"Will he come back?" Charlotte's voice echoed in the darkness of the room.

"Who? Angel?" asked Michael without filtering his thoughts and regretting it instantly.

"Seriously, Michael?! I know you cannot help thinking of him but there is no need to remind me of that on every given occasion. No, not Angel. I am not afraid of Angel. Your little lover can't and wouldn't eviscerate me given a chance as much as he dislikes me, but Kiril can and would," said Charlotte with clear annoyance in her voice, sitting up.

"I am sorry, Char, really," he answered grabbing her arm so she wouldn't leave their bed. "It's not what you think though. I need to see Angel and Samira. I need Angel to surrender his power to me. And Samira... I am really uncertain about what happened in Nigeria and why she is there with them and didn't stay with us. To be honest I disregarded her completely and need to make things right."

"You sure did. You didn't even ask her how she was because you were too busy ogling Angel. You need to get your shit together and you need to fill me in asap, because I have the feeling there is more you didn't tell me."

"I didn't because if you know, Kiril can read it in your mind so it's safer for you if you don't."

"What exactly?" asked Charlotte suspiciously. "Mila didn't run away, did she? Where is she? Michael for god's sake just let Kiril have her before he kills us all. Your loyalty to Erik isn't worth all our lives."

"Charlotte you don't understand. It's not about Erik anymore, it stopped being about Erik and his girl quite some time ago. Now it's about the survival of our kind. If Kiril becomes Lycan King he will exterminate us. It will be the end of us all."

"I hate to admit it but, given his behavior so far, your theory does make sense. He is likely trying it again another way than the previous time," sighed Charlotte. "But do you think you can beat him in combat? If Angel is on your side the alpha powers would be divided equally but he likely has an ace or two up his sleeve."

"Yes... unfortunately. That's why Mila is the only leverage we got over him. Because he seems to be really invested in her for whatever reason."

"So where is she? And what is the plan?"

"I... made a deal with The brotherhood of the right faith. They will aid me in combat and the only thing they want in return is to capture him."

"What is that and why do you think they can help us?"

"Human mages that Kiril seems to have pissed off really bad at some point in the past that they would do anything to get back at him."

"Interesting... And what exactly did he do?"

"None of my business as long as the enemy or my enemy is willing to be my friend. Charlotte..." said Michael hesitantly again leaning over her and grabbing her face. "I want you to go in hiding till everything is over. Brother Vladimir said that this evening they would set the first bait for Kiril. Maybe not at first but eventually he will know that I was involved and I don't want to give him any leverage over me."

Somehow Charlotte wasn't that susceptible to the idea though.

"Is it really that or do you want me to be out of the way when you will ask Angel for a favor?"

"Stop it, Charlotte. Will it always spiral back to that? I made a mistake and I apologized not stop rubbing it in my face till kingdom come," said Michael. He ended up being the one that stood up from the bed and left the room annoyed.

He started walking towards the forest. It was a warm summer night, everything felt pleasant except his thoughts. Brother Vladimir said the plan was simple, they would lure Kiril to Mila and then trap him. They were quite confident they could on their own. Michael had his doubt so his own plan was to wait with the pack ready to interfere and kill him altogether.

But for that, he needed Angel's power. Given the current status of their relationship, he wasn't sure it would be that easy he would have to ... persuade him, and if he would not be persuaded then force him. Angel was just a little pawn in the power play and he had to obey.

Better to speed up the process, he thought, remembering Mila's pale face. That girl really wasn't looking good, if something was to happen to her before the plan was concluded they would have way bigger issues. The members of the brotherhood didn't seem to know who or what she was, they were happy with the information they were fed that she was Kiril's mate and he would come for her.

Michael took out his phone and shot Angel a short text asking him to meet, then he turned to his beast form and started running towards his cabin. When he arrived it was already late and he was tired but the faint smell he felt inside the house made him alert.

Kiril. Kiril had been there with Angel. What in Christ's name were they doing there? Did Kiril force him to show him the place? Most likely. Annoyed out of his mind he followed the smell to the bathroom where he found some recently worn clothes, reeking of Kiril, a pair of jeans with a ripped button.

What the fuck had been going on there? It didn't make sense but he couldn't stop the images from forming in his head. Before his mind's eye, everything was just a tangle of sweaty naked bodies, of Angel moaning and looking him defiantly in the eyes while Kiril was touching him roughly and boldly like only he was allowed to touch him. Angel was his!

And like it often happens, once you open the door to some thoughts they just avalanche and invade your mind. Just like that Michael couldn't help feeling a lot of contradictory feelings. That he loved Angel still, longed and lusted for him, and that he might just be with someone else now. And not just anybody but his enemy, his very manly, tall, handsome enemy with a sharp jawline and an even sharper accent, just like Angel liked it.

That was stupid. Kiril didn't even like men. Or did he? Maybe he liked both, Michael never really cared, Kiril was never his type, if something he really disliked him and his arrogant, self-centered, prickish way, but he had to admit he probably was Angel's type to some extent.

He had not been jealous in many years, he had somehow always been sure of Angel's love and fidelity so that he never had to but now... Now it hit him like a wrecking ball and he was suddenly very very jealous and angry and he wasn't even sure which feeling was stronger.

The whole frenzy of thoughts was interrupted by a familiar smell. Angel opened the door abruptly and, before Michael could say anything, felt his fist collide with his jaw.

"You son of a bitch! What did you do? Where is Mila? And don't tell me you don't know because I don't fucking believe you."

Michael had never seen him like that in all the years together, livid with anger and full of determination. All these feelings being directed against him.

