Crossing Paths With The White Wolf
Chapter 54

Gonzalo

POV

I felt like my heart was already in pieces. When I saw her stepping out of the SUV, my heart stopped beating. She looked different, but the same. She didn't look like the delicate princess I knew 200 years ago, but there was no mistaking it. This was Kassia, my Kassie. "WAIT" I heard her scream and my step faltered at the pain in her voice. I turned around in time to see her fall to the ground, convulsions making her entire body shake on the ground.

Despite my words and anger, my feet carried me over to her as if they had a mind of their own. "Kassie!" I bent down to her and turned her gently on her side, taking my shirt off to put it under her head while I tried to ignore Dario's whimpers in my head. I felt people standing around us and I growled, making them take a step back. What the f**k was happening to her? When her body began to calm, I noticed there was blood dripping from her nose and ears.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Natalia. "May I?" She asked gently. I put Kassie's head to rest on my leg and nodded. She dropped next to me. She put her hands on her head and chest and after a few minutes I saw her frown. "I can't replace anything physically wrong with her." She sighed apologetically.

"No one has," Adrien's voice behind me and I turned to look at him. He looked sad.

"What do you mean? What's happening to her?" I asked.

"I don't know. She won't talk about it. A little over 20 years ago, something happened to her. I didn't know her back then. Ever since, when she loses control of her emotions, she gets seizures. She went broke for a few years getting exams done by several specialists. She even visited a shaman. They can't figure out why it happens."

"She will be alright then?" Helios asked.

"Yes, she will sleep for a day or two," Adrien answered.

"How are we supposed to take her with us? What happens if she collapses in the middle of a raid?" I looked around and saw Isidro, one of the warriors that had been training with Adrien. He looked disappointed. He'd been so excited to see what the Queen's assassin was made of. Dario growled in the back of my head at him.

"Don't get your knickers twisted there, Issy. She may have this issue, but she's had 20 years to learn to live with it. There's no one better than her at what she does. Snow white will kick your a*s with one hand tied behind her back." Adrien said, his eyes flashing red and his fangs lowering. It was clear she meant a lot to him. I picked her up.

"Where are you going?" Helios asked.

"Putting her in her room," I told him.

I laid her in bed. Theo and Sebastian walked in with her bags as I wet a cloth from her bathroom and cleaned up her face. She looked exactly how I remembered her. Delicate and beautiful, but I could see the changes to her as well. Aside from her hair, her arms looked toned and I could see a few lightly raised scars.

I got up after I was done and left the room. I needed a run. I was barely hanging on by a thread. Helios was waiting for me by the stairs. I shook my head at him. I know what he wanted, but I couldn't give it to him right now.

"We have to talk Gonzalo. It's time." He almost pleaded to me. I knew he didn't want to use his position to force me.

"I need a run. Please. I can tell you what you need after," I said.

He hesitated, "You will come back today?" he asked, and I remembered how I'd disappeared for a year after I recovered from my injuries in Italy. Little did he know, I had left to go replace her.

"I will be back in a few hours," I assured him. He nodded and let me pass. I had shifted by the time I got to the end of the stairs. I let Dario take control of our direction as I got lost in my own thoughts. I never expected to see her again. How am I supposed to work with her for the next few months? I had loved her so completely. My life had belonged to her, and she'd thrown it away. It took me months to recover from my wounds and longer to be able to come to terms with what happened.

I came back to the Packhouse at 2 pm. Dario and I were exhausted and numb. I went up to my room and straight into the shower. When I came back out, Theo was sitting on my bed.

"Is everyone waiting for me?" I asked as I walked into the closet to change.

He shook his head, "Rest. I just brought you lunch. Helios said we'll meet after dinner."

I nodded gratefully. "Kassia?"

"Still sleeping. Natalia checked in on her a while ago," he said as he walked towards the door.

I crawled into bed and closed my eyes, willing myself to pass out. I must have succeeded, because I woke up to a knocking on the door. I got up and opened the door. It was Theo again. He looked over at the sandwich he'd brought me earlier and tsked. He walked in, tossed me a shirt and grabbed the plate. "You missed dinner. Kassia is still sleeping. Helios, Nat and Sebastian are waiting for you in Helios' room for more privacy."

I rubbed a hand down my face and nodded at him as I put my shirt on and headed up the stairs towards the Alpha Suites. I sat on the empty love seat. Everyone was quiet, letting me gather my thoughts before I began. I didn't know how. I'd kept this pain to myself for so long.

