Jack turns the key and opens the cell gate. After getting in, I turn back hoping Jack would leave but he shows no sign of that. Sighing, I face forward towards my brother, Philip.

He looks back at me from his chair. He's not restrained. No need to, either, since I've put an enclosure spell on his cell so he won't be able to leave or use magic.

"If you apologise for your actions, they'll let me move you to our coven," I say.

By they, I mean the werewolf council. Because, I helped capture Philip, Leon can convince the council to show leniency towards my brother so he could face the trial and punishment by our coven, not the werewolves.

Philip snorts and looks away, ignoring what I said.

"Please, Philip. It'll be dangerous for you to be in werewolf prison. Mom might send you to Maglow's, but you'll be safe there, and I'll be able to see you often. I'll even eventually convince her to transfer you back home."

Maglow prison is a high security prison in another dimension. It's where witches and wizards who had committed serious crimes are held.

"I don't need your pity," Philip says. "I'm not going to bow down to them."

My eyes start to tear up at his stubbornness. "I won't let them take you, no matter what. I won't let anyone hurt you. Please, Philip. Leon will talk to them. They'll let me take you home."

Philip gets angry. "I'd rather die than take his help. One day, I will get out, and when I do, I'll kill him first."

Jack gives a bitter laugh behind me while tears start wetting my cheeks.

"Fine," I say. "You want Leon's life? You can have it. But know, you'll be killing me along with him." I move the collar of my neck to show him the mark.

Philip immediately leaves his chair and grabs me by my arms. Jack becomes alert but stays put.

"How could you do that? Why did you?!" shouts Philip.

"I love him. All you see in him is a werewolf, but he's much more than that for me. I don't care what he is — a werewolf, human, vampire or a wizard — I don't care! I will love him no matter what."

"And what about him?" Philip asks, shaking me. "Does he care about you while you so blindly love him, after everything he put you through?"

"He does. How else you think you're standing in front me now? Leon didn't hurt you and asked his men to stay away from you because you're my brother. He has loved me all along, and knows my heart. That's why he didn't harm you, even when he had every reason to, because he knows that as much as I love him, I love you, my only brother, even more. If anything happens to you, I can't take it. But you don't care about me, about how I feel. You want to kill my mate, not caring it'll kill me, too."

I lean forward and press my head against Philip's chest, crying.

Philip's expression softens as his arms wrap me gently. "I'm sorry," he whispers. "I never meant to hurt you. You're my everything, kid. I know I haven't been the best brother in the world, but everything I did, I did so that you would have a better future as a witch. But I forgot you are other things as well, like someone's mate. I promise you, I won't go against Leon. I don't ever want you to think that you might lose someone you love because of me."

————

As Leon promised, he persuaded the council to release Philip to my coven. My mother came to take Philip.

"I can't thank you enough for what you and your son had done for us," says my mother to George.

"Leon only did whatever was the right thing to do. Besides, Cassandra was the one who found Philip. Even though it was tough on her, to go against her own brother, she fulfilled her duties. You should be proud of her."

"I am," says my mother looking fondly at me. Her proud face then slowly transforms to sad. She turns to George and says, "I suppose it's time we return your kindness by freeing your son of his mate bond with my daughter. I know there are two days till he turns 21, but we can perform the ceremony and severe their bond today. That way, I can take Cassandra and her friends back home with me."

I bite the inside of my cheeks and keep my eyes on my feet. In fact, other than my mom and Leon's dad, everyone else in the room, which are Jack, Nara and Jenny, are also looking at their feet.

George's arms uncomfortably shift on his armrests. He may not know that Leon and I've already mated, but he knows his son's decision to not severe his bond with me.

"Well, it's really up to Leon to decide that. He maybe busy today. I'll let him know of it and— "

In enters Leon.

Leon looks perplexed by the atmosphere in the room. He's probably wondering why everyone is avoiding looking at him.

"Oh. Speak of the devil," George says, giving a shot at humour.

"Is everything alright?" Leon asks.

George tentatively replies, "Yeah. Everything's fine. Cassandra's mother was just saying she could perform the ceremony with Hanna today, so Cassandra could leave with her."

