When Eli and Elle magically pop up in the middle of the room, my mind is spinning. I definitely wasn't expecting people to appear out of thin air in Grayson's bedroom. I guess a witch and a warlock are capable of creating portals. Check that box in supernatural abilities.

I was angry that Eli showed up now after having ignored me all week. Knowing he was the cause, I would have hoped he would have said something- even if he was apologizing.

Nothing. I got nothing from him. Then, he and his twin show up- and the first thing they do? They magic my best friend! Cooper was lying on the floor, asleep, before I could process anything. How dare he?!

After making sure that Cooper was okay, I began shoving Eli. I have no idea where that courage came from, but I kept hitting him and screaming at him, expelling all of my anger. Then, I'm flying. I've always wanted to fly, but when I'm floating because some witch is using her magic to keep me pinned to the wall because she's angry I'm attacking her brother? Not fun.

I'm not gonna lie- I was terrified. It only took a moment for my emotions to subside for me to realize that I was just attacking two very powerful supernatural creatures that could kill me in an instant. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry and I didn't.

I think Grayson has been rubbing off on me because I remained confident in the face of fear. While Elle was dispelling her anger on me, I didn't cry or become a blubbering mess like I would have a month ago.

Eli stopped her. He told me that he didn't want to hurt me but he was forced to. I'm definitely looking forward to questioning him, but first he has to remove this stupid anti-sleep spell. Just as Eli and Elle are about to fix me, the door literally flies off its hinges. Standing before us is Grayson, Axel, and the guards who were supposed to be guarding the door. Guess they're getting yelled at later.

Grayson's stormy eyes search the room until they land on me. Usually, the tension releases from his body when he sees me. This time, he seems to tense further. It makes sense- Eli and Elle have their hands on my shoulders. This does seem a bit deceiving, but he doesn't know that they're trying to help me.

Like any time Grayson becomes enraged, he growls loudly, causing the hairs to rise up on my arms. All I want to do is run over to him and hug him while calmly explaining the situation. When I move to do just that, the twins hold me back.

"Guys, let me go to him. He doesn't understand-"

"You're not going anywhere, cupcake," Elle scowls as she pulls me back into her and places her hand around my neck. It's not digging into me, but she could very easily kill me with her magic if she wants to. Elle holds up her palm facing Grayson, dispelling the blue-hued magic. "Stay back, Wolfie."

Grayson growls but stays back, afraid for my safety. I can see Axel's eyes shifting colors as his canines descend and his claws come out. He obviously isn't too happy about Cooper who is still sprawled out on the floor. Axel loses his cool and shifts into his wolf in front of my eyes, his clothes shredding to pieces. His golden brown wolf growls ferociosuly and runs over to our side of the room where Cooper lies.

"Defensionis!" Elle screams suddenly, and a blue holographic shield appears in front of Cooper. Elle, Eli, and myself. Axel's wolf rams right into the wall and bounces off of it. He whines slightly as his body is flung into the opposite wall. I think the shield burns whoever steps into it because I see some steam coming off of Axel's golden coat. I'm worried for 2.5 seconds before I see him stand up again and growl loudly at Elle for keeping him from his mate.

"Don't do anything stupid. We came here to help Thea. We can't do that if we're dead," Eli says, deciding to become the voice of reason. Grayson, Axel, and four other pack members walk as far up to the boundary as they can as they send their worst glares to the coven members.

"Right," Grayson scoffs. "You came onto our territory to "save" Thea after trying to kill her. I'm not a fucking idiot!" Grayson's canines begin to descend, triggering the beginning of his shift. If he wolfs out, there will be no hope for saving me. Elle was on the fence as it is, I don't need to give her a reason to kill me instead.

"Gray, please trust them." He looks at me with shock, then anger. I can tell he wants to say no, but I can't let him.

"Please. As your mate, your Luna. Stop." The command in my voice is clear. I've never spoken in such a voice before, but I feel powerful. Grayson senses the change. He doesn't look happy about it, but he takes a single step back to show he isn't going to attack right now. Progress!

Ever so slowly, Elle drops her hand from my neck. Now, neither Eli nor Elle are touching me. The only thing in my way is the forcefield. I turn to Eli and ask him to let me go to Grayson.

"Absolutely not!" Elle says as sweat drips down her forehead. It seems that this boundary spell is taking a lot out of her. I don't know how much longer she can keep this up. How long can witches cast spells before they're drained?

Eli turns to me with a hard look in his eyes. "The minute she releases you, we're dead. If we leave, you're dead within a day from the spell. The only way for you to get out of this alive is if Elle puts down the shield and your werewolf doesn't kill us. We'll do the spell, but then we must leave here- alive."

I nod and look to Grayson. He looks angry, but with the small nod of his head, I know that he'll do anything to guarantee my safety.

"Okay," I respond.

