My ears popped.

Morpheus let his hands drop, falling onto my legs and clasping my thighs. The pictures hanging on the walls whirled, turned and flipped as I gazed feverishly across the room. My sight locked and unlocked on unknown objects, things that were aged, and things that you would never find in a human's home. The new reality continued to spin around me.

"It is still ringing."

I held my wrist up, rubbing it over one of my eyebrows and then dragging it down the rest of my face. Anything else besides the resonating ding that occupied and distracted both of my ears was near silent, repeating constantly. Glancing over to him, I ignored his words without realizing he had even said a thing, and asked feebly, "Why did he lie?" My head shook as theories, impressions, and assumptions began to shape themselves all throughout my perplexed mind. And, I quickly added on, "What was the point?"

"You're confused," Morpheus' lips moved, and as I read them, his voice grew in volume. In a comforting manner, he leaned in and rested his face against my chest, breathing in my scent. If my shirt didn't cover every single inch of my top half, then the persistent encouragement from the mate bond would be working ten times as hard. My eyes widened, and my jaw nearly dropped and landed straight on top of his head. My mouth suddenly became mute as my mind screamed, 'Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God', over and over again.

Confusion seems to be a consistent feeling ever since I've met him.

"Thank you for the clarification," I strained, swallowing hard as my face heated up, and images of what happened the last time we were together taunted me while I stayed stuck in his close embrace. You came here for answers, Emery, okay? Answers. "It was definitely needed."

"There is no need to worry, my mate," he reassured, a rasping purr coated his speech as he snuggled into my bust without a single lick of shame. And, he wrapped his arms tighter around me. Holding me in place.

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, the next thing I was about to say wasn't exactly a mystery to anyone, and I nonchalantly acknowledged, "That's not really my forte."

"Mate," he sooked, humming lowly as he adjusted to nuzzle his nose into the crook of my neck, "you are so soft."

"Thank you?" I thanked questionably, tilting my head to the side as I puckered my lips in thought. Strange. The flickers of the mate bond danced along our touching skin, a feeling that was shared between just the two of us.

"There is more," he suddenly told me. Breaking our cuddle and leaning back into his seat, watching my every move as I found myself levitating towards him.

"How much mo-" a quiet gasp escaped me as I caught the way his eyes narrowed, glaring as they unexpectedly glazed over. A vicious snarl rolled off his tongue, and his hands reached out towards me to lift me straight off the desk and into his arms. Morpheus speedily folded my legs, bent my arms, and shaped my body into a safely formed clump.

So, here I am, tucked in behind his thick arms. Invisible. Hidden. Unnoticeable. Even the fresh fragrance of citrus is masked by his natural musk.

Morpheus emitted a loud growl, one that resonated deep within my bones, and sounded off the walls as though it was an alarm.

A series of frantic knocks hit at the office door. Banging harshly. And, my body involuntarily leaped into the air, but his hand rubbed at the side of my thigh and detained me. The door was slammed open with a strong force, and a panic-stricken lone pack patrol in uniform appeared in the now open doorway, his face deathly pale and his chest racing. The racket echoed through the room, pausing us for a trifling moment of time.

The most frightened I have ever seen for a werewolf, the man took off his hat quickly and clutched it in front of him. Catching his breath, he started, "Alpha-"

Morpheus' jaw clenched, "I know."

"Alpha, I'm here to take you to the location-" Morpheus arms unwrapped to reveal me, a fun-size snack, gobsmacked as I witnessed the situation unfold. The patrol guard's alarmed eyes snapped over to me, then back to Morpheus, and he stammered, "-oh Goddess. I am so sorry for interrupting your time with the Luna! This will not happen again, Alpha, I promise!"

"I understand. This is important." Morpheus removed me from his lap slowly, guilt and regret unavoidably pulled at his features while he frowned. Setting me down next to him once he stood up, and his attention was placed solely on me, he just about demanded, "You will stay here, okay?"

"No!" I exclaimed right away. Pressing my hands into his chest. My expression softened, and my voice weakened vulnerably as I began whispering to him with trembling, timid lips, "You can't leave me here, you can't. I won't do anything. I won't run. Please, I don't want any more doubt. I don't want to be left in the dark with you."

Morpheus bent down nearly to my height, becoming only a few inches taller, and nudged his cheek against mine. Speaking softly against the side of my ear, his words hushed, "I am sick of playing chase with you, and if you go as far as attempting to defy me once more, then you will not see the light of the sun until you learn to behave properly. It is not safe. I want you to stay here."

