I blink twice, partially from the copious amounts of light obfuscating my vision, and partially because I try to gauge the merit of his words. Obviously, I come to the conclusion that he's insane. I don't even believe in that kind of stuff, regardless of how blasphemous that may be.

"Right, well, you know what they say," I turn my back on him, clutching the knife tightly in my grasp, lest he tries to pull it from my grip. "Finders keepers and all."

He laughs, and the sound is like a wind chime. "That's all? No groveling? You mortals sure have changed since my time on this astral plane."

I turn back to look at the grinning psycho. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't feel the need to curtsey to random weirdos in the woods. Better luck next time. The weird light was a good touch, I definitely recommend using that little trick on the next person you run into."

I turn around again, feeling slightly unnerved by the interaction. This is why you just kill people you see in the woods without giving them the chance to explain.

"Don't you want to know why you're having dreams about Thane, Alpha of Blue Moon?" He calls out with a tinge of amusement in his tone.

I turn back around and glare at him. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

He grins. "You haven't wondered why you're having very, very sensual dreams about Cain of Blood Lake's cousin? Perhaps you're more like Lucille than I thought."

Lucille? Where had I heard that name before? I frown. "There are no dreams about Thane. Take your meds next time before you decide to harass a stranger."

The man laughs, shaking his golden head. "I know you have the dreams, Ares Alstott. I know that, because I'm the one who gave them to you."

I summon another knife with my left hand, and instantly throw it at him before he can say anything else. He doesn't flinch as the knife passes through him, as if he's made of smoke and mist. He tsks, "That's no way to talk to a god. I'll let it go, because that very violence is what makes you so perfect for the task."

I snort at the hologram. "I'm not doing any tasks for you, psycho."

He grins wickedly. "I can give you what you desire more than anything, little wolf."

I gasp in mock-excitement. "A solid gold bathtub filled with chocolate syrup? Golly, you should have started with that, Mr. Sun God!"

His golden eyes narrow. "A pup."

I freeze. "You don't know what you're talking about," I hiss. "Shut the fuck up before I skin you alive and make a leather bag from your flesh."

He laughs. "I have no flesh, young one. I'm not even here right now, not really."

I sigh, playing along. "Then where are you, Hector?"

"It's Helios," He corrects. "And I'm in the knife."

"Right," I say slowly. "And I'm in Paris, eating a croissant and looking at people in funny hats. What do they call them again? You know, the ones Girl Scouts wear?"

He sighs, rubbing his temples. "I forgot how annoying mortal Alphas can be," He mutters under his breath. "There's a lot you don't know, Ares."

"So tell me." He's obviously full of shit, but I'm mildly curious.

"I need to start from the beginning. My story begins over 400 years ago," He starts, getting a faraway look in his eye. "My name is Helios. Perhaps you've heard of Selene?"

I frown. "No."

"She's the Moon Goddess, though I suppose you mortals may not know her given name. She's my sister," He says simply. "Twin sister, to be exact."

I stare at him, and bust out laughing. "Oh my god, you are crazy. The Moon Goddess isn't real, dipshit."

He shakes his head slowly, but seems amused. "Oh, she is very much real. And she's the reason why you think that you're mates with Cain of Blood Lake."

My heart nearly stops. "Cain is my mate. My wolf is drawn to his, there is no other explanation."

He looks at me sympathetically. "You need to listen to the story, Ares. My words are true. If you do not believe it, then you will spend the rest of your days having dreams of Thane and wondering why you cannot bear his children."

My grip tightens around the knife, and I grit my teeth. "So stop pussyfooting around the story and tell it."

His eyebrows raise in disbelief. "Gods, how you mortals used to fear me," He rolls his eyes. "As I was saying, my story begins over 400 years ago. At this point in time, I was in the Palace of the Gods, in what you may refer to as Heaven. Selene and I were close for millennia, long before you mortals walked the earth. But all of that changed with the creation of werewolves. We created them, you know, little mortal. I created the humans, Selene created the wolves, and- well, long story short- we decided to experiment, to see if the spirit of a wolf and the spirit of a human could coexist."

"You should have turned that in for the science fair," I suggest. "You probably could have at least gotten a ribbon out of it."

He ignores my mocking words. "But that was the beginning of our problems. We argued about the werewolves, more specifically, about the concept of mates. In the beginning, they died off quickly, too wrapped up their pack politics to mate. So, we created mates. We linked two souls together, and those souls were destined to meet, to mate, and to complete the other. The issue, however, laid in how to match those souls. Selene and I bickered incessantly, constantly disagreeing on how to pair them. She believed the best way to pair the souls was based on their wolf parts: their strength, the wildness of their fur side, and how strong of offspring they would have. It was all very barbaric," He says dismissively.

