I reached the wall of air I'd created and found a very angry-looking Xavier, back in his human form, glaring at me through the wall of air. The look on his face told me that I was in big trouble; the kind that I wasn't really in the mood to deal with right now.

I sighed and muttered a string of barely-intelligible words, and the wall of air broke, its energy once again normal and free from my influence.

Almost immediately after I did this, I was pinned to the ground by a large body, fingers digging painfully into my wrists and they held me against the ground in a vice grip. I felt every inch of him pressed up against me, separated only by the tunics we both wore... I guess it was true that humans could shift into wolves with their clothes on, and they'd disappear in their wolf form, and then show up again in their human form.

I glared up at my mate to find him returning my glare all the same, fury and anger evident on his features. The air crackled with tension as our gazes held, neither one of us daring to back down from the other.

He took a deep breath, and I finally closed my eyes, waiting to hear the shit-storm he was undoubtedly about to unleash upon me. But it never happened.

Before I knew what was happening, the tension in the air snapped, and his lips crushed against mine, kissing me with such a deep and unrelenting passion and yearning that set my blood on fire. My eyes snapped open, and I marveled at how his usually black eyes were now sparkling with flecks of silver and gold, as if he was having trouble restraining his wolf.

----

After composing ourselves and finally pulling away from one another, we made our way back to the hotel room. We didn't say much; I think both of us were caught up in our own thoughts. I knew I had to confront him about what the wraith-like Fae had said, but I really didn't want to... I just didn't want to ruin our relationship with what he might reveal. I wasn't ready to learn just yet.

However, life doesn't wait up. Any day now, the Queen's soldiers could come rushing into the village, burning down buildings until they found me. I'd been so caught up in the peaceful lifestyle of the last week that I'd somehow forgotten about my pursuers, about what could happen to the innocent residents of this village if I stayed around for too long.

But before I left, I needed to understand Xavier better... I couldn't leave myself in the dark much longer.

Even though it seemed I knew more about the problem than him at times, well... I knew there was a fairly large amount of information that he was hiding from me, and I was determined to figure out what it was.

So, as we sat in the hotel room that afternoon, I did just that.

"Xavier?" I asked, rousing him from whatever he'd been thinking about.

He immediately turned his attention to me without a moment's hesitation. "Yeah?" he asked, giving me a grim smile, like he knew what I was about to ask.

"I need you to tell me about... everything. I deserve to know, and I've told you enough about myself, but you... you're still a mystery, and I won't stand for it any longer." I came off a bit sharp, but I didn't care. At least I wasn't torturing information out of him like I had with the Tenebris.

He was still for a moment, but then finally nodded. "Yes, you do deserve to know; I haven't the right to keep it from you any more. Although, I'm not sure you'll want to hear it..."

I just waved his comment aside, nodding my head. "I want to hear it; I want to know everything."

He sent me a pained expression, and said so quietly that I almost thought he hadn't spoken, "You have to promise... promise not to leave me... after I tell you."

I sent him an incredulous glance. "I'm not leaving you any time soon, you've got my word on that matter. I enjoyed today's events far too much to do that," I said, giving him a wicked smirk.

He chuckled, but his eyes remained pained as he began his story.

"Alright, so here's the deal. I am indeed a descendant of the Astro family; which, judging from your expression at the bar, I know you've heard of."

I nodded, even though I knew he hadn't been asking a question. His confirmation didn't really surprise me; I'd figured it was true.

"The rumors about our rather... violent history are true. My ancestors hated Fae and did all they could to destroy them." Again, not much of a surprise.

I stayed silent, letting him know it was safe to continue. "The entire history is too long and complicated to explain right now, and you've already heard most of it anyway, in one form or another. It's also common knowledge that our family and pack, along with the Fae, have seemingly vanished."

He paused for a moment, running a hand through his hair. His features were tight and filled with regret, and I could tell I wasn't going to like what he had to say next.

"We were able to vanish in the same way the Fae did: we created new realms."

Unlike everything else, this was news to me. I didn't know how the Fae had made the portals to new realms to begin with, but I did know that it had something to do with magic. And, as far as I knew, werewolves didn't possess a shred of magic.

"This was done by..." he groaned, and I could tell that he really didn't like that he had to tell me this next part. After a long pause, he finally resumed, his voice a mere whisper. "By kidnapping and forcing Sermonis to create the portals to new realms for us to hide in."

I felt my blood run cold at his words. Sermoni was what the Tenebris had called me, and I doubted his words were any coincidence. I couldn't hide the look of panic that imprinted itself upon my features, the sweat that formed on the nape of my neck out of... fear. But not a fear of my mate, no... it was a fear for others, for what they'd been forced to do.

His voice was choked, and his sorrow-filled eyes looked down at me. "I had no part in it, I'm... I'm sorry," he began, and rushed to continue his sentence as he noticed my wide eyes. "But that was a long time ago... and no, I'm not here to kidnap you, if that's what you're thinking. This all happened millennia ago, and no one has participated in this practice for as long as I can remember."

