Page 76 of Mate Night Snack
Then Ashwin stepped into the clearing.
But he wasn't alone. Three other figures emerged from the treeline behind him, moving with the fluid grace of apex predators. His pack, lean and vicious, their eyes reflecting moonlight like captured stars.
"Well, well," Ashwin said, his voice carrying across the clearing with theatrical pleasure. "The little seer, all alone and vulnerable. How perfectly tragic."
Katniss rose slowly to her feet, keeping her hands visible and her posture deliberately unthreatening. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to call for help, to do anything except stand here like bait in a trap. But she held her ground, drawing strength from the warm pulse of the mating mark and the knowledge that she wasn't really alone.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," she said, proud that her voice came out steady. "Getting tired of playing games in the shadows?"
"Games?" Ashwin tilted his head with mock curiosity. "Is that what you think this is? How charmingly naive."
He began to pace around the edge of the clearing, never taking his eyes off her. His pack members spread out in a loose formation, cutting off potential escape routes with practiced efficiency. They were good at this, she realized. They'd done it before.
"This isn't a game, little seer. This is justice. Long overdue justice for a wrong that's festered like a wound for far too long."
"What wrong?" Katniss asked, though she already suspected the answer.
"The theft of what was rightfully mine." Ashwin's smile turned sharp, predatory. "Your wolf. My pack brother who chose weakness over strength, mercy over necessity. He destroyed everything I built, everything I was, with his pathetic attempt at heroism."
"You mean he chose compassion over cruelty."
"I mean he chose sentiment over survival." Ashwin stopped pacing, fixing her with those terrible yellow eyes. "And now, finally, he's going to learn the true cost of that choice."
Katniss felt Emmett's rage spike like a flame touching gasoline. She sent him calm, steady reassurance, a wordless reminder that this was all part of the plan. Stay hidden. Wait for the signal. Trust her to handle this.
"You really think hurting me will break him?" she asked.
"Hurt you?" Ashwin laughed, the sound like glass breaking. "Oh, sweet child, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to remake you. Just like I did with all the others."
The air around him shimmered with dark energy, and suddenly Katniss could see them. Translucent figures hovering at the edges of perception, their faces twisted with anguish and their eyes pleading for release. The missing seers, trapped in whatever hell Ashwin had crafted for them.
Mabel Dorsey reached toward her with ghostly hands, mouth moving in silent warnings.
"You see them now," Ashwin said with satisfaction. "Good. Your abilities are stronger than I expected. That will make the binding process so much more... satisfying."
"Let them go." The words came out harder than Katniss intended, anger blazing through her at the sight of those tortured souls.
"Let them go? They're my greatest achievement. Thirty years of careful collection, each one adding to my power, my reach, my ability to see through the Veil itself." His eyes glittered with malice. "And soon, you'll join them. Your wolf will watch you disappear piece by piece, your soul consumed by darkness, your love turned to ash and regret."
Power surged through Katniss like lightning in reverse. Not the chaotic, overwhelming visions she'd been experiencing since the shadow magic attack, but something clear and focused and absolutely certain.
She could see him. Really see him.
Not the confident predator standing before her, but the broken creature underneath. The scared boy who'd twisted pain into power, who'd convinced himself that cruelty was strength because admitting weakness was unthinkable. She saw hishistory written in shadow and blood, every choice that had led him further from light.
"You're afraid," she said quietly.
Ashwin's smile faltered. "What?"
"You're terrified. Of being weak, of being vulnerable, of anyone seeing the frightened child you really are." The visions flowed through her with crystalline clarity, showing her truths Ashwin had buried so deep he'd forgotten them himself. "That's why you collect seers, isn't it? Not for power. For validation. Because if you can break us, if you can corrupt our gift of sight, then maybe you can convince yourself that your version of truth is the only one that matters."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" Katniss stepped closer, her seer abilities blazing like a star. "I can see it all, Ashwin. Every innocent you've killed. Every life you've destroyed. Every moment when you chose darkness because light was too frightening to face."
The visions poured out of her, projected into the space between them with such force that even his pack members could see them. A burning village. Children crying for parents who would never answer. An old woman begging for mercy as claws found her throat.
"Stop," Ashwin snarled, but his voice cracked like a boy's.
