WHAT ELSE COULD WE BE DOING?

2 MARCH, TUESDAY, CONTINUED

"Where are we?" I wondered aloud. The magic was like a fog here, clouding the mind.

I panicked. What if we were in danger but did not know it? Like some kind of ancient enchantment or warlock spell or...

{Love?}

What?

I guess my panic and confusion were picked up by Bell. He was quick to close the gap between us, "It's okay, baby. You're safe."

I instinctively breathed in and realized he had no scent. I shook my head. I was dream traveling again. How could Bell think we were safe? Did he not know how dangerous my dream travels got? I couldn't even sense my pack and from here. We were probably a hundred miles away from home!

Lord, I'm one, Lord, I'm two

Lord, I'm three, Lord, I'm four

Lord, I'm five hundred miles away from home...

Okay, now I was very sure, this place was so deep in magic, my thoughts kept getting entangled with spells. It probably had as many spells strung up as an old cellar had cobwebs.

Or that spider-infested floor in the warlock's tower... Come to think of it, we were pretty lucky we broke the tower exactly on that floor.

"Where are we?" I demanded. This place reminded me too much of the Warlock Tower, except it felt like a hundred times worse!

Bell only looked amused, {Cute.}

"I dare you to say that to my face!" I took offense immediately - was I the only one who was worried for our safety?

"You're cute," Bell said. And then he got mad, "There, I said it. Happy now?"

WTH? What did they say about fire and oil? Immediately, I pulled away from him, "Why should I be happy?"

Did he think no one else called me cute? I've been called cute so many times, I was sick of it!

And of course, he got madder, "You're really still just a pup."

So naturally, I got madder too, "You're the pup!"

Which was a dumb thing to say as far as retorts went. I was quite sure I would find myself lying in bed regretting it the next time I was unable to fall asleep.

I told you. We always ended up fighting whenever we were alone. I don't even know why.

But at that moment, I saw the expression in Mate's eyes and it was just like how my Mum looked sometimes when we went shopping.

Like every now and then, Mum would find a dress or something she really, really liked, like a dark red dress, that fitted her like a glove... A very sexy glove, and was on sale - like a 60% discount kind of sale. And her eyes would look like that. She might even try it on for Savy and me to see, but eventually, we would walk out without the dress.

On one occasion, I asked Mum when we left the store, "Why didn't you buy the dress, Mum?"

"It's not really something a luna would wear..." Mum said, but she didn't sound all that convincing.

"I don't get it." I told her honestly, "Aren't you a luna no matter what you wear?"

"I think you should've gotten it." Savy told her.

Mum shook her head, "The neckline is a little too deep."

Well, yes. It did plunge down more than Mum's usual dresses.

"I think Dad would have gone bonkers if he saw it." I told Mum.

"You think so?" Mum looked regretful, but we were already on the other side of the street.

"You should've gotten it." Savy told her again.

Mum shook her head, "I don't know, the plum color is too striking. I won't be able to wear it more than once."

I shook my head now, "Why do you sound like you're just making excuses?"

Mum sighed, "I guess its just sour grapes."

What?

"What's this got to do with grapes?" Was it the plum color? It was kind of red grape colored.

So Mum told us the story about a fox who saw a bunch of grapes, but try as he might, it was beyond his reach. So he told himself that they were probably sour and left.

"I'm a luna, so I need to dress respectably to represent our pack and your father well." Mum explained, "So dresses like these will always be out of my closet choices."

"You could be a sexy luna." I offered.

But Mum just laughed it off.

Bell was facing me with that same yearning expression.

"You're just mad because of sour grapes!" I realized, but my realization seemed to only put Bell in a worse mood.

"In what way is this sour grapes?" Bell growled lowly.

Which in hindsight should've been a warning to back off.

I told him about the fox and the grapes, "But no matter how hard he tried, the grapes were much too high and completely beyond his reach."

Bell snapped at that, grabbing my wrists, he pushed me back onto the bed and straddled me. I was too surprised to retaliate in anyway. He leaned forward, his nose nearly touching mine, "Tell me again, princess. Exactly what is too high and completely beyond my reach?"

It was grapes... and I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about the fox!

Bell was taking the idiom really personally though.

But suddenly, in the dark strange place, with the blue fire flickering its lights across the ceiling and walls, and my hands pinned above me, I suddenly flashback to my dream of Sabre's past - I blamed the lighting in this room, but suddenly Mate looked too much like the large male dark shadow of my dream and I couldn't free my hands... and I just freaked out.

I whimpered.

And almost immediately, Bell's wolf froze. He checked his surroundings, and after not sensing a whit of danger, he concluded he was the threat and let go, "I frightened you."

He sounded frightened himself.

I pulled my hands away and sat up. Bell didn't move from his position next to me. We sat facing each other.

"I would never hurt you." Bell reached over but stopped himself. He kept his hands on his lap.

I studied my hands on my lap, "I know."

My words came out as a whisper. I was still a little spooked. It wasn't Mate that frightened me though. What truly spooked me was how what I thought was a long ago dream suddenly popped up like that. It was just a dream, but I was so scared, I had forgotten to fight back, and that feeling of helplessness compounded my fear even more. I hated being weak like that.