The hurtful remarks shot at my heart, leaving a lasting sting. "I want to go. Please, I need to go with you."

Morpheus grabbed both sides of my face in his rough to the touch hands. "You do not exactly have a good reputation for listening, and I would be devastated if something happened to you because I willingly took you to a dangerous area."

"But, you'll be with me! Right? You'll be there, and so will he!" I pointed my finger towards the poor man standing in the door, wobbling in his boots. The look of fear washed over his face as he eyed the tip of my finger intensely. "And, there must be more guards if it's as dangerous as you're claiming."

"Okay." Morpheus searched my eyes, and I stared back at him without looking away, not even blinking once. Not once! His teeth chomped together as he warned, "You will listen to every word that I say, or else I will make my threat come true the very second you decide to go against me. I am letting you go, and not because I trust you to stay, but because I know you are smarter than your past actions. Do you understand, Emery?"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" I squealed, throwing my arms around him and I started to jump excitedly.

The bottoms of my feet lifted up from the floor as Morpheus straightened to his full, intimidating height and I continued clutching him. My feet tapped the ground when I let go, and he grabbed my hand instantly, pulling me with him. And, off we go. Morpheus tugged me out the door, dragging me behind him as the guard lead us the whole way there. Although, the twitching of Morpheus' nose and the curling of his lip gave away the fact that he could already detect the area we were heading to as soon as he stepped foot into the forest.

The trees surrounded us, the sky darkened as only pieces of light shined through the openings, and the dirt underneath my feet sunk slightly as I ran over it.

And, I admit, I was holding them back.

Only a little bit, though.

That might be pushing it.

My short legs pumped faster as I tried to match their speed, which still ended up being literally nothing compared to the way Morpheus would purposely throw the arm I was holding onto for dear life forward and take me with it. The term 'throw the dog a bone' fit perfectly. Of course, that only put me ahead of him for so long. A regular candy bar length separated us, really, if we're being honest. The three of us rushed out to the scene as fast as we could, some slower than others, and I realized halfway through the trip that Morpheus was practically carrying me there.

At least he respected my dignity.

All of a sudden, the end of my nose hit Morpheus, ramming into his lower back. And, I placed my hand over it to squeeze my nostrils together. A hiss snuck passed my teeth. The temporary pain saved me for a minute, but shortly after that the horrid scent invaded my sense of smell. And, unfortunately, I recognized it immediately.

Cadaverine and putrescine.

A shiver soared up my spine at the sight before me, one that I was all too familiar with. My legs tightened as my shoe covered feet dug into the ground, either ready to run or ready to drop down on my knees, I couldn't tell you which one it was going to be. And, my mouth turned as dry as a desert.

My hand fell from Morpheus' hold as I moved to get a better view, connected to his hip, but not behind him anymore.

Dead bodies littered the ground. Four, from what I could tell, but there could very well be more scattered. One was laying face first into the dirt, drowning in her own puddle of blood, if that tiny amount could do anything at all. Another, sat up against a tree, as if she was going to get up any second and walk it off. The burrows in her exposed skin said otherwise, and her sickening drained appearance. The other two? Decapitated. Clumps of their hair, black and blonde, noticeably torn from their scalps. Tortured before their heads were ripped off clean, accidentally or not. Blood now contaminated the forest floor, yet it seemed to be barely there, as the victims were all sucked dry of the red liquid that once flowed through their veins.

I'm going to be sick.

"Mate-" I peered up at Morpheus to watch how the arm farthest away reached out towards me, and his hand came up to caress the side of my fading face, "-please, forgive me."

His touch hardened.

My body tumbled, rolling across the forest floor before a vicious hand smacked down on my leg and painfully hauled me backwards. It didn't take long for me to realize that it wasn't actually me that it was happening to, and that it was just Morpheus memory sharing. An ability that should come with a word of caution.

"Auntie!" My throat burned as a boyish screech scratched at the inside of it, yelling desperately. "Auntie, please!"

Pure terror crawled around his body.

The woman he was calling out to stood in front of me, or rather in front of Morpheus, the hem of her dress right there, at most an inch away from the small, tanned hand as he stretched out his arm as far as he possibly could. And, all she did was stare off into the distance, not bothering to glance down at her apparent nephew.

Betrayal.

The violent feeling of his face being grabbed was so barbarous and strong that even I felt it as if it was my own trauma, and I was forced to stare into the red rimmed, insane eyes. The sight of blood drooling from his closed mouth became an image that I would never forget, and I was certain it was his. Then, the attacker smiled. Fangs.