Oracle was waiting for us when we reached the packhouse and to my surprise she wasn't alone but accompanied by my ex-friend Sasha. I didn't know what the vampire had planned or why she was here with Oracle, but her presence alone didn't bode anything good for me.

Oracle looked her normal self dressed in an ankle length light blue dress and with her white hair braided back. As usual, she was barefoot. Sasha had opted for a more deliberate look and appeared to be trying to display her womanly curves the best she could.

It was not the short skirt that barely covered her private parts or the deep v-neck blouse she wore that annoyed me but her glowing face, her happy face, her sparkling eyes as she glimpsed my way. She looked good, better than good in fact. She looked radiant. She seemed to have weighed down a few pounds and there was no doubt in my mind about the reason behind her weight loss.

It was what happened to she-wolves in heat, she-wolves in heat who were thoroughly worked out by their mates, which wasn't my case.

A nick of envy sprang to life in my chest and I had the sudden urge to slap the happiness off the bitch's face but had to repress myself. With Regan's present disposition toward me, I had to contemplate the possible just deserts any such act could bring me and I didn't like the conclusion I reached.

Luna or not, mate or not, the Apex was going to exact his punishment if I acted out of character.

"Oracle, Alexandra," Michael greeted as soon as we stood in front of them. "I'm glad you accepted my invitation."

And he was the only one who could express the sentiment, I thought noticing Sasha's grimace and Oracle's curt jerk of her head before I had to stifle a laugh at the awkwardness of the situation.

Oblivious to the tension or maybe feigning ignorance, a moment later, the vampire prompted, "Let's go inside. Apex Regan has kindly granted us access to his cabinet for this informal meeting."

My brows shot up at the declaration that Regan had spared him time and allowed him inside his office but couldn't do the same for me. Still, I refrained from commenting and embarrassing myself and just followed the vampire inside. I couldn't hold back the rage that burst, though.

Once we made our way into Regan's private space, I almost sighed in relief. He wasn't there and for the first time in days it was a good thing that he had opted to stay out of this and not cross my path when I was so mad at him I would have probably killed him if an opportunity presented itself.

"This could take a while so let's sit down and get ourselves comfortable," Michael suggested and motioned at the couch and the set of armchairs by the coffee table.

I slumped down on the armchair while Michael took the one next to mine. Sasha, shockingly, guided Oracle to the couch and once they were sat too, Michael spoke, "So, I think I need to start from the beginning, your father, Scarlet. Your father's name is Schuyler Airhart and--"

"Excuse me, Michael, but I don't really want to know about the person who left my pregnant mother fend for herself," I mumbled unenthusiastically, interrupting his speech.

The vampire took off his sunglasses and placed them on the table then shifted on his seat so he was facing me.

"He didn't leave your mother, Scarlet. He was killed," Michael announced grimly, silver eyes intense on mine. "Your stepdad killed him before he could return to your mom."

I shook my head. "There's no way my stepdad killed him, Michael. He wasn't a murderer. Besides, how do you know? Do you have any proof of your claim?"

Michael sighed. "You're right, Scarlet. I don't have a proof. I never managed to get a definite proof of your stepdad's guilt but people talk and there was a motive too. At the time I was working as an executor for Dominus and I was the one who investigated Schuyler's disappearance. I found many witnesses, people from your pack who talked about it but--"

"So, you just expect me to take your word for it?"

He nodded. He was clearly delusional.

"And who are these witnesses of yours, Michael?" I gritted out, rising an inch from my seat.

I was not going to stay and listen to this man throwing dirt at my father's memory. No way in hell.

"My parents." It wasn't the vampire but my former friend who answered. Glancing at Sasha, I found her face overtaken by sudden pallor as if she'd been swept back in time to relive the memories she had buried for years. "My parents whom he killed to silence them," she added in a whisper.

"Your parents were killed in the rogue attack," I countered.

"No." She shook her head. "It was him who killed them and let the pack believe it was rogues."

"But--"

"There was never any rogue attack," Sasha said, her body shaking, her face swimming in free-falling tears.

The pack had been talking about that attack for years, the only attack that ever befell us and now she was saying there never was such an attack. But then, how did she even know it was my stepdad who killed her family? She was but a child when it happened.

"I saw it," she answered my unspoken question. "I was four when it happened and I remember it still. I don't remember anything else but how he killed them. And later, he came to take me. He brought me into the house and everyone would say what a great alpha he was, what a tender-hearted man he was..." There was so much resentment in her voice, it sounded nothing like her own. Thick, low, breaking at the words she barely pushed out her lips.

"He would ask me to do things, order me to do things I hated and I'd be so afraid of him that I'd do anything because he told me so. He'd remind me who he was at every opportunity. He wouldn't let me forget but he would forbid me to speak about it." She looked up at me. "I was so happy when I found your mother was poisoning herself, Scarlet. You can't imagine how happy I was that she did that because I knew that once she was dead, he would die too. I couldn't wait for him to be gone.

"And I hated you so much for giving him everything he didn't deserve, for being the loyal daughter who showered him with love he didn't deserve, for being blind to what he was. You were so stupid and I hated you so much that when he asked me to do the same thing your mother did to herself to you, I almost danced with happiness that I'd be free from both of you father and daughter..." she trailed off, her sobs cutting off her heinous words, words that had me grip my chest with the heartbreak they caused.

Everything I had believed, every moment of my life I had cherished... Gone with her confession. Like a veil slipping off to uncover the most horrible painting, it was what it felt like, but that painting was my life, my past, everything that made me who I was today.

"And I failed. In the end, I couldn't do it because I came to love you like a sister. I couldn't close my eyes and just kill an innocent girl who didn't suspect anything. I couldn't kill you so I tried to protect you, to distance you from this the only way I could, to keep you away from Regan so you wouldn't have to face so much pain..."

I frowned. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, Sasha," I told her.

She sighed, brushed her tears off, just looked at me. For minutes long. Both Oracle and Michael stayed silent, watching her in anticipation of her next revelation.

"I lied to you about Regan. What I showed you wasn't what I saw. You're meant to be together but the kind of life you'll have with him is not the kind of life you deserve. You won't be the gentle and caring girl I know if you stay with him. You will change and I don't want you to be the woman I saw."

I didn't know what to say to her. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel right now. Did I feel betrayed or did I feel grateful that there was someone who cared about me so much she tried to change fate?

"It was her destiny from the beginning, child," Oracle said, placing her hand on Sasha's shoulder as she tried to comfort her.

"No. It shouldn't have worked out like this. What I did had to change the future not solidify it."

"You were meant to interfere, Alexandra. You were meant to see and interfere. It was her bidding and nothing and no one could ever change the destiny the Moon has chosen for her children, not even a seer."

Raking a hand across my curls, I exhaled a breath then asked, "And what kind of a woman did you see, Sasha?"

"A queen," the two women whispered in sync.