THAT WAS AMORE, BUT NOW IT'S NOT

I woke up feeling like my head had been mortally wounded. My mouth also felt like I had drank a gallon of sand. Which was weird, because I was quite sure I didn't.

In fact, I was quite sure that I was at Henry's party swooning over Bell like he was the goddess gift to the world.

I groaned, just a little. Why did my head hurt so bad? I felt my heartbeat quicken. Wth. Where was I?

For some reason, I had expected to be tucked safely in my golden clam shell bed, but I wasn't. I looked around feeling disoriented. I almost blasted into the mindlinks in alarm, but I stopped myself. Let's just... I don't know... Water. I think that was what I needed.

I swallowed but my mouth felt like sandpaper. Water... There was a bottle next to the bed, which wasn't mine.

I hesitated. I would never have made a good Goldilocks. For one, I wasn't blond. For another, I had been brought up not to take someone else's stuff without permission.

Well, yes, I did wake up in an unidentifiable bed. I sniffed around, but I couldn't smell anything.

The water... The cap on the bottle was sealed. I reached out my hand. I was dying of thirst! But...

Okay, focus Sam. The room itself didn't look terribly unsafe. It was a modest and undecorated room. There were plain curtains, plain bedsheets... The furniture looked vaguely familiar. A little old-fashioned, but wooden with a shiny smooth finish... Such familiar furniture, yet I couldn't place it at all.

Especially that desk and chair! There was a large desk and a matching chair by the window of the room. This, I felt sure I had seen before. But where?

Above the table hung a shelf. It had a few old books and a dusty metal jar. The jar itself was dull and dusty. It looked like those things hadn't been touched for years.

The bed, side table, desk, chair, and floors were fine though.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized that there was a dark shadow hanging over me, but it turned out to be a dusty arched chandelier. I looked for a switch, but there wasn't anything that resembled one in the room. No switches... or electrical power points either...it stuck me as very strange.

Just on a hunch, I looked under the bed. Even though the moonlight shone through the long shadowy windows, I realized belatedly that it was too dark to see, even for my wolf eyesight. If it were just a carpet of dust under there, I wouldn't have seen it, but there were dust bunnies the size of my hand! Even if I didn't see them, I sneezed. Which confirmed my suspicion, whoever owned this room didn't clean under the bed either.

Only the immediate surfaces of the room were usable. Which was not as strange as the lack of switches and electrical points, but also very strange.

Such a strange room. Everything in it was plain, but even its plainness could not hide the strangeness. It was also so unnaturally quiet all around. I looked out of the window and only saw what might be a meadow or some kind of sprawling grassy wide space with trees far away. I tried to place where this room might be. It guessed some kind of large house. We were quite high up, maybe on the third or fourth floor? I couldn't tell because the ceiling in my room was much higher than usual.

It made the small room look even smaller by proportion. Like someone took a photo and then tried to adjust its size in the photo editor.

The chandelier looked too big. The floor space looked too small. The windows looked too tall. It was weird.

I didn't sense any vamps or rogues or danger... But I couldn't quite sense home either. Home felt quite far away. Where the hell was I?

I looked out of the stretched windows to the humongous full moon outside. The sight confirmed what I already knew: I was dream traveling again. But why? How? And more importantly, WHERE?

Think, Sam, think!

Okay, let's backtrack:

I was at Henry's party with Bell.

Mine! ~❤️

Yes, I was just thinking how he was mine. I also kept my mindlinks firmly blocked so no one would know how I was constantly swooning over my mate internally.

If my expression gave me away, no one acted like they noticed.

The music up here was different too. It reminded me a bit of the kind of music Macy performed sometimes. It was live too. Just on the other side, there was a small band, and a guy who sang, "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!"

What's ah-more-ray?

The rest of the words were the weirdest song lyrics I've ever heard too, but I considered it. I looked at Bell, and felt I certainly loved him more than a pizza - even a pizza the size of a moon.

"When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine, that's amore!"

Nope, mister. I think you've really just had too much wine.

But looking around me, it felt like the world, at least up here in the platinum lounge, did seem shinier with its chandeliers and shiny floors and polished furniture.

The conversation was flowing all around like the drinks meandering across the floor via a small army of patrolling uniformed waiters.

Henry and Bell moved over to sit at one of the open sinkable sofas where they could watch the party (and the party could watch them).

We were very lucky to get these seats. It was like in school again. Henry and Bell just headed over to their choice of seating area, and the group there just happened to be getting up - all of them at once.

I was seated next to Bell. His knee was touching mine even while he spoke to Henry about what he thought was a good investment opportunity.

I sat very still just enjoying the feeling of that nearness.

Even the conversation around me looked sparkling. I was hearing the words, but I didn't understand half of them. It made me remember how it felt when Dad brought me to his meetings when I was a pup.

Back then, I would draw on his documents (because they still used paper), or crawl under the table to inspect everyone's boots. It was amazing what you could tell by the smells from a boot.

I wasn't a pup anymore, so all I could do was take little sips of lemonade. It was sparkling too. And sweet, and tart, and a little bit bitter. It tasted very grown up.

Bell was so close that I could feel the way his body was relaxed against the sofa. I watched him lounge in his seat and realized that was exactly how these sofas which sank in too deep were made to be sat up in.

Once again, I was struck by how Mate looked so much like he belonged to this scene. Just like when we were at Moshiro. My mate was suddenly a unicorn in his natural habitat again.

His natural habitat being restaurants that didn't print prices on its menu, and leather sofas that sank to absorb you into their very core of plushness, and where everything was sparkling.

Henry was laughing a lot, even when Bell wasn't saying anything particularly funny. Our betas stood behind us, while our guards made sure no one approached.

"Our young Alpha is not currently receiving guests. Please come again later." The red ants would tell anyone who tried to join us.

They should just hang a sign, "Look but not touch."

We were just out here for show. To counter the rumors that might possibly come out in tomorrow's news. Henry and Bell played out their roles perfectly. Bell had kept me on his side, and Henry had positioned himself adjacent to Bell. They would talk and pose and in every way look like respectable young alphas hanging out.

Meanwhile, I was feeling super sleepy. It was late - or early, depending on how you'd define 2am. I should be at home with Savy, Lizzy, and Tiramisu. Maybe with a romantic comedy on. I hoped it would be a romantic comedy.

Did you know, if I leaned over just the tiniest bit, my arm would be touching Bell's? It would be the arm that was in the sling though so I didn't lean my weight on it. Our arms were just side by side, and as we sat like that, I could feel the small glow of shared warmth between us.

Such a comfortable feeling.

{The beauty of the moon is in her soft curve.

The beauty of a rose is the same.

My Luna is a moon and rose

Her softness, my personal wolfbane.

So I die softly in her light each night

Her scent is my soul's sweet delight...}

You knew you had it bad when your wolf felt compelled to recite mushy love poems.

And then I woke up. Here. In this strange room. In a strange (but thankfully clean) bed.

My eyes rested on the untouched bottle of water. What should I do?

It's not like Boo was being very helpful. Boo was feeling desolate.

{Mate ~❤️}

He was so close. It was so perfect. Maybe even Ah-more-ray! Why did I have to fall asleep and end up so far away?