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I hear him shouting from the outside the house, banging persistently on the door.

"Adira! Let me in!"

I shivered involuntarily at the anger radiating from him. I take the plunge and walk over to my parents' front door, hesitating over the door handle. I know once I let him in alongside everyone else in this house, my life is going to change even more drastically. My finger touches the handle lightly and I hear him pacing on the other side. Before I swing it open, I hear him almost sigh in relief as if he had expected it.

He must have smelled me coming.

I smile at the thought and swing the door open. Immediately, I am taken into Klayton's warm embrace and squished against his chest. I hug him back, hoping he can feel the bond that we both know is unfortunately no longer there. A pain we both haven't accepted fully lingers in our eyes as we look at each other. Clearing my throat, I gingerly pry his arms off my body.

As we separate, I see both of my parents and Artemis are still in the exact same position they had been 1 minute prior to Klayton entering our home. I tense up, unsure of what is to happen next.

I now know that Klayton and Artemis have a history together, and a very significant one at that. I gulp loudly and Klayton peers down at me before peering back up and locking eyes with Artemis.

She takes one step towards us before stopping. I watch with my eyebrows furrowed as she begins to take off her bow and arrow, placing it on the counter. I'm not sure if she is trying to seem less threatening or what, but she then begins to glide over to us.

I can't help but notice the way that her white hair flows along her body and pray that Klayton isn't noticing the same thing. How she is so elegantly and effortlessly stunning. I'm hoping he doesn't love how white her hair is; how it almost glows like the moon that his wolf longingly howls to every night. Hoping he prefers my blonde hair, that looks like the warmest days on the beach where you just want to sink your toes into the sand. I turn and look up towards him, worry dancing in the corners of my mind.

Will he always prefer my hazel eyes?

Without our bond, what are we?

I, in horror, watch as Artemis finally comes right up to the Klayton and I. I'm standing right beside him and can't do anything about the fact that Artemis is gazing at him as if she can't believe he's here, in front of her, in the flesh. She gingerly lifts her hands up to the side of his face and traces her pointer finger along his beautifully sculpted jaw.

It finally clicks that she was the one who designed this beautifully sculpted jaw, as fucked up as that sounds.

No, she wasn't his mother. But she is the reason he became a Lycan— the first. With this, Klayton became the best version of himself in every way.

"I've thought about you every day," Artemis whispers to him. Klayton looks slightly uncomfortable but doesn't do anything to protest or move her away, which annoys me. At this point, my parents and I are still watching and I feel like it's time to step in.

Okay, Artemis. You've had your time to shine. Time's up.

"I'm sure he's gone quite a few days without thinking of you," I say to her sweetly as I peel her venomous fingers off his face. Klayton's eyes dart to me as if he can't believe the words that just came out of my mouth.

Artemis glares her eyes at me in a small fury but quickly covers it up once Klayton looks at her again, and she's looking just as innocent and as fake as before. He then looks at me. I can tell from where he is standing he's not sure what's truly happening, or how Artemis and I kind of thrive when we sabotage one another.

"I think Artemis and I should speak privately," Klayton tells me. My mouth drops open in shock at his words. I chuckle lightly before I sober up and realize he isn't joking.

"You're kidding, right?" I ask him. "We both know that whatever is said between you two, you will tell me about anyways."

"This is important to Klayton," Artemis says while grabbing his hand and pulling him away from his stance beside me. Adira looks towards my parents and nods at them, as if they have a small understanding with one another.

My mother motions me to come over to where they are and I sit on the stool beside the island, grumbling incoherently about how stupid this is. I watch as Artemis and Klayton —hand in hand— leave my kitchen and go upstairs somewhere, before a door clicks shut.

My anger is coming off in waves and the only people who I want to take it out on are upstairs talking about God knows what.

Goddess knows what.

I internally snicker at my own joke and turn towards the two strangers who raised me. They feel like mom and dad, but we both know they aren't. As if she can read my thoughts, my mother comes closer to me and tries to hug me. I quickly squirm out of her reach off my stool, and glare.

"How can we make this up to you?" her pleading voice says to me. Without hesitation, I point upwards, towards the upstairs of our house where all of our rooms are located.

"To start, you can tell me everything they are saying."

"H-How could—"

"Don't play dumb. You're werewolves,"

"Fine."

"Now I know why you always asked me to turn the TV volume down in my room," I quietly snap at them. Without their reply, I watch as my mother strains her neck slightly to listen to their conversation.

"He's asking her what she is doing here," My mother's eyebrows knit together. "She told him that she surfaced for your protection."

