After dinner, we all headed to bed. Sage had been quiet since the talk this afternoon. I hadn't known what to do to help or make it better. She just found out that if she dies so will her newly minted mates. How could I make that okay? Even if I could I was too stuck in my own head for the most part to do anything. I was too busy wondering if she would have bound herself to me if it had been me here with her. Would there have been that innate want to be mated to me or would there be no mark for me on her wrist? Not that it mattered now anyway. She had the twins. There was no way she would take the chance of it happening to me too.

I rolled over hitting my pillow frustrated by the fact I couldn't scream into it. Yelling would feel good right about now. I hadn't been able to fall asleep. I knew from the sounds in the house that I wasn't the only one. I knew that Sage and Dante were both awake too. She had cried for a while after she got to her room. I knew that Dante would make the twins pay for that tomorrow. Shuffling sounded nearing my room before there was a light knock on the door. I stood and went straight to it even if I knew I probably should have pretended to be asleep. Opening the door, I looked down at Sage standing there in my shirt that she had stollen after her wings first emerged. Two little speckled lions decorated her feet.

She had come to me for comfort. That made a part of me release some of the tension that I was holding. Her eyes were a little puffy and her nose was pink, but she still looked beautiful. She would have even looked beautiful dressed like Ronald McDonald for Halloween. "Can I stay with you tonight?" She whispered.

I didn't bother letting her know that Dante would have heard her anyway and that the twins were fast asleep. Nodding my head, I stepped back to let her in closing the door softly behind her. She followed me back to the bed and crawled under the covers and to the other side when I lifted them up for her. There was a dim light in the corner making her just barely visible. I could never sleep in absolute darkness. It wasn't that I was afraid of the dark. I just couldn't sleep or be awake in a dark room. Fear is a strong word anyway. Mild discomfort from childhood trauma. That's what we'll call it.

Sage curled up against my side when I got settled into the mattress. Her head resting on my shoulder with my arm tucked around her. "Thanks." She whispered.

"It's fine," I responded keeping my arm around her body while I signed with my other hand.

She sighed, "What's wrong?"

I shook my head in response, but she frowned up at me. Then I remembered that she could feel what I was feeling and frowned back down at her. She pursed her lips at my stubbornness, "You can always talk to me about your feelings. I would never judge anyone on that." She told me softly.

I blew out a big puff of air before reclaiming my arm. She shifted up onto her elbow to watch me. "I just can't help but wonder if I had been the one with you earlier if this would have happened." I reached out to caress the designs on her wrist in explanation, "Or if you would have not bonded with me." I admitted avoiding eye contact.

"Oh, Maddox." She murmured, "You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met. You're smart, funny, strong, and sexy as hell. I would have been more than willing to be bonded to you." She rested her hand on my cheek.

"But?" I questioned expecting it.

She shook her head, "But nothing. You're perfect, just the way you are. Though now that I know what happens if I die..." She trailed off letting the words hold the somberness of the conversation from earlier.

"You'll never do it again." I finished for her.

She nodded in agreement. I frowned, "There are worse things than dying when a mate dies. I wouldn't want to live in a world without Dante, the twins, and you. I'm so alone when I'm not around them. When I go visit family, I come back feeling the way I did when you first met me but worse. That was a week after I meet up with the guys. My family hates me. I would rather be bound to you and die with you than be in a world where my true family doesn't exist anymore." I told her honestly.

"What about Dante? He would need you." She told me softly.

I rolled my eyes at her, "You really think he would let you take the twins to the grave without him. It would be a worse punishment to make him live than to let him die as well." Her face became pensive.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked me directly.

"I guess what I want to say is that I want to be your mate too. I know Dante would want to too for more than just to follow the twins to the one-way entrance of hell." I brushed the hair back from her face.

Her lips parted for a moment before she responded, "I would need to think about it."

I nodded my head, "I just needed you to know that I want to belong to you too."

Before she could respond my thumb raised to brush against her bottom lip. She looked up at me her eyes wide; pupils drinking me in. There was the deepest desire in me to lean forward and capture her perfect lips with my own. It had been so long since I had even tried to kiss a girl, I wasn't even sure if I would be any good at it. Though like always she knew exactly what I was feeling or perhaps she was feeling the same way.

"Kiss me?" She whispered.

I didn't hesitate for even a moment. Leaning past the inches separating us I pressed my lips against hers. There was a moment where we just stayed like that until she took control of the kiss. I was more than willing to give it to her and follow along. Her hands threaded through my hair as her lips moved against mine. Teeth gently nipped at my bottom lip and a soundless gasp escaped me. She swooped in and scrambled my brain. Breaking it into tiny pieces before putting it back together again.

When she pulled away, I felt like I could shatter into a million pieces and not even care one bit. She wanted me to. I wanted to go and shout it from the rooftops, scream that into my stupid pillow, but I couldn't. That didn't bother me as much right now for some reason. All I could really do at that moment was wrap my arms around her and hold her while she fell asleep. Her deep breaths lured me into sleep soon after.