I felt my breathing return to normal at these words; at the unprecedented amount of truth behind them.

He seemed relieved that I hadn't fled, and I saw the tension leave his shoulders as he spoke his next words.

At that moment, all of my earlier questions came pouring out.

"How did you know about the invisible Tenebris? What did Callista mean when she said you're an alpha; where's your pack? Why are you in the human realm now? Why didn't you tell me about the portals and such? How do the people in this godforsaken place know you? What is-"

He held a finger to my lips, silencing me. "One thing at a time, babe, one thing at a time."

I would've protested had it not sounded like he was about to answer my questions.

He sighed and rubbed his temples before continuing. "Let's start out at the beginning," he said at last, and I got comfortable, knowing this might take a while.

"I was born to the Order of the Luna,which has been hidden in a realm known as Sarox for thousands of years now, the traditional Astro pack from the legends, about two decades ago. My parents were killed in a freak accident when I was a child; I was too young to really remember them. My older brother raised me to be the alpha of the pack since their deaths; he was more of a scholar-type person, not at all a warrior, and we didn't have any other male siblings, so the duty fell to me," he explained.

I remained silent, and he continued. "A couple of months ago, I began to feel this... pull. I didn't know what it was then, but I now recognize it as the mate-pull that led me to you. I don't know how it reached through different realms, but somehow it did, and I wound up exiting my realm and coming into this world to find you."

My heart fluttered a bit at the thought that he'd come all this way for me, but I put those thoughts aside as I continued to focus on this story, his explanations.

"The portal that allowed me into this realm was weaved long ago by a long-forgotten Sermoni, and is only accessible to werewolves; that part of the magic was introduced to keep threats out. I suppose the only other race able to get into the portal would be a Sermoni themselves, but only if they knew how to weave portals," he admitted, and it sounded like he didn't have a clue how to do so.

He ran a hand through his already ruffled hair, and his face held a tired, yet somewhat guilty, expression. "As for the reason why I didn't tell you... well... don't get me wrong, but I didn't really know you at first. I know it's not much of an excuse, and I'm sorry, I really am. I-I'll try not to keep secrets from you from now on," he swore, and I could tell he meant it.

He proceeded to tell me that the people of this village knew one thing only: he was powerful and rich, so they left him alone and didn't ask questions. The respect and head-bowing thing was seemingly just a natural instinct, and Xavier didn't know why they did it.

As for Callista, well, she'd been the first one he'd met when he arrived here a couple of years ago, and they'd been pretty good friends, good enough that he'd revealed to her that he was a werewolf. I didn't yet have the heart to tell him that she'd likely been possessed by a Tenebris for the last couple of years.

He gave me a frown, and then asked, much to my surprise, "What the hell is a Tenebris?"

I sighed, realizing that it was probably now my turn to explain. "The Tenebris was that shadow-creature you were chasing through the woods. It had possessed Callista; everything she'd said had been to, well... I'm not sure why she said those things, to be honest. Anyway, I gathered that the Tenebris killed her grandfather and then wrote the message on the wall for me to find. It likely recognized what I was when we came to get a makeover that one day.

"I'm guessing it let her go at certain times to haunt her grandfather; that was how he knew about all of the Fae realm and was able to warn us. It was also the reason he wouldn't talk when people were around; the Tenebris probably left her body for a while and argued over who-knows-what with Rux... those moments where she saw him arguing were likely the only ones where she was her real self. It can turn invisible at its will, although I seemed to be able to see it because I could read its energy signals. I think I involuntarily made it visible to you, or something of the sort. I don't know how it all works, I'm not a gods-damned demon expert, but that's just what I've gathered."

I stopped talking then, and he did the same. For a moment, we were both quiet, until he said, "I knew there was some sort of creature, I just... didn't know what. I'm sorry I didn't warn you."

I shook my head. "It's fine, you wouldn't have known," I said, beginning to become rather tired.

Xavier just shook his head at my words. "It's not fine; I put you in danger."

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow. "I'm always in danger, don't sweat it bud."

He gave a slight growl at my nickname for him, but didn't say anything else until he said, "I was able to mind-link with you today."

"Mind-link?" I asked, voice muffled by the pillow, my tone drowsy.

"Yeah, when I told you to stay put... which you didn't, by the way."

I glared at him through my hair. "Hey, I was doing you a favor! That thing can only be killed through magic, you wouldn't have stood a chance. As for the mind-link, well... can you do it in your human form?" I inquired, honestly curious.

It seems like it. I heard the voice come through my head. I gave him a confused stare and he just returned it with a knowing smile and a shrug.

"It's a werewolf thing; must've started when I marked you," he said in an arrogant tone, and I sent him a particularly vulgar string of words through the mind link.

He chuckled in reply, and was silent for a moment more, and then I said, "The riddle referred to you, by the way. You're an Astro, and astro relates to stars... so it was referring to you the entire time."

I didn't hear his reply as I finally floated off to sleep, letting the comfortable, endless abyss take me.