Just like Jack, me and my friends, now it's Leon's turn to look guilty. However, an Alpha that he is, he doesn't look at his feet and keeps his head up.

"Erm," he starts. If it was in any other situation, I would've laughed at his reaction, but unfortunately I'm not in a position to laugh. I just hope he makes the same excuse his dad was trying to make, that he is busy today.

"Erm," he says again. "The thing is... Your daughter and I..."

I whip up my head feeling where that sentence seems to be heading. He looks at me, halting his speech, and continues to look at, making my mom and George to look at me, too.

"Is there any problem, Cassandra?" My mom asks.

I shake my head. Then I look at Leon and he mouths me to tell her. I suppose he wanted it to be me to tell her. Better me than someone else tell her that I'm mated.

I bite my lips and look down again. "It's, uh... I know I promised you, but— We... We... Leon and I... We... We..."

Suddenly, George gets up from his seat and hugs Leon with a huge grin. "Congratulations, son! Why didn't you tell me before? I can't wait to tell your mom. She'll be so excited!''

I run my palm over my face while my mom looks at me confused. Then she's on her feet, too, and comes near me. Just when I was almost done summoning the courage to look at her, she moves the hair draped over my neck.

I squeeze shut my eyes tight, bracing myself for a slap, like the one she gave me when she learned I let Philip go when I saw him right outside our coven land.

However, the slap never comes. She hugs me and says, "My baby, congrats!"

Talk about turnabouts.

With her eyes glistening, she kisses my forehead.

"You're not mad at me?" I ask.

"No, baby, I'm not. If anything, I feel relieved. I never wanted for you to let go of your mate. But it was a decision for you and Leon to make together. That's why we decided to wait till he turned 21. His parents and I thought, when you both are older you will be able to make a better decision for yourself, in spite of what our traditions might ask you to do."

"That's true," George says. "We always hoped you kids would find your way to each other. And when you do, you'll be ready to face the world together. "

He turns to Leon. "You've a lot of hurdles ahead of you now. Red Peak won't make it easy on you or Cassandra, but everyone will eventually know that things wouldn't be any other way for you. Luckily, till that happens, you're not in it alone. You'll never be alone. It'll always be the two of you, together."

————

I zip up the duffel bag and straighten up. My eyes start to drift across the room — I want to take a good look at it, as if it's my last time in here.

But I'll be back.

I'll be dividing my time and responsibilities between my coven and Red Peak. And so will Nara and Jenny, and Leon and Jack. When our coven and pack are ready to wholeheartedly accept both of us, we'll merge them.

"Ready?" Leon says, standing at my room door.

I nod. He comes in, picks up my bags and turns to leave. Then he stops and looks around at my room. "I always wanted to sneak into your room whenever I came to see you in secret."

"You sneaked into my room almost every night at Red Peak. So, that was you fulfilling your dream?"

Smirking, he places my bags on the bed and pulls me to his chest. "No. That was me fulfilling my desire. My dream was for you to share my room. Share my everything."

I wrap my arms around him and smile. "Lucky for you, Alpha, today, your dream comes true."

We kiss each other till Jack's loud interruption reaches us. "Guys, we are late! You can continue at Red Peak. Now, hurry down."

Laughing, I break our kiss.

"I'm going to kill him," mutters Leon as he picks up my bags again.

After Leon leaves the room, I kneel down and look under my bed to pick up one last thing to take with me.

I gently pull it out from under the bed. Once out, I carefully scoop up its sleeping form in my arms. "Time to go home, Leo," I whisper.

––––

Thank you for reading the story in the . Find the other stories and more in my author page :)

It's been my pleasure writing for you. If you hadn't voted or commented on your favorite chapters yet, I hope you take the time to do it now.

In her future, Cassandra will face opposition from Red Peak and her coven. Her leadership will be questioned. She will also need to work on her relationship with her brother.

But those are not something she needs to worry about, for Leon will be by her side — for just like Leon, Cassandra will have her dream come true, too: to start a new life with him, to experience new things through him, and to see the world in a new way because of him.

See you in my next story.

💕 xx, Auctorsam