"No," Elle grumbles. "I wanna hear that from Sir Alpha over there." Elle walks over to the edge of the border and stares Grayson in the eyes. They're so close to one another that if the forcefield wasn't there, I'd be concerned that they were about to kiss one another. The animosity between the two is very apparent- they look like they want to murder each other. Elle is about a head shorter than Grayson, yet she seems just as aggressive as he does. Maybe it's all the piercings and the dyed hair.

"You have my word that when you save Thea, I will let you two leave. However, if I ever see you two again, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Ditto," Elle smirks, then backs up.

"Exsolvo defensionis," Elle mutters. With her words, the forcefield lifts and there is no magical barrier between us. Axel runs straight to Cooper while still in his wolf form. His wolf hovers over Cooper's sleeping form in a protective stance while he glares at Eli and Elle. His body is lightly touching Cooper's as he remains defensive and ready to attack if need be.

Simultaneously, Grayson runs forward with his werewolf speed and pulls me into his arms. The tingles return full force as his hands search my body for signs of discomfort. Once he's confident that I'm not hurt- except for the exhaustion clear on my face- he pulls me back into his body and sighs loudly.

"I'm so sorry I left you. If I knew these disgusting magic-users were gonna try anything-"

"It's okay, Grayson. I'm fine. They're here to help," I comfort him, hugging him back tightly. Grayson turns to Eli and Elle. Elle stumbles to the side, and Eli rushes over to her and whispers something in her ear. It's not loud enough for me to hear, but apparently Grayson and some of the guards hear because a chorus of growls ring out through the room.

"We had an agreement!" He yells, adding a wolf growl to make his point. Eli laughs, then leans back against the farthest wall.

"We did make an agreement, but there was no timetable. We will help Thea, but we're both too tired to use that kind of heavy magic now. We need a few hours to recharge." Eli makes sense now. If he's too tired to do the spell now, as much as I wish he could remove the spell now, he should probably recharge and do the spell when he's at full strength. I wish he had clarified that before leading us on, though. I just want to sleep...

"You warlocks and your fucking games!" Grayson grumbles at Eli. With my head against his chest, I feel it rumbling with each word he speaks. It's surprisingly soothing...

"I know it only takes you," he points to Eli, "to remove the spell. You don't need her" he points to Elle.

"Technically, yes." Eli crosses his arms and smiles at Grayson. The smile isn't genuine, though. It's that smile when the person knows they've bested the other person- the winner's smile. "However, once I complete the spell, we need to portal out of here so you all don't eat us. Therefore, we both need to be stronger for a portal."

"Fix her, now!" Grayson growls. I've never heard him scream this much. I can understand his frustration. As tired and as cranky as I am right now, this is our situation at the moment. We have to wait for Eli and Elle to recharge. Whether that takes a nap or eating or resting- I don't know. There's no way around this.

"Gray, let them rest. They-" I yawn before I'm able to finish my sentence. My vision begins to blur as I lean into Grayson's chest even more. He's holding up most of my weight at this point. Now that the adrenaline has subsided, the exhaustion has set in even more. I feel my eyes closing, and I'm seconds away from passing out standing up.

"No baby, stay awake. Shit, you see what you've done to her?!" I think Grayson is screaming at Eli, but I'm barely paying attention. All of a sudden I got extremely light-headed. I've been on overdrive the past thirty minutes, and now I'm crashing.

"Look, I didn't have a choice." Eli's voice is muffled, like he's underwater. I think he says something else, but I don't register any words. My head feels like it's been stuffed with cotton. The dizzy blackness of sleep almost consumes me, but then something freezing cold falls on my face. My eyes regretfully open, and I see Grayson with his eyebrows scrunched as he focuses on my face. I think he put a cold washcloth on my face- at least, that's what it feels like. He looks so cute when he's concentrating.

Grayson's previously serious frown turns into a slight grin as his mouth curves upwards into an amused grin. "You're cute, too," he adds. Oh no. I said that out loud...

Grayson sits on the armchair and places me comfortably on his lap. I'm handed the huge cup of coffee once more and I'm told to drink it. When I take a sip, I cringe and turn my head away.

"It's cold," I whine. I like hot coffee. I like iced coffee. I hate room temperature coffee with a burning passion. It's disgusting and unnatural.

"Ardor."

Before Grayson even makes a move to reheat the coffee, the coffee is magically warm again. Really- Eli waved his hand and the cup is now magically hot.

"Stop using your magic unnecessarily, warlock."

"Shit, my bad," Eli responds to Grayson who glares at him from across the room. Eli and Elle are snacking on crackers- most likely to give them more energy for the spell. I'm guessing that Eli and Elle aren't comfortable sleeping on enemy territory and the wolves aren't comfortable with resting while magical beings are in their territory. This is going to be a long night...

~

"You've rested long enough. Remove the spell now." Grayson brings me over to Eli and Elle and places me in front of them. He hasn't stopped pacing and fidgeting ever since they began resting. He's itching for them to leave his territory- understandably. It's obvious that there was previous tension between the magic-wielders and the wolves, and this issue just brought the tension to an all-time high.

"Alright, let's do this." Eli cracks his knuckles, rolls his neck, and bounces on his toes. I think he's trying to be more dramatic than necessary. It took him two seconds to cast the spell, so how long could it take to remove it?