"What else?" I already knew this shit. My parents shoot each other a sideways glance at each other suddenly. "Tell me," I urge.

"She just kissed him."

I barely let my mother finish her sentence before I'm scrambling up the stairs and into my bedroom, where they had been talking. As I open the door I see Klayton looking as pale as a ghost and Artemis casually sitting on my bed while the hint of a smile on her face.

"Did you just kiss him?" I ask her.

"Isn't that why you're up here?" She replies coyly. My anger spikes and I face Klayton who is looking at me sorrowfully.

"Adira I—" Klayton starts.

"Don't bother," I tell him before turning and walking out of my room. I don't stop there, walking all the way out of my house and into Klayton's car that he had driven here. I start the car in frustration and without a care in the world, peeling out of there while stepping on the gas.

I don't need this.

My fake parents, Artemis showing up, and now Klayton and her sharing a kiss.

I don't even hesitate to take the car and get out of here. I'm fuming so hard on my drive I don't realize I have been going back home towards Myersdale. I was on the outskirts, near a cemetery, and didn't even realize it until I was fully parked and standing outside the gates. With confusion, and almost like I've been compelled to be here, I gently pull open the gates to the cemetery and walk over to a small headstone set in the ground. It is very old and I have to bend down to scrape dirt off the name to read it clearly.

Smudging the dirt off with my thumb, the gravestone reads "THEIA QUINN". I don't know what made me specifically walk over to this person or why I'm feeling a slight sorrowful ache after I read the name.

"This is my sister."

Destiny's voice comes suddenly from beside me and I jump. Not expecting her, I turn to face her more properly. She motions with her hand to halt my movements and she, as well, leans down to the gravestone and runs her fingers through the name that was slowly fading away.

"I thought Artemis was your sister?" I gulp.

Destiny shakes her head at me.

"A girl can't have more than one sibling?" She snaps at me. I shrug, silently scolding myself at my stupidity and agreeing with her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize," I tell her sympathetically. "Does she not have a last name?" We are both now sitting on the grass that surrounded the headstone, gazing at the small rock beside us. Somewhere underneath us, their sister's remains are located. I shiver at the morbid thought.

"None of us do," Destiny tells me in a small voice. "At least, I can't remember. Just middles names or nicknames. I don't even know if Destiny is my real name,"

"Seems fitting," I tell her and we share a small laugh. "Why am I here though?" I ask Destiny. She smiles softly at me.

"You're bits and pieces of the Moon Goddess," she says. "The innocent part of her that was lost when she killed her sister is trapped inside of you".

"Wow," I tell her with my eyebrows drawn in surprise. Maybe that's why I felt the pain of losing this person who I've never even met.

"Was Theia special?" I point to her gravestone. "Like you and Artemis?"

"Yup." She says while popping the 'p'. "Something like that. As Artemis was always a child of the Moon, Theia was one of the sun. She was always so happy and warm... I really do miss her."

"That's pretty amazing," I say. "They must have been close? Like the tales of the sun and moon,"

Destiny laughs so hard I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself. A single tear comes streaming out due to her laughter which is so contagious I begin to join her. As our laughter dies off and she wipes the tear from her face, she looks at me with a smile.

"Sure," she tells me. "Maybe that's why Artemis killed her."

My jaw drops open at Destiny's words. Artemis killed her own sister? How much more of a villain can this woman become?

"W-What?"

Destiny sombers up due to my expression.

"Adira, I have something to admit to you. I knew you would be here, and I needed us to talk privately. Artemis is someone vile," she says. "Someone you absolutely cannot trust. She has neither you or Klayton's best interest at heart. That girl is purely selfish and has greedy intentions."

"What does she want?"

"She wants you to be separated from one another. As you've been told before you're an heir to the Moon Goddess. You have bits and pieces that are missing their counterparts," Destiny emphasizes. I shake my head, still not fully understanding what she is trying to elucidate. She groans in frustration and continues.

"If you successfully grasp all the missing pieces of your soul, you're potentially the Moon Goddess."

"But Artemis is the Moon Goddess?"

"She shouldn't be," Destiny says and runs her fingers along her sister's grave once more tenderly. "Theia and I saw how selfish Artemis was becoming over time. Creating a race for her own pleasures; a deadly one. When Theia tried to do something to stop it, Artemis killed her. As Theia was dying, she used her remaining strength to put pieces of Artemis' soul around. You are one of them."

I couldn't help but feel disgusted at the words. Is this another joke?

"Like Voldemort?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind," I shake my head, trying to grasp the concept that Destiny is shoving into my face. "If I supposedly am one of the pieces, where are the rest?"

"Well for starters, your boyfriend is one of them."