Chapter Eight

Cassius' POV

The muted gong of the grandfather clock chiming the eighth hour reverberated through the intimate dining room. I fought against the urge to tap my restless fingers against the crisp linen tablecloth laid out before me.

Punctuality and discipline were deeply ingrained virtues in my world. To have an "honored guest" issued a summons and still be keeping me waiting at this point was... vexing, to say the least.

Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised by Talia Fisher's continued defiance of societal conventions and my authority. The woman seemed to take perverse pleasure in upending my confidently laid plans at every turn so far.

My jaw clenched as the phantom vision of her mugshot photo from the dossier flickered through my thoughts once more. Those insolent yet captivatingly azure eyes seeming to bore straight through the glossy paper, challenging me - daring me - to make my next pivotal move.

Well, I'd made it, issuing the direct order to have her transferred to upgraded living quarters befitting a, albeit reluctant, member of my elite pack. Now it remained to be seen if the little wildcat would honor the rare olive branch I'd extended, or use it to lash out again.

The muffled echo of approaching footsteps broke the silence. I instinctively straightened, squaring my shoulders as the ornately carved doors swept open. Flanked by two of my most imposing guards, Talia stepped across the threshold with all the wary trepidation of a fawn emerging into a hunter's scope.

Despite my instinctive appreciation for her physicality, I found it impossible not to drink in every nuanced detail of her presence now. The way her trademark dark hair tumbled in soft waves around her elegant shoulders. How that simple white chiffon dress she'd been provided clung to the feminine curves usually obscured beneath oversized, utilitarian clothes.

But most of all, my gaze locked instantly onto those haunting azure orbs that had seared into my soul from the first. Defiant fire blazed there, shrouded only by a fleeting glimpse of trepidation that made my chest constrict unexpectedly.

Clearing my throat, I pushed back from the table and rose in a smooth movement. "Miss Fisher, you honor me by accepting my invitation to dine."

Her pink lips parted slightly, as if my minor show of gentility had caught her off guard. But only briefly before that familiar stubborn jut of her chin returned.

"Since you make it rather difficult to decline such summons from behind bars, I'll take your gratitude with a grain of salt, Alpha," she fired back evenly, her melodic voice betraying only a hint of strain.

I allowed a faint smirk to play across my lips as our battle lines were clearly re-established. "Forever a woman who calls it as she sees it, I see. That's...an admirable trait in the right context."

Circling the table, I pulled out her chair and gestured for her to make herself comfortable. Talia eyed me sidelong briefly before brushing past to seat herself, rather than having me hover over her like a gentleman. Smart woman – she realized being in my immediate sphere could dangerously blur the lines we'd established.

With her seated, I reclaimed my place at the head of the table and lifted a hand to dismiss the guards. Only once we were alone, surrounded by flickering candles and the quiet pops of a crackling fire, did I lean back and Pin Talia with an appraising look.

"I trust your new accommodations are more...comfortable for a guest worthy of my respect," I began, allowing the slightest emphasis on that last word. "It would pain me to think you were experiencing any unnecessary hardships here."

Talia's brows arched inquisitively, as if sensing the layered meanings in my provocation. Rather than rise to the subtle bait, she gave a faint shrug of indifference.

"The bed is plush enough, if that's what you mean," she replied mildly. "Though between you and me, the flat screen and marble bath were a bit over the top."

"Over the top?" I couldn't stop my rumbling chuckle from bubbling up. "Miss Fisher, you wound me. I simply wished to ensure you experienced a true taste of the lavish hospitality my pack has become renowned for."

Her slim fingers toyed idly with the silk napkin on her plate. "Well, far be it for me to insult your talent for opulence. Though you'll forgive me if I'm still skeptical about this whole 'esteemed guest' facade when you've yet to give me a straight answer about anything."

My smile thinned slightly at her brazen contempt. Most would take great pains to avoid provoking the alpha's ire through such insolent remarks. But Talia met my stony gaze without a flicker of apprehension, her courage just as steely and intractable as ever.

"Ah, you refer to my previous evasions regarding your...elevated status amongst my kind?" I supplied carefully, lacing my hands together on the tabletop. "Tell me, are you truly so naive as to think I'd divulge such sensitive customs to an outsider without first having earned a certain measure of trust and discretion?"

Talia's chest rose sharply as she drew in a steadying breath. Then, surprising me, she leaned in slightly with keenly focused intent glittering in those azure depths.

"Well then, let's start there," she proposed, in a tone far too reasonable for the absurdity she was proposing. "Tell me what I have to do to prove I'm trustworthy in your eyes. Give me a chance to understand instead of being kept in the dark like a prisoner."

My breath hitched at her simple request, the impassioned sincerity in her gaze transfixing me. Even preparing for such a weighty confrontation, I hadn't anticipated she might so readily accept the obstacle before us. To seek a mutual path forward, rather than just erecting her own walls.

For several heated moments, I could only hold Talia's expectant stare as my thoughts whirred with a thousand fractured calculations. Was she truly ready to take this immense plunge into my secretive realm, regardless of the shadowy storms lurking? Or was this all just some sly attempt at conning me into lowering my defenses as well?

Dante howled insistently that her offer was one spoken from the soul - that our mate would never profess such earth-shattering declarations lightly. Yet the cynical alpha ruling my exterior sneered that no human, even one cosmically bound to us, could be trusted with the ancient lore and knowledge of my species.

With arduous effort, I drew in a grounding breath and smoothed the tablecloth before me.

"Very well," I finally stated, allowing the first sliver of vulnerability to bleed into my tone. "Ask me one question - any question, no matter how deeply it cuts into my world. And I vow to answer you truthfully and clearly."

Talia's surprise was palpable, her ordinarily sassy mouth falling agape for an instant. But just as swiftly, that look of contemplative intensity returned as she mulled over her strategy. One single, uninhibited opportunity to peer behind the curtain I'd kept her from, and she would need to wield it precisely.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of weighted silence, she squared her shoulders and spoke in a voice dripping with hushed urgency.

"What am I to you...truly? And I don't just mean whatever this whole 'mate' nonsense is," she clarified, holding up a hand. "I want to know why you, Alpha Cassius De Monte, have put so much personal investment into me. Because I get the sense you're not usually one to waste energy on keeping insignificant people around, much less bestowing lavish privileges on them."

My nails dug insistent grooves into the fine linen beneath my palms as her question reverberated through the stillness between us. That prying sense of vulnerability blossoming into a veritable chasm yawning at my feet. Because as much as I'd sworn to provide open honesty, I now feared what full transparency about the depth of our mystical bond could mean.

Talia's quicksilver eyes were shimmering with unmistakable intensity, awaiting nothing less than the rawest of truths to spill forth. And somewhere in that endless azure expanse, I realized with a strange sense of vertigo, that I ached to give it to her.