Accepting her Soulmate -On Hold

Chapter 4 - Disappointments

Time moved on, and, as with all things, life moved on with it. Julie found herself getting into a routine very quickly after Stefan left. She had applied for some work in the pack house kitchen at the weekends in order to save some money to be able to pay for college tuition. In the afternoons after school, she would head over to the house of Elder Thomas and sit with him awhile after they had eaten. Loretta used to help him keep house after his mate had died some years earlier. Julie would sometimes go with her mother and she got to know him quite well. He and his mate had had no children and he looked upon Julie as his granddaughter of sorts. She too, loved him like a grandfather.

"Hi Tommy! It's just me." She chimed."I brought the ingredients for Mom's famous Harvest Stew! Hope you're hungry."

Thomas smiled gently at her. His mate, her mother and Julie. They were the only ones he ever allowed to call him by that name. He insisted everyone else call him Thomas, even the Alpha was forbidden from addressing him by anything other than his full title. "Hello, my sweet girl! How was school today?"

"Ugh, boring, as usual." Julie sighed. "Oh, no! I almost forgot. Ricky Simms almost shifted in gym class! His birthday was four days ago and he still hasn't shifted fully. Mr Buckley had to escort him out to the field behind the school before he hurt himself."

"Poor boy, both of his parents are Omega wolves, so it's likely that he will be an Omega also. They usually have a delayed shift, so it's looking like he will be Omega. Hopefully, he will shift soon or he runs the risk of his wolf becoming dormant."

"What?" Questioned Julie. "How does that happen? I've never heard of it happening in this pack?"

"It hasn't happened to anyone in this pack in almost 90 years. It is rare but every now and then, it does happen. We don't know fully how, or why, it happens, but it's believed to be connected with how well you bond with your wolf."

Julie looked at him dubiously and asked. "How is it even possible to not bond with your wolf? Aren't we supposed to die without our wolf?"

"Simply put, yes." Replied Thomas. "It is possible to reject the bond to your wolf. And the unfortunate soul will die without their wolf. Although we have the appearance of being human, our genetic make-up is quite different from that of the regular Homo Sapiens. While humans have a four lobed brain, Weres have a six lobed brain. The extra lobes hold our wolf consciousness and the signal centres for shifting. We need to be able to shift between our skin form and our fur form. This is what regenerates our bodies. If we do not shift, the human DNA degrades at a much faster rate than normal and the human side will die."

"But how do you reject the bond? Is it something that I can control? Or is it beyond my abilities?" Julie asked.

"As I said earlier, we do not fully understand why some Weres do not shift. Some believe that it is connected to the category or class of wolf, because there has never been a recorded instance of an alpha wolf with a dormant wolf. From what I am given to understand, it happens mainly to omega and common wolves. There was one event of a gamma wolf, but it is unclear, as he was rejected by his mate as soon as he turned 16, so it is thought that he died from mate rejection rather than losing his bond to his wolf."
"Now," continued Thomas. "I have been studying this issue. There is very little information about it, but I have formed my own theory."

He stopped at that and Julie lifted her head up from where she had been preparing vegetables for the Stew and gave him an exasperated look.
"Well? Come on Tommy! Don't leave a girl hangin'! Spill already! I shift in less than two weeks! I hadn't heard any of this stuff, and it's freakin' me out! Is there a chance I could lose my wolf???"

Thomas looked over at Julie and chuckled. "Oh, my dear, sweet Julie! I do not believe you have the slightest thing to worry about. From what I have gathered, to have a strong connection between the wolf and human counterpart has mostly to do with confidence and self-esteem."