Katrina

It's early morning, and I wake with a start. My chest is heaving, and I feel like someone is reaching between my chest cavity and squeezing firmly onto my heart. Something's wrong. I spring out of bed, waking Aphelion and Miles as I start pacing across the bedroom floor.

"Kitten, what's wrong?" Miles asks me, his voice laced with concern.

"I..I...I don't know. I had a nightmare, and then I woke up from it, but it didn't feel like it was just a nightmare. I have this nagging feeling that something's wrong. My insides are burning, and my heart feels like someone's trying to crush it."

"What did you dream about, Princess?" Aphelion asks, throwing back the covers and getting out of bed, reaching his hand toward me and pulling me into his arm.

"I can't remember," I reply.

Miles and Aphelion glance at each other, their faces of concern mimicking the others.

"Here, sit down on the bed, kitten. I learned a new spell in Magical Studies, and it might help you remember."

"Okay," I nod enthusiastically, willing to do whatever to remember the dream I'd just woken up from. It felt less like a dream and more like a premonition. I couldn't recall what it was, but I knew that it was important that I remembered it.

Miles sits me down on the bed and stands between my legs, raising his hand to my temple as a creamy white light illuminates from his hand, pouring straight into my head. When images started playing on the wall, I almost jumped back, startled, but I quickly realized that the images were pieces of my dreams.

The dream started fine. My mates and I'd built a castle on the mainland, using breaks in the atmosphere to create entryways into the other four lands. We'd been lounging on our bed, basking in the afterglow of sex, when my dream took a turn for the worst. I saw flashes of an underwater cyclone that then morphed into a prison. Beasts started to rush toward me, but I'd somehow managed to fight every one of them off, except the last beast. It took me by surprise, slamming my body into a cavern wall. I cried in agony when a rock from the cavern impaled me, cutting a through-hole from my back into my torso. I could see the tip of the rock sticking out. Using my inhumane strength, I pulled myself from the rock and destroyed the monster who'd attacked me before limping away toward my destination.

"Posideon," A red-headed woman whispered at me, causing me to shake my head.

"Beckett?" She asked, her eyes laced with worry, and then my vision went black.

"NO, BECKETT!" I screamed, my heart no longer rapidly beating in my chest, the crushing pressure disappearing as if it was never there.

I fall to my knees crying for my mate, not noticing my surroundings become surrounded by pure white light emitting from my body as I cry in anguish for my mate, whom I hadn't gotten the chance to love fully. With each sob that tore through my body, I grew weaker and weaker, and in my heart, I knew Beckett was gone.

"Kit-Kat."

"Katrina"

"Princess."

"Kitten."

"Darling."

My men all called out to me simultaneously, shocking me and pulling me out of my misery. I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying to clear them so I could take in my surroundings, not having trusted my ears. Only Miles and Aphelion were here with me, but I could've sworn all five of my mates had called to me.

"Darling," a voice that sounded exactly like Beckett's croaked, "Why are you crying?"

I blindly reached for the voice. My arms connect with solid muscles as my hands trail up the stranger's body, feeling the details of their face before continuing higher until I'm running my fingers through their unruly curls.

"Beckett?" I cry out.

"The one and only Darling." He replies, "Here, let me help you." He responds before my face is hit with a burst of cooling water.

The cool water calmed the swelling in my eyes, allowing me to see clearly. Beckett, my sea god, my mate, was standing very much alive in front of me. His face was deathly pale and covered in blood, but he was alive and appeared to be okay.

"How?" I ask, "I felt you die."

"Another of Michael's gifts," Luka speaks up, walking to where Beckett and I stand.

"Luka," Beckett starts, his voice laced with an apology, "I...Thank.." He stutters.

"Don't worry about it. Let's let bygones be bygones. We have too much to deal with right now than to be concerned about what happened in our past." Luka replies.

"Does someone care to tell me what in the name of Lucifer is going on here?" A feminine voice asks, drawing my attention to her.

She was the red-headed woman in my vision. The one who thought Beckett was his father. The female who cried over my mate's body while he was dying.

"Katrina," Beckett states, turning me fully toward the woman in the corner, "This is my Aunt Ursula; my father imprisoned her in Tartarus. Ursula, this is Katrina, my fated."

"Ursula, like the sea witch?" I ask, the little mermaid playing in my mind and Ursula singing the song about body language after stealing Ariel's voice.

