eighth birthday that since he had claimed you as his, you will start feeling the pains of wanting blood around that time. He didn't tell me why you would feel it then, when you couldn't shift, no matter how many times I had pushed him or Tula to give me that information."

"Did you ever find out?" I asked, earning a smirk from the female.

"I am not a TruthSeeker for nothing, TJ," she replied. "But I will tell you what I had found out after I help get you in the bath so that you can feel better and be clear of mind." She took a step towards me, and I growled and closed my eyes.

"Don't," I said, my voice shaking from the strain that I was under. "I can kill you. I still feel the curse from last night."

My cousin snorted and rolled her eyes. "As if you can kill me," she said, ignoring me and coming closer to me. She reached out to touch me, and against my wishes, I lashed out at her and dug my claws into her hand. However, she didn't even flinch or pull away.

"Sorry," I said, not looking at her because my eyes were still closed. My heart pounded in my chest, and a sense of fear filled my body because I had hurt her and didn't mean to. I couldn't even remove my grasp on her hand because my wolf was in partial control, and so was the curse.

My cousin's touch was warm when she removed my claws from her hand. She picked me up and ignored me while I dug my claws into her back, and still, she didn't flinch as if she couldn't feel the pain that she was in. "It's not the worse I had been through," she replied. "Open your eyes."

It was a command, not a suggestion, and I did what I was told to do and opened my eyes until I stared into the eyes of gray that belonged to my cousin. I tried to offer her a smile when she smiled at me, but it turned more into a grimace than anything else.

"Breathe," she said, and I scoffed and rolled my eyes. She narrowed her eyes. "Do it," she said in a motherly tone, and I cringed. "Close your eyes and breathe. Listen to my breathing and heartbeat. It'll help. Trust me."

I did what I was told to do and closed my eyes before focusing my attention on her breathing and heartbeat. Slowly, my breathing and heartbeat started to match hers, and before she set me down into the tub, my grip had loosened on its own, and my hands turned back into fingers instead of claws.

"See?" she asked, and I opened my eyes but kept listening to the sound of her heartbeat and breathing. A sly smirk appeared on her face, and she cocked her head while she studied me with eyes filled with mischief. "I'll help you learn how to control the anger of being a descendant from Shilan, ok? However, you will have to do exactly what I say. Do you understand?"

I nodded and stayed silent, grateful that she decided to help me, even if it was against Shilan's wishes. "What about him?" I asked while she set me down into the tub. The hairs on my stuck up when I first touched the cold water, and I shivered.

My cousin stood and glanced at the mirror, scowling. "I'll deal with him," she replied, turning her gaze back to me. A wolfish grin appeared on her lips. "Don't worry about him or me. I know how to take care of myself." She winked and walked to the place where I kept the towels and grabbed two of them. My cousin placed one near me before she wrapped her hand with the other. "After you are done soaking, you can find me in the office with Xavier. We're helping out a pack, and since you are also an Alpha, you will need to be there as well."

"Wait; what?" I asked. My heart pounded faster in my chest, and I shivered, but this time from excitement instead of cold. "Do you mean..?"

She nodded. "When you are eighteen, you will be the Alpha of the Triad Pack, and those that want to leave this pack will leave and live on the land that our forefathers had gotten us all those years ago."

I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded my head. I hoped that becoming an actual Alpha would help me, but I wasn't so sure it could. I wasn't sure that I would be a good Alpha and prayed that I would be one for the sake of my cousin and her mate.

I didn't want to disappoint them...

Cass cleared her throat, and I looked up at her, realizing that I had looked at my hands instead. "You have never disappointed me and never will, TJ," she soothed. Again, she cleared her throat. "We will get your anger and thirst for vengeance controlled before I send you out as Alpha. Training will start early tomorrow, so I hope you will be prepared." She started to walk away.

"But the curse..."

She paused and looked back at me with a smirk on her face, and she dipped her head. Mischief filled her eyes, and for a moment, I was scared of her, even though I knew she would never hurt me. "Will not affect what we have to do. One of these days, you will think of it as a blessing instead of a curse."

I rolled my eyes and scowled. "Ya, right."

She smiled, a knowing smile, and dipped her head further. "I did." And with that, she left without another word, leaving me alone in the tub to take care of her hand and back.

I closed and sunk further into the water, letting it surround me. Goddess, I prayed, closing my eyes. Please don't let Xavier be mad at me when he sees those wounds. Please.