Mate reached out for me, hesitated, and then very carefully touched my shoulder. I hesitated too, before leaning forward into his embrace. When I did, he put one arm around me, and then the other. I breathed in, but of course there was no scent.

"You're safe." Bell told me. I wished I could smell him. I would have felt so much better if I could.

I nodded in his shoulder. And then Bell pulled away, holding me back by my shoulders, "Right. Let me show you around, Princess."

What? I quickly swiped off the bit of wet that had leaked out the edges of my eyes. What did he mean by show me around?

Bell stood up from the bed, and tugged my hand for me to follow. I got up and stood next to him. He reached over to a switch by his bedside and flipped on the lights. I was totally surprised. I had no idea where we were had running electricity.

A huge square chandelier made of what seemed like hundreds of raindrops of different sizes lit up the room and I realized the entire room was very square too. There was a bed made of black wood - like if you snapped black wood like toothpicks and then fused them together to form an angry jagged headboard.

It was a very artistic, in a dark and imposing way. Maybe like a King of Tyger kind of dark and imposing.

"Welcome to my castle." Bell smiled at me.

His what now?

It was really a castle. With another flip of a switch, the awnings encasing the windows lifted up and I could see the most beautiful turquoise blue waters swathed across a dark green treeline. Was that the sea? I ran to the window and tried to make out where the sea-line joined the sky, "Where is this?"

"White Mountain." Bell told me.

White Mountain... then we must be in the Colored Mountains.

"I thought no one lived on White Mountain?" I took another deep breath but could not smell anything. Was that the sea? If I could smell, I was sure I would have known immediately.

"Is that the sea? Or a lake? Why is it that color? Is that blue or green? How did you build a castle so fast?"

Bell laughed, a low rumbly short sound, "It was already here. I merely claimed it."

Wait, what?

"Heller and Ignatius were kind enough to help with the renovations." Bell allowed with a smirk.

Yeah, right. Bell probably forced the two Tygers to do it, but that would be a pretty impressive feat in itself. Heller was old and powerful, not someone easy to bully. And Ignatius was the hot-tempered lighting welding one right? Maybe instead of feeling impressed with my Mate, I should be at least a little worried.

"Its a lake. Black Mountain is on the other side." Bell said.

I couldn't see any "other side" though.

What color is Idonia?

Is it black or is it white?

Maybe somewhere in between.

Somewhere that's just right.

I don't know why the spell just unraveled in my mind suddenly. It totally took me by surprise - including the fact that I remembered the lyrics. This was the song Dad's grandmother used to sing right? I didn't know the melody though, Beta Lucas only read out the words his brother texted him.

I looked out across the turquoise strip of water where there was nothing but sky. We were in White Mountain, and somewhere beyond this lake was Black Mountain.

"Princess?" Bell had moved to the door, but returned to me when he realized I wasn't following.

He looked out to the window, as if to see what I might be looking at.

"I want to go to the lake." I told him.

His mouth turned down, "Fine. This way."

"What?" I asked. Why was he suddenly p***ed off again?

"I'm taking you to the lake." He told me stonily. He raised his hand, and suddenly the black portal door opened. I stepped back at its appearance.

"I thought you were going to show me your castle?" That WAS what he had said, right?

"Yes, I was, but you obviously aren't interested..." Was he sulking?

I flared, "Who said I wasn't interested?"

"You didn't have to say it. You've been only staring out of the window this whole time." Bell accused.

Yes... but this view - it was spectacular, and wasn't the view from your window, part of your castle?

"Dumbbell! Don't jump into conclusions!" I had meant to explain, but Bell cut me off.

"Don't talk to me like that." The black curse swirled around our legs, "Don't call my Dumbbell."

And now he was growling. I took the two steps towards him and growled back. Stooopid dumbbell! (But of course I didn't say that out loud.)

"Forget it. Let's just go see the lake." He turned away sharply towards his black portal.

"No. I want to see the castle." I grabbed his sleeve, fearing that if I did not take this opportunity, it would be lost to me forever.

"I said we will go see the lake." Bell grounded out at me. He didn't shake off my grasp though.

"Why don't you just go jump in the lake?" I grounded back. I pulled tugged hard at his sleeve in a bid to drag him away from the ominous black rectangle.

Yeah, here we are, fighting again. We always fought when we were alone. I didn't even know why we started fighting anymore. Bell growled now, if he wasn't truly infuriated before, he certainly was now.

But instead of pulling his arm out of my grasp, he grabbed my wrist and leaned in growling and bombing Alpha dominance.

Two could play that game. I bombed dominance too, releasing Boo because I was fed up - why did we always have to fight?

{What else could we be doing?} Boo asked with wicked glee.

And then, before I could come to my senses, I closed the half-step distance between us and kissed Bell on his stoopid mouth. His growling dropped to a different timbre. Ack! Retreat!

But it was too late, Bell caught me by the curve of my jaw, his large hand gentle but firm, and I could not turn my face away or pull back. And then his lips pressed down on mine just a little harder, the increase in pressure causing my hair to flare.

I tried to push myself away, but even while my hands pushed on his chest, his other hand drew me closer.

Wait, wait, wait... this was NOT how it was supposed to go!

{How did you think it would go?}

Oh, I hate my wolf!