Adam's POV

After that encounter with the rogues we dragged our mentally torn bodies towards this seemingly peaceful lake, the waning crescent moon doing little to help with light and the wind carrying a soft chill to it. Athena being the smart one and packing extra clothes from my torn ones I hurriedly put them on and held Percy to me

"What's up?" He asks, surprised at my sudden pull in but not unwelcoming to it as I feel the electricity spike along my body

"Nothing, let's sleep" I lie just for the sake of giving him an answer but if I'm honest I feel like a failure of a mate. We haven't had time to just be us, our first interaction was us quite literally being killed in his mind and our most latest is us having to fight for our lives...I want a break.

"Some good news if you guys wanted to hear it, this is the spot. The bad news is that we came at the wrong time" Athena mentions, as we look towards her staring off into the expansive lake

"What do you mean?" - Yasmine

"As I said, the pack's name is a hint in itself. Moonlit Sky, the path won't open until there's a certain appearance of the moon."

"Well if it's a Moonlit Sky...I presume we need the full moon right? That'll be days! Why didn't we time this better" Yasmine points out with a little bit of panic in her voice which I can't blame her for

"It's not funnily enough, the new moon is what we need. A faint outline of the moon blending into the black space we stare out into, but I myself have never experienced it so we'll just have to confirm it for ourselves."

"And you know this how?" I ask in curiosity

"Rane took us here when we were small, why am I the only one who remembers these things? We camped out here for nights cause he missed timed it like the fool he is and we were hunting for days on end for supplies"

"You have a built in gift that lets you retain knowledge like a walking library, I can't compete with that Athena" I remind her

"Or I'm just that smart, no need to praise me. Well you can praise me if you want, just in your own time"

"Still talking? Sleep for the night so we can wake up and explore the area for a bit. If it's the new moon shouldn't that be the following night? That'll give us time to just cooldown and talk about everything we've been through recently."

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Yasmine quickly hops to the clear grass and rolls into a ball...in human form with some slightly baggy clothes that Athena prepared for her. I'm starting to judge supposed delta of Daybreak, why her. I look down to see Percy soundly sleeping against my chest already, most likely not even hearing our discussion. But I'm glad he isn't scared of what he saw, I'm not sure if I Loch could handle his mate rejecting him.

-

Thomas' POV (Mental plain)

A ceaseless roaring of thunder, booming over and over with each step this man takes...his hand pulling a chain that's roped around my neck like a pet. "Useless...useless...useless, FUCKING WEAK" he shouts outward towards the swirling storm as he continues dragging me through the dirt.

"Why are you even alive? You can't even serve me, you serve another. The one who made me into this" He stops pulling and instead throws the chain down, turning and kneeling towards me

"Look. At. Me" He smacks my face, "I said look at me" he smacks me once again, feeling marks left over my face and blood dripping down. "Look at me, you have no value to your life. You're lucky I can't leave marks on your own mental image of yourself" He smirks sadistically as he tugs the chain towards his face, but all I can make out are two glaring eyes cloaked by the shades of darkness. One made out of pure burning gold...the other of a deep wine purple, not ones that I'm familiar with...these seem rich and pure compared to the Alpha and Luna eyes I'm used to.

"Your eyes" I breathe out

"These? They're the original, what you know is nothing but a cheap imitation. The undeserving purple of a Queen and the lack of a golden presence for a King. Both reigning without the sacrifice that goes unknown throughout the history I made, the loss that I suffered. You wonder why I have both?" His hand covered by a shadowy outline as it glides down his face, past his eyes in near annoyance of the topic.

"You don't deserve to know, do believe me I wish to tell you. But you haven't been...Thomas for quite a while have you? I noticed it when I first laid eyes on you, you're serving him. Subconsciously at best but you most certainly aren't in as control as you'd like to be." He looks up, something behind me drawing his attention away from me. The chain breaking under his tight grip as he slowly walks in the opposite direction from me, my body feeling stronger as I drag myself away from him as best as I can. "I'm coming for Percy, remember that. You need my words as much as I need him dead, believe me."

-

Adam's POV

Being woken up by the slamming of something repeatedly being hurled against a tree until the point of it snapping in half I startle to my feet, being blinded by the morning sun I rapidly blink to align my sights. Athena ramming her bundle of hair into every surrounding object in fear, I think? "Athena!" I call to her as she stops to look at me, "FUCKING BUGS, WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK ADAM. ROGUES, BRAINS SPLATTERED EVERYWHERE AND AN ABUSIVE CHILDHOOD IS SURVIVABLE. BUT BUGS, GOD NO WONDER WHY THIS SHITTY WORLD IS DYING!" her shouting waking up Percy, his face falling with dread. "THOMAS!" the words making Athena pause in her tracks as the ball hair is visibly moving, "SHIT!" she responds. I for one, cannot contain my laughter at this poor man being absolutely slaughtered meanwhile he's trying to fight for his own breath. Falling back to the floor as Yasmine joins me in the comedic show they just put on, a weak Thomas flopping out as Athena's face now turning bright red with embarrassment.

"I'm...so sorry" She acknowledges her fuck up and goes to help Thomas up

"It's fine, I didn't even know you could do that so I was more scared of what the hell I woke up to" He says, quickly forgiving her but still retaining a slightly shocked expression.

"I missed you!" Percy charges into him, making me a tad bit jealous I admit but their bond has always been close so I can't fault him.

"So did I bud" Thomas rubs his head but stops after looking at me, probably scared to continue touching my mate but I just smile at him to give him the go ahead for it. I like him that's for sure.

"Welp, now that we're all alive and conscious again. Can we have a day to ourselves?" Yasmine catches her breath after nearly crying from the laughter of him almost being killed

"What did I miss...?" Thomas' innocent question causing us all to remember he's basically been dead this entire time. This is gonna take a while.