Caterina Kai slips his hand into mine, and we walk towards the woods behind Volkov Estate. I couldn’t see the eclipse with my naked eye, but I could feel the power and pull it held. It is close to 20 minutes before the ritual starts, and to say that I am anxious is putting it pretty lightly. But with Kai at my side, I knew I had no reason to worry; if only the knot in my stomach would understand. I see the Volkov Witches standing at the edge of the woods with Konstantin, Nikolai and Dimitri alongside them. “Walk towards the witches. I will go to my brothers,” Kai says and squeezes my hand. As we near them, Kai lets go of my hand and walks towards the left side where his brothers are while I go to the witches. Kaede smiles as she senses me approaching. “Caterina,” she greets me and holds her hand out for me to take. I feel nothing but warmth coming from her as I do so, no ill feelings or harm, just pure warmth.
Caterina Kai urges me to run from him, something he wouldn’t do unless I were in danger, so I shift and take off. I don’t understand what’s happening, but something felt terribly wrong. What was happening?! Why did Kai have two irises? Is it his Lycan beast trying to take hold of his body? “Caterina?? What the fuck is going on?” I hear Konstantin through the mind link and nearly topple over as I run. I forgot that I am a part of the Blood Crest pack now! “Konstantin! It’s Kai; he’s… something is wrong!” I say, trying to find my way deeper into the forest and away from the town and the rest of the pack. “What do you mean? Is he okay?” Came the voice of Dimitri this time, intertwined with Nikolai’s voice, asking what happened. “I don’t know, after he claimed me with a bite, something happened and, when he looked at me again, his… his eyes were… it’s like they were split in two.” This was the best way I could describe wha
Kai The murderous intent coming from Xamnir nearly knocked me out cold, and I pulled Caterina behind me. Xamnir has cold blue eyes, hair so light it looks translucent, and a body built the same as mine. Everything about him screamed the word ‘Alpha’; I could see where our bloodline got its appearance from. I know if I had to take him on, I would come out second best. “Kai?” Caterina says, gripping my arm tight. “Who… who is this?” I look back at her, the fear clearly showing in my eyes and mouth the word. “Xamnir.” Her eyes widen as I say this, and her head whips to look at the Wolf God. “Why… Why is he here?” She asks the most obvious question, but how do I tell her that he’s here to devour her heart? I look back at Xamnir and growl. “What do you want, Xamnir? I already told you my mate is not up for grabs.” I say, gripping her tightly. He throws his head back and laughs. “You misunderstand, vessel; she’s not
Caterina Something is wrong; something is definitely wrong! “What the fuck is happening, Caterina? Why did Kai tell us to run?!” Nikolai asks while we all head in the direction of the estate. “He’s trying to protect us from… from Xamnir,” I answer through the link as a barrage of questions hits me simultaneously. They all look at me as if I’ve gone mad. “Xamnir?! Xamnir appeared?” Konstantin asks. “Yes! They were talking about a prophecy and… and killing me,” I say, my running coming to a halt as I realise what I had just said. I’m sure that’s what I heard. Xamnir kept on talking about devouring me as Kai was trying to protect me and rejecting the idea, but I had a feeling that Kai knew this would happen. He knew about my death and that he would be the one to kill me. I stop, then shift back and sit on my haunches while holding my knees. If Kai dies while fighting Xamnir, what would be the point of me g
Kai I’ve failed; I failed miserably even after being confident that I would kill Xamnir. Now he would go after Caterina and devour her heart. He will become a God amongst Gods, and I could do nothing to stop him! What kind of Alpha am I? “Kai…” I hear someone whisper my name, but I see nothing around me but darkness. Is this the place Caterina always saw when she would see my wolf? Is this my own personal Hell where I would live out the rest of my days mulling over all my faults and failings? It would be apt since I have done nothing to protect my pack. “Are you going to be that sorry sack of bones as you greet me?” I hear a familiar voice but dare not look into the face of the person I failed first. Viktor walks towards me with a smile on his face, and I can do nothing but break down in his presence. I fall to my knees, letting out an anguished roar as he wraps his arms around me. “I don’t blame you, b
Caterina I don’t understand what’s happening at all. Kai is back, but he seems different; that bloodthirstiness always on his scent is gone. In its place is something more primal, more alert and a lot more powerful. But all that amplified as soon as he put that heart to his lips. Kai lets out a painful roar after devouring the heart, and he falls to the ground, gripping his chest. I reach out to touch him, but someone pulls me back by my waist, and when I turn around to see who it is, my heart stops. “Konstantin?!” I exclaim with wide eyes, even more so when my eyes fall on the other brothers. “What… Oh my god!” Crying out, I throw my arms around them and sob, knowing that I will not need to mourn for their deaths. “I saw Xamnir tearing out your hearts! How is this possible?” “I think she had something to do with it,” Dimitri says and gestures behind me to the woman kneeling at Kai’s side, a very familiar-looki
Caterina Kai walks me back to the edge of the woods and we put on the clothes left before the ritual. “I’ve found out a lot of things while visiting the realm of the dead, including who the real traitor is,” Kai says while he slips on his jeans. I frown as I get into my sundress and heels. "Real traitor? I thought the twins were behind everything?” Kai shakes his head and buckles his belt. “No, they played a minor role in this. The real culprit has been hiding in plain sight, feeding our secrets to Andretti.” He says, then slips his hand into mine. “I’ll let my brothers know to meet us back home.” We walk the rest of the way to the car in silence, odd since we literally just had a life or death experience together. Everything feels a bit anticlimactic - we just went through Hell and now we’re waltzing hand in hand back to the penthouse like nothing happened. Like Kai didn’t have his heart ripped out by an old god.
Caterina I can’t believe we just had a fight right after we almost lost one another for good. But I know if I stayed around him right now, the fight would just become worse. Thank God for Konstantin showing up when he did because a lot more would have come out of my mouth if he didn’t. Was I wrong for acting out as I did? He had no right to withhold information about my parents from me but did it anyway. “The thing with Kai that you have to understand is that he will always do what he thinks is best, even if you don’t see it that way.” Konstantin breaks the silence as we drive away from the estate. I scoff and shake my head. “Even so, he had no right to keep it from me,” I say with pursed lips, and he chuckles. “To be fair, Caterina, I am the one who found out about your parents. When I told Kai about them, he said he would keep it from you because you passed out with a bloody nose on the night of Viktor’s pyre.” He says, keep