When All Else Fails

Sunrise for a New Life

Cory

All I want right now is for my wolf to stop howling. I try to explain to him that we did it to save her, but he isn’t understanding. The tightness in my chest hasn’t let up any and it feels like I’m going to have a heart attack any minute. The only thing keeping me sane right now is knowing that she is out there, and that she is safe. Knowing she is alive and not in danger from the Alpha is keeping me somewhat grounded. The cramping in my limbs has finally stopped, but thats probably because after she left my wolf stopped trying to make me turn. The fight to keep control did a number on my strength. It also helped the kid stayed with me. He brought me cold wet towels and filled the tub with ice when I started running a fever. He even brought me pillows after I had passed out and tried his best to make sure that I would be comfortable. I can see why my mate cares for this kid.

“Wanna try and eat something yet?” Luke walked into the living room of our house. He was only able to drag me here, he had tried to put me on the couch best he could. It was the only downstairs option considering my bedroom was ground zero from where the Alpha destroyed it trying to kill my mate.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to keep anything down yet. Thanks kid.” He holds out a small pack of crackers.

“At least try these. It’s what my mom use to try and give me when I was sick.” He smiled for a brief second, not lasting long his face was overtaken with exhaustion. I took the crackers with no intentions of actually trying to eat them.

“Thanks.” I leaned against the back of the couch trying to stretch my back out a bit. It felt like I was being stabbed by a million needles. I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath. The deeper I tried to breath, the more it hurt.

“Do you think shes ok?” Luke sat down beside me and took a deep breath.

“I’m sure she is fine. She has everything to get her started somewhere new.” I looked over at him and he just looked lost.

“Doesn’t mean she will use it you know. She’s not use to having help.”

“Yea I can see that.” The conversation was helping to distract from some of the pain.

“Actually we’ve never had any help. No one cares about a couple of orphan omegas.” He said it with no emotion. He was treating it like casual conversation. Like it wasn’t wrong, and thats just how it is.

“Its not going to be like that for you anymore. We’re going to change all that. I should have been more aware of what was going on. I failed you, and I’m sorry.” Luke stretched out on the free parts of the couch.

“Well its already better for me. Even with the broken windows.” He laughed trying to make light of the situation. I knew he was great full of me taking him in and promising to start training him.

“Yea, I’m gonna need to fix that tomorrow. How good are your handyman skills?”

“I have none.”

“Well I guess I’ll be showing you how to do that as well. By the way training starts tomorrow morning. Be up at five, we start before sunrise. We will train together until its time for you to go to school.” His eyes got wide with excitement as soon as I mentioned training.

“Are you going to be up for that tomorrow? You’ve kinda been through a lot today and I completely understand if we need to wait a few days so you can get back to normal.”

“Oh no, you wanted it and now you got it. You’ll learn real quick that if you want to be a warrior then you need to train like a warrior. There are no days off. Even for loosing your mate.” I didn’t mean to say that last part out loud. Having to let go of my mate because of her status for this pack and to save the boy is ridiculous. I’m still in disbelief that this is what the moon goddess wants, but we are all taught that she does everything for a reason.

“If you say so.” He was quiet after that.

“Let’s get up stairs and get to bed, we’ll clean this mess up tomorrow. Its to late to worry about it tonight.” I get up groaning every time something hurts and make my way up stairs to try and sleep off the rest of the pain. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, or at least with bearable pain.

Luke follows me up the stairs and goes to his room. I go to the one that still has Kat’s stuff in it, I grab one of her shirts out of the closet and curl up on the bed with it under my head. If I can’t have her here, at least I can enjoy her scent. Maybe it will let me dream of her.

Kat

After leaving the coffee shop, I filled the Jeep up with gas and took off for the east coast. I plugged the gps to take me to Wilmington, it was 5 hours away. I took my time and drove through out the night so that I could get there before sunrise. I want to start my new life on a new day. I wanted to experience the ocean for the first time with the sun peaking over the horizon, filling the sky with all the colors I’ve seen in the pictures. Once I got there, I used the gps to find public parking near the water so I could park. I couldn’t wait to get my toes in the sand. Part of me felt guilty for leaving the coffee shop the way I did, but I couldn’t have her digging any deeper into what happened.

I sit in the suv with the windows down listening to the sound of the ocean and feeling the breeze through the windows on my face. Its calming. With all thats happened I’m able to sit here and relax, its like I can breath easier here. There’s something soothing about the salt in the air, the crash of the waves in the distance, lulling me into an almost happy place.

I took my shoes off as the sun started to send its first rays of light into the night, slightly illuminating the dark night sky. That was my sign to head towards the water. I got out of the suv and headed through the path that lead in between the dunes. The asphalt turning into sand the closer that I got to the dunes, the coarseness of it digging between my toes was slightly cool. Once i reached the dune i could see that the walkway turned to a small wooden bridge that went over it. The boards creaked as I walked over them, the wind picked up as I reached the top, small bits of salt and sand slapping me in the face during every big guest. The sound of the waves crashing turned into a deafening roar. I took a deep breath, taking in the saltiness of the air. I’m home. My heart felt at peace, even with everything that happened. Despite all that my soul is calm and I let out that deep breath happy. Happy that I found a place that feels like home.

I crossed the dune and started making my way down the other side towards the water. The waves are close to the dune so it must be high tide. My toes hit the water and send shivers up my spine. The water is cold. I only walk far enough in so that the waves go above my ankles when they come in. The sky erupts into a colorful light show when the first bit of sun can be seen, turning the sky reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows. As it slowly comes up it turns more red, pink, and the clouds turn purple. It’s the most magical thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The tide started going out, but I wasn’t ready to leave. I sat there just taking in the pure beauty of the day until the sun was well above the horizon.