Cassian Virelli Blackthorn
Cassian stirred with a sharp breath and a dull ache pulsed at the back of his skull, spreading like ripples through his temples.
Suddenly the sterile scent of antiseptic filled his nose, the white ceiling above him blurred into shape.
Where was he? He wondered.
Monitors hummed nearby, their gentle beeping becoming the only proof that time hadn't frozen.
He tried to sit up but his muscles protested, each movement meeting with a wave of sluggish resistance.
'You finally decided to wake up! After lying there like a corpse for hours?' Rael, Cassian's wolf growled in anger.
'I thought you were planning to permanently abandon your body and leave me to rot with it.'
"You're exaggerating." Cassian huffed weakly.
'Exaggerating?' Rael growled. 'Our heart almost stopped twice. Twice. I had to force your wolf form out just to survive. Do you know how humiliating it is to save your reckless human body all the time?'
"You shifted?" Cassian groaned softly, holding his head which was paining but then the door clicked open.
A tall man stepped inside dressed in all black, his sharp features tight with tension. It was his right hand man. Beta Adam Wright.
For a split second Adam's guarded expression faltered when he saw Cassian awake.
"Alpha, you're awake!" He exclaimed in a low tone, "God. I thought you…"
Cassian's brows furrowed. "Where the hell am I?"
"Alpha, we are in the hospital. The locals were the one who found you near the suburb and the cops informed your Grandpa."
Cassian pushed himself up slightly, only to drop back with a grimace. "So, Grandpa knows?"
Adam hesitated, but then he suddenly dropped to one knee beside the bed, bowing his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Alpha. Please punish me, I deserve to die! This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken the correct measures. It's all my fault!"
"Get up." Cassian cut him off, his voice hoarse but firm. "What's done is done. Just tell me about that person, did he make it?"
Adam hesitated for a moment before answering. "No. He didn't survive."
Cassian's gaze darkened.
"He would have made it, the gunshot wasn't fatal but you know…he was poisoned with that same wolfsbane poison 'Noxilla V'. There was no chance of surviving it. By the time we reached him, it had already spread."
Cassian stared at him, chest rising and falling in slow, contained breaths. "Noxilla V?"
"Yes, Alpha. Looks like it has become stronger than before now. We believe the Rogue syndicate has modified the strain... and I'm afraid they'll soon plan to release it as a bio weapon."
Cassian held his throbbing head. He remembered stepping in front of the shot and taking the searing bullet, and then something else too. Like a prick, coldness blooming through his veins like winter's kiss.
He whispered, more to himself than to Adam. "They used it on me too."
Suddenly the door swung open without warning and a young doctor in a white coat stepped in. He was holding a paper cup of coffee in one hand and a clipboard tucked under the other arm.
He froze the moment his eyes landed on Cassian. "Oh shit! You're still not dead yet? I thought I would be attending your funeral by now. You know I was already half writing your eulogy in my head. I even picked the music to play in your funeral man."
Cassian raised his eyebrow at his childhood friend James with faint amusement, Adam however looked annoyed as the young doctor walked in.
"Dr. James, please show some respect. You're talking to the heir of the pack. He's the next leading Alpha."
James however arched his brow, "Yeah? And?" He turned back to Cassian with a mocking look. "Do you think I'll respect this idiot of a man who always tries to die every other month?"
Cassian closed his eyes for a brief moment, exhaling through his nose. "James."
James moved closer to the bed, peering at the IV drip and Cassian's vitals. "What? Do you know how deadly the mission was? That person who was injected just like you was declared dead in a few minutes. You know what that means? That damn toxin NOXILLA should have killed you in under 5 minutes."
"But with my antidote prepared, you managed to survive for some hours or so, still it wasn't enough for you to live considering how developed the new version of Noxilla was. You should have died...but the fact that you were still breathing when we found you?" He looked at Cassian with a surprised expression, "It didn't make sense at all!."
Cassian leaned in slightly, visibly tense. "What do you mean?"
James sighed, flipping open the folder with practiced hands. "Your toxicology results were expected with signs of NOXILLA V. But what we didn't expect was something else floating around in your blood."
He glanced at Cassian again, this time with a strange gleam in his eyes. "Something unusual…?"
James turned a page and tapped on a highlighted graph. "Yes. There was an agent in your blood that wasn't part of anything I administered. It was neither synthetic nor known to any of our databases."
Cassian's brows drew together slowly, his tone low. "What kind of agent?"
"A neutralizing one." James looked at him amused, "Strangely it was something biological behaving like a self replicating antibody. It latched onto the NOXILLA molecules and dismantled them cell by cell. Can you imagine? The poison couldn't spread, couldn't mutate, couldn't kill. So naturally, I dug deeper."
James closed the folder with a soft snap. "And guess what I found? That miracle compound in your blood wasn't produced by your own body. It was a transfusion. Or more precisely… a direct blood injection during the emergency. And whoever that person is, I'm pretty sure they aren't ordinary. They literally bypassed every rule of science and medicine to keep your arrogant ass breathing."
James tossed the folder onto the desk. "So…I need to know who gave it. Because either we've got a walking miracle on our hands... or Moon Goddess finally upgraded her healing powers and started freelancing in the sheds!"
Adam rolled his eyes but Cassian sat in silence, his expression completely unreadable.
Adam leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, eyes fixed on Cassian. "Alpha, what happened that night when you escaped? Did someone help you? Did you see anyone at all?"
Cassian's gaze dropped for a second. His mind drifted back through the blur of pain and cold.
'Our Mate!' Rael stirred restlessly. 'My mate, Ishira! She's the one!'
'Mate? You mean that girl was our mate?' Cassian's brows furrowed. The memory struck whatever happened light night.
'I would never mistake her,' Rael growled. 'Her soul called to mine.'
Adam leaned forward. "Alpha, did someone help you?"
"Yes there was one…" Cassian said, his voice softer now.
James looked at him surprised, "Then try to remember more. Because do you realise…if that person's blood can neutralize a poison as lethal as Noxilla V, we can do anything to stop a full-blown bio war before it starts. Every rogue syndicate, every corrupt regime, they'd kill to get their hands on something like this. That person… might be the only thing standing between us and the fall of everything."
Adam glanced at Cassian, already reaching for his comm. "I'll get our men on it right away to search. We'll find that person, Alpha. Just say the word!"
Cassian however didn't utter a word instead a small smile tugged at the edge of Cassian's lips as her memory lingered in his brain.
"No need," he said quietly, the small knowing smile still lingering on his lips, "I think I already know the girl."