Samaria hugged me so tightly that she nearly squeezed me to death. In return Raphael did the same to her, kissing her with so much passion that it made my cheeks burn. This wasn't a moment I was supposed to witness, but Samaria didn't want me to leave anytime soon.

"How'd you find me?" She asked, her hand still resting in Raphael's.

I shrugged, "I heard you calling out to me, but it wasn't you just the same. A part of you, I guess. I can't... describe it any other way."

Her eyes held the same wonder as mine. "Me neither. That seems right, because it wasn't me, the me you see now but..."

"The essence of you." I finished, and she nodded her head eagerly, pointing a finger at me.

"You could see it too? The colors?"

"All of it. The light and the vibrance. I was here but I wasn't too."

Raphael blinked, staring at me. "You sound like you're on drugs."

I laughed, Finn clearing his throat as he watched me. "What exactly did you do, Kate? Did you... heal her? Is that your meraki?"

Biting my lip, I reflected on the moment before shaking my head. "I didn't heal Samaria. I was there and I helped the fire grow, but I didn't make the fire myself." Looking from Finn to Raphael who both looked even more perplexed, I blushed. "I'm sorry. It's hard to explain."

"She didn't heal me." Samaria interjected, our eyes snapping to her. She traced her stomach with her fingers before looking at me. "I did. Kate only strengthened me enough to break free."

"I felt that too." I added, "it was only a spark and trapped so deeply inside, but once I got a hand on it, it grew into a wildfire. That wasn't me at all after I fanned it into a flame. Samaria, you have a meraki, one that can heal."

She smiled, "you woke it up inside me or else I never would have found it."

"That still doesn't explain all of what you can do." Finn replied, jaw tense as his blue eyes remained on me. He was desperately trying to put the pieces together for me, something he knew I needed yet hadn't found. "You work with these fires, but you've done the opposite to people like Cybele."

"So she can build and snuff out magical fires?" Raphael snorted, earning a glare from Samaria. He only raised an eyebrow at her with an almost playful glow in his eyes, a sparkle that made the corners of her lips rise.

"I guess. I'm not sure how any of that is helpful. Maybe Secta would know." I sighed. I knew it was bullshit though; he'd been trying to figure me out for months and I was still a puzzle.

"She can creates shields too, remember?" Raphael added. "She did that during the Torch incident, but that doesn't have anything to do with fire."

"Even better." I retorted, Finn's hand now holding mine. He gave it a reassuring squeeze that made my heart beat faster.

Samaria shook her head, "I am still pissed that I never knew about you two. You could have kept me in the loop, amigos."

"Just like you kept us in the loop when you were with him?" Finn shook his head as he pointed to Raphael.

"That was different."

"No, it wasn't!" Finn and I said in unison, making Samaria and Raphael exchange a glance.

"Get out." Raphael replied, standing to his feet. "She needs to rest, and you two are being annoying shits."

"I wasn't being an annoying shit a few minutes ago when I helped her heal." I said with a smirk. "When you having a tantrum and sobbing..."

"He was crying?" Samaria asked me, a wide grin over her face as she looked at Raphael like he was made of chocolate.

"Worse than a baby." Finn added, giving his friend a wink.

Raphael gritted his teeth, sucking in a breath as he used all his self restraint to keep his mouth shut. Finally, he stepped forward and shocked the daylights out of me with a genuine hug. I managed to move my arms to hug him in return as he whispered into my ear, "thank you. You have no idea what you've given me."

I smiled, "make her happy, Raph."

"That's all I want." He said quietly before pulling back.

Samaria laughed, oblivious to Raphael and I's conversation. "I don't think I've ever seen this man hug anyone before."

Finn extended his arms, "what? No love for me?" Raphael responded by shooting him a glare that made me giggle as I took Finn's hand in mine.

"Let's leave them. I'll hug you all you want in your apartment."

"Please don't say things like that around me!" Samaria shivered, "Fates, I'll have to adjust to thinking about you two getting freaky."

"What do you think I've been going through?" Finn snorted, making Samaria flush.

"You won't tell, will you?" She asked him. "I know you're my instructor, even more than that like my family, Finn. It might not make sense to you..."

"I never said it didn't make sense." Finn gave her a smile, "Actually, I think you two make a lot of sense. Your secret is safe with me as long as ours is with you." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I leaned against his side, my eyes flickering from his ocean blues to where Samaria rested in bed.

"I'll promise you something I've never given to anyone: my silence."

"What a miracle." Raphael snorted and she smacked him on the shoulder.

"If he's an ass, I'll kick that shit out of him." Finn added.

"I'd like to see you try to lay a hand on me, Shay."

A tingle ran through my veins, sparking familiarity that made me freeze. I sucked in a short breath, gold flickering on my arms again one moment before it was gone the next. "Secta." I warned, looking at Raphael and Samaria. "He's on the way."

"You can... feel him?" Samaria asked me.

I bit my lip, "maybe. It's similar to how I found you." I looked at Finn, who ran this thumb along my shoulder blade. "You should go. He's going to want to question me."

"I don't know if you'll take top priority." He said softly, his eyes meeting Raphael's. "I'm sure one of the doctors will tell him, Raph."

"I'll deal with it." Raphael responded, his voice low as he sat in his chair.

"What?" Samaria asked.

