New Rogues In Town

Chapter 12: Saving Cassie

LISTEN TO "HUMAN" BY CHRISTINA PERRI AS YOU READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Before I knew what was going on, Carter and Luke left the room running full speed, not sparing a glance or hesitation to the situation we were already in. I didn't know what was going on with Cassie but I couldn't see anything being more important than my father's threat to the pack. While entertaining this internal battle, Joya and I shared a look for only a brief second before we rose from our seats and hurriedly followed the Alpha family to what I assumed was Cassie's side. We ran out of Luke's office, down the hallway, behind the staircase, and came to a wall. I was shocked to see the Alpha place his hand on the wall and it open up into a secret room. Joya slipped her fingers into mine and Carter gave both of us a reassuring look even though he seemed apprehensive and anxious. Whatever was going on down there wasn't too horrific or dangerous, otherwise Carter wouldn't have allowed us there, even if it was his sister.

As soon as the door opened the aroma of bleach and lemons assaulted my nose. Thinking I was heading down into some deep, dark, grungy basement filled with cobwebs and dust,  I was surprised at the instant brightness and sleek white walls that adorned the stairs we descended. As we neared the last few steps, I heard several sounds, beeps, and faint whispers. Once we reached the bottom, my heart caught in my throat and I knew I practically stopped breathing. Joya's grip on my hand tightened in a very painful way but I endured it. I knew she was scared. There, directly in front of me, with tubes stuck out everywhere, laid the Alphas' daughter, Cassie. Baldness replaced her bouncy auburn ringlets. Her shinning emerald green eyes seemed to be the color of stone. The dark circles and sunken in cheeks contrasted her pale sheath skin and the sight brought tears to my eyes. She was just a little girl. To see her in that fragile state was the second saddest thing I had ever seen. Watching my brother die was the first. 

I felt a tug and realized the tingling sensation I had been feeling was actually Carter holding my hand. He was standing between me and J and I hadn't even realized the point when he assumed that position. He gave me an assuring smile and looked back at Cassie.

"Girls, this is my sister Cassie. She is 13 years old and is dying of Multiple Myeloma. It's a very complicated blood cancer caused by the overgrowth in the bone marrow of an immune cell called a plasma cell. It secretes protein into the bloodstream. The malignant plasma cells also burrow into the hard bones of her body and causes little holes called "lytic lesions." It weakens some bones and causes them to fracture. She can't walk or move. She is spoon fed because moving her jaw could cause it to break. Her bones are the consistency of plastic compared to normal bones. We don't know why she got it, what she did to deserve this. In the last year it has gotten rapidly worse.

"Why isn't her wolf healing her?" Joya whispered almost instantly.

Wolves have the highest immune systems of all animals. We rarely ever get sick and when we do, our healing time is less than a third of humans. We still feel the pain immediately with the same intensity as anyone else, just for less time. I have never seen a werewolf get cancer of any kind.

"Cassie was born without a wolf. We don't know why that happened either. Mom fears it has something to do with human blood in her lineage, but we can't be sure. My dad tries to convince her otherwise. She carries a lot of unnecessary guilt over it. But since Cassie has no super healing like we do, she can't get better. She feels just like a human feels. This is what I was trying to tell you both earlier in my dad's office. The reason I am out so much at work is because I am looking for a cure. I haven't told my parents because they don't want anyone to know about her condition and use experimental drugs on her. We can't have a normal doctor treat her because the specialist pack doctors we've brought in says she still has a live  dormant wolf gene somewhere in her blood stream trying to fight off the infection. That's why she has lived longer than normal humans would. She's still dying, just at a slower pace. We can't have our regular pack doctor look at her because we don't have medicine to heal this kind of sickness. Even if we did, it would be too strong for her to take. It would kill her. I have tried to find trustworthy help but, I haven't gotten close."

"Cassie and I were so close when she was a baby. I begged Mom and Dad for a little sister and when she finally came along, I was elated. We used to do everything together. I took her to the park and would push her on the swings. Her favorite thing to do was ride the Merry-Go-Round. Then on the week days, when she was done with her school work, she would come help me piddle around with the cars at the shop. Dad let me start working there when I was only thirteen, the same age as Cassie now. One day about three years ago, I was in my office making phone calls when I heard her scream. By the time I reached her, she was on the ground in a puddle of blood. Her bones were contorted and I thought she was trying to shift and something went wrong.That is when we found out about her disease. It just happened so fast." Carter confessed as he wiped a tears from his eye.

There stood this big, strong, god of a man. His arrogant jerkiness was gone. His sexy smirk was wiped away and was replaced with tears. I have never seen a man cry before. I felt the protecting my heart shatter into a million pieces. I felt vulnerable and exposed. At that moment I could only squeeze his hand and kissed his tears off of his cheeks.

Joya sobbed into Carter's shoulders and I returned my focus to the scene that played out before me. Luke spoke off in the corner with the doctors. They told him that she didn't have much longer, weeks, maybe a month and I could feel the dread and uneasiness rolling off of him. Jemma rubbed Cassie's sweat off of her head as she tried so hard to open her mouth to eat. Apparently, it was painful and took great effort. She smiled at Cassie adoringly and I could tell how much she loved her daughter. Luke and the doctors had also stopped going over data and watched the scene.

Carter placed J in my arms and kissed my cheek. I felt a sensation deep in my stomach as if I had swallowed a thousand lightening bugs and they were glowing inside of me. I knew I shouldn't have that feeling considering all the negativity around us with my dad coming to find me and Cassie being sick, but I was thankful in that moment for his small gesture. He walked over to his little sister  and took his mother's place feeding her. He told her about J and I being his mates. He told her that he loved us but she would always be his #1 girl. I thought I seen a slight smile cross over her face at her brothers confession. That's when I made up my mind. I would not watch Carter's sister die like I watched my brother die. I had to make her better and I knew that I could.