Katrina

Knox pushes the plate of food closer to me. "Please eat," he pleads.

I ignore him.

"Do you... need blood?" Knox asks hesitantly. "I can fill up a cup of mine for you."

I ignore that, too.

"Please, Luna," Knox says, and I cringe at the word. I am no Luna, especially not without my Alpha. "I promised him I would take care of you, I can't do that if you don't eat."

Of course he would arrange for someone to take care of me in case if something like this arose. Killian would never not have a backup plan.

My heart wrenches, and more tears spill down my face.

I can't stop picturing him chained to the wall, drained of all his blood. Pale, no life in his sapphire eyes.

I fight the urge to throw up.

All my fault.

I didn't know if Leo got let go, didn't care if he did or not. If I had known that Killian would be the one paying the price for his rescue, I never would have risked it.

"I'm going to go to bed," I say, my throat raspy as I get up from the table. I already sent the circulus to their respective houses, but Knox refused to leave.

"I'll escort you," Knox offers, quickly standing up.

"Go away," I beg. "Please, I need to be alone right now. I have to think of a way out of this."

"We'll figure something out," he says desperately. "We won't just accept this. We can find another Seer, get another pack to track him down. This isn't close to over yet."

I don't dare to let myself hope.

Hope always leads to disappointment.

I have to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Killian, never coming back. Never waking up with him again, never arguing with him again.

Grief hits me so hard I collapse to the floor, sobs wracking my body as the bond is flooded so harshly with my misery I can barely breathe. Knox swears under his breath, racing to me.

"I hope those tears aren't for me, darling."

No.

My breath hitches at the voice, and I look up.

Killian grins at me, and I choke on a sob.

He bends down next to me, getting on his knees with me, and wraps his arms around me, and I fall apart.

"Shh," Killian soothingly strokes my hair. "Everything is fine. I'm back."

"You're back," I repeat, still sobbing.

"I told you I would always come back for you," he whispers, his arms tightening. "You should have listened. Why don't you ever listen to me?"

I choke out a laugh, but it sounds wrong. "How are you back?"

He shows me what happened through our mindlink, and I cringe at the sight of the witch breaking his bones, stabbing him, of the illusion she showed him.

"We should get you to a healer," I say, frantically looking him over for injuries.

"Knox, can we talk later?" Killian calls out, and I forgot he was there. Knox immediately flees.

Killian cradles me in his arms, standing us up, and we fall through the in between. I frown when I see where we land.

"This isn't the infirmary," I say, my eyes narrowing. 

"It would be weird to fuck you for the first time in a hospital bed," Killian says pensively. "But I'm down for it if you are, my dear."

Air catches in my throat. "Killian, you should really-"

"Get started completing the bond now?" he suggests, kissing down my neck, and instinctively, I arch towards him. "I completely agree, mate. Smart and beautiful, boy can I pick them."

I laugh, trying to wriggle out of his iron-like grip, but he doesn't budge. "Killian, I really think we should have healer look at you, just in case."

"I could get you a sexy nurse outfit," Killian suggests, his eyes darkening. "I rather like the idea of that. Maybe your hospital fantasy isn't that wild after all."

"Killian!" I try sounding stern, but I can't stop my laughter. My emotions are running so high, I'm borderline hysterical.

"I'm fine, my love," he promises, kissing my forehead. "You would be able to feel my pain through our bond if I wasn't."

I frown, but he's right. I don't sense any pain from him, only happiness.

"Well, we should at least tell the circulus what happened," I insist.

Killian rolls his eyes. "I already mindlinked them. Quit stalling."

My cheeks heat up. "I am not stalling."

"Are too."

"Are not!"

"You're so disobedient to your Alpha," he says, playfully nipping my ear.

I yelp when he teleports us on to the bed, pinning me underneath him.

"Disobedient," he says, placing a kiss on my neck, and my back raises towards him.

"Insolent," he adds, placing another kiss closer to my mark, and I bite my tongue to stop a moan.

"Impudent." This time, he kisses directly on my mark and I gasp, my hands wrapping in his hair.

"Thesaurus and Alpha," I say breathlessly. "Who would have guessed?"

He chuckles, and my hips rise when his teeth scrape against my mark, and his hands pull my hips even closer against him.

A phone rings.

Killian snarls. "The universe seriously has something against us mating." He reaches for my phone. "Killian," he says, annoyed.

He listens on the other side of the phone, and sighs. "It's for you. You have about thirty seconds to talk to her before I teleport your phone to the bottom of Blood Lake."

Rolling my eyes, I take the phone. "Hello?"

"Everything okay?" To my surprise, it's Ares Alstott on the other end of the line.

"Fine, thank you for your help," I tell her, chills running up my spine as Killian continues kissing my neck.

"Twenty seconds," he murmurs against my skin.

"I'm happy for you and Killian," Ares says suddenly. "I told you at the Mating Gathering he was obsessed with you. I'm glad you lived."

Her kind words shock me. "Oh. Um, thank you."

"But you should know that Cain is furious with him," she states flatly. "Stay away from Blood Lake for a while. Cain wants war because Killian threatened our pup."

Her words make my blood run cold. "Ares-"

"Don't worry, I can handle it," Ares says, her voice terse. "I'm just warning you. We won't be able to be allies again."

I swallow. "Thank you."

"We're even," Ares restates. "Goodbye, Katrina."

She hangs up, and Killian plucks the phone out of my hand, tossing it carelessly to the floor and resumes his attack on my neck.

"Didn't you hear that?" I say breathlessly. "Cain wants war."

Killian laughs, unbothered and indifferent. "Cain always wants war."

"Don't you think-"

"Nope," he interrupts, kissing my lips, and I immediately yield to him.

He uses his claws to tear through my shirt, and out of instinct, I try covering myself, but his hands grab my wrists.

"Don't," he says, kissing my collarbone. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on. You don't ever have to hide yourself from me."

Killian continues kissing down my chest.

"I have a question," I say, my breathing uneven.

"Mhm, you talk entirely too much, my dear," Killian says, his lips hot on my skin.

"Why is it like this between us?" I ask quietly. The question that has haunted me since I met him.

He pauses, looking up at me, his eyes a sea of dark blue. "What do you mean?"

"Why... How is it like this with us? I mean... we aren't True Mates. But... you feel right for me." The words are hard to admit out loud after I had shoved them so deep for so long, stuck in the in between with him for so long.

His gaze turns thoughtful. "I think what happened to us, all of the Gods business... I think it changed our fates," he says softly. "It changed me. Whatever person I was supposed to be died along with my True Mate. What happened to us... It made us right for each other."

I don't know what answer I was expecting, but it wasn't that. A tear falls from one of my eyes, and Killian gently wipes it away with his thumb, like he did two years ago in Blood Lake.

"You belong here." He presses a light kiss to my lips that makes my entire body tremble. "You belong with me."

And in all my years, I have never heard something more beautiful.

More right. 

***

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