"You were dying." He said, looking up to meet her eyes. "I said some things that may have given me away. But you can deny that you felt anything for me. Let me take this one."

"They... know?" Her face fell, eyes turning glassy when Raphael managed to nod. She covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head.

"We will figure something out." Finn replied before turning to me, "we should let them be alone."

With that Finn and I slipped out of the room and into the hall, a sickening feeling in my stomach. I swallowed, looking at the side of Finn's head as he leaned against the wall to grip his temples with one hand.

"Finn, he'll separate them, won't he?" I asked softly, glancing around the empty hallway. "Like he'll do to us if he knows."

"He won't know." He replied, dropping his hand so that he could look me in the eyes. "And yes, he isn't going to be letting Raphael around Samaria anytime soon especially if it gets twisted into being his fascination and not her own. A teacher-student relationship isn't good, Kate."

"I don't understand why he won't let us be with each other." I shook my head. "I'm better when I'm with you, and shit have you seen Raphael when he's with Samaria? Completely different man."

"She's been here long enough to advance out of schooling, but she's always messed around so she wouldn't have to move up." Finn added, "if she can complete the Mimic, Secta might allow them to be together."

I swallowed, gazing into his blue eyes. "But not us, right?"

Finn shook his head, sucking in a breath. "Not now, but don't think I'll let that happen, Kate. I'll find a way to wear him down."

My mind wandered back to something Raphael had mentioned before, my eyes meeting Finn's. "Were you a virgin? When we...?"

"I was." He responded, his fingers trailing along my wrist. "I was waiting for a special girl: you."

I could only blink, "but, how? You definitely seemed experienced, seasoned even! You just knew how to do everything. I can't believe you didn't tell me this either."

He bit his lip, "it's different for wolves. Virginity isn't important for us because we have such strong instinct. I knew exactly how to please you just by letting go and allowing my wolf take the lead. He was made to satisfy you alone so he knows you, Kate. I should have told you, but in the heat of the moment the only thing I wanted was to finally be with you."

"What do you mean that you were made for me?" I asked him, "how the hell do you even think that you know these things?"

Finn shifted his weight from one foot to the other, glancing from the ground back up to me. From the way his body had stiffened and how his nostrils flared, I could tell he looked nervous, only confusing me even more when he took a step away from me. "Well, you see there's this thing with wolves called a mat..."

"Kate Stratton!"

A voice boomed from behind me, making Finn and I both twirl around. Secta strolled down the hall with his hands in his pockets, golden eyes watching me with a crippling intensity.

"You and I need to talk." The god said before his eyes met Finn's. "There are storm clouds moving in tonight. I'd head home if I were you to avoid the rain."

Oh, we really did talk. Secta took me back to his mansion on the hill after ripping Raphael a new one. I could hear them yelling at one another from the other side of the wall, wondering if I should admire Raphael's courage or be wary of his obvious death wish.

In the end it didn't matter. Secta gave them both a hefty punishment, Samaria refusing to leave him to take the fall alone. Both were to be separated in the lesson programs and Raphael was demoted, brought down from his status as an elder guardian and instructor. To make the matter worse, Secta sentenced him to jail time, a solid month living underground in a cell identical to Rufus'.

I understood that what Samaria and Raphael had done wasn't up to code, but how could Raphael and Rufus be held to the same standard?

"Did you know about them?" Secta asked me, watching me from across his desk.

"I didn't know." I said, keeping my eyes focused on his. "I only learned about it when everything went down in the hospital." It wasn't a complete lie at all; I had learned about their relationship in the hospital, just a little earlier than I was letting on.

"You're good friends with both of them. How did they remain a secret to even you?"

"Samaria never seemed to show any interest in Raphael that was out of the ordinary. She made jokes and things, but she does that with a lot of people so nothing she ever said about him stuck out as unusual. I hardly ever heard her talk about him. And come on, Raphael never wants to have a conversation unless it's skin deep. We don't talk about his personal life and he wouldn't let me get far even if I tried. You know how he is."

Secta drummed his fingers on the table, "I thought I knew him, but I never pegged him as a man who would take advantage of his students."

I narrowed my eyes, "she's been here long enough to be the age of a ranked guardian. Don't make Raphael sound like he's preying on little girls; she's only a few years younger than him."

"You approve of them?"

"I do. They're good for each other, and when Samaria completes the Mimic, they have every right to be together."

Secta snorted, "I know that, Kate. But the issue at hand for me is that one of our teachers has been sleeping with his student. Do you think I can let that go unpunished?"

I bit my lip, letting out a sigh. "No, I understand, I really do. Just please don't lock Raphael in a cell like... like Rufus. He doesn't deserve that for falling in love, Secta. You can't help who you love."

"I know." He responded quietly before standing to his feet. "How did you heal Samaria?"

"I didn't. She healed herself with her meraki."

"She had a meraki?"

I nodded, "it was deep inside her, very repressed. I helped it grow and she did the rest."

Secta rubbed his chin, "how?"

"I saw it inside her and someone came face to face with it. I fanned that spark inside her to a flame, and with its new power it healed her body." I replied, "that's all I know about it."

He paused, reflecting on my words. We sat in chilling silence for a few moments before he finally cleared his throat. "You are free to go. Tomorrow, you and I are going to have a lesson."

"Yes, Sir." I said, standing to my feet.

"You're getting stronger, but we haven't mastered control and that's a problem."