"Hallo Michael, tolle Vorstellung. Engelchen hat gar nicht erzählt dass er dein Mädchen ist. Sag Mal, ist Rotkäppchen bei dir?/ Hello Michael, great show. Little Angel didn't say that he was your girl. Tell me, is red riding hood with you?"

Michael just stared at her, mouth agape being quite convinced he was hallucinating.

"Was zur Hölle? Träume ich? Das muss ein scheiss Albtraum sein./ What the hell? Am I dreaming? This must be a damn nightmare."

"Spricht du so mit deiner Luna?/ Is that how you address your Luna?"

Michael was still incapable to comprehend what was going on.

"Stand up, both of you. Michael, I have asked you something. Where is Erik's mistress?"

"How?" he continued still incredulous and shocked.

"It's a long and really unpleasant story," said Angel nudging him. Acknowledging him, made Michael recover his senses a little bit.

"Stand up, both of you, and bring me to that goddamn girl. I will enjoy clawing that bastard out of her and peeling her skin off slowly until she begs for death. Nobody touches my mate and lives to brag about it."

"Well... technically, Erik was the one chasing after her because it seems he is as much her mate as he was yours. But I agree with her on one point. Michael, cariño, bring us to Mila. I want to get rid of this partnership of ours."

Michael's mind was overstimulated. First of all, the sheer presence of Katharina was making him think he was mad. Then, if by any chance he wasn't, he could tell with certainty that Mila surely wouldn't survive that encounter, because it looked like Mila herself didn't have any powers at all.

On the other hand, Erik's child had a tremendous amount of them that it couldn't control, so frightening and dangerous ones even, that he had to accept that Charlotte had been right and they were a danger to everyone.

So it came that, as conflicted as he was, he had to tell Mila and her friend that they had to leave his house. Mila was a liability and her child was a walking death bringer. Mila wasn't powerful after the events that made her a goddess, she was weak and dangerous to her and others. It was not without feeling guilt but Michael was telling himself that he was doing what was best for the pack, Charlotte, and his child. It was probably indeed best to not meddle in the conflicts among gods, however, if someone was going to kill Mila they would probably face again the end of the world unless someone was going to take hold of Selene's power again.

He gave it a deep thought and concluded it would be best if that happened in a controlled manner. That meaning, that he was going to kill Mila himself after he decided who was going to be moon goddess in her place. It had to be someone strong, trustworthy, and willing to sacrifice. Charlotte fitted all these criteria, still, carrying his child as she was, that wasn't an option. He had to sacrifice someone for the greater good. But who?

Then his eyes acknowledged Katharina again, or whatever that creature was. She was, or used to be strong, determined, faithful to their pack... trustworthy was a question though, willing to sacrifice... Not really, but the promise of power might tempt her. He needed to buy himself some time to better assess the situation, understand what Katharina was, where she came from, and if she could be a potential ally.

He didn't want to think about Angel but it was unavoidable. He was there, just in front of him, they just had had sex minutes ago, sex that Charlotte was going to smell on him...

Mila was in Edinburgh now, guarded by only two girls, that he managed to subtract from Charlotte's inventory after they had had a long fight where she was trying to convince him to either kill her or let her fend for herself. Even if in some way he agreed with Charlotte, he also had some sort of duty towards Erik, as dead as he might be, he was going to kill his child. 

He hoped the baby was going to stay put for the time being, because if humans were going to notice that something supernatural was happening, he would have to eliminate her rather sooner than later. He was going to, he had to, his duty was to the pack above everything and everyone. 

Ok, but let's go step by step.

"Ich weiß nicht wo Sie ist./ I don't know where she is," he lied.

He blinked again a few times to make sure it was indeed real what he was seeing and continued, "kommt mit, wir müssen ein langes Gespräch führen./ come with me to the house, we need to have a long conversation."

Charlotte was going to be as shocked as he was, thought Michael, and Katharina's presence was going to stir quite some havoc among the anyway unruly pack. That wild ride was becoming wilder and wilder.

All three turned into their wolf form and ran to the house following Michael. At that point, nobody was there. Charlotte was out in town and he didn't consider needing any guards.

"You, come with me, we need to talk. Alone," he said to Angel turning back to his human form when they arrived. "Wir sind gleich wieder da, warte kurz, Kathy, in Ordnung? Du kannst duschen und Kleidung von Charlotte ausleihen./ We will be right back, wait a bit, Kathy, okay? You can shower and borrow some clothes from Charlotte."

He didn't wait for an answer and dragged Angel to his office slamming the door shut.

"What the fuck? How?! And what on earth do you have to do with it? Huh? Is it some perverse way to get back at me?" asked Michael angry.

Angel frowned and scoffed annoyed.

"Are you alright, Angel? Are you hurt? I am happy to see you. How have you been? I have missed you. This is your way of saying all these? Sometimes you really are an insensitive jerk and you almost make me forget why I love you."

Michael clenched his fist and pressed his teeth together.

"We don't have time for this crap right now. What is she? Was she never dead? Is it even her? She does sound, look and smell the same."

