"I don't See anything," I apologize, taking a step back. "I'm sorry."

And I am. Guilt pushes on my temples, giving me a deep migraine. I tried pushing into my Sight, but it didn't even bother pushing back.

There was just pure silence.

"It's those damn bloodsuckers," Maryn hisses, squatting down at the ground and looking at the tracks. Footprints.

Jae nods. "It has to be those bastard vampires."

Knox sighs. "We don't know that."

Maryn glares at him. "Yes we do. Who else could it be? Those are footprints. Not paw prints."

"Werewolves can have human footprints, too," Gage points out.

"We don't have enough evidence," Kage inputs quietly. "Everyone has footprints. This means nothing."

"This is stupid!" Layla scowls, kicking a rock. "We all know that it's those dumb bats. We should poison them all."

My eyes widen slightly, and I can See her anger. She really would poison all of them without any remorse. Sometimes, I feel like Layla is really the true threat of the circulus. Wild, uncontrollable, emotional.

"I hate this," Layla whimpers, and tears stream out of her eyes. "What if one of us gets taken next?"

"Don't say that, Layls," Mar says harshly. "Nobody else is getting taken. We'll make sure of that."

"What, because we have such a good history of that?" Gabe scowls. "Statistically speaking-"

"Stop," Layla cries "I don't want to hear any more numbers! They're not just numbers, Gabe! They're people."

"People that, statistically speaking, we haven't protected!" Gabe yells, shaking slightly, and I'm surprised to see him so worked up. He appeared to be the rational one of the group, though I suppose that was more likely to be Knox.

"Everyone stop," Killian snarls. Before stepping in, he was listening intently to the group's discussion.

Everyone freezes.

"We'll reformat training," Killian says, his voice harsh and unyielding, and my wolf inwardly heels to the command. He's a strong Alpha, and if he chose to use his commands more, I wouldn't be able to resist. "We'll start focusing more on training to kill vampires."

"Are... are you not training the rest of the pack?" Knox questions, looking hesitant.

"No," Killian answers, his voice cutting through us like a knife. "We aren't bringing the pack to war. And I don't want to incite panic by telling them about vampires. The circulus will infiltrate the coven alone. We gather evidence, and then bring it to the Viatoribus. Once the Viatoribus have the evidence they can take down the coven by themselves."

"They're that strong?" I ask in surprise. Based on what Killian told me about vampires, they seemed hard to destroy. How could he be so sure that the Viatoribus could kill them so easily?

"Yes," Killian answers shortly. "I would join them. But they could even easily defeat them without my help."

"Collecting evidence..." Maryn says slowly. "How would we go about doing that?"

Killian's face turns grim.

"You're joking," Jae says in disbelief. "Don't even suggest that."

"What?" I ask in confusion. The rest of the circulus seems to understand what this is regarding.

"He wants to teleport inside alone," Kage murmurs lowly to me, shaking his head in disapproval.

"That is a very stupid idea," Knox growls. "No."

"Circulus vote?" Killian suggests.

"No," Everyone says immediately.

Killian rolls his eyes. "You guys are so annoying. I could be in and out before they even notice I'm there."

"That's not true," I say slowly. I have a bad feeling about him teleporting in alone. "They're fast. Could stop you before you disappear."

"Did you See something?" Killian asks curiously.

"No, but-"

"Alright, so you're saying it's safe," Killian grins.

"No," I roll my eyes. "It's an idiotic plan. Actually, plan is too generous of a word. Plan implies that you put at least one brain cell towards figuring out what to do. Which clearly you haven't."

"I agree," Layla pipes up. "You should plan something with all of us. It's the only way we can look after each other."

Maryn and Jae nod in agreement. The shadows around Kage swirl darker, more intensely, and I wonder if it's out of fear.

"How would we go about doing that?" Killian sighs.

Maryn and Layla glance at each other, and slowly smile in pure excitement.

***

"I mean, a ball?" I groan, and punch Knox in the face.

"Who even has balls anymore?" I complain, and dodge another punch from Knox. "This isn't the freakin 18th century."

"Right there with you, Katrina," Knox grunts, throwing another punch that doesn't land.

"I mean, what self-respecting vampire would even go to one of those?" I question, hitting Knox in the stomach. "Why would they trust some lousy werewolves?"

"We aren't lousy," Knox pants, missing another hit.

"You're a lousy fighter," I tell him, darting behind his back and kicking him in the shin, sending him crumpling to the ground. I pounce on him, pinning him to the ground.

He freezes, but I continue. "And the whole ball thing is stupid anyways. What are we supposed to do? Just ask the vampire coven leader if he's stealing our wolves and sucking their blood?"

Knox sighs, rolling so I fall off of him and on the ground. "How did you beat me in a fight while managing to whine the whole time about a dumb dance?"

