You know that vine that's like "two shots of vodka" *cookie monster crashing into dishwasher*

... yeah that's me rn.

happy reading

Her words make my heart skip a beat, but I nod as though nothing is wrong. "We can talk in Cain's office," I tell her, offering my hand to help her up, but she ignores it, smoothing her dress as she stands up.

"Wait, I wanna hear!" Gwen whines, and Axel nods in agreement.

"Not the time, Gwen," Katrina says harshly, and I wonder what she saw that made her so angry. She begins walking to Cain's office, like she already knows the way, which I suppose shouldn't surprise me.

When we get to Cain's office, I close the door behind me, thankful that it's soundproofed. Who knows what she would say to me, and who knows who may overhear. Especially since I planned on asking about dimensional travel.

Katrina crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. "How long have you been cheating on Cain?"

Of all things I expect to hear, that's the last thing I anticipate. "What?" I ask in confusion.

"I saw you kissing a male. One I don't recognize. Green eyes, brown hair," She says impatiently. "I'm going to tell Cain. I can't believe after all he went through to get you back, you'd betray him like this. I expected better from you."

She had a vision of Thane and I. Fuck. "I'm not cheating on Cain," I hiss. "Surely with your abilities, you would be able to see that I would never do that to him."

Her eyes narrow until they're small slits. "You're hiding something. You know why I had the vision. Explain everything to me or you will be explaining it to your mate."

I consider my options, which are severely limited. I could kill her, but then I would need to find another Seer.

So I decide to tell her everything.

"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. If you do, I will kill Gwen and make you watch," I threaten. I obviously wouldn't, but this is a serious issue, and her telling anyone could have any number of terrible outcomes. Starting with Cain making sure I never go after Selene.

She nods, and sits in the chair across from Cain's. I sigh, sitting down.

And so I launch into my story, telling her everything. I begin with the dreams, and end with my conversation with Helios. She listens intently, looking interested, but unsurprised.

When I'm finished, she exhales. "Well, that explains a lot."

My eyebrows pull together. "What do you mean?"

"I've had... weird feelings lately. Like something very bad of epic proportions was on the horizon. I thought I was going crazy," She laughs, and I fight the urge to tell her that she is indeed a lunatic.

"So, can you help?" I ask anxiously. "What do you know about dimensional travel?"

She frowns. "Well, nothing, actually. But don't worry," She quickly adds when she sees the look on my face. "If it is your destiny to kill Selene, then I am also likely fated to help you."

"You seem remarkably unconcerned and unsurprised by this," I say suspiciously.

Katrina shrugs. "I've known something was wrong for a while, had weird visions. Everything you're saying corroborates those, and I would know if you were lying to me."

"So how do we get another vision, specific to Helios?" I ask curiously. I don't want to beat it out of her, but I will if necessary.

Katrina pulls off both of her gloves. "Give me your hands," She instructs, and I hesitate. "I wear the gloves to stop the onslaught of visions and feelings I get when I touch people. Since I turned 18, my Gift has gotten stronger and it can be... overwhelming at times. If we make contact, there's a better chance of getting a vision."

I take her hands, and almost immediately, blood trickles out of her eyes. "Get me two pens and a piece of paper," She chokes out, her voice strained.

I pull my hands away, but it doesn't seem to stop her vision. When I hand her the pens and paper, she takes a pen in each hand and uses both of them to draw whatever she's seeing on the paper. Her eyes are completely black as she stares straight ahead, not even looking at the paper as she draws.

She gasps, and her eyes return to normal, and the blood stops. "Do you recognize this place?" She asks me, holding up the paper.

It's a drawing of an extravagant brick building. I recognize the building, but struggle with identifying where I've seen it. My heart drops when I realize when I went there.

"That's the Crimson Shadow Pack House," I say in confusion. "Why would you have a vision of that?"

Katrina looks at the drawing pensively. "I'm not sure," She says slowly. "It feels like something is blocking my Sight. Whatever the reason, Crimson Shadow is vital to your mission. What are your ties to that pack?"

I try thinking about it, but come up with a blank. "I don't have any ties with Crimson Shadow. The only person I know from there is..." My voice trails off. Killian.

He had been suspicious when I met him, making vague comments about the Moon Goddess and I. He had called her fickle. He knew something, possibly everything.

"Do you have any visions of Killian, the Alpha of Crimson Shadow?" I ask her, hoping she can tell me something useful.

Katrina shakes her head. "No, but I've never met him. It's rare for me to get visions of someone I don't know. If I saw him, I would be able to get some kind of intuition about him, maybe even a vision."

I sigh. Of course, that would be too easy. I only have one option.

I rummage through Cain's desk, until I find what I'm looking for. It's a contact sheet for all of the Alphas and their packs. I scan the document until I find Killian's name and number.

"You're just going to call him?" Katrina asks in surprise.

"Why, do you have any bad feelings about that?" I ask cautiously.