I felt Dario's strength and silent encouragement. "I met Kassia in Sicily, in the underground magical market. I was trying to replace the witch I needed for the amulet Helios wanted to test against that barrier we found in that cave in Spain. I was casing the witch's shop. Everyone had told me that she was closed for business, but I didn't believe it. Being a foreigner, I knew they didn't trust me. After a week, I finally saw someone exiting her shop from a wall that didn't seem to have a door. I followed her to another shop and struck up a conversation." I took a deep breath, "I didn't know who she was then. All I knew was that I had never seen another woman as delicate and beautiful as her. We talked for hours as she shopped. An hour before sunrise, she started panicking. She'd lost track of time. I don't know what possessed me, but I asked her out to the theater the next day."

I laughed dryly, remembering her mischievous laughter and the twinkle in her violet eyes. "I didn't know at the time that her family owned the theater, so it was a pretty pathetic place to take her on a date. She agreed to meet me there anyway. Over the next two months, we saw each other almost every day while I figured out how to talk to the witch." I looked down at my hands, remembering how she would grab them and kiss my pulse point when she was overcome with emotion. "I fell for her hard." I frowned, "I never noticed that she never talked about her family or what she did when she wasn't with me. We talked about books, plays, places we have seen and places we wanted to see."

I looked at Helios, "I knew I couldn't stay there forever. Once I got the amulet, I would have to join you in Spain. I started asking her to go with me. She said she would think about it, but then one day her attendant came to replace her because her family was looking for her. That was how I found out she was a princess."

"Wait, a princess? I knew she must be related to the Queen. Does this mean she's the Queen's sister? How come she didn't come up in anything I researched when I looked them up when the council told us they would stay with us?" Theo asked. I shrugged. I didn't have the answers to his questions.

"She wasn't an assassin back then. She was sweet and had no guile. I was mad and hurt that she had kept this from me. Would I have allowed myself to fall for her if I had known? She left and I didn't see her again for a few days. I finally got the amulet, and started asking around. I found her attendant and gave her a letter. I asked her to meet me somewhere so we could talk, because I had to leave. I waited for hours and when I was finally going to give up, her attendant showed up instead. She had been delayed and begged me to meet her the next day." I struggled to keep going at this point, knowing that nothing happy happened after that point.

I felt the flashbacks threatening to assault my mind. I practiced the breathing and mental exercises that Celeste showed me. Dario was trying to calm me down and I focused on his voice and my family. They waited for me to calm down and continue. No one said a word. "I waited for an hour the next day before she showed up. She told me she couldn't go with me and I needed to go before they caught up with her. I was afraid she would be hurt, so I begged her to go with me. I considered just putting her over my shoulder and leaving with her, but I didn't want to take away her choice. Her sister showed up with a bunch of their guards. She had an argument with her. Karissa told her that she was royalty and should not be humiliating her family by choosing a dirty human as their Beloved. She told her that she would accept the proposal from the family their parents had chosen for her and told her guards to 'deal with me.' She didn't want me seen near her sister again."

Everyone growled at that and I smiled, appreciating their anger on my behalf. "The guards....well you remember how you found me. After I was able to move about again, I left to replace her. I thought she was in trouble. I spent months looking for someone to help me replace their estate. When I finally did, I snuck in. There was a party going on, so security was lax. I tried looking for her, until I heard someone talking about how romantic it was to watch the princess mark her Beloved. I left after that and spent a few months drinking the heartache away before I went back home." I lied at the end, but I was not going to tell them my biggest shame. That was something I would never tell anyone.

"She needs to leave," Natalia growled. I looked up at them and I shook my head.

"We need to get this done. Rescuing the shifters is more important than an old broken heart. If she's as good as Adrien said she is, then we could use her. I can handle it."

"Are you sure about that, Gonzalo?" Sebastian asked me, "I try not to push, but we've all seen the sadness in you since the Queen visited. Now SHE is here. That has to hurt you even more."

"I just need a few days. I will go to Omaha while she recovers in her stead. That will give me the time I need to clear my head. Celeste promised I'd meet my mate soon. That will help me clear my head. It's a big packhouse. I am sure we can spend as little time with each other as possible. I doubt she wants an old ex around her all the time."

They still didn't look convinced, so I added, "We can't return the help we've been given. It might start a conflict with the vampires and once we start raiding labs abroad, we'll need their resources and their cooperation."

They agreed in the end and I excused myself to go get some dinner. I didn't know why I fought to keep her here. Sebastian was right, it would hurt more having her around. Maybe I was just a masochistic son of a b***h. Maybe it's because you need closure - Dario suggested.