Kisses, touches, anything with mates are meant to be the best feelings you could ever feel. I've always believed that, for I hold things sacred to my heart. Mates are one of them. Nothing could have ever prepared me for this electrifying, mind boggling kiss with Alexei. I can feel my body losing all tension as our lips press together. Hers are soft and plump and I know mine are chapped and rough. I also haven't brushed my teeth. But it kind of doesn't matter, at least I don't think.

As my body sags against her, a satisfied, content moan leaves me. My spine is tingling and my toes are clenching from this amazing feeling. I want to stay in this moment forever, but like any good thing, it has to come to an end.

My body is yanked back, colliding with a chest. Their arms wrap around me and my eyes fly open. The daze from my kiss with Alexei doesn't leave me. It takes me a moment to realize that someone is grabbing me and keeping me from my mate.

One glance at Alexei gives me enough strength to grab this perpetrators arm and tug it off. I turn around, immediately meeting the hurt and confused eyes of Rory. As if his skin is on fire, I drop his hand. He presses it to his chest as an angry bruise quickly forms. I hadn't meant to cause him pain, much less leave a mark on his skin. I don't even think I knew I was using so much force.

"Oh, Rory," I cry, stepping toward him. He steps back, causing me to still my movement in hurt and disbelief. "Rory?"

Rory looks away from me, but I catch the tear that falls from his eyes. "You don't want me, Sophia-Grace? This... this is how we end?"

When he turns back to me, I'm struck by his red face and eyes. His crying continues, the liquid falling down his face in bulks. The tops of his ears turn red and this color travels to his neck. His bottom lip begins to tremble so Rory pulls it into his mouth, trying to hide the small movement. He blinks rapidly, something he always does when he's trying to stop his flow of tears. But it never works, not when the first tear has already fallen.

"No, Rory, why would you think that?" I ask him. He shakes his head, scoffing, but he coughs as he's choked by his sadness.

"You're my mate," he whispers. "I don't wish to reject you, but do you wish to reject me?" Though I know that it would kill him, I know Rory would let me walk away if he knew I would be happy in the end. It breaks my heart, seeing the defeat and resignation.

"No!" I quickly launch myself at him before he can move away from me again. "I don't. Rory, I love you. I love you so much, how could you think that? I could never reject you, I could never reject my mate."

He sighs in relief. The tension leaves him, but as soon as it does, it comes right back. "Then why were you kissing that woman? Sophia-Grace... are you... are you a lesbian?"

Rory and I have never had a conversation like that. It's a bit hard to believe, actually, but it's never come up. I've always thought wolves grow up not labelling their sexuality. It would make sense in a world where you're destined to have a soulmate. What's the point in choosing a sexuality if you don't even know the sex of your mate? Therefore, I've never forced a label upon myself. I just don't believe that it's something important to dwell on.

"I..." I shake my head. There's no way I could be a lesbian if Rory is also my mate. "No, Rory, I'm not. Alexei is my mate."

"What?" Rory cries, pushing himself away from me. I stumble to the side, but two sets of hands catch me.

Both Alexei and Rory have come to my rescue, balancing me with their hold. But when I look up, they're glaring at each other, their eyes blazing with hate. It hurts my heart to see my two mates in a quarrel. I love them both equally and I wish they would have immediately gotten that, but it's not that simple. Wolves naturally become jealous and possessive. It's unfortunate sometimes, but that's how it is. I'm not sure how vampires work, but I reckon it's the absolute same.

"Be careful," Alexei growls, speaking for the first time since our kiss. Her fangs are extended as she bares them at Rory.

Rory looks taken aback and even offended. "I would never hurt Sophia-Grace. She's the love of my life."

With a frown, I shove both of them away from me. As much as I want them both to understand that they're both mine and I'm theirs, it's not the time nor place. I'm sure we've been deemed as dangerous in account of the coven so guards will more than likely be looking for us. Not only that, but there's a chance that our pack is also looking for us, so we have people trying to get us from two sides. We need to figure out what to do from here.

"No more fighting, please," I tell the two of them, my voice whiny and tired. "Alexei has just been dubbed a traitor to her pack and Rory and I are prisoners and runaways from the Amster pack."

I meant the words to address both of them, hoping they'll understand how dire our situation is.

Sighing, I look between the two. "I don't know what to do... I don't know."

And I finally break down. I fall to the ground and almost immediately, two sets of arms encircle me. Everything is coming at once, many emotions mixing. Confusion for how things could have gotten so out of hand. Pain from a pack that doesn't want or love me. Hurt from people constantly not hearing my voice. Sadness from having to run for what seems like all the time. I'm tired, so, so tired.

"It's okay," I hear Rory as he shushes me. "Please don't cry. You're too beautiful to cry."

His words would normally cause a small laugh to leave me, but I can't laugh right now. There's too much pain, too many tears. Someone's cheek presses against mine. My body starts rocking, someone is rocking all of us. That doesn't make me feel any better either. My chest starts to constrict and my breaths come out in pants. I'm getting too worked up.