Katrina pauses. "Weirdly enough, I don't have any kind of feelings about this. Whatever you're about to do, it's fucking with my Sight for some reason."

Not a good sign, but I'm all out of options. All I could do is be direct with Killian, and hopefully he would turn out to be an ally, though I had low expectations. There was something... strange about him when I met him, and that never bodes well.

I sigh, dialing the number, already regretting my choice. The line rings a few times before he answers. "Alpha Cain?" He says in surprise, probably having Caller ID.

"No, it's me," I say through clenched teeth.

He pauses before chuckling lowly. "Ares. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He says, and it sounds more like a purr.

"What the fuck do you know about the Moon Goddess?" I ask, deciding that being straightforward would be the best way to handle this. If he was here, I probably would have sprung for something more bloody.

There's a brief moment of silence. "Which room in the Pack House are you in right now?" He asks suddenly, and his question surprises me.

I hesitate. Katrina vehemently shakes her head. Bad idea, she mouths. Unfortunately, those are the only kind of ideas I have.

"Cain's office," I answer. It's not like him knowing that would have any ill effects.

He hangs up immediately.

"What the fuck was that?" I ask Katrina.

She shakes her head slowly. "I-I don't know," She admits. "Stay away from him, Ares. He's blocking my Sight somehow, he's bad news. You can't trust him."

"It's very rude to talk about someone in such a manner right in front of them," I hear a voice say, and turn my head to see Killian laying on Cain's couch, his long legs hanging partially over the end. His arms are crossed, and his eyes are closed.

"This is a pretty comfortable couch, I may just take a nap," He continues, and I summon a knife, already winding my arm back to throw it at him.

"None of that," He says dismissively, waving his hand. "That's no way to treat a guest of my caliber. Show some of that famous Blood Lake hospitality and bring me a gin and tonic, would you?"

He grins, and opens his eyes, sitting up on the couch. He winks at me, and then his gaze falls on the Seer.

His sapphire eyes widen slightly at Katrina. "Well, well, well," He murmurs, walking towards her. "Who might you be, my dear?"

Katrina glares at him, and I swiftly move so that I'm standing in between them, holding the knife to his throat. "Don't touch the girl," I warn him.

He looks unbothered by my threat. "I was just looking for an introduction, Luna. No need to get violent."

Katrina stands up, a defiant look in her eye. "I'm Katrina. You must be Killian."

His grin widens. "Indeed, I am. What a pleasant surprise it is to meet you, Katrina." He states, holding out his hand. Katrina hesitates before giving him her hand. To my shock, he gently grabs her hand and leans down to kiss it.

Katrina's eyes widen, and she yanks her hand away. I wondered if she saw something when she touched him.

Killian reaches his hand out, gently wiping the blood from underneath one of her eyes. "A Seer," He muses, looking at the blood on his thumb when he pulls away.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Killian?" I demand, sick of him toying with the girl.

He pulls his gaze away from Katrina after a few moments. "You wanted to know about the Moon Goddess, did you not?"

I grind my teeth together, pushing the knife slightly into his neck so there's a thin line of blood. This doesn't seem to anger him, only amuse him. "What are you doing here, in my house?" I hiss, annoyed with his games.

He shrugs. "I much prefer these kinds of conversations face-to-face, do you not?" He asks rhetorically.

"How did you get in here?" Katrina asks, glaring at him.

Killian looks back to her and grins crookedly. "Shouldn't you know that already, Seer?" He taunts.

"Enough games, Killian," I growl, pressing the knife deeper, which only makes his smile widen. "What the fuck do you know?"

"I know that if you continue to press a knife to my jugular, you won't learn the information you're hoping for," He says, and his eyes suddenly darken. "I suggest removing it, or Cain will be very, very sad to find pieces of his mate's body scattered in his office."

My wolf is outraged by his threat, but he's right, there's no way he would tell me anything as long as I'm one inch away from severing his artery.

I pull the knife away, and the dark look in his gaze disappears. "Now that we're being civil with each other, I'll tell you what I know, and then you will do the same. Do we have a deal?"

My jaw clenches. "Fine, whatever. What do you know?"

Killian's eyebrows raise. "I want a Blood Oath, Luna. If I tell you about Selene, you tell me what you're planning, everything you know."

He's smart, he knows it's an unbreakable promise. I slash my knife deeply across my palm, and when he holds out his hand, I do the same to him. "I promise to tell you everything I know about Selene after you do," I vow.

He grins wickedly. "And I, you." We shake hands, his warm blood mixing with my own. The Blood Oath is complete.

I have slight peace of mind knowing that he won't be able to lie or withhold any information from me. He takes a seat next to Katrina, who moves her chair away from him slightly, and I sit across from them.

"Alright, you got your oath. Now talk," I demand.

Killian's grin is cruel, heartless as his eyes darken.

"I know you're planning on killing the Moon Goddess. And I want in."