Chapter 259

“Really?” I spoke my voice squeakier than I expected or wanted it to be but I couldn’t believe she still had energy to do more. I mean… “Are you sure? You look like you need to be carried home, not out and about frolicking in the forest…” “We won’t be frolicking, this is how I build endurance, and everything I tell you to do will have a purpose. Lets say that you fight as hard as I do, but you’re still taken, that means you have to gather all the energy and will you have left and use that to escape. You will have more of those two things if you practice. It will be short now. But if each day you push yourself, you go that extra minute, it will pay off in the long run, you never know…” she said but before I could answer someone else spoke. “Well the student has become the teacher,” a man coming from the bushes said with a sneer on his face, but he only had eyes for Chelsea. I instantly got worried, but Jamie, Jack and Casey didn’t seem too… Chelsea said one word, “Lux,” and instantly jumped to her feet because the man came charging at her growling; Chelsea pushed me away when he was five feet away from us. . . UnknownPOV (he's on the island...) Stretching out, I inhaled, listening to the sounds in the house, extending my hearing out, able to hear the early morning sounds of the forest on the island. The Island. I thought with complete and utter distaste, the only thing I enjoyed remotely was that I was here with my family, my mother Scoria, my father Tom, and my siblings, Theo and Claudia. Against my will, my family had come here to hide, leaving our lives behind abruptly. I opened my eyes looking at the ceiling; I could here them all downstairs, but not just them. Another family we had met when we arrived on the island, the Hellmans – they had been here longer – by a few months. I had no way to reach out to anyone on this island, and only a few people, Marlon, Leland, Lux, and Bryant contacted the outside world. At just 18 years old, I was forced to give up so much, for a while my older brother Theo had agreed but after three days here; he met his mate, also 24 year olds – Jenny Hellmann. After that, I was on my own – until… well until the Hellmanns younger daughter Lynn shifted a year ago, now she was my shadow and I’d bet anything in the world that she was downstairs right now, all of them in fact. My family and hers, Greg and Theresa her parents, Jax her older brother and Hector and Owen, her younger brothers. The only person I wanted to see, would do anything to hold in my arms, I hadn’t seen her… I stopped myself from even thinking about it, I didn’t want too, not only did it hurt me but it hurt my wolf to think about his lost mate as well. Shaking my head I went to the bath to empty my bladder, dressing in running clothes and headed downstairs, with no way to avoid the people downstairs. “Morning,” I said to everyone, making my way to the door, hoping in vain that no one stopped me, “Oh sweetheart, Happy Birthday!” my mom said cheerily, I gave her a half hearted smile that I know didn’t reach my eyes because her face dropped a bit, “We made you breakfast for your birthday,” Lynn said brightly, I looked at her blankly. Sighing I opened the door but mom stopped me, holding my shoulder, “Son, why don’t you come sit, eat with us, Lynn and I made your favorites,” again she tried to guilt me, this wasn’t the first time and I could see how this would turn out into a fight. “Look it’s my birthday, don’t you think I should be in control of how I spend this one day, I mean you and dad have already dragged me here to this place, without my consent I should add, now you want to control when I eat as well?” I said with no real fight but it was enough for my mother to drop her hand from my shoulder and give me a sad smile, and nod. Going swiftly I could hear three chairs scrape against the stone floor and before I could leap off the porch, Dad, my older brother Theo and Jax Hellmann had followed me. I didn’t stop though but I didn’t have all my energy either, my wolf and I were weak without our mate, five minutes of full out running was all I could manage but they were behind me, “Walter Rykos!” my father roared angrily, when we made it to the beach. I sighed sitting on a fallen palm tree, no point in continuing, it’s not like I could run off the damn island. “What dad?” I said tired, not wanting to hear the same old lecture. Dad, Theo and Jax stomped over to me, angrily, “Why Walter? Why do you treat that poor girl this way? She’s your mate-” “No! No! She is not,” I said strongly, because she wasn’t, I shook my head furiously, “Dad, I don’t feel it, nothing, when I look at her I don’t see what you do when you look at mom, or when you look at Jenny Theo. I can’t explain it, when I’m around her I wish I wasn’t and when I’m not, I’m happy or as happy as I could be here. I know she’s said I’m her mate, and she may feel a certain way about me, or get the sparks you and mom told me about, but I don’t get that with her, I’ve never had it, even when she hadn’t shifted, nothing.” “I had a mate,” I whispered, “I had a mate, and you took me away from her dad, all the things you say you get when someone is your mate, the sparks, the feeling complete and loved, I had that and you just ripped me away from her and I’m here and she’s out there,” I used my chin to point out towards the ocean. “You didn’t ask me if I had a mate when I was brought here, do you see how weak I am, these black circles under my eyes, it’s because she’s out there suffering, I can feel it. I feel helpless dad, I can feel her panic but I can’t reach her, I can’t sleep because I feel her worry, her panic, even here on this island I can feel it…” I sighed. My eyes are filled to the brim, slowly sadness falls over the brim, but I didn’t care if they see me crying, I was in pain, in the darkness without my mate, “The Chosen one is here now dad, and soon, she’s going to defeat the Elders, and when she does, I’m going to find my mate, I’m not going to lead Lynn on, give her hope or even put her feelings into consideration. I don’t know what she is feeling, but I’m not her mate,” adamant I stood leaving them standing there wandering off by myself.