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My blood boiled, anger blocking out the surfacing feelings of dread. I wasn't able to register the sadness that was surely echoing through my brain, and wracking my body.

"Get out."

The words that came from my mouth dripped with venom. I knew it was misdirected but I couldn't stop the harsh words from falling out. I had stepped closer into the room, but I stood firm in the doorway. I couldn't make my legs move closer to Isaac's body. Destiny walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders, her piercing eyes bore into mine. I suddenly found the strength to move, pushing her off.

"You could have stopped it, done something!" My voice began to break. Salty tears began to run down my face. I frantically wiped at my cheeks. I wanted to shut my body down and let myself sit in bed for a week.

I could see it now; see myself curled up on the bathmat in the bathroom. Just like when I was sick as a kid. I wouldn't change my clothes. People would bring food that would spoil in the fridge because I couldn't bring myself to eat. Klayton would pretend to be tough even though I know it is killing him. He would drown himself in work and come home late at night just to not sleep.

Until one day I get up.

And for a while, we fall into a menial routine —because doing something is better than doing nothing. Maybe I would finally start going back to school or I would drop out altogether and get a job. Klayton would insist I don't need one —that he can provide for us. We would quarrel about it, but I would end up winning. I would work at a coffee shop, maybe the library or a gas station.

A gas station.

Just like the one where Issac and I first met.

The thought made me snap back to reality. No time had truly passed, and Destiny still stood in front of me. However, now her arms laid limp at her sides.

"You have to use this Adira, this anger, this power that you feel,"

I knew what she meant. This is the only way I would kill Artemis, letting my anger fuel me. Except, I had to be smart.

Artemis would expect retaliation. She knew there was no way I could let this go. However, she is betting that it will be manic; that I will be unable to control my anger and will make a mistake.

"Where is she?" I ask while glancing at Issac, making my heart skip a beat. I swear I could feel my chest constrict, the tightness threatening to make me collapse. I stood my ground, welcoming the pain and pushing it to the back of my mind.

I can use it later.

"I'm not sure... probably waiting for you to come to find her," Destiny said. She could see where my eyes gazed and she sighed. However, her perfect appearance; nails freshly painted black and unsmudged makeup proved that death was not new to her.

"No, not Atrmetis. His mate," I say as my eyes dance back to hers. Destiny looked taken aback at my sudden change, but she gave me the answer I needed.

"She's not from Myserdale, she is from a town about two hours from here —where Klayton was for pack business earlier. I am sure he would take you there if you wanted," she offers.

"Thank you," I say, as I finally feel my feet move towards the edge of the bed. I looked down at my friend. I couldn't believe that in one second he was breathing and now he was not; I could barely fathom how it was possible. I started questioning my own beliefs, wondering where Issac was now.

"I would advise against it though, she doesn't know her mate is dead. I am sure she feels something... but she won't know. Telling her could break her —drive her to the brink of insanity." I could feel Destiny behind me, her words eliciting my anger.

"I thought I told you to leave," I didn't turn around when I said it. I am sure she would get the message. Despite my response, I took her words to heart. I would find Everleigh eventually but I wouldn't tell her what I knew. I would just make sure she lives like Issac, unconditionally loved.

Destiny did leave. She left me with Issac, where I stood beside the bed. I wanted to touch him but I didn't. I needed to remember him as warm, as happy, not dead and cold. However, I couldn't stop marvelling at him. He didn't even look like himself, his corpse almost felt empty. In a way it made it better, leaving me with a strange hope that the real Issac was safe somewhere.

Klayton joined me eventually. He had fled home at the news.

The strong Alpha, looked destroyed.

He didn't speak. I am sure he didn't trust himself to say anything without crying. Men don't cry. The familiar saying ran through my head, but at a time like now, if Klayon didn't cry I wouldn't consider him a man... or even human.

When he finally chose his words, they startled me.

"I'm going to kill her."

Silence filled the air. This was a man who, not too long ago, idolized the Moon Goddess. She was the reason he was alive. Even though I knew he turned against her, hearing these words come out of his mouth still shocked me to my core.

Yet, the more I thought about it, they didn't.

Artemis had killed Issac. Issac, the Beta. The man who knew more about Klayton than anyone else, including me. I loved Klayton now but I will never really grasp how he lived a life before me —Issac had seen it all. Now Klayton would have no one to share those memories with... and despite his own words, I corrected him.

"No Klayton, I am."

They were the last words said before we left Issac's body there. I refused to believe that Issac was stuck in that corpse. He was still somewhere on this earth, and I made a promise to him. I was already going to kill Artemis.