: "Some call me that." Ursula speaks up, walking toward the group, "But most recognize me for what I am, a Demi-goddess."

"Beckett is a full god; how are you only half if you're his aunt?" I ask, curious about how their relationship works out.

"I'm his mother's half-sister." She replies, her voice laced with annoyance.

"Although, I don't feel like I should be the one answering questions. You," She states, turning to Beckett, "Now that that mystic power has miraculously saved you, have some serious explaining to do. Like why you were down in Tartarus in the first place." Ursula states, crossing her arms.

"I'd also like to know why you went down there," I reply, copying Ursula's stance.

"I went in hopes of finding my Aunt. I wanted to make up for being an ass to you. I thought if I could find a way to help you mask your power while you're being presented to the council, you might consider forgiving me for being an asshole upon learning that you'd mated with Luka."

"Beckett," I mumbled, wrapping my arms around my mate, dropping my head against his firm chest, and inhaling his ocean scent, "Gift or no gift, I would have forgiven you. You're my mate. That means we're destined to be together forever. I can't hold grudges toward you. I only wanted to talk things out, and I wanted to apologize too."

"What would you need to apologize for?" Beckett asks, "I was the one being an ass."

I start to respond to Beckett, but we're once again interrupted by his Aunt, Ursula.

"Why do I need to mask her power?" She asks.

My mates shuffle uncomfortably. They don't want to spill my secrets unless necessary.

Beckett speaks up first, "We don't want our fathers to be intimidated with how powerful our mate is. You know as well as I do how father reacts to high-powered females."

Ursula rolls her eyes and whispers something below her breath about what a fucking dick Posideon is while pacing back and forth, considering Beckett's request.

"Alright, I will do it, but don't expect this to happen continuously. This is a one-time thing. Masking someone's aura can be dangerous, especially when trying to hide something from the council. They could drain my magic completely for this."

I let out a shocked gasp at the council's cruelty, "I can't allow you to help me then." I state firmly. "I will not be responsible for you losing your magical abilities."

"Sorry, honey, but you have no choice in the matter. My nephew risked his life to rescue me and ask me for a favor. You will be accepting his favor whether you like it or not." Ursula replies coolly.

"Your favor will be a last-minute request," Beckett replies, looking between his Aunt and myself, worried that someone will attack the other at any given moment.

"Right now, we will work on teaching Katrina how to cloak her abilities and how to demonstrate her powers without fully performing," Luka stated.

"What are you doing here?" Ursula replies, glaring at Luka.

"Urs now isn't the time." Luka states, trying to quiet the Sea witch, yes, I know technically she's a Demigod, but she still acts witchy.

"What's going on here?" Samael asks, stepping protectively toward Luka. It's then that I notice their intermingled auras; they're mates, just as I suspected from our night together.

"Should I tell them, or are you going to do the favors, Lukie." Ursula taunts my mate.

I feel my powers flare before I realize what's happening. My skin starts to heat as my demon fire tries to release itself. Beckett hisses with pain, but he doesn't let go, instead of pulling me closer to him and whispering sweet nothings in my ear to calm me down. While I'm stilled pissed off at ./‘]Z for taunting my mate, Beckett has helped me pull my fire back in.

"It was a long time ago. While searching through Lilith's prison toward the upper floors, I heard Ursula's siren song. It lured me in until I stood in front of her prison cell. Ursula coaxed me into her cell, pleading her case with me. We sat and talked for hours and ended up having sex. I left Ursula's cell that day, promising to return. The moment I stepped out of her cell and left the third floor of Lilith's prison, Ursula's siren spell wore off, and I felt disgusted with myself for having slept with a criminal. I didn't return; I did, however, inquire about Ursula, and upon learning that Posideon himself had locked her up and that she was sister to his Queen, I knew that there was nothing I could do to get her released." Luka stated, staring at me the entire time he told his story, cementing in my mind that Ursula was indeed a witch.

She lured Luka in and seduced him to do her bidding.

"You used your song on him?" Beckett asked, looking at his Aunt, his face filled with disgust.

"You do what you have to do in that place." Without a hint of remorse on her face, Ursula replies, "At least I kept my side of the bargain." She states.

"And what was that?" I ask, stepping out of Beckett's arms and closer to the witch.

"He asked for the same thing you just asked of me. He asked me to seal his powers."