"Angel, calm down!"

"Do not fucking tell me to calm down! Do you have any idea what you have done?! Did you do minimal research before associating with those people?"

"Angel! I did what had to be done!" screamed Michael back. "Listen to me."

"Oh, it so looks like you didn't. Or you didn't give a shit. Tell me where they brought Mila!"

"Angel you need to surrender your power to me."

"Are you even listening to me, you self-centered prick? I will not surrender shit to you. If you want my power you will have to kill me."

"Angel, don't force me to hurt you."

"Hurt me? You already did countless times, a punch to the face is just once more."

"Calm down! We need the brotherhood to take care of Kiril. Everything is under control. They must already have set the bait if everything went well."

"So you knew. So you knew what they were doing? And you agreed for them to do that?! Did you help them? Did you tell them how?!" screamed Angel again and before Michael could grasp the situation all water pipes in the house burst, raining cold drops over them while Angel was leaping forward with bared fangs and claws.

Michael's instincts kicked in in the end and wind and fire erupted out of nowhere. All the furniture was in flames and flying towards Angel.

"Where is she?!" Angel continued unintimidated.

Michael noticed how different he was, so brave and even powerful, it made him see the boy in a different light and somehow he was impressed and irritated at the same time.

This time he didn't swallow another hit to the face but grabbed Angel's shoulder and slammed him against the floor. He didn't oppose much, he likely didn't know how to do that efficiently, Michael was much bigger and stronger and Angel had never been a fighter.

"I told you to calm down!" screamed Michael. "I don't have time for this. If you said that the plan is already in action then I have to get there and make sure everything goes well."

"Where? Where are they? And what do they plan to do to him?"

"Kill him. That's the only way and only with their help we can actually do it."

Angel's eyes narrowed in anger and what looked like despair, feelings that Michael didn't quite understand in that context. He didn't understand Angel's anger. It didn't make sense. The little moment of inflection only helped to distract him and Angel's palm, charged with a strange energy, touched his body and suddenly he felt his blood flow distrusted by that strange force.

It was powerful and frightening because it felt so natural like a heartbeat like blood flowing but it was working against the natural order of things.

"What are you doing?!"

"The right thing," huffed Angel under the weight of Michael's body over him. "Saving Mila. And Kiril..."

"No!" Michael panicked, jumped up, and flung Angel's body with all the might of the wind power against the adjoined wall, so hard the wall splintered. When he realized what he had done, Angel was on the floor bleeding out of his mouth, nose and ears.

For a few seconds, Michael only stared at the scene. What had he done? He just wanted to run to Angel and cradle him in his arms and at the same time, he was afraid to do so and search for a pulse that was missing. In the end, he convinced himself that he would notice if he were dead because the alpha power would seep into him, so he concluded he wasn't, and there were more important things he had to do, he had to prevent the apocalypse that seemed to have started early. So he didn't, so he just sighed regretfully and walked out on his bleeding love to help decide the fate of the world.

He didn't want to do that to Angel but he had provoked him, it was all his own fault and that of Kiril. Angel had raised his hand against him first and was completely delusional. It wasn't his fault it was the situation and he had to act in the spirit of the greater good to save their kind.

The monks said that they would contact him when they were ready but if Angel was right Kiril must be already with them. Did they kill him alone? If yes his Alpha powers would be loose again and the packs would gather to claim the titles. Did he kill them? If yes he would know rather soon when Kiril would be coming for him.

The rustling of leaves made him stop and turn his head. In the light of the half-moon Katharina came forth from behind the trees. She wasn't wearing clothes which meant she just turned back.

"Was willst du?/ What do you want?"

"Rate mal.../ Guess."

Michael just frowned in annoyance. "Ich habe keine Zeit, was auch immer das ist was du willst./ Whatever it is that you want, I don't have time."

"Warum diese Eile wenn du nicht Mal weißt wohin?/ Why are you in such a hurry if you don't even know where to go?"

Michael acknowledged astonished that she was right. He didn't actually know where they were. At first, it made sense for him not to know, so Kiril wouldn't find out by reading his mind, but now it was rather necessary.

"Out of all places where Vladimir could have gone around here I would say the dungeon near Inverness makes the most sense."

Michael noticed the familiarity with which she said his name. Could it be that they knew each other? Katharina had been... a Nazi and the brotherhood was indeed connected to them. Damn it. He didn't think of that.

"What do you want? Do you actually want to help me? I doubt you want to do it out of the goodness of your heart. I know you too well for that, Katja."

"Well. While I was tied up to the bed and nobody seemed to care, I had a lot of time to think and assess my situation. I want to help you to become Lycan King. Simply because I don't want Kiril to have that power and well... we actually know each other for quite a long time. We can come to an arrangement. I could be... say your... Prime Minister."

Michael didn't particularly like the situation but he couldn't be picky. He realized that the brotherhood might have more power than he thought and they might actually try to play him. He couldn't let that happen. If by any chance they would harvest Kiril's power that would be awful.

"How did you escape if you said that Kiril tied you to the bed?"

Katharina looked at him smiling satisfied. He had taken the bait.

"I never said it was Kiril. Samira did. Then retribution came in mysterious ways though, when she suddenly went all crazy and wanted to murder anyone in that house. I took advantage of their distracted attention and of the flying shards to escape. I followed your lover here. I must say you left him in quite a nasty state. Ruthless, Michael. Who would have thought you have it in you... And here I am. So your future highness... Let's go!"

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Quite some mystery and misery are to follow. Enjoy!