Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me.

That mantra repeats in my head for what feels like hours. Kenneth seems to be walking a long way, but shows no sign of me being heavy. As I smell him again, I pick up on another scent mixed with his.

Ew. That's just nasty.

About five minutes later, he stops walking.

I hear some shuffling around before the turning of a door handle.

I take a whiff of the scents in the room and pick up on Mia's alone.

"Alpha King! What are you doing with Rara? Did she sleepwalk again?" Mia's voice that is somehow groggy with sleep that she never got.

Kenneth huffs and places me on my bed.

"Keep the door closed next time. She was in the other side of the castle." He growls out.

"Yes yes of course, Alpha King. I am deeply sorry. She only does this on warm days, and today was pretty hot, there wasn't even any snow. Could you please send my regards to Luna Queen Kaceline? I know that's the third time tonight and I'm probably getting-"

"Yes, yes, Apolla." Kenneth cuts off Mia's rambling.

I hear his retreating footsteps and the gentle slam of a door.

I immediately sigh in relief and open my eyes.

"Thanks. For saving my butt." I mutter.

"Yeah. Don't expect it to be that easy next time." Mia crawls into her bed.

"Well, I didn't know that they'd be awake and doing the hanky panky, did I?" I say quietly more to myself than to Mia.

Mia clears her throat before bidding me goodnight. I lay in the sheets, unable to sleep.

Tomorrow we will be using the Vortex to go back to the house back in Mia's coven.

My hands instinctively reach out to my necklace. I fiddle with the now warm metal find myself missing my mate.

In his living being self. I wonder where his consciousness is if his body isn't here.

"May I be excused from the table, your highnesses?"

If it was any other person, it would've been deemed rude to leave the table before the Alpha and Luna were finished eating, but Fény is a millennials elderly witch who happens to be the Luna's aunt.

"Sure Aunt Fény." Kaceline gives her a smile.

I am new to this side of Kaceline. She actually looks like a nice person. Looks are deceiving because I know that she is anything but.

Fény gracefully stands up and leaves the dining hall. I don't need to be a witch to know that she is leaving to prepare the Vortex in her room.

Mia, Fény and Luxe will be leaving for a few hours. Valo, Argia and I will have to stay here and fill in for them.

Soon, the luncheon is over and we all part ways. Kenneth is off to busy himself with Alpha duties that I should be doing while Luxe and Mia leave for Fény's room.

Kaceline is off to do goddess knows what witches do in their rooms. Valo, Argia and I wander around the castle.

"So I've been thinking, we should go outside instead of loitering around here looking like suspicious teenagers."

Valo and I immediately agree with Argia. Valo conjures up warm winter clothes for us. We inform one of the guards that we're going outside to enjoy the weather for a bit.

We settle on a patch of snow a bit away from the castle and any wolves that might overhear.

We build snowmen while we talk in order to mask our conversation.

According to Haske, Beta Fredrick ordered more guards to be placed in the around the region of the throne room. Their coronation is said to be soon, but they won't have the pack present.

Only the council and a select group of people will be there. The date is therefore, kept secret from any others.

Mama Luce was told to guard the royals' corridor every night along with some other warriors.

I soak in all the information like a sponge and already, a plan is starting to formulate in my head. I place the top hat on my snowman's head and a smirk grows on my face.

"What you got on your mind, Chlo?" Valo asks me while he pats his completed snowman.

"A better plan."

I sit on the rocky cliff with a placated Ford next to me. The peaceful sunset seems to last forever here.

A warm breeze embraces me and I welcome it.

Sweet honey fresh from honeycombs and peaches ripened to perfection.

My favorite scent.

Ford lifts his head, takes a whiff of the lovely smell of our mate that permeates around us and lays his head back on his front paws. He let's out a yawn and continues staring out into the warm pink, orange and red colors that contrast but blend in along with the pale pink sun that exudes soft light.

This is my mind.

The beautiful sunset in the distance, the evergreen leaves on strong trees atop the mountains sway, dancing to the rhythm of the gentle winds. The sweet scent swirls around me.

Below us, under the cliff, a brooding dark forest with thick thorns and brambles stands. The trees are lifeless and black, but not tumbling over. Or showing any signs of withering or disintegrating into ash.

Ash that swirls around in the blizzard of uncertainty and foreboding darkness.

Shadows loom around every crevice. Not the shadows that catch every strand of your attention at night. The shadows that bring forth unease in the pit of one's stomach. The shadows that wrap their hands around my throat and clasp their long fingers over my mouth every time I try to speak.

The shadows that manipulate my actions every time I let my guard down.

A single white dove rests it's delicate feet on one of the trees' dead branches. The bird that seems oblivious to it's surroundings tweets. It's song rings out through the eerie silence.

The ever setting sun is reluctant to illuminate the dark and deprived landscape.

But I am on the cliff on the edge of the luscious and serene mountainside that overlooks this forest. The forest that keeps hidden from the world. The forest that will never be touched by light.

And the cliff, where I find myself at in every living moment of my life.

This is my mind.