"Good morning, Luna," a loud voice jolted me awake. "Oh, I'm so sorry to wake you, Luna. You must forgive me. If I knew you were sleeping, I would have left your breakfast outside your door. My apologies."

Groaning, my eyes had a hard time opening up, as the throb in my head tried to convince me to keep them glued tight. Blinded by the light, I caught a whiff of the drool-worthy food. Gran must have made me breakfast in bed for my birthday. She truly did know the way to my heart.

My heart swelled at the thought of Gran putting so much effort into my birthday. I always insisted she didn't, but I think she knew I loved it. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been doing it every year since Ma passed.

"Alpha Theo wants you to eat everything on the plate. It should help you with your hangover. When you're done eating, Alpha Theo should come by to address some of your questions."

Adjusting to the light, a hazy picture of what happened last night floated through my mind. Images of Vampire's Blood, dancing, more dancing, and even more dancing floated around. I winced at the recollection that I danced very poorly last night. I was sure Memphis, Si, and Gracie would not let me live that down for years to come.

My headache and uneasy stomach were forgotten at the smell of fresh syrup. Pancakes were my favorite breakfast food, but Gran hardly ever made them since she didn't like to cook them much. She hardly ever made an exception for my birthday.

As I took a glance at my surroundings, more images of last night diluted my thoughts. The blood drained from my face, as I realized I never made it home last night.

I was dead.

I may have a pulse and a steady flow of blood and oxygen, but I was dead to everyone I cared about. Pa, Gran, Pop, Auntie, and Uncle would know about my absence by now. They would probably have some of the hounds out looking for us, but soon, they'd discover I was gone.

Soon, they'd discover I was dead.

My heart felt like it was slowly being pulled and shattered into a thousand pieces. Pa would be heartbroken. He'd already lost Ma. I can't believe I was so selfish.

Don't lose hope, I told myself.

I could still get to the tunnel's entrance and secure my way back to the Borderlands. I would have to do it today. Otherwise, disappearing for more than one day would be too suspicious to cover up. They'd probably see right through me.

Hopefully, Memphis and Si were alright. As much as it pained me, I hoped they had made it back and not stayed behind to find us. But then again, Natasha had been taken alongside us, so at the least, maybe Memphis stayed behind.

Speaking of, where were Gracie and Natasha?

I looked around the room I was in. It was vast, filled with nice furniture and decorations, but Gracie and Natasha were nowhere in sight. I was laying in a giant bed, snuggled up in fine, silky sheets. Across from the bed was a TV. It wasn't like the ones at Midnight Mercury, because the screen was blank.

The room, so nicely furnished with real wood pieces, made me feel like I was intruding — even if I was kidnapped. This must be someone's room. Back in the Borderlands, no room goes unused. If you happen to have an extra room, you find a use for it, or the Council redistributes the house to someone who can better suit it.

Where was I? I wondered, as my body melted further down into the mattress.

With limited knowledge of the Outside, I had no idea where to begin to imagine where I was and how I could get home. I just knew I had to at least try — if not for me, for my Pa.

I would die before I disappointed Pa.

While it seemed like that sentiment was coming true, I willed myself to get out of bed. My bare feet landed on a fluffy white rug, and I wiggled my toes in wonder. Everything in the Outside was so comfortable: the bed, the rug, the air conditioning.

A small part of me wished I could convince Pa to join me, but that thought was fleeting. It was hard to remain focused on the fact I was kidnapped; it felt too nice here for that to reign true.

One of the few books I had read dealt with kidnapping on the Outside. It was much more horrific than this, but it doesn't even matter. I needed to find a way out and then go home.

My heart stopped at the thought of home.

I'd only ever gone on a couple of sleepovers in my twenty years, and you couldn't venture far when you lived inside the Borderlands, so I was never too far away from home. Until now.

Tears gushed out, and I tried to furiously wipe them away. They soon turned to tears of frustration, as I couldn't get caught up feeling sorry for myself just yet. I still had time to go back home.

Determined to escape, I quickly ran to one of the windows that was beside the bed. It was bright outside, the early morning sun still present. Okay, that was a good sign. It was earlier than I thought.

Looking at the window, it didn't look too different from the ones in the Borderlands, so reaching over the dusty brown nightstand, I tried to open it. It wouldn't budge.

I huffed out, dissatisfied. I wasn't too good at opening anything in the Outside it seemed. Investigating further, I messed around with a couple latched to open the window; luckily, there was no screen blocking me from jumping. However, when I looked down, I took a shaky step back.

It was a three-story jump, solidifying my death.

With rapid breathing, I tried to calm myself down. It was merely a roadblock. I would have to find another way out. Soothing down my hair, I tried to work out what I could do.