The world begins to close in on me. Though my eyes are closed, a certain darkness starts to cast a shadow over me. My two mates disappear seemingly and I'm all alone. In the distance, I hear a scream, then a sob. It takes a minute or two for me to realize that it's me. I'm the one screaming, I'm the one sobbing.

"Breathe," there's a voice and it's like a faraway echo. "Please, Sophia-Grace, you have to breathe."

I can't breathe. It's too hard. I'm trying, but I physically cannot. Whoever this is, they don't understand. They don't understand that I'm tired of trying and I'd just rather not deal with this pain. So, I stop trying to breathe and just pass out, letting the shadow take me away.

* * *

"You're a hard one to get a hold of," a voice mumbles from my side.

When I come to, I feel more relaxed than I have in a while. My body is light and flowy, nothing holding me down. Lifting an arm, it moves slowly, taking it's time to reach my face. Despite the calmness around me, I feel scared about why my body seems to not be working. But as soon as this fear comes, it washes away. That only scares me more, but each time I feel fear, it disappears.

"You need to stay calm, silly girl," the same voice from before says. A hand caresses my cheek. "You can open your eyes now, just don't be alarmed if you're a little slow moving at first."

This mystery person, whoever they are, their words are like velvet: smooth and silky. Their voice helps to calm me down more, no matter how much I want to freak out and curl up into a ball to cry. It doesn't happen, instead, I find myself following their instructions. I open my eyes only to be blinded by how bright it is.

When I shut them again, the person laughs. "Oh, sorry about that. I can't exactly dim things down," they say, still laughing. "Go on, try again."

And I do, I open my eyes again, this time letting them adjust. My gaze meets a glorious sky that's clear and light blue. Not like a regular sky, but more like a pastel blue. Even though the atmosphere is light, stars are clear and bright. There are no clouds present, making for an odd site. I've never seen something so weird and so beautiful at the same time. It makes me think of some sort of painting and not an actual place.

I try to sit up, but my body moves slowly. It makes me frustrated, but again, that negative feeling doesn't come. When I finally lift myself all the way up, I take in this place I'm in. The next thing I notice is the soft and fluffy structure beneath. When I look down, my body tries to become confused. Below me is... cotton candy?

"You have a bed of cotton candy?" I don't mean to voice my thoughts like that, but it just comes out. "Can I eat it? I'm so hungry."

For the first time, I look to my left at the unfamiliar person. I meet a chin first, one that's connected to an angular jaw. Looking up, I notice a somewhat small, button nose that's littered with small freckles. One that's much like mine. He has high cheekbones and thin, pink lips. For a moment, I'm met with white teeth, not straight and slightly crooked, but white. Continuing my observation, I finally meet a set of crystal blue eyes that are more mossy than anything. There's genuine happiness in them and I want to feel jealous, but I can't. His eyes are framed by dark and long eyelashes, a set of bushy eyebrows above them. His hair is platinum and slicked back, reminding me of a white sun.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Asta," the male says, giving me a wide, happy smile. "God, I've waited so long to be able to greet you."

"Asta?" I involuntarily return the smile. It's like my body isn't my own, like someone else is controlling me. "I'm sorry, maybe you have the wrong person. I'm Sophia-Grace."

The man laughs, shaking his head. He gives me a look, one that's filled with so much pride and adoration that it actually makes me feel worthy. He places a hand on my shoulder, making me feel like a child who takes comfort in her father's arms after a bad day. I want to close my eyes and go to sleep from the solace of this stranger. There's some sort of connection with him that I can't even explain.

"I'm quite sure you're who I need," he tells me, confidence oozing out of his voice. "It's been too long, sister."

"Sister? Oh no, I'm sorry." I shake my head, biting my lip. "I'm an only child."

The man only continues to smile at me. He glances up at the starry day sky. His cerulean eyes twinkle with the celestial spheres, seeming to glow beautifully. When he looks back down at me, he looks troubled. It surprises me because I didn't think bad feelings existed in this place at all, but the proof is right in front of me.

"It seems I pulled you away at an inconvenient time. You have two very worried people freaking out right now." He grins, masking his sudden turn of mood. "The only right thing would be to send you back to them."

"You... how did you know?" I ask him. "This isn't a dream?"

"It's only as real as you want it to be, Asta." He stands to his feet and I notice his clothes for the first time. Dark slacks, gray v-neck t-shirt, and bare feet. "Listen, Asta, we'll see each other again and I'll answer all of the questions that I know you'll have."

"Wait, but I don't even know your name."

The man reaches down, shoving his hands into the cotton candy or whatever this is. His arms tense as he pulls something up through the fluffy stuff. He carries a piece of paper over to me, grabbing my hand and placing the folded up sheet into my open palm. He closes my hand around it, giving me a small smile.

"You'll learn it next time, sweet Asta. For now, you must sleep." He presses his index against my forehead and on his final word, I start descending into darkness.

My body feels weightless once again, feeling like I'm falling. Before I know it, I'm landing and immediately, I feel all the weight placed back on my shoulders. But what doesn't come back are my negative feelings. I'm still reeling from wherever I was.

"Please, Sophia-Grace, you're scaring me now," a voice breaks through whatever barrier I have up. "I need you to wake up."

It takes those few words for me to pull myself from this slumber.