But now the motive was revenge.

~

The next couple days were slow. I was training, but back in Myserdale now. My training was exclusive with Paxton. I was no longer allowed to hand out with Berry after we had meddled with dark magic.

I stayed with Klayton at his house. I couldn't bring myself to go back to my apartment. It had been cleaned but the fact that Lenna's empty room lay across the hall filled me with dread. I couldn't go back, until today.

Instead of going into my apartment, I stood in front of her door.

I held the key in my hand. The one I had been given for emergencies. Lenna's family would be coming by in a couple of hours and I wanted to make sure everything was in order. I didn't want them walking in on a home where dirty clothes were littered on the floor and where empty wine bottles were strewn across the kitchen.

I clicked the lock and swung the door open. The sweet smell of Lenna filled the air. Her home always smelled like coconuts, and it left traces on her clothes when we used to go out.

I dropped the keys on the counter —which I was right, held empty bottles of wine, and the odd beer can, that must have belonged to Issac. There were homework pages that had grown sticky from sitting in the small spills and leaks from the overturned empties.

I would start here. I couldn't bear to go into her bedroom yet. I decided to check the state of the living room, bracing myself to find a similar mess.

Instead, my heart stopped. It was spotless, and sitting on the couch, spread out like he owned the place, was Embry. His arms lay behind his head which was tilted back on the dark fabric. His blue hair was the first thing that caught my eye.

I couldn't speak.

"I hate a mess," he drawled, while intently staring at me. When I didn't make a move or show any sign of speaking he continued. "I see you discovered the true cost of using dark magic." His words made me shake my head.

What was he talking about?

"Did you really think that black veins were really where the price ended?" He stayed on the couch but sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. Not before motioning to the empty room around him.

"Are you saying that I am responsible for Lenna and Issac dying?" My anger bubbled up again —it hadn't surfaced in the last couple of days. I had been in almost a trance, holding it in for when I could use it. But now I couldn't hold it in.

How dare he.

It took everything in me not to charge at him, but I didn't have to, because as he stood up from the couch he walked closer to me.

"Those," he said, pointing to the underside of my arm —my veins. "—are trivial, meaningless, for fuck's sake, I can get rid of them without even blinking! You let me out, a warlock; older than any of the Goddesses."

And with that, he waved his hand, in a nonchalant way, and I felt a tingling sensation flowing through my body. It wasn't painful but when I looked down my veins were back to the faint blue. I couldn't believe it. I gasped and took a step back.

Embry countered with a step forward.

"If you thought that was all that was going to happen, there is no way you are smart enough to kill Artemis! Artemis killed your friends, while you watched, just because you let me out. She didn't even blink and you are destroyed,"

I wanted to cry but I couldn't; I didn't want to prove his point. He was right, I didn't think about the real consequences. This wasn't just about me. Embry had proven his point.

Now it was my turn.

I took another step forward. I was only about a foot away from him now, and even though I had to lift my head to have my eyes reach his, I felt just as tall.

All the anger I let fester in the back of my mind launched forward.

"I don't know what happened between you and Artemis, but I know that she is scared of you. Instead of going after you, she came after me. But I can say the same thing about you. Here you are, in the house of a dead teenager —flaunting your high horse instead of getting the revenge on her that you so desperately want!" I seethe.

I suddenly think back to that day when Artemis was in my kitchen. She could have easily killed me that day, but she didn't. I finally realized why, and why Embry himself couldn't go after Artemis as well. It takes too much power to kill someone close to you— someone who is like family.

It's why before Artemis killed Theia she had stripped herself of all humanity, making her pure almost a demon; so evil. It takes more than just a little bit of magic. It's why I have been collecting all the pieces of her soul... because I couldn't do it as a human.

You have to change yourself, so that you are so far from yourself, you shatter family ties. You become your own monster —the one you used to fear.

Embry stood still, clearly surprised by my outburst. I took the chance and continued speaking.

"But you can't. Because somehow you are related to her! You have a connection of some sort that runs deep. What is it? Who are you!" I shout. I was so close to him now I could feel his breath.

My anger suddenly diminished, and was replaced by an overwhelming sadness; something I had also pushed to the back of my mind. I knew it was something Embry was doing... to keep me at bay.

I was unable to move, I collapsed onto the ground, weeping, breathing in the smell of coconuts, but it only made me panic more. Eventually, that smell would leave this room, someone else would move in remove any trace of her existence... and it was my fault.

He was standing over me as he vanished, but before he disappeared I noticed one thing I hadn't before; he had a fresh set of black painted nails.