That's when I remembered Gracie and Natasha. I scolded myself for getting lost in my escape route. I couldn't leave without them, but it was going to complicate matters.

Wasting no time, I went over to the full-size mirror on the other side of the room. The makeup I was wearing had smeared off in all different directions, but I wasn't sure how to remedy that, so it would have to do.

I was still in the same clothes as last night, and I no longer wished I was wearing pants. They had grown quite stiff and uncomfortable from sleeping in them. My hair was shooting up in all different directions, so I worked hard to smooth it down, but it had kinks in it from being in a bun during the night.

Knowing I looked like a mess, my hopes of being unnoticeable were slowly fading away, but I didn't have any more time to mull over how bad I looked right now.

Silently as I could, I snuck out of the room. Luckily for me, the door was unlocked. So, maybe I wasn't kidnapped? This was all confusing. I was taken away, but I was not treated like someone who was kidnapped. Maybe this was normal?

Tiptoeing around, I was in a corridor with an endless hallway of doors. It was creepy — the first thing that felt uncomfortable about this place. As I walked further down the corridor, I picked up my pace, afraid someone would jump out and murder me.

As I neared a set of stairs, I wondered if I should have checked each door for Gracie and Natasha, but quickly shrugged that idea off since it would have caused my skin to crawl.

Walking down the stairs, hoping I wasn't alerting anyone to my escape, I spotted a few people below. They were mulling around what looked to be a dining room. A better word for it was grand dining room. People on the Outside just didn't know how to do things simply, did they?

Standing straighter, I made sure to walk with more confidence, which would make me blend in more. Or so I hoped. Trying to scurry out of sight, I opened one of the nearest doors downstairs. It was just a plain, porcelain powder room much to my disappointment.

Closing that door, I snuck into a couple of other rooms — a pantry, a game room, a room with lots of desks. I was soon growing frustrated and a small part of me wanted to escape and worry about Gracie and Natasha later. But what kind of person would that make me?

Sighing, I had hoped I hadn't lost too much time, as I went to open another door. Once I opened it, I quickly shut it. For a couple of seconds, I was met with the most beautiful eyes of my captor, staring back at me from a desk. His bushy eyebrows were cocked in curiosity.

Starting to sweat, I turned my back to the door and dashed the other side of the building. Behind me, I could hear fast footsteps — the same footsteps that followed me last night.

I didn't stand a chance against his almost unnatural speed, as he quickly caught up to me, turning me around. I had managed to run to the white kitchen, where a glass door to the back of the building was.

I was so close.

"You have an annoying habit of running away from me," he said sternly, exhaling through his nose.

"I wouldn't have to run away if you hadn't kidnapped me," I had wanted to cover up my mouth with my hand in response to what I said. I usually wasn't so upfront with strangers, but something about him made me feel at ease — like I could say anything and it would be okay.

Maybe I was going insane — maybe the Outside air was affecting my head. I didn't think that was too far off as the pounding in my head returned.

"I didn't kidnap you, Sage," he said, not looking amused. "You're mine."

His eyes searched mine — for what? I did not know, but it didn't look like he found what he was searching for.

"Did they not teach you about mates in school?" he asked, puzzled. He scratched at his chin.

"No," I responded. "Can I go home now?"

"You are home," he fired back, eyes darkening to a black.

I shuffled back, finding it hard to swallow the lump in my throat.

Pa's voice entered my mind: Remember, you can always tell a beast from a human through their eyes. Vampires have red eyes, though, they tend to wear contacts nowadays while Werewolves may have eyes that look like ours; they don't really. Their eyes turn pitch black when overridden with emotion. Always look at their eyes, Sage.

At the time, I always wondered why Pa had told me these things. I would never encounter a beast in real life. While I had seen one once before, there was never a possibility of them coming inside the Border.

"You're a-a-a W-e-e-r—"

"—Werewolf," he finished for me with a grin. "Werewolves have integrated into society for eighty years now. This shouldn't come as a shock."

"You're a monster," I backed up even further, running into the cabinet behind me. I had no place to run. I was cornered.

The predator had his prey exactly where he wanted it.

"That may be true," he confessed, "but it's not because I'm a Werewolf."

Closing my eyes, I said, "Werewolves are monsters. They want nothing more than to enslave humans — to make humans submit to them. That's what my Pa says, and he's never lied to me."

"Your Dad might believe those things, but he's wrong," he inched closer to me, his breath hot on my face.

"Werewolves have no souls," I managed to get out, as I felt betrayed by my body. My body hummed in satisfaction at the proximity of our bodies.

He laughed, "Then explain to me how you're my soulmate, Sage."