Wolf City

Hidden Secrets or Hidden Love

Authors Note:

I'll admit to myself, I LOVE this chapter. Ava starts to realize just what problems come with finding a mate, how it come from anywhere, and be anybody. 

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           I sat there staring at my phone and wondered what I could tell Alice. Zane would be asleep the rest of the night, so I knew he wouldn’t come looking for me. Plus, I knew I wasn’t going to be with him for any longer than maybe an hour or two. Fidgeting, my phone was turned around, this way, that way, upside-down, and right-side up until I had gotten a text from my mom asking how I was doing. It hit me then that it would be the perfect get away plan. Alice wouldn’t ask questions or offer to come with me if I was going to see my mom.

          I texted her back saying that everything was fine, and of course she replied back with a smile and a ‘have fun.’ I sort of missed my mother and father, my John and Cassie, my parents. Lately I found myself thinking about them less and less, and even going to see them less and less. Was this what it was like turning eighteen for a wolf? Alice told me that most of the wolves she knew moved out when they turned eighteen, but then hardly any of them had a good relationship with them to begin with, and that wasn’t the case for me. I loved John and Cassie, and couldn’t care less about my real parents. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t the same for me; John and Cassie weren’t my blood parents.

          “You okay?” Alice had put her hand on mine, easing my fingers from tapping against the glass. I flicked my eyes toward her, realizing my face was showing that I was in deep thought about something.

          “I’m fine…” I said trying to reassure her. “Just thinking about my mom; I’m probably going to go see her tonight.” I smiled to make it seem more real.

          Alice nodded and we talked for a little bit about our parents. I had seen the Vigors many times in the past. We were like our own little family in a way, but they always thought I wanted to find my real mother. Mr. Vigor had even done some detective work, but nothing ever came up, which didn’t surprise me even though he was a cop. Then, I guess I had to admit to myself that I had always wondered why she gave me up, why after all these yeas my real parents didn’t look for me, and if they were even alive.

          Shaking my head I pulled myself out of my appealing contemplations. They weren’t worth my time anyway! I got up and grabbed my keys since I didn’t want to only be gone a few hours. Usually when I visited my parents, I was gone for a while. I noticed before I left that Alice had fallen asleep on the couch, and with a huge grin on my face I snapped a picture and then put a blanket over her. I would have to show it to her later and give her a hard time about it.

          As I stepped outside I slipped my fingers into my pockets and pulled out the slip of paper. Walking to the elevator I couldn’t stop looking at the numbers and letter scrawled onto it. What could Jad want? Why did he want to thank me properly for something any wolf would have done to protect another? I just didn’t understand, and maybe that was why I wanted to go. I could hear in my head what Alice would say once she got past the fact that they were planning on staying. I could hear her telling me that curiosity killed the cat, and I would only respond with the pure fact that I wasn’t a cat.

          Inside my car I sat there for a little bit, not really sure if I really wanted to go through with it. I put my hands on the steering wheel, and then on the handle, and then back again. I turned on the car and started to drive. I had to stop thinking, but then that wasn’t ever going to happen. I picked up the slip of paper and felt it between my fingers. I would be there in fifteen minutes, and the more I looked at the address, I figured out where it was. It was a familiar place that John and Cassie had taken me too often as a little kid, and even one Alice, Zane, and I had hung out together.