The Experimental Mate (in editing process)

This Is What Death Feels Like

Tori's POV:

My heart was slow. Too slow for the situation given. It's like I'm seeing all the wolves in slow motion lunging for each other. At us. At the other girls. Something in my chest aches with a need for release. Something foreign that I've never felt before. Is it fear? Surely not, I've felt fear before.

The girl with midnight blue hair began to fight back with nothing but her bare arms and hands, not shifting for some reason while the other girl squatted. I couldn't move, my body being too exhausted to. Looking over, I see a wolf looking my way. Stalking my way.

You need to fight or t... die.

The voice was soft and distant, cutting in and out like whomever it happened to be was in great pain and very weak. It was getting harder to breathe with this overwhelming warmth growing through my chest, spreading to my arms and legs. It wasn't harmful... it didn't hurt. In fact, it felt like a warm hug from someone you've known your whole life. It was strange. It was strange because of the sense of familiarity I had with it. Almost as though I've had it before. Despite it not being harmful, it was getting more difficult to take a solid breath.

A yelp and deep growl echoed around the clearing, dragging my eyes from the wolf waiting to pounce to the strange man with three wolves on top of him, miraculously throwing them off and holding his own. Standing back on his own two feet, he looked around. For a split second, he made eye contact with me, and it became just a sliver easier to breathe.

Another yelp brought both of our attention to our surroundings. The strange man's friends were under piles of wolves, each fighting to get up and out of the pile. The scent of blood filled the clearing and piles of dead wolves' carcass already lay among the open field.

I can't breathe. I grew dizzy, putting my hand out to study myself before a heavy weight crashed into my side, pushing my body further to the ground. Turning, I threw my hands up, still trying to take even a sliver of oxygen into my lungs, to keep the wolf's jaw from snapping down on me. Black spots began to invade my vision, and everything became a distant ringing.

I managed to throw the wolf up for a moment to roll out from under it, my body aching with every move. It only lasted a minute, me gasping for air that wasn't favoring me at the moment, and then another sudden crash to my back, pinning me on my stomach. Darkness swam in the edges of my vision. Something doesn't feel right in my chest. Something is horribly wrong, and I don't know if it's the fear of dying or the foreign feeling that's making my chest cave on itself. Or maybe it's the weight on my back.

I want to see the forest. The sun kissing the earth goodbye, leaving beautiful cool colors in its wake. So that's what I intend to do. As I look up though, I don't find the trees dancing or the colors enchanting my vision to them. No. Instead, I find those same ocean blue eyes glowing in my direction. His mouth is open as if he's screaming something, but I cannot hear what that might be. My lungs are screaming at me now and all I want to do is curl up in this strange man's arms and sleep. All I want is to kiss his jawline and hold his hand in my own.

That's when I felt it. The hot breath on the back of my neck, the weight standing on my back, and all the pain from the air and these wolves' rude acts, robbing me of my future. Robbing me of something I've never thought of before. My entire body stills, my vision growing hazier by the second, eyes focused on the strange man's eyes as he fights his way towards me, getting torn left and right from his carelessness. Stupid silly man.

Brea-he... B-eathe. Breath, Tori.

Tori... Who is Tori?

Breathe and fight back.

This time the voice was clearer, but it still sounded weak. Faint.

Looking down, I try to push up against the weight holding me down but my arms cave beneath me with a sharp pain that pushes any air left in my lungs out. I can feel the wolves' teeth on the back of my neck now, almost teasing me with my own death. What a cruel thing to do. As much pain and panic as I felt in that very moment, I also felt a small satisfaction...

I'm at peace with dying.

Everything around me stopped and all pain faded, only the warm foreign feeling present as I sat in the darkness I created. The iron wall behind me sits the same but with small cracks running through it and crumbled corners. But what shocks me the most is my wolf is no longer there. I cannot find her. I suppose that makes sense though. After death, why would she stay with me? I stand and walk to the cribs, grabbing my second son and my first daughter, holding them close before sitting down with a smile.

This is what death feels like. What you create in your own mind and feel in your soul. A warm embrace with eternal peace.