Cyrus crosses his arms, not touching his food. "He blew up what you'd call our pack houses—all twenty-nine of them simultaneously. Thousands were killed. It didn't matter the age. Derrek slaughtered them all without batting an eye. We were devastated and irrational. We weren't thinking straight when we attacked him. After his blood spilled upon the snow, we returned to our people to help. During that time, he was retrieved and taken into hiding. Until you arrived here, we had no idea where he was."

"How's that possible? Derrek is a prominent businessman. He's a billionaire. Surely your people would have seen him on the screens?" Licking my lips, I slurp down another spoonful. If Damon continues to spoil me, I'll never leave his side. Him feeding me is proving he doesn't want me just for sex.

Elea sets her spoon down, placing her hands on the table to ground herself. "He has faithful people, Leah. Years before he destroyed our world, he went around speaking and rallying the members of Catier to his side. He was so good at it they were eating out of the palm of his hand. We all were. That is until a female he'd been dating turned up dead. He denied all the claims, as she'd left him over a year earlier and had been seen dating other males. She wasn't one to wait for her soulmate, nor was he.

"The people wanted answers. There were none to give as all the evidence was circumstantial. Nothing led directly to Derrek. He was never charged, but doubt still crept into people's minds.

"They wanted him to locate his soulmate, the one the goddess gifted him with. He said he'd found her and would bring her to Catier once she turned of age. Until then, he'd continue attempting to rule over Catier's people. I don't know the whole truth of what happened once he located you, Leah. What I can say is he returned from Earth fuming. Something happened, and he took it out on the town, blowing up all our packhouses with the help of his wolves. You know from there."

My mind races at her words. "What was the date?"

"It would have been Christmas Day 3043," Cyrus answers. He's finished his food and resting against the back of his chair.

Horror consumes me. I cover my face with my hands, no longer capable of looking into these people's eyes. "If you hate me, I'll understand. I'll leave your town and never return."

Irel grips my hand, squeezing it. "Whatever you did, it wasn't your fault he killed all those people. He said you were underage. And being a human, you had no responsibility to any supers. None of this falls on your shoulders, Leah. None of it." She cocks her head at me, telling me to listen to her words and take them to heart. It's hard to do so when I'm the one who pissed Derrek off enough to go on a killing spree.

She's wrong. It is my fault thousands of people lost their lives that Christmas night. I may not have known it then. That doesn't take the blame from my soul for what Derrek did when he must have seen me and Zeek making love.

Inhaling slowly, my heart weeps as my soul cries out for all the deaths a male who should have loved me caused innocent people. All those children.

I force the tears at bay. Right now isn't the correct time to break down. Later, when I'm alone, I can process what I caused.

"I'm a Christmas baby, Irel. I turned eighteen on Christmas Day, 3043. At the time, I had a long-term boyfriend of four years. We were high school sweethearts. I wanted my first time to be special, and it was with Zeek. Our only mistake was thinking a super wouldn't be nearby to hear us. I'd never have started dating Derrek if I'd known that he and his wolves swept through the hotel slaughtering everyone that night." The images of that night haunt me. I wish I could bleach them from my memory.

All the blood, guts, screams of horror, and pleading drag me into a deep depression on my birthday every year. It's as if I'll never find peace.

Derrek's way of helping me was to have a booming Christmas party. It would last for three days straight. If I passed out, he'd carry me to our room and cover me in his body. The pressure of him kept me knocked out for hours. When I woke up, we'd shower, dress, and head down to rejoin the party as if no time had passed.

Elea is right about Derrek being a superb manipulator...the perfect gentleman. Not once did I think he'd ever hurt me. Yes, I was confused about some things, but everyone has weird quirks and I thought they were his.

"What did he do?" Irel asks softly. She taps her hand on mine, showing me she cares.

Looking at her, a feeling of hope shapes within my chest. Is this what friendship is like? Will she change what she thinks about me now that she knows I'm the reason all those supers died?

Will Damon's people hate me?

Will the deceased's families want to try me because I'm Derrek's mate?

My heart rate spikes, sending me spiraling into a dark, dank hole.

Damon's growling intensifies, along with the tightness in which he holds me. His hot mouth tenderly sucks at my throat. It's soothing, but it's not enough for what I feel within for all those people's deaths.

"I thought Zeek and I were lucky to have escaped the massacre. It wasn't until I got home later that night after the cops were done with us that I realized I was so wrong." Tears blur my vision. I now know he died because of me.

"If it's too hard to speak about it, you don't have to. We know the date and can investigate what happened with the police reports." Elea says, eyeing me wearily.

I gulp, clearing my throat. "I need to do this. To give Zeek a voice since he had never received one. There was no justice for the nighty-eight people who died that night." Staring off into the distance, I block the supers out. It's easier to talk this way. "Zeek said he was changing clothes, packing an overnight bag, and coming to stay with me as neither of us wanted to be alone. When I walked into my parent's house, Zeek's head was pinned to the wall with a large bolt. He had bolts in his shoulders, and I could tell he was tortured during the hours the cops persisted in talking to me at the station. Now that I know Derrek was involved with all those people's deaths, it doesn't surprise me the cops detained me and not Zeek. They wanted me away so Derrek could torture and kill him."