I walk closer to the twins while preparing for them to remove this spell, but Grayson grabs my hand before I can move closer.

"Wait," he whispers. He pulls me close and wraps his arms around me. I've been hugging him for hours as I try to stay awake, but I guess his werewolf nature makes him more cuddly than a typical human- I'm not complaining.

"After this, you'll get to sleep for as long as you like, okay?" He tucks a stray piece of hair that fell out of my messy bun behind my ear. I bite my lip and tiredly nod at him. I'm so excited to sleep and be able to stay asleep.

I release myself from Grayson's grasp and walk to the twins who are ready to cast the two spells. Eli puts his hand on my right shoulder while Elle places hers on my left shoulder. Grayson is already growling, something that I've listed as one of his personality traits at this point. He must really hate them because even as they're helping me, Grayson still doesn't trust them.

Eli and Elle raise their hands so that they're only hovering over me. When I make eye contact with Eli, he has tears in his eyes. I get major deja vu from the last time he cast a spell he didn't want to, and panic spreads through me.

"I'm sorry," he whispers before reciting latin and directing his magic at Grayson and the other wolves.

"NO!" I scream as I try to jump in front of Eli. However, it's too late. I turn just in time to see a burst of blue energy hit Grayson's chest. A hole rests right where his heart used to be. I run over to him just in time to catch his body, but I can't support it with the little strength I possess. I fall with him, and I feel like I'm dying. There's a pain in my chest that feels never-ending, and I have no words to describe the inner torment.

This is my fault. I trusted Eli. I trusted Elle. It's my fault that they were here in the first place. I became Grayson's only weakness, and now he's dead because of me.

"Why, why, why," I repeat over and over and over again. The tears continue to fall, and no one moves to stop me.

"Thea, it's okay."

I don't have the voice to reply, but if I did I would disagree. Nothing about this situation is okay. My soul mate, my boyfriend, my love is dead.

"I can't do anything when she's like this."

"She's dying! Do something!"

"Don't you think I would if I could?"

The words pass right over my head. I'm not even paying attention to who's talking. All I can focus on is Grayson's lifeless eyes, his pale skin, his voice that will never form those stupid growls ever again.

"I'm so sorry, Gray. I'm so-" I can't even breathe right now. My throat is closing up and I can't take in any air.

I begin coughing as water drenches me. I gasp while trying to bring in some much-needed air. I look around and see ten people looking at me. I see five people that I recognize as pack warriors with wide and relieved eyes. To my left I see an uninterested Elle and a scared Eli. Nobody's attacking them... why? Didn't they kill...

In front of me, Grayson's bright eyes look into mine. I let out a sigh of relief and tackle him in a hug. I must have fallen asleep again. Stupid dreams. I'm tired of thinking about him dead. If he died, it would kill me. It almost did kill me and it wasn't even real! Grayson crushed me to his chest as he holds me tightly to him. His lips meet my shoulder as he spreads light kisses along the surface. The kisses continue up my neck, along my jaw, until he finally kisses my lips quickly. His hands go around the back of my neck as he looks me over.

"You're shaking," he grumbles as he shakes his head disapprovingly.

"Sorry. I'm just cold."

"My bad," Cooper smiles apologetically as he tries to hide the empty bucket behind him. Axel doesn't help him hide it, which makes me smile. "You know what? Not my bad, actually. Nobody could wake you up, so I thought throwing water on you would do the trick. And it worked. Go me!"

Axel lightly smacked the back of Cooper's head, then brought him in for a hug. These werewolves are so hot and cold. I'm glad that Cooper woke up, though. It's nice to see that he's okay.

A fuzzy blanket is wrapped around me and I instantly close my eyes and snuggle into it. It's so warm...

"No, no, no. Don't close your eyes again. No matter how hard I tried to keep you up, you fell asleep." Grayson rubs my arms up and down to warm me up, but he must not realize how soothing it is because it just makes me want to fall asleep even more.

"How long was I out for?" I croak. Looks like my voice is broken.

"Twenty minutes. We tried everything to wake you up, but you just kept screaming and crying... I couldn't-" Grayson's voice cracks, his true emotions seeping through. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for him.

"I'm sorry," I apologize, but Grayson shakes his head.

"Don't apologize. It's that fucker's fault." He points to Eli who looks extremely upset. He has guilt written all over his face.

"Thea, I'm so sorry. If I had any idea it was this bad-"

"Just do the fucking spell and get out of my sight." Grayson interrupts Eli quickly. Eli looks like he wants to say more to me, but he resigns to just nod his head and quickly come to me to remove the sleeping spell.

"Thea, just know that I'm really sorry," Eli says, his deep brown eyes filled with unshed tears.

I get major deja vu from his apology, and I begin to back away from him. This is exactly what he would say if he were to betray me. It just happened in my dream. Was it prophetic?

I don't have time to back away before Eli utters the spell in latin.

"Exsolvo somnia in somnus."