"Oh, that's easy," I shrug. "You punch twice with your right hand, then once with your left, and repeat that. And once you repeat it three times, you kick. It's a really simple cycle to see, to be honest."

Knox blinks.

"Did you not know you did that?" I ask in surprise. "I thought Gabe or Killian would have noticed by now."

Knox shakes his head slightly in disbelief. "You..." He struggles for a moment, before sighing. "Thank you, Katrina. That's very helpful."

I grin. "Trust me yet?"

He rolls his eyes. "I'm considering it," He mutters.

But he couldn't lie to me. I could See that he indeed was warming up to me.

"You can't lie to a liar," I joke, and he reaches his hand out to help me off the mat. I take it, and he yanks me up. I yelp in surprise when I collide with his chest.

"Sorry," He mutters, his eyes widening slightly. "You're so... weak."

I scowl, ripping my hand away. "I am not weak."

Knox shrugs. "Physically, yes. I could crush you easily. It's hard sometimes to remember that I could."

"Can not," I argue. I had been beating him in training every time.

Knox suddenly grabs my wrist harshly, and squeezes so tightly I inhale sharply in pain.

"Split-second decisions, Katrina," He murmurs, and his grip doesn't loosen. "That's all I'd have to do to beat you."

I laugh, delightfully surprised by him, and he too looks pleased by his minor victory. "Not bad," I say in approval.

Knox grins, and it's a rare sight I don't see too often. "Shouldn't you be more excited about the ball?" Knox asks curiously. "Maryn and Layla haven't shut up about it since they suggested it yesterday."

My nose crinkles in disgust. "Ew, no. We should have left those in the medieval times. Not sure why Killian seems so excited by it, either."

And he did seem excited by it. Him, Maryn, and Layla immediately launched into planning details.

Knox snorts. "Killian would never miss a party, especially a grand one. He'll likely be just as elated if vampires come, or if they don't. It would just give him the chance to throw another one until they did decided not to come this time."

"You think they will come?" I question, hesitating slightly. "Why would they? I mean, surely they know it'll be an ambush."

"It won't be an ambush," Knox frowns. "This is a recon mission. We won't attack them until they attack us. We just want to know what they know."

I sigh. "And that will involve me talking to random vampire scum."

Knox abruptly stops walking. "If you're scared, Killian wouldn't make you come. You know that, don't you?"

My eyebrows furrow. "Yes, he would. He kidnapped me so that I could help him with the missing wolves. Talking to freaky crypt bats is part of that."

Knox looks disturbed by my response. "He wouldn't make you," He mutters. "Not if you didn't want to. Killian is big on choices."

"Choices?" I repeat.

"Yes. If you were too scared to see the vampires, Killian would take you far away. I can promise that." His voice is so strong, so absolute, it catches me off guard. I'm not sure if I believe him. It's certainly easier to believe that he's lying.

I laugh off his statement, though it makes me uneasy for some reason. "Lucky for you, I'm not scared of anything," I tease, bumping into him with my shoulder. "Unlike you. I know that you're scared of sharks."

Knox pales. "Who isn't?"

"We're like over 300 miles away from an ocean," I giggle.

Knox rolls his eyes. "Obviously I'm only scared of them when I'm in the water. For a Seer, you're not all that wise, you know," He teases, bumping back into me.

"Am too!" I insist. "I wisely suggest that you don't go into an ocean. I already Saw that you'll die via shark bite."

Knox's mouth drops open. "Is that a joke?"

I keep my face blank. "I don't know. I'm not wise, remember?"

"Can you really see how people die?" Knox asks quietly after we continue walking back to the Pack House in silence for a while.

I swallow thickly. "Sometimes," I answer slowly.

I expect him to ask when he's going to die, like most people do, but he doesn't. In fact, his question is so far from that, it surprises me. Nobody has asked it before, probably because they don't care to know.

"Do you know when you're going to die?"

My heartbeat quickens, and I hope he's not listening intently enough to hear it. "Nope," I say lightly. "Don't want to know, either."

"Good point," Knox nods in agreement. "I wouldn't want to know either."

I smile inwardly. Knox had nothing to worry about. Based on his current life trajectory, he still had many years of life ahead of him, filled with a mate and pups of his own.

For a moment, the vision of Knox happy is so surprising, so realistic, I nearly choke on air.

Knox quickly hits my back, forcing the air out of my lungs. "Katrina, should I get a healer?" He asks nervously.

"No," I say breathlessly, bending down and putting my head between my knees as I fight nausea.

This time, it wasn't my Sight at all that made me feel ill.

It was pure, raw jealousy.

Because Knox would get to have it all. A mate. Pups. A long life.

None of which I would ever have for myself.

And that's just the way it is.