"However, since I'm the smarter twin, I knew that mates would be much more successful if they were paired based on their human qualities: How they view love, how they interact with each other, how they relate to each other. You see, when werewolves would be paired based on their wolves, the mates were corrosive, volatile, explosive. Violent, strong wolves paired with violent, strong wolves would clash, and more often than not, hate each other, constantly in a fight for dominance. Selene was right about them producing strong offspring, and to be fair, most of them did end up completing the mating process, but only because of the bond, not because their human sides loved each other."

I interrupt. "That's a really fascinating fairy tale you have there, dude, but I'm failing to see why I should care."

He sighs. "You'll see, just let me finish. So for centuries we fought about the best way to pair the souls, but could come to no consensus. However, we knew that we couldn't continue to fight like that for many more millennia to come. So we made a bet. We gave a she-wolf two mates. Her name was Lucille."

Lucille. The she-wolf from my dreams. They weren't just dreams, they were memories of the past. Helios wasn't lying.

"It was supposed to be fair. We gave the she-wolf two mates, the Alpha and the Beta of Iron Claw. I selected the Beta, Landon, because he was compassionate, kind, and loved in the same manner as Lucille. Selene chose the Alpha, Henry, because like Lucille, he came from a strong line of Alphas, and their wolves were both highly competitive, territorial, and bold," He explains.

I saw all of the people he mentioned in the dreams. Fuck. He wasn't lying.

He continues, "The deal was, whoever chose the male Lucille mated with first would get complete control over the mating selection process. I thought it would have been fair, giving both of the males a mating bond to Lucille. But I didn't count on Lucille and Henry assuming they were mates because their wolves were attracted to each other. Lucille initially fought her attraction to Landon because her wolf didn't recognize him as her mate, and Landon fought his attraction to Lucille because the Alpha was his closest friend. Selene and I both assumed that Lucille would mate with Henry, given the nature of the circumstance, and I was ready to relinquish control of the mating selection."

No. No. No. He couldn't be going where I think he's going with this.

"But Lucille fell in love with Landon anyways. Their personalities meshed perfectly together, and Lucille grew distant from Henry, driven away from him by how possessive and controlling he was. And when Henry went on a trip to another pack, Lucille and Landon slept together, proving once and for all, that mates should be selected based on the human side of the werewolf, not the wolf side," He smiles sadly.

"I was elated, obviously. All I wanted was for the werewolves to be with their mates. Their true mates. But Selene was furious," His tone suddenly grows dark, and the light shining around him dulls. "This project- the werewolves- was her baby. She was obsessed with watching over them, even more obsessed with intervening in the packs. Blood Lake especially was her favorite, and she would help the Alphas win wars, make the Alphas stronger by enhancing their wolf side.

Anyways, she couldn't release her control, but we made a deal. The night after Lucille and Landon mated, she was supposed to transfer all of her influence over the werewolves to me, as we agreed. I knew she was mad about losing the bet, sure. But I had no idea she was willing to kill over it.

That night, she invited me into her study in the Palace to do the transference of power. But it was a trap," He hisses, and his expression darkens. "She put a large amount of her power into the very knife you have in your grasp," I look at the knife, and swallow thickly.

"She lined the hilt with moonstones, giving the knife even more power for her to mold. She stabbed me with that knife when my back was turned," He pauses. "But she couldn't kill me. Gods are immortal, after all. But the moonstones, in combination with the power she put in the knife, was enough to desiccate my body, and trap my essence entirely. Her own brother," He laughs.

"She trapped her own brother in a measly knife, just so she didn't lose control over the werewolves. When she killed me, she created a solar eclipse that comes only once every four hundred years. But she made a fundamental mistake. She waited too long to stab me, and the sun was out when she did. I drew as much power as I could from that small amount of sunlight streaming through the window, enough to transport the knife from our dimension into your own," He looks to the knife, and smiles slightly.

"Just like Selene was obsessed with the Blood Lake pack, I was closely involved with the Blue Moon Alphas, and they focused more on their worship to me than they did Selene. So when I used the remainder of my power to transport me to your dimension, I specifically sent it to the Blue Moon Alpha, Thane's great-times-13-grandfather. He didn't know why the knife suddenly appeared on his desktop, but he could sense its power. Wisely, he brought the dagger to an Oracle, or as you mortals now call them, Seers.

The Seer was able to piece together what happened, and told him to keep the dagger safe, no matter the cost. You see, all spells have their loopholes. When Selene killed me, she made a solar eclipse, and that same solar eclipse would have to occur for me to be released. Just as Lucille had been the reason I was put in the dagger, a descendent of Lucille would be able to get me out of the dagger," He explains.

"I'm a descendent of Lucille," I breathe in realization. My mother was from Iron Claw, which made Lucille my however-many-greats-grandmother.

Helios smiles. "Correct, young one. And in two weeks, the solar eclipse will occur for the first time in 400 years. Which means you, my dear, are fated to free me, and end Selene's reign."

"Why? What do I have to do with this? I get that I'm a descendent of Lucille, but what does this have to do with Cain and I?" I question in confusion.

"Cain isn't your true mate," Helios says slowly, like he's giving me time to process this. "Thane is."

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