Chapter 260

Chapter 18 – Walter POV (18 years old, Three and a half years ago) My dad used to say that something, much more than not, we found our mates when we weren’t even looking, I thought that was complete shit, what were they chances that you would just stumble onto them without any effort whatsoever? I’d roll my eyes, of course it didn’t matter whether or not you had human parents or shifter parents, it was all one in the same. You’d hear the same things, if you just stopped and listened. ‘One day you’re going to meet someone that knows exactly what you’re worth, that will love you on the inside and the outside, will show you kindness, will offer you a shoulder and ear when you need someone to listen, it might not happen right away, but you’ll find that person…” see you wouldn’t know that a shifter father told his shifter daughter that, or a human father told his human daughter that. I stood, picking up my photograph case heading out earlier for my class than normal, not wanting to get even more homesick than I already was thinking of my parents, and family. We had been living in Texas, not with a pack or anything though, but after getting a scholarship after high school to study abroad, I took it, and my parents encouraged it, I even had a cousin – Andrew – that came as well, the two of us sharing one flat. One very small flat. But it kept us safe, warm and dry so couldn’t complain. On campus with nearly an hour and a half to spare I just strolled, walking aimlessly, until I stopped dead in my tracks, inhaling, Mate! Mate! Mate!  My wolf, Zed alerted me loudly, howling.  Inhaling again though, I was confused; I couldn’t scent any shifter, none, not even the faintest bit. Taking my camera out, I started walking, pretending, and taking shots, while actually narrowing down the most enticing scent I had come across, that of my mate. Each frame, a different person, couples walking by, I tensed when I thought of my mate with someone else, but each one that passed that didn’t match the scent I was seeking, I sighed in relief. The air seemed to be bringing vanilla; with a hint mint and lilac from the right of me, so I crossed the street where a cabbie had stopped, the scent stronger than before. Crazily I continued taking pictures, stopping near the cabbie when I realized that the fragrance was the strongest right there, but didn’t belong to the driver. I went to the driver, “Excuse me, are you available?” I asked even though I’m sure he was waiting for someone, but it gave me a chance to stick around, waiting for my mate to come about. “Yeah, I’m just dropping off,” he nodded, so I waited even though I didn’t have the money to waste to take a cab back to campus grounds, it’d be well worth it to get a good look at my mate. My wolf, Zed, eagerly waiting, until she appeared, the most beautiful, looking girl, young, just from looking I could tell she was young, couldn’t be any older than 18 years old, like me. Brown hair shined, and when she finally looked up our gaze meeting, I listened, watched as her lips parted, her  hazel eyes dilated, her heart skipped. Shaking her head, she looked down, getting something from her side bag, money, handing it too the cabbie. “You all set?” he asked her, and she nodded shyly, not meeting his eyes, or looking away from me deliberately, don’t just stand there gawking at her, she’ll think you’re a creeper! Zed whined, but he was right, normal people didn’t just stare all wide-eyed at strangers, not the sane ones at least. “Yes, I’m fine,” she whispered with a thick, sultry accent, in addition to the nod, and walked to the hatch. I glanced away and then back as the cabbie opened the hatch. I expected that most of her things were already inside of course, because the only thing she pulled from the hatch, were three violin cases, one guitar case and one suitcase. Strapping them to her, she bent the suitcase onto its wheels and went inside, glancing back at me for the briefest moment over her shoulder, while I gawked at her, dazed. She’s going to think I’m an idiot… I thought as I finally entered the cab, already plotting on how to run into her again, next time asking for a name. We’re doomed… Zed thought sadly. . . . Tom POV (Walters Father) I stood with Jax and my eldest son, Theo, watching a hunched over Walter walking away, a ghost of him self. I sighed walking back to the house, but my mind clouded over with the words and thoughts I had just been given, information that made sense while throwing me off completely. We entered the house, and I tried to avoid meeting Lynns’ bluish green eyes, the hopefulness that we had brought Walter back with us, only to realize we hadn’t and to shrink inside her self. “That boy of yours,” Greg – Lynn’s father – said, shaking his head, and I could only imagine the pain he was in right now, watching his daughter fade away because of the rejection she was facing from my son. Still his words rang clear in my mind, ‘No! No! She is not,’ he said stubbornly, almost broken, ‘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.’ My mind still unable to get over that statement, it was nothing like a mate should be feeling, he was right. “Lynn,” I called her watching as she moved her food around her plate but not really eating, my own daughter, 17 years old as well, sitting next to her. She lifted her head, and again my heart broke for her pain and suffering, “Since you’ve been on this island… have you felt panicked? Not sad, but has your heart raced to where you felt you were in danger?” I asked her, keeping my face as blank as possible, Jax and Theo widened their eyes only to immediately and conveniently become interested in their own plates.