"Crap? Did you always think my feelings were crap?! I went and still am going through hell and you walked away on me and started pretending to be straight and playing house. Will you tell Charlotte about what happened right now?" screamed Angel back, ignoring Michael's questions.

Michael felt the bile rising in his throat. He didn't want to think about these things, feel these feelings, he had enough problems already.

"Angel. I have huge problems to deal with. You have no idea. Stop being a child throwing a tantrum."

"Tantrum? Do you care about me at all? What a dumb question... that you already answered. I guess love is indeed like a fart, if you force it, it's most probably going to be crap. And here I  am forcing it desperately because I love you, because you are the one and only for me, and still, now feel the crap in the air. Maybe I was loving the wrong person all alone, narcissistic, egoistic, delusional asshole, that you are, " screamed Angel even louder and walked close to Michael frowning at him. He was angry and couldn't keep his eyes from shining when he looked up at the significantly taller Michael.

Michael was just as angry and pinned him against the wall grabbing his throat, eyes shining and claws scraping his skin. Angel, or rather this new side of him, that was somehow bolder and more powerful in a strange way, was driving him crazy. How comes he didn't understand him at all, how comes he didn't understand that he was Alpha, that the duty to the pack was sacred and above everything else? He was after all Alpha too but he just seemed to have abandoned his own pack without caring. He was also a father and that was something Angel couldn't understand, there were more important things than him in life. But still... the way he made him feel. As much as he would want that, as much he was fond of and even loved Charlotte, he never felt towards her passion like that.    

Even if in that brief moment he really felt he hated Angel he also wanted to smother that smart mouth of his in kisses and make him moan again and again instead of screaming at him.  

And for just a moment he lost control again, like in the woods when he felt out of the blue, the wind carrying his sent. He kissed him deeply while his hand was still choking him. 

Just this time, Angel didn't seem to want to submit like he always did, realized Michael while he felt his elbow digging strongly into his abdomen. 

"Get off me," hissed Angel pushing him away. "What were you thinking, eh? That you can maybe fuck me once again just like that because you can and you feel like it? Because I am always available? Maybe over Erik's desk? Guess what, I am not fond of being a side piece, who would have thought. Acting all dutifully, blaming and lecturing me and look at you. Bring me to Mila! And after that, I don't want to see you ever again."

The rejection hit Michael like a bucket of cold water. What was he doing? It was good that it didn't escalate again, though a part of him desired that deeply. 

"Angel, listen to me. Mila does not have powers. Any at all. Not sure what you want with her but she cannot help you. And Erik's child is dangerous, I don't know how on earth it does that but it can stop your body from functioning and nobody can control it, not even Mila."

Michael observed how the anger on Angel's face changed into desperation. His lower lips started trembling slowly. 

"That cannot be. We saw her both absorbing the Moon Godesse's power and then she banished Lucius's soul. That was magic, you are talking bullshit. Where is she?"

"What do you want with her? Tell me already!" screamed Michael exasperated.

"I want her to break the bond to Katharina. Only a god can! But if she can't what the fuck am I going to do now?" he says and a tear was showing in the corner of his left eye. 

"Get your shit together and tell me what bond you are talking about. What is Katharina?"

That wasn't quite the reaction Angel expected and continued shaking and looking desperate. 

"Tell me!"

"A fucking parasite, that's what she is. She is feeding on me and I cannot kill her because that would mean I will die too. Call me a pussy but I don't really feel like dying just yet and not like this."

Dying. Michael wasn't quite understanding and was thinking maybe Angel was being dramatic as he sometimes had the tendency to be. 

"Where did she come from?" he continued digging. He needed to know what was going on. 

"Nodin," said Angel hiccuping, trying to suppress his tears. "He..., he studied necromancy. All these months. He was trying to get Mei back from the dead. He is crazy and even dug up a piece of Anima Mundis and had a book with titan magic. He, he made me help him perform a spell but that went all wrong. And..." his voice broke. 

"Angel, concentrate. You are an Alpha god damn it not a teenage girl. What happened after?"

"The..., he summoned the Earth Goddess, or she just sensed he was doing forbidden magic and came and..., and she seems to be searching for Mila that is on earth. But for some reason, she cannot search herself, so ... so, she made Katharina's body from clay, just like Nodind did for Mei, and tied her to me so she can live and find and kill Mila for her."

"Oh... shit...," was the only thing Michael could bring out. 

"Yeah. You know what? This beautiful little episode just made me realize our relationship is indeed finally over as my fucking life also is probably going to be soon. I would really like to see Mila, it just seems that if I do, the crazy bitch outside is going to torture and kill her so I would rather not do that to my friend and her unborn baby. And it frightened me that she relied on you for help because you clearly would sacrifice her in a heartbeat as you would everyone else for this fucking greater good that only you can envision. Where is she?"

"In Edinburgh."

"Alone?"

"No, with Marianne and Ana."

"With two girls that are barely adults?!" said Angel rolling his eyes. "Now don't you dare telling Katharina. If you do, I will kill you? You might think I can't but so did Amaru."