The difficult life of a maid...

There were few advantages to working in Monsieur's tavern. Cassie knew that even in the city with the most resourceful residents ensconced in the countryside, her luck was tremendous.

Most of the tasks on offer... Heavens. The taverns around the docks offered work that was far from honest. At least at the Golden Rooster tavern… The endless list of her duties included nothing more than cooking and serving meals. Of course, among the girls…Cassie was rarely involved in the conversation. Mary Jane who supervised the kitchen in the cook's absence was always helpful. She could be excellent with knives... But when work was balancing trays with steaming bowls of food... She was the clumsy one. Everything happened...

The pile of dishes… She blinked back her frustration. Did they have to put the pile right where it might fall? Just the dirty dishes she needed to wash? It was an ordeal of fate how everything happened to her in there.

Philip had guaranteed to create a lot of trouble for her in there.

Mary Jane shook her head pitifully at the girl, with disapproving looks at the maid who was surreptitiously walking away innocently from the frame.

-Let's sort out this mess and see what we can use, Cassie. Your salary...

The girl lowered her head. Wage? Was she going to have anything leftover from her salary after so many broken dishes?

-I can't pay... If Monsieur is going to discount everything at once... I need the money for the room.

And Cassie didn't even mention the clothes or shoes or groceries she no longer had. Fruits... she couldn't remember the last time that...

-Let's find a way. And you can pay twice. Mary Jane's voice sounded confident. She got along with any girl there. Less with the newbie. The shoes she had gotten...

She shook her head with a sigh, unaware that the girl won shoes were a size too small. Cassie couldn't even put them on. There was no explanation for so much trouble with Cassie in there. The girl was helpful, though she was hardly involved in the racy conversations of the ladies there. And the tavern foreman… Mary Jane sighed. She knew the man was a cocky conqueror who thought he was the best. No woman would refuse him. He flirted with everyone there. Except with Cassie who always kept her distance.

-Have you eaten anything today, girl? The way you're losing weight...

MaryJane worried. The girl's haggard appearance. Of course, she had noticed a lot that Cassie avoided meals. On that day she had just asked them to separate some of the stew before the meats were cooked. And the girl's manner... Well, this one. Mary Jane was an experienced woman. After some time alone with the plague, she was glad to have found the perfect mate. Right from the start, noticing her withdrawn way, she wondered if Cassie was also like she preferred worried girls...

The girl was not like the others. And finishing tasks without always talking and stalling with others just got in the way. She always increased her chores. It was terribly unfair that they all got the same salary here and the girl worked harder than the others. She didn't like it at all. Cassie didn't belong in that world. She should be in a house, with a husband and children.

Maybe a heartbreak... Several times he had tried to get closer. In the first week, just as the girl started to work... The woman worried. Of course, there was only one explanation for her lack of appetite... Nausea every time they cooked the meat in the pots... Monsieur would send the girl out if she was pregnant. Reckless girl to fall in love with anyone... He had probably taken advantage of the girl and left her alone with no resources forcing her into that life.

- The girls already had lunch and...

Cassie avoided staring at Mary Jane. She also absolutely did not want to talk about her problems there. She was tired indeed, but it wasn't the tiredness that took away her appetite at all. Trying to avoid unpleasant encounters with Philip Morgan exhausted her. She didn't like that man at all. In fact, she hated it. He pestered her whenever possible.

-I'll have lunch later. Promise. - the girl said distractedly.

Mary Jane highly doubted that after watching Cassie devour the fruit that had been separated from their stock for consumption.

-Are you going to get another one? - The woman observed the girl's greedy looks. - How many were you able to eat today? A nice bowl of stew with meats...

"I'm going to eat..." Cassie sighed and smiled, biting into the apple before going out to fetch water from the well. The water there is better... The taste...

MaryJane sighed. She didn't see any difference in the taste of the water to that.

She didn't make that much of a difference. They were sour and green apples. No one there showed interest.

- Well, go. And don't delay. -she spoke slowly.

It didn't make that much of a difference. Her tasks were already done. She looked up, hiding her displeasure at the rest of the women who still stalled talking and the flirtatious gazes of the foreman. Let her delay. She would work less. Most of the chores weren't even half done in the kitchen with so much talking and it wasn't even ten o'clock in the morning.

It was much better to stay away from the girls. The foreman... His manner was irritating. She was starting to hate how he always managed to be inconvenient and get so close. She didn't like his conversations. The low-level and vulgar sex jokes.

She was avoiding the man at all costs after he caught her alone in the garden while casting. The wooing and ulterior motives with the fake smiles...

-I'm not interested. I already told you that I'm not really interested.- Cassie said, averting her face from the short, golden hair of the short, bland man. She didn't know exactly what women saw in him. He was the vulgar, uncouth type who saw ulterior motives in the simplest possible comment. She was trying at all costs to take care of chores away from the kitchen for him. He bothered her. Not that she made any difference to Richard Morgan.

Even if he knew of her situation...was he going to do anything? Would he worry about an unwanted wife?

Mayra had said that...

-The girl is alive...- Her voice was dragged between gasps of pain.

The man breathed fast, trying to ignore the pain that coursed through his body. He had been beaten and tied there without being able to get free.

-Valerius, I warned you that we are not... This poor fellow...

He was a wolf. Sorcerers were despicable and treacherous animals. Once again the wolf regretted the decision to walk away from the Tomorrow Star's crew alone. The captain had been leading search parties through the forest for nearly two weeks in pursuit of witch hunters. It had seemed all too easy and natural to slip away from the drudgery and venture into town to spend some money on booze and women.

He knew he would be a dead man if he returned to the pack in disgrace after telling them what those warlocks were after. But he also knew that their leader was a man who didn't spare his victims. Ryan was young. It was the first time he had left his clan's lands. But the recklessness had probably cost him his life. He had accidentally overheard an intimate conversation between the ship's captain and his lover in the forecastle of the Star of Tomorrow. Valerius' fame...

A girl had been brought into the pack as a child. Ryan had listened in awe as he found out who the girl was. Nobody ever noticed. It was indeed a stroke of bad luck that the girl had powerful parents. Her greatest misfortune was her father's anger who had had his daughter taken without her consent.

Valerius and his mercenaries had beaten him to death. His healing ability did not work on wounds that were applied with blades soaked in wolf grass. His skin burned. He knew that death awaited him.

How could anyone imagine?

A sorceress among wolves?

Has anyone ever noticed? The curiosity that time forced him to embark on a journey of no return.

Ryan leaving the deck of the ship that morning would never have imagined the end of the day. He should be with the privateers looking for the smugglers. The drink after several glasses had left him slightly intoxicated and prone to telling stories that had caused this bond.

He should have noticed that there were sorcerers in disguise in the tavern where he enjoyed himself in the company of women. Sorcerers were not tolerant. Humans' indiscriminate hunts for their species had made him suspicious, cautious, and determined.

The taken girl belonged to their king. She was a princess of her people and heir to the White Order. Macgrover didn't seem willing to forgive or spare the life of any wolf after he'd discovered that the pack kept their only daughter in their midst. His sentries had orders to hunt wolves without exception, without, however, attacking women and children. Except that Valerius had ordered that every live wolf captured be...

He was going to die for his imprudent decisions. Even if he escaped the warlocks, Ryan had also heard that the shaman expelled from the pack had unsuccessfully tried to master the girl's abilities. That knowledge meant a death sentence. The Council would not spare him even if he escaped.

Another loud cry of pain echoed loudly as the sorcerer once again cast the spell and his head seemed to explode. He hadn't said anything. But the images that popped into her mind even against his will showed a truth that should not be revealed.

-Kassandra...

Macgrover's James sighed deeply, his mind absorbing the images the spell brought up and his face showing boundless displeasure and fury. He knew Valerius. He was her man of absolute trust, but he was starting to overdo it.

The girl was raised among wolves as one of them. The blood coursing through her veins had aroused the interest and awe of the Council of Elders. Macgrover raged with triple rage at the memories he'd taken in of that wolf. They had given their daughter another name, he grew up among wolves like a practically abandoned cub. She was a beautiful young woman, she had the same beauty as Koriander although her bright red hair was inherited from her ancestors. The emerald green eyes indicated strong, ancient magic. The girl possessed Elemental magic. She was a primal

It was what he feared most. He needed to find her.

-Gather search groups. His voice was strong and clear.

His eyes blazed with fury, the magic fueled by negative energies like rancour and revenge. Immediately, he withdrew the dagger from his belt and cut his own wrist, letting a bloody stiletto fall to the floor. His lips softly invoked an ancient ritual in a forgotten and little-known dialect. A summoning spell. He was going to use the bloodline to summon the girl so he could find her. And a protection spell. That no one would find her if they weren't worthy. Or he could hurt her.

Valerius flashed a very satisfied smile. Everything turned out better than planned.