Raised Mateless (On Hold)

Chapter 18

Christopher Lawson –

 

The fuel gauge rested at a comfortable quarter of a tank. I prayed it was enough to get me back home, since I didn’t have a cent left to my name. I couldn’t be further than an hour now. My fingers curled even tighter around the steering wheel in a death grip. My heart was falling into my gut from anticipation.

I knew the feeling well, the longing to see someone again. I must have had this feeling a hundred times when I was a kid and thought about my mother.

“Fuck –“ I grabbed at my side from the continuous pain. The worst part was the constant need to scratch at the poor stitch job that hack of a veterinary attempted on me.

The man had a kind heart, sure, taking in a lone wolf with barely any meat on his bones and a deep gash on his side. But he was foolish too, then again so was I. I was running, all I did was run – for days, without caring who I ran into. I ended up in the Grey Mountain Clan’s territory without a care in the world. One second I was running straight towards the end of their borders and then I was lying on some steel slab with a silver-haired man sewing up my torso.

“You sure are one lucky mutt.” The old vet murmured as soon as my eyes opened, a stupid grin on his face.

I was saved, lucky me.

We moved away from my parents at ten years old. I never got to stay in one school, one place, for more than a few months. I never even finished high school. I could never get a job, well nothing better than a fucking gas pump jockey. Shane never let us join another pack, though I’m not sure I really wanted to. I really wanted was some cash to keep us alive. The worst was Harper. Harper. I find my mate, fuck it up, get rejected, drugged, beat the shit out of my own brother, kidnapped, and then nearly killed by my own father. Scratch that, my sperm donor.

Yeah, I guess you could say I was lucky.

I didn’t need any damn luck; I’m going to fix this all on my own. Three days of running, one day of driving, and less than a hour to go, and then everything will be okay.

The sudden pull I felt in my chest caused my hands to jerk to the truck slightly to the left, barely missing the ditch that lay below.

I could feel her. Fear gripped at my chest, but it wasn’t my own. The rush of emotions running through me overwhelmed my thoughts and clouded my mind. I felt clawing at the back of my mind, the silent howl of a broken wolf, Nikan.

The feeling of my body being set on fire consumed me. I let out a cry of pain from the stark pain. The familiar sensation of shifting caught my off guard, making my nails grasp at the dashboard. The nail marks slowly getting deeper, until claws replaced my chipped nails.

Nikan nudged me through our link, probably asking for forgiveness. I wouldn’t let him get off that easy.

‘I almost feel like a real shifter.’

‘I am truly sorry my friend, but I could not bare the pain of surfacing before. You must understand.’ Nikan’s deep voice murmured. ‘We can argue about this later. There’s